Exam Questions Legal Communication Persuasion In Court Ch7

Chapter Seven “Legal Communication: Persuasion in Court”

Multiple-Choice Questions

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

1. Legal communication is the same as which of the following?

_____ A. Epideictic speech.

_____ B. Forensic speech.

_____ C. Deliberative speech.

_____ D. Poetic speech.

1. Epideictic speech is concerned with which areas?

_____ A. Accusation and defense of wrongdoing.

_____ B. Politics and government matters.

_____ C. Virtue and vice or praise and blame.

_____ D. Imagery and sound.

1. Deliberative speech is concerned with which of the following?

_____ A. Politics and government matters like war and peace, policies, and forms of government.

_____ B. Virtue and vice or praise and blame.

_____ C. Imagery and sound.

_____ D. Accusation and defense of wrongdoing.

1. Aristotle included which of the following in legal communication or forensics?

_____ A. The nature and number of motives.

_____ B. The state of mind of the criminals when they commit crimes.

_____ C. The kind of victims and their situations.

_____ D. None of the above.

1. According to Aristotle, forensic rhetoric used “nonartistic” proofs that included which of the following?

_____ A. Laws and contracts.

_____ B. Witnesses.

_____ C. Tortures and oaths.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. Which of the following motives did Aristotle list among the common ones for crime?

_____ A. Money and bodily pleasure.

_____ B. Cowardice.

_____ C. Lack of shame or regard for public opinion.

_____ D. Stupidity.

1. Which of the following types of people think they can commit and get by with crimes according to Aristotle?

_____ A. Men of action and experience in legal matters.

_____ B. Men who have many friends.

_____ C. Men who have judges as friends.

_____ D. Physically attractive people.

1. Forensic communication involves a combination of which two abilities?

_____ A. Ethos (character) and pathos (emotion).

_____ B. Wisdom (Sophia) and speech (logos).

_____ C. Compulsion and trickery.

_____ D. Religious oaths and magic.

1. Susan Drucker offered four categories to define the parameters of legal communication. Which of the following does not belong in her parameters in the 21st century?

_____ A. Communication skills.

_____ B. Rhetorical artifacts.

_____ C. Regulation of communication.

_____ D. Court television.

1. Regulation of communication includes issues such as freedom of speech and media regulation. What recent case involved a racial mark about private citizens that resulted in a public apology and a firing from a media job?

_____ A. O. J. Simpson.

_____ B. Scott Pederson.

_____ C. Don Imus.

_____ D. Oppie and Anthony.

1. Which famous case resulted in the passage of Judicial Canon 35 that prohibited broadcasts and courtroom cameras, which was later reversed?

_____ A. The Fatty Arbuckle case in Hollywood.

_____ B. The Charles Lindberg baby’s kidnapping trial.

_____ C. Billie Sol Estes.

_____ D. “Mad Dog Irvin.”

1. In which case was Canon 35 overturned with the finding that cameras in the courtroom do not necessarily preclude a fair trial?

_____ A. Billie Sol Estes.

_____ B. “Mad Dog Irvin.”

_____ C. Chandler v. Florida.

_____ D. Roe v. Wade.

1. Which of the following statements are of jurors according to Reid Hastie, Steven Penrod, and Nancy Pennington’s study?

_____ A. Jurors’ memory on trial facts are only 50 percent accurate.

_____ B. Jurors’ memory of the judge’s instructions was less than 30 percent accurate.

_____ C. Jurors had already decided a story model of what happened before beginning deliberation.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. Murray Ogborn noted that jurors are biased in favor of three channels during a trial. Which three channels were favored?

_____ A. What they see.

_____ B. What they hear.

_____ C. What they remember.

_____ D. What they feel.

1. The jury selection process is called:

_____ A. Advertere.

_____ B. Voir dire.

_____ C. Proscribere.

_____ D. Voix celeste.

1. According to Ogborn, jurors have developed their first impression in a trial in:

_____ A. The first 10 minutes.

_____ B. The first 2 minutes.

_____ C. The first 4 minutes.

_____ D. The first half hour.

1. The primacy–recency theory states that:

_____ A. Recent evidence is remembered best.

_____ B. The first part of a message is remembered best.

_____ C. The middle portion of a message is remembered best.

_____ D. Those facts presented first and last are remembered best.

1. Memory organization packages (MOPs) can be used to persuade jurors, Roger Schank said, because they consist of:

_____ A. Prevalent media images like celebrities with whom jurors identify.

_____ B. Recurring fantasies that are common to people, like striking it rich.

_____ C. Context-dependent parts of memory of common experiences that people have, like going to the emergency room.

_____ D. Platitudes that represent knowledge common to the public.

1. Walter Fisher’s narrative theory stresses the power of stories to persuade people and diminishes which of the following?

