Test Questions & Answers Ch5 The Consolidation Of The Media - Updated Test Bank | Mass Comm Theory 8e Baran by Stanley J. Baran. DOCX document preview.
Chapter 5 The Consolidation of the Media Effects Trend
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 1
1) According to Klapper's phenoministic theory, if the media have any effect at all, it is ___________.
Feedback: The nexus of mediating variables—church, school, and family—directs media influence away from change and toward reinforcement.
Page reference: Joseph Klapper's Phenoministic Theory
a. phenomenal
b. reinforcement
c. delayed and inferential
d. part of the two-step flow
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 2
2) According to functionalists, practices that are disruptive to the group, society, or system are ______.
Feedback: Functionalists argue that empirical research should investigate both the functions and dysfunctions of media so a systematic appraisal could be made of media’s overall impact by weighing useful outcomes of media use against negative outcomes.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. manifest
b. latent
c. dysfunctional
d. functional
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 3
3) According to functionalists, consequences of practices that are unintended and difficult to observe are _______.
Feedback: Functionalists argue that empirical research should investigate both the functions and dysfunctions of media so a systematic appraisal could be made of media’s overall impact.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. latent
b. manifest
c. functional
d. dysfunctional
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 4
4) Functional analysis was appealing to Robert Merton and his followers because of its __________.
Feedback: Functionalists argue that empirical research should investigate both the functions and dysfunctions of media so a systematic appraisal could be made of media’s overall impact by weighing useful outcomes of media use against negative outcomes.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. macro-micro level integration of effects
b. ability to clarify outcomes and focus on structure
c. value neutrality
d. similarity to grand theory
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 5
5) A latent function is __________.
Feedback: Functionalists argue that empirical research should investigate both the latent and manifest functions of media so a systematic appraisal could be made of media’s overall impact.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. intended and easier to observe than manifest effects
b. unintended and easier to observe than manifest effects
c. intended and more difficult to observe than manifest effects
d. unintended and more difficult to observe than manifest effects
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 6
6) Mass entertainment theory argues that ________.
Feedback: Television entertainment gives average people a more attractive alternative to high-brow entertainment. It does not distract people from important activities; it helps them relax so that they can engage in those activities with renewed interest and energy.
Page reference: Joseph Klapper's Phenoministic Theory
a. TV entertainment has several useful prosocial effects
b. TV entertainment has mostly negative effects on mass audiences
c. TV entertainment has no important effects on mass audiences
d. TV News programs are very important for most people
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 7
7) Paul Lazarsfeld branded the use of surveys and experiments to probe media audiences and interpret consumer attitudes and behaviors ____.
Feedback: He persuasively argued for the use of empirical research to guide administrative decision making.
Page reference: Overview
a. social science
b. critical research
c. administrative research
d. interpretive analysis
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 8
8) _________ explain only limited domains or ranges of action that had been or could be explored using empirical research.
Feedback: Middle-range theories consist of limited sets of assumptions from which specific hypotheses are logically derived and confirmed by empirical investigation.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. Critical theories
b. Middle-range theories
c. Two-step theories
d. Interpretive studies
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 9
9) Social scientists willingly accept the ________, the idea that every answer produces new questions.
Feedback: Rather than pretend to knowledge where it is in fact absent, researchers expressly recognize what must still be learned to lay the foundation for still more knowledge.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. specification of ignorance
b. multi-faceted social science
c. ontology
d. metatheory
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 10
10) The classic four functions of the media include surveillance of the environment, correlation of the parts of society, transmission of the social heritage, and _______.
Feedback: Functionalists argued that social science had no basis and no need for making value judgments about media; media simply served different functions for different people.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. encouraging violence
b. building community
c. selling advertising
d. entertainment
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 11
11) You go online to check the weather to see if you need to bring an umbrella to class. This is an example of which of the classic four functions?
Feedback: Functionalists argued that social science had no basis and no need for making value judgments about media; media simply served different functions for different people.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. transmission of the social heritage
b. correlation of the parts of society
c. entertainment
d. surveillance of the environment
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 12
12) You’ve read everything there is to read about corruption in the state legislature. You’re up-to-date, but there really isn’t anything you can do about it. This is media’s ___________.
Feedback: As news about an issue inundates people, they become apathetic to it, substituting knowing about that issue for action on it. The narcotizing dysfunction explains why extensive coverage of 1950 congressional hearings concerning organized crime didn’t lead to widespread public demands for government action.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. latent dysfunction
b. narcotizing dysfunction
c. third-person effect
d. surveillance of the environment function
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 13
13) The most important limitation of information-flow theory is that it is a simplistic, linear, _______ theory.
Feedback: Information originates with authoritative or elite sources (the established media or the government, for example) and then flows outward to “ignorant” individuals.
Page reference: Information-Flow Theory
a. unscientific
b. unethical
c. middle-range
d. source-dominated
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 14
14) Lazarsfeld’s research on the two-step flow of media influence demonstrated that opinion leaders existed at all levels of society and the flow of their influence tended to be __________.
