Business Communication Today, 14e (Bovee/Thill)
Chapter 12 Writing Persuasive Messages
1) Which of the following is an attempt to change an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions?
A) Persuasion
B) Planning
C) Analysis
D) Motivation
E) Psychographics
2) Marketers use quantifiable characteristics known as ________ and psychological
characteristics known as ________ to help them understand the needs of an audience.
A) social graphics, intuitional data
B) demographics, psychographics
C) crowdsourcing, regionalism
D) psychometrics, cryptography
3) Which of the following should be incorporated into a persuasive message to make it as
effective as possible?
A) Demographics
B) Audience’s interest in being motivated
C) Audience’s desires and interests
D) Issues of safety and security
E) An authentic expression of appreciation
4) Which of the following are quantifiable characteristics about audience members?
A) Psychographics
B) Affiliation
C) Self-actualization
D) Demographics
E) Physiological requirements
5) When you’re writing a persuasive message, you can encourage a positive response by
A) using polite and positive language.
B) taking steps to establish your credibility.
C) understanding and respecting cultural differences.
D) all of the above.
6) Which of the following is an example of demographic data you can gather about your
audience?
A) Personality
B) Attitude
C) Lifestyle
D) Cultural expectations
E) Education
7) Which of the following is NOT an example of demographic information?
A) Age
B) Occupation
C) Lifestyle
D) Income
8) Which of the following is an example of psychographic information that can be determined
about an audience?
A) Age
B) Attitude
C) Gender
D) Occupation
E) Education
9) Personality, lifestyle, and attitudes are assessed through
A) demographic surveys.
B) psychographic studies.
C) inkblot tests.
D) examinations of census data.
10) Which of the following is a measure of the combination of forces that drive people to satisfy
their needs?
A) Demographics
B) Psychographics
C) Motivation
D) Appeal
E) Self-actualization
11) To be most effective, a persuasive message should align with
A) the recipient’s basic physiological requirements.
B) the recipient’s basic education and levels of understanding.
C) the recipient’s cultural expectations.
D) the recipient’s existing motivational forces.
E) the recipient’s level of resistance.
12) Which of the following will show a hostile audience that your message is credible?
A) Use claims that are emotionally based
B) Make promises based on the needs of the audience
C) Incorporate logic, evidence, and compelling narratives
D) Use high pressure and “hard sell” tactics
E) Identify which of the audience’s beliefs or attitudes are incorrect
13) When creating a persuasive message for a hostile audience, how can you help establish
common ground with the audience?
A) Use simple language to avoid suspicions
B) Emphasize shared beliefs, attitudes, and experiences
C) Provide evidence to support your claims
D) Identify information sources
E) Persuade with logic, evidence, and narratives
14) ________ information includes age, gender, occupation, income, and education.
A) Demographic
B) Stenographic
C) Psychographic
D) Typographic
15) Which of the following is addressed when advertising to people who have a need to show
others that they are successful?
A) The need for affiliation and belonging
B) The need for achievement
C) The need for safety and security
D) The need for power and control
E) The need for aesthetic appreciation
