Ch1 Introduction To Persuasion In Everyday Exam Prep

Chapter 1 “Introduction to Persuasion in Everyday Practices”

Multiple-Choice Questions

Mark all answers that apply for each question. The correct answers are shown in bold type.

1. Communication context includes which of the following?

_____ A. Time.

_____ B. Place.

_____ C. Social status.

_____ D. Psychological aspects.

1. The process whereby a source creates a message to be sent is:

_____ A. Regulating.

_____ B. Encoding.

_____ C. Contrasting.

_____ D. Decoding.

1. The process whereby the receiver interprets the message is:

_____ A. Regulating.

_____ B. Encoding.

_____ C. Contrasting.

_____ D. Decoding.

1. The medium that carries the message is referred to as the:

_____ A. Source.

_____ B. Receiver.

_____ C. Channel.

_____ D. Amplifier.

1. Interference with either the transmission or the reception of the message is:

_____ A. Jargon.

_____ B. Noise.

_____ C. Disturbance.

_____ D. Prejudice.

1. Edwin Black stated that the impact a message has immediately and through time is the:

_____ A. Affect.

_____ B. Feedback loop.

_____ C. Effect.

_____ D. Inference.

1. Credibility is the reputation and believability of the speaker and includes:

_____ A. Expertise.

_____ B. Similarity.

_____ C. Self-esteem.

_____ D. Ethnicity.

1. What discipline involves “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”?

_____ A. McCarthyism.

_____ B. Demagoguery.

_____ C. Rhetoric.

_____ D. Law.

1. McCarthyism occurred because of the campaign of a:

_____ A. Patriot.

_____ B. Demagogue.

_____ C. President.

_____ D. Senator.

1. Aristotle defined a public speaker who should have good character and excellent communication skills as:

_____ A. A statesman.

_____ B. A rhetor.

_____ C. An Athenian.

_____ D. A philosopher.

1. Studies have shown that “powerful speech” is more credible than powerless speech. Which of the following characterize powerless speech?

_____ A. Repetitions.

_____ B. Hedges.

_____ C. Qualifiers.

_____ D. Colloquialisms.

1. The Scopes monkey trial was held in Tennessee in 1921 with two powerful lawyers who presented the claims of creationism and evolution. They were:

_____ A. Clarence Darrow.

_____ B. Johnny Corcoran.

_____ C. Mark Geragos.

_____ D. William Jennings Bryan.

1. A teaching style that uses questions to discover truth is called the:

_____ A. Call and response.

_____ B. Socratic method.

_____ C. Open-ended inquiry.

_____ D. Intimidation method.

1. Dr. Ward Churchill renewed the debate on academic freedom by which of the following:

_____ A. Comparing the victims of 9/11 to “little Eichmanns.”

_____ B. Plagiarizing a painting.

_____ C. Claiming to be Native American.

_____ D. Being removed from his teaching post.

1. Advertising can be distinguished from public relations because advertising focuses on:

_____ A. Management functions in corporations.

_____ B. Total image of a corporation.

_____ C. Products.

_____ D. Brands.

1. Edward Bernays, the “Father of Public Relations,” defined public relations as:

_____ A. A propagandistic endeavor.

_____ B. Engineering of consent.

_____ C. A wartime strategy.

_____ D. A social scientist’s dream.

1. Art has a rhetorical function in the way specific works affect existing:

_____ A. Ticket sales.

_____ B. Set design.

_____ C. Values, attitudes, and beliefs.

_____ D. Demographics.

1. George Gerbner’s theory of how media, especially television, affects us is called:

_____ A. Subliminal seduction theory.

_____ B. The elaboration likelihood theory.

_____ C. The reasoned action theory.

_____ D. The cultivation theory.

1. The elaboration likelihood theory can be described as:

_____ A. A dual-processing theory.

_____ B. A consistency theory.

_____ C. A balance theory.

_____ D. A counteradvocacy theory.

1. Rhetorical discourse is complicated because it is ___________-centered.

_____ A. Speaker.

_____ B. Receiver.

_____ C. Language.

_____ D. Organization.

1. The famous phrase “The medium is the message” came from the works of:

_____ A. Martin L. King Jr.

_____ B. George Gerbner.

_____ C. Marshall McLuhan.

_____ D. Aristotle.

1. Rhetoric has become a negative or connotatively loaded word because it is associated with:

_____ A. Spin.

_____ B. Manipulation.

_____ C. Omission.

_____ D. News management.

1. The Latin word for propaganda means to propagate or to sow. Where did the term originate?

_____ A. In Nazi Germany.

_____ B. In Greece.

_____ C. In the Vatican.

_____ D. In the Prussian Empire.

1. Propaganda has goals that are determined a priori and includes which of the following?

_____ A. Distortion.

_____ B. Psychological warfare.

_____ C. Balanced presentations.

_____ D. Brainwashing.

1. Charisma is a term that comes from the Greeks, who believed it was:

_____ A. A tragic flaw.

_____ B. A comedic affliction.

_____ C. A gift from the gods.

_____ D. An oracle’s curse.

or Questions

1. “The map is not the territory” means that you are lost.
2. Joseph DeVito identified two forms of communication noise—physical and psychological in origin.
3. A good speaker should use jargon to be understood with general audiences.
4. Feedback is the response given to a message that informs the source that the idea was transmitted successfully, interpreted, and understood by the receiver.
5. Edwin Black said that the effect of a message is instantly obvious.
6. If a communication strategy works, then it is by definition ethical.
7. The effect of a message depends upon a complex interplay among the source, message, and receiver based on similarity of attitudes, values, and beliefs held by the people involved.
8. Ethics is the day-to-day practice of choosing between right and wrong alternatives.
9. The First Amendment supports the right of speakers to persuade and even to propagandize audiences.
10. The first book on rhetoric was written in the 15th century.
11. The practice of public relations is new to the past two centuries.
12. George W. Bush’s semantic designation of the “war on terror” framed the argument so that critics of the war effort were called unpatriotic.
13. Theodore Windt said presidential decisions are made in a world that has been created by the discourse from the executive office.
14. Aristotle defined rhetoric as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”
15. Senator Joseph McCarthy was a patriot who spoke with great courage and honesty about government officials and the communist scare.
16. Persuasion has no role in the ministry.
17. Ideology means a body of beliefs or doctrines that an individual or a nation supports.
18. Attractive people receive lesser sentences and fines generally than their unattractive counterparts.
19. Verbal messages are more believable than nonverbal messages.
20. The “Age of Enlightenment” proposed the “marketplace of ideas,” which meant dissenters should be heard as well as the majority.
21. Academic freedom means that only academicians should be heard in classrooms.
22. IMC means inconclusive models of communication.
23. Artworks and the cinema are too ambiguous to be persuasive in changing attitudes toward such issues as mental illness, homosexuality, and gangs.
24. George Gerbner believed that heavy television viewing generated the “mean world syndrome,” in which viewers became fearful and had distorted views of society.
25. Cultural myths and allegories have no role in persuasion because they are fantasies.
26. The connotation for spin and rhetoric is negative.
27. Informative speech, persuasive speech, and propaganda exist on a continuum, sometimes without clear demarcations.
28. Propaganda originated in the Vatican in 1622 as a means to universalize the Roman Catholic Church when the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide was created.
29. Propaganda extends persuasion beyond the realm of ethics to objectify people and use them for questionable ends.
30. Adolph Hitler was a charismatic leader.
31. Persuasion can be defined as “a form of communication that employs both verbal and nonverbal symbols that intend to influence receivers to voluntarily change attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors to agree with those supported by the advocate of the message.”
32. Kenneth Burke’s concept of identification meant you can pick someone from a lineup.
33. Roe v. Wade (1973) was the court case that legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes.
34. Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion for the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case.
35. The Nazis used propaganda as the “Fifth Column” of their army.
36. Persuasion functions to name or define people, ideas, and things that influence beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and values regarding them.
37. Persuasion affects us in professional and national life but not on an interpersonal level.
38. Public relations and advertising are synonymous and have the same goals.
39. Subliminal means beneath the level of awareness.
40. Vocalics deal with the nonverbal code that analyzes vocal quality, rate, volume, dialect, resonance, and other speech properties that compose a speaker’s communication skills.

Essay Questions

Please answer all parts of each question and be specific, offering examples or other evidence to support your answers.

1. Explain Joseph DeVito’s “universals of communication” by defining the various parts of the model.
2. Explain Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric and his advice on what the character of a rhetor should be.
3. Discuss the rationale for studying persuasion theory and the application that persuasive discourse has in the fields of religion, politics, education, public relations, and advertising.
4. Explain who Edward Bernays was and why he defined public relations as the “engineering of consent.”
5. Explain the elaboration likelihood theory and discuss how this is relevant to persuasion.
6. Explain why persuasion is receiver-centered communication.
7. Explain the three forms of discourse that include informative speech, persuasion, and propaganda. Describe each of the three types, and then explain how they are different and how are they alike.
8. Explain the origin of the term propaganda and explain how the term has become pejorative.
9. Explain Beeson’s definition of persuasion and give a current example that illustrates the various parts of that definition.
10. Explain the functions of persuasion and support your answer with examples.