Feedback: Opinion leaders influenced people like themselves rather than those above or below them in the social order.
Page reference: Personal Influence: The Two-Step Flow Theory
a. horizontal rather than vertical
b. vertical rather than horizantal
c. rapid rather than slow
d. slow rather than rapid
Type: multiple choice question
Title: Chapter 5, Question 15
15) An important concept in systems theory is that systems consists of a set of parts that ______________.
Feedback: Because all parts are linked, the entire system can change as a result of alterations in only one element.
Page reference: Systems Theories of Communication Processes
a. operate independently of one another for maximum efficiency
b. function as well under pressure as they do when there is no pressure
c. are interlinked so that changes in one part induce changes in other parts
d. are impervious to outside influence
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 16
16) One of the reasons Klapper’s phenoministic theory still holds up today is that it accounted for changes in the mass communication process brought about by the coming of television.
Feedback: Much of the research he cited examined the selective processes, but with the coming of television, media were becoming more symbolically rather than informationally oriented, producing potentially erroneous conclusions.
Page reference: Joseph Klapper's Phenoministic Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 17
17) One contemporary criticism of Klapper’s phenoministic theory is that it equates reinforcement with no effects.
Feedback: Even if it were true that the most media can do is reinforce existing attitudes and beliefs, this is hardly the same as saying they have no effect.
Page reference: Joseph Klapper's Phenoministic Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 18
18) Harold Lasswell’s model of communication is a good example of the transmissional view of communication because it accepts the power of feedback.
Feedback: The transmissional model does not account for feedback, so Lasswell’s who says what to whom through what medium with what effect is a good example of such a model precisely because it does not account for feedback.
Page reference: Evaluating Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 19
19) Cybernetics is the study of regulation and control in complex machines.
Feedback: Cybernetics investigates how communication links between the various parts of a machine enable it to perform very complex tasks and adjust to changes taking place in its external environment.
Page reference: Systems Theories of Communication Processes
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 20
20) One of the strengths of applying systems models to communication is the ease with which they allow claims of causality.
Feedback: Given the complexity of the systems involved in human communication, it becomes literally impossible to sort out causality—except for the simplest and most narrowly defined systems or parts of systems.
Page reference: Systems Theories of Communication Processes
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 21
21) A contemporary criticism of functionalism and systems theory is that they have a bias in favor of the status quo.
Feedback: Because they tend to concentrate attention on observable structures, functionalism and systems theory often lead to the assumption that the primary function or role of these structures is to maintain and serve the overall system.
Page reference: Systems Theories of Communication Processes
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 22
22) Most postpositivist researchers welcomed systems theory because it identified important causal links between system components.
Feedback: Postpositivists argue that research must stay focused on development of causal explanations and predictions. They reject complicated systems models because they don’t permit the assessment of causality.
Page reference: Systems Theories of Communication Processes
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 23
23) One advantage of explaining media influence using middle-range theories is that they do not remain separate but can be consolidated into wider networks of theory.
Feedback: Because they are sufficiently abstract to deal with differing spheres of social behavior and social structure and cut across the distinction between many issues, they can be combined for fuller understanding of a given phenomenon.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 24
24) One function of the news is to keep people informed. This is its latent function.
Feedback: This is its manifest function, one that is intended and readily observed. Latent functions are those that are unintended and less easily observed.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 25
25) Information-flow research found that most people learned quite a bit from hard news.
Feedback: In fact, it demonstrated that because people tended to be poorly educated, made little use of media for hard news, had low interest in it, and didn’t talk to other people about it, they learned very little.
Page reference: Information-Flow Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 26
26) In two-step flow theory, opinion leaders and those who followed their opinions often shared the same social status.
Feedback: Opinion leaders differed from followers in many of their personal attributes—they were more gregarious, used media more, were more socially active—but they often shared the same social status.
Page reference: Personal Influence: The Two-Step Flow Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 27
27) Middle-range theory provided an ideal rationale and justification for even grander, more large-scale investigations of media influence.
Feedback: Rather than pretend to knowledge where it is in fact absent, researchers expressly recognize what must still be learned to lay the foundation for still more knowledge. Therefore, small-scale, limited-effects studies made the most sense.
Page reference: Theories of the Middle Range and the Rise of the Functional Analysis Approach
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 28
28) Information-flow researchers differentiated between “hard” and “soft” news. Hard news typically included news about politics, science, world events, and community organizations.
Feedback: Soft news included sports coverage, gossip about popular entertainers, and human-interest stories about average people.
Page reference: Information-Flow Theory
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 29
29) Empirical social researchers confident in their assessment that media had limited effects found support in the work of earlier advocates of mass society and propaganda theories.
Feedback: They relied on empirical research to question the grand assumptions of those earlier writers.
Page reference: Overview
a. True
b. False
Type: True or False
Title: Chapter 5, Question 30
30) During the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, the limited effects perspective dominated American mass communication research.
Feedback: New bodies of theory were created by loosely knit research communities with inspiration from key individuals like Paul Lazarsfeld and Carl Hovland.
Page reference: Overview
a. True
b. False