Chapter 1: Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy
Chapter 1: Mass Communication, Culture, and
Media Literacy
Test Questions
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Communication is best defined as
a. the transmission of a message from a receiver to a source.
b. conversation between two or a few people.
c. the process of creating shared meaning.
d. the product of large media industries.
2. Feedback is
a. the response to a given communication.
b. distortion typically attributed to electronic equipment.
c. sometimes present in communication.
d. rarely present in communication.
3. Communication between two or a few people is
a. mass communication.
b. feedback.
c. interpersonal communication.
d. reciprocal communication.
4. When messages are transformed into an understandable sign and symbol system by a
participant in the communication process, _____________ is said to have occurred.
a. noise
b. encoding
c. decoding
d. feedback
5. When signs and symbols are interpreted by a participant in the communication process,
_____________ is said to have occurred.
a. noise
b. encoding
c. decoding
d. feedback
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB–1 | 2
© 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
6. Anything that interferes with successful communication is said to be
a. noise.
b. encoding.
c. decoding.
d. feedback.
7. In communication, the means by which messages are carried is
a. the feedback loop.
b. encoding.
c. decoding.
d. the medium.
8. The process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audiences is
a. mass communication.
b. feedback.
c. interpersonal communication.
d. encoding.
9. In mass communication, feedback is typically
a. instant and direct.
b. quite powerful.
c. absent.
d. delayed and inferential.
10. Large, hierarchically structured organizations are typical of
a. mass communication.
b. feedback.
c. interpersonal communication.
d. noise.
11. Ongoing and reciprocal messages are characteristic of
a. mass communication.
b. feedback.
c. interpersonal communication.
d. noise.
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB–1 | 3
© 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or
distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in
whole or part.
12. “Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and
transformed” is
a. the cultural definition of communication.
b. a sophisticated definition of feedback.
c. interpersonal communication when it works well.
d. the biological definition of communication.
13. The communication scholar credited with developing the cultural definition of communication
is
a. James Carey.
b. Marshall McLuhan.
c. Wilbur Schramm.
d. Harold Lasswell.
14. Culture is
a. opera, theater, and symphonic music.
b. communication between two or a few people.
c. the learned behavior of members of a given social group.
d. the improvement of public tastes.
15. The culture that seems to hold sway with the majority of a given people is the
a. primary culture.
b. bounded culture.
c. dominant culture.
d. transformed culture.
16. Groups with specific but not dominant cultures that exist as part of those larger cultures are
a. secondary cultures.
b. bounded cultures.
c. minority cultures.
d. transformed cultures.
17. Culture is constructed and maintained
a. through the mass media.
b. through feedback.
c. through encoding and decoding.
d. through communication.
Chapter 1: Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB–1 | 4
whole or part.
18. The idea that machines and their development drive economic and cultural change is
a. technological determinism.
b. manifest destiny.
c. technological despotism.
d. latent destiny.
19. Lasswell’s model of communication is expressed as “Who Says What in Which Channel
_____________ with What Effect.”
a. with How Much Noise
b. to Whom
c. Using Which Medium
d. to Which Interpreter
20. The Osgood and Schramm conception of the mass communication process replaces source
and receiver with
a. initiator and destination.
b. interpreters.
c. decoders.
d. Participant A and Participant B.
21. Culture is the world made meaningful; it is socially constructed and maintained through
communication. It limits, as well as liberates us; it differentiates as well as unites us. It defines
our realities and thereby
a. shapes the ways we think, feel, and act.
b. tells us what is true and false.
c. creates a national togetherness.
d. offers us hope for a unified future.
22. We can think of mass communication as a giant courtroom where, as a people, we discuss
and debate our culture—what it is and what we want it to be. This view sees mass
communication as a
a. cultural storyteller.
b. repository of cultural understanding.
c. cultural forum.
d. unrelenting agent of change.
23. If we apply the standard model of capitalism to prime-time television programming, the
television network is the producer, _____________ are the product, and advertisers are the
consumers.
a. the programs
Chapter 1: Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy
b. the commercials
c. audiences
d. the actors
24. In Schramm’s model of mass communication, messages from the media organization to the
mass audience are characterized as
a. delayed and inferential.
b. expertly decoded.
c. many and identical.
d. difficult to interpret.
25. The differences between the individual elements of interpersonal and mass communication
change the _____________ the communication process.
a. purpose of
b. noise in
c. outcome of
d. nature of
26. The ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated
communication is
a. conversationalism.
b. literacy.
c. comprehensibility.
d. media literacy.
27. Which of the following is NOT an element of media literacy?
a. possessing an awareness of media’s impact
b. possessing an understanding of the process of mass communication
c. possessing strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages
d. possessing the skill to disconnect from the media’s messages
28. When we read media content at a variety of different levels, we are said to be engaging the
content
a. intelligently.
b. as the producers had intended.
c. from multiple points of access.
d. intuitively.