_____ A. Timing, clarity, and information flow.

_____ B. Clear characters and motives.

_____ C. Coherence and fidelity.

_____ D. Aristotelian logic.

1. When attorneys use emotional arguments or appeals to pity, what Latin term is synonymous with this appeal?

_____ A. Argumentum ad absurdum.

_____ B. Argumentum ad miseracordium.

_____ C. Argumentum ad populum.

_____ D. Argumentum ad novarum.

1. Mark I. Bernstein and Laurence R. Milstein wrote an article “Trial as Theater,” but a trial differs in two significant ways. Identify the two differences:

_____ A. The characters are real, with genuine grievances.

_____ B. The conclusion must lead inexorably to only one conclusion.

_____ C. The end is written by the jury.

_____ D. Most trials are more episodic than the well-made play.

1. In their role as decision makers for the verdict of guilt or innocence, jurors become:

_____ A. The seat of authority and wisdom.

_____ B. The conscience of the community.

_____ C. Unreliable producers of the drama.

_____ D. Underpaid collaborators in the production.

1. Nonverbal communication in the courtroom includes which of the following according to Mary E. Ryan?

_____ A. Gestures.

_____ B. Territoriality.

_____ C. Relaxed body image.

_____ D. All of the above.

1. The lawyer’s ethos is a primary consideration to build his or her credibility in court. The best definition for ethos is:

_____ A. The ethical character of the speaker.

_____ B. The image the speaker projects.

_____ C. The credentials the speaker has.

_____ D. The attractiveness of the speaker.

1. Inoculation can best be defined in court as:

_____ A. To offer a weakened version of the opposing argument to dilute the persuasiveness of the argument or to build resistance to it.

_____ B. To steal the opposition’s thunder.

_____ C. To commit a straw man fallacy.

_____ D. To frame the argument in a beneficial way.

1. The Pygmalion effect is a behavioral style that attorneys should use in court that means:

_____ A. With magical powers they can be transformed.

_____ B. They expect to win based upon influence with the jurors.

_____ C. Like the king of Cyprus, they love craven images.

_____ D. The vulgar can be transformed into the refined with practice.

or Questions

1. Court TV, such as Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown, has led to negative behaviors in actual courtrooms, according to Professor David Papke.
2. Forensic rhetoric deals with politics and government.
3. Epideictic rhetoric is the form that deals with eulogies or praise and blame.
4. Aristotle gave seven reasons that men commit illegal acts, including chance, compulsion, and passion.
5. Aristotle believed that torture was a poor means to obtain evidence because such evidence was unreliable.
6. Media reports on trials are irrelevant to the process.
7. Legal communication still concerns wisdom and speech.
8. Susan Drucker identified four categories of legal communication: communication within the system, communication about the system, artifacts, and regulation of communication.
9. Regulations include issues of freedom of speech and media regulation regarding publicity on trials.
10. “Gag rules” cannot be imposed on lawyers or witnesses.
11. Judicial Canon 35 dealt with radio broadcasting and cameras in the courtroom.
12. Chandler v. Florida established that cameras in the courtroom did not necessarily preclude a fair trial.
13. The names of jurors cannot be published according to the Supreme Court.
14. Hastie, Penrod, and Pennington established that jurors’ memories are very reliable.
15. Hastie, Penrod, and Pennington established that jurors had established a “storyline” 90 percent of the time before they began deliberations.
16. Murray Ogborn wrote that storytelling increased persuasive powers at trials.
17. Jurors rely upon one of three primary channels—verbal, vocal, and nonverbal communications.
18. The voir dire process is unimportant in a trial.
19. Storytelling in trials cuts through information overload to make a point.
20. The primacy–recency theory established that the middle of the trial is the most persuasive part.
21. MOPS stands for memory organization packages.
22. Ogborn’s MOPS theory is the opposite of Walter Fisher’s narrative theory.
23. Closing statements are irrelevant because participants have already made up their minds.
24. Argumentum ad miseracordium means arguments based on logic.
25. A trial is like live theater because both link events that appeal to human emotions.
26. The jurors write the end of the play in a trial by delivering a verdict.
27. Territoriality has no place in human affairs but defines the space of lower animals.
28. Inoculation refers to introducing a damaging piece of evidence before the opposition can do it.
29. Inoculation is an ineffective trial device to use because negative material is better avoided.
30. The attractiveness of the lawyer is irrelevant in his or her ability to persuade.
31. The Pygmalion effect is based upon autosuggestion and self-fulfilling prophesy.
32. Linz, Penrod, and McDonald found that the greater a trial lawyer’s experience, the greater his or her self-perception was on effectiveness.
33. Attorneys who have to argue before a hostile judge should cite the sources for their information to avoid personalizing the trial.
34. The First Amendment is sometimes in conflict with the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a fair and timely trial.
35. Jurors play the role of the conscience of the community in their service to the court.

Essay Questions

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

1. Explain the three forms of speech that Aristotle outlined and explain the subject matter of each form.
2. Explain the four parameters of legal communication that Susan J. Drucker offered.
3. Write an essay that explains what rights the First and Sixth Amendments guarantee. Use cases to illustrate where media has become a negative influence and what remedial actions have been taken.
4. Explain why cameras in the courtroom have been banned in the past. Explain how this practice may influence the behavior of judges, attorneys, jurors, or the accused.
5. Write an essay that explains the findings of Reid Hastie, Steven Penrod, and Nancy Pennington concerning juror competence at trials regarding memory, judge’s instructions, and personal biases.
6. Explain the reason that storytelling is an effective form of evidence in a trial.
7. Discuss the primacy–recency theory and what an opening and closing statement should accomplish in a trial.
8. Trials have been compared to theater by Mark Bernstein and Laurence Milstein. Explain the similarities and differences between the two forms of presentations.
9. Explain how attorneys can use the three channels of verbal (words), vocal (voice properties), and nonverbal communication to persuade jurors in trials.
10. Discuss the courtroom environment and how it influences perceptions of the judicial process: the elevated station of the black-robed judge, the two tables that represent the adversarial relationship between the defense and prosecution teams, the juror’s box or station in the courtroom.