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Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-13 | 1
whole or part.
Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass
Communication
1. _____________ is when advertisers encourage their audience to perceive their products as
having meaning beyond the product’s actual function.
a. Product positioning
b. Symbolic interaction
c. Modeling
d. Agenda setting
2. Media effects on individuals are said to be
a. micro-level effects.
b. macro-level effects.
c. transmissional effects.
d. ritual effects.
3. Media effects that occur at the cultural level are said to be
a. micro-level effects.
b. macro-level effects.
c. administrative effects.
d. critical effects.
4. Questions about media’s impact on issues, such as what kind of nation we are building or
what kind of people we are becoming, are characteristic of
a. micro-level research.
b. transmissional research.
c. critical research.
d. ritual research.
5. The view of mass media as central to the maintenance of society over time and the
representation of shared beliefs is the _____________ perspective.
a. micro-level
b. macro-level
c. transmissional
d. ritual
Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-13 | 2
whole or part.
6. Research questions about the immediate, observable influence of mass communication are
examples of _____________ research.
a. micro-level
b. ritual
c. organic
d. administrative
7. The _____________ perspective of mass communication sees media as senders of
messages (discrete bits of information) across space.
a. ritual
b. transmissional
c. critical
d. administrative
8. In a typical beer ad, “buy this beer” is the _____________ message, whereas “you need this
beer to have fun, to be attractive, and to have friends” may be its _____________ message.
a. ritual; transmissional
b. transmissional; ritual
c. micro-level; macro-level
d. administrative; critical
9. _____________ theory argues that cultures give symbols meaning and then those symbols
control behavior.
a. Social construction of reality
b. Symbolic interaction
c. Gatekeeper
d. Agenda setting
10. _____________ theory argues that media do not tell us what to think, but what to think about.
a. Social construction of reality
b. Symbolic interaction
c. Gatekeeper
d. Agenda setting
11. Mass communication _____________ are explanations and predictions of social phenomena
that attempt to relate mass communication to various aspects of our personal and cultural
lives or social systems.
a. assumptions
Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication
b. hypotheses
c. theories
d. sciences
12. Ideas that explain or predict only limited aspects of the mass communication process are
called
a. assumptions.
b. testable hypotheses.
c. middle-range theories.
d. quasi-sciences.
13. Because mass communication theories are created by people, and are therefore influenced
by human biases, the times in which we live, the position we occupy in the mass
communication process, and a host of other factors, we can say that these theories are
a. dynamic.
b. unreliable.
c. unscientific.
d. human constructions.
14. Because the environments in which they are created change constantly, mass communication
theories are said to be
a. dynamic.
b. unreliable.
c. unscientific.
d. human constructions.
15. The emergence of cultural theory in mass communication signaled a return to
a. the primacy of social science observation in communication research.
b. the belief in powerful media effects.
c. the belief in limited media effects.
d. mass communication theory’s roots in psychology and sociology.
16. In mass communication theory, the_______ argues that active audience members use media
content to create meaning, and meaningful experiences, for themselves.
a. alternative hypothesis perspective
b. meaning-making perspective
c. middle-range perspective
d. revolutionary perspective
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-13 | 4
whole or part.
17. During the _____________ era of mass communication theory, the media were believed to
be corrupting influences that undermined the social order, and “average” people were
considered defenseless against their influence.
a. mass society theory
b. hypodermic needle theory
c. limited effects theory
d. cultural theory
18. The mass society theory idea that media are a dangerous drug, or a killing force that directly
and immediately penetrates a person’s system, is summed up in the
a. mass society theory.
b. hypodermic needle theory.
c. limited effects theory.
d. cultural theory.
19. The era of the limited effects perspective on mass communication theory began with what
famous media event?
a. the sinking of the Titanic
b. the coming of talking pictures
c. the Orson Wells radio production of “The War of the Worlds”
d. the Frank Capra Why We Fight films
20. In limited effects theory, the influence of media is thought to be limited by people’s intelligence
and education, in other words by their
a. personal relationships.
b. individual differences.
c. social categories.
d. opinion leaders.
21. In limited effects theory, the influence of media is thought to be limited by people’s religious
and political affiliations, in other words by their
a. personal relationships.
b. individual differences.
c. social categories.
d. opinion leaders.
22. The idea that information from the media, and therefore media effects, travel from media
through opinion leaders to opinion followers is called _____________ theory.
a. uses and gratifications
Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-13 | 5
whole or part.
b. limited effects
c. attitude change
d. two-step flow
23. _____________ theory explains how people’s attitudes are formed, shaped, and changed
through communication and how those attitudes influence behavior.
a. Magic bullet
b. Limited effects
c. Attitude change
d. Two-step flow
24. _____________ theory argues that people experience a kind of mental discomfort when
confronted with new information. As a result, they consciously and subconsciously work to
limit or reduce that discomfort.
a. Dissonance
b. Limited effects
c. Attitude change
d. Two-step flow
25. People’s psychological dissonance is reduced through the selective processes, one of which
is _____________, the process in which people attend to only those messages that are
consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs.
a. selective exposure
b. selective retention
c. selective perception
d. selective counterveillance
26. People’s psychological dissonance is reduced through the selective processes, one of which
is ____________, the process by which people interpret messages in a manner consistent
with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs.
a. selective exposure
b. selective retention
c. selective perception
d. selective counterveillance
27. The idea that mass communication ordinarily does not serve as a necessary and sufficient
cause of audience effects, but rather functions among and through a nexus (web) of
mediating factors and influences, is the basis of Joseph Klapper’s _____________ theory.
a. two-step flow
b. dissonance
c. magic bullet
Chapter 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication
Baran: Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture, 9e TB-13 | 6
d. reinforcement
28. _____________ theory argues that media don’t do things to people; rather, people do things
with media. In other words, media’s influence is limited to what people allow it to be.
a. Uses and gratifications
b. Limited effects
c. Attitude change
d. Agenda setting
29. _____________ theoryproduced theorist Stuart Hall, who first developed the idea of media as
a public forum.
a. Cultural
b. Limited effects
c. Attitude change
d. British cultural
30. The idea that media’s influence resides in the “relationship between the larger social system,
the media’s role in that system, and audience relationships to the media” forms the basis of
_____________ theory.
a. uses and gratifications
b. dependency
c. attitude change
d. agenda setting
31. _____________ theory is the idea that people learn through observation to model the
behaviors they see.
a. Selective observation
b. Excitation
c. Social cognitive
d. Vicarious reinforcement
32. Social cognitive theorists call the direct replication of an observed behavior
a. modeling.
b. imitation.
c. identification.
d. behavioral hierarchy.
33. Social cognitive theorists give the label _____________ to the special form of imitation in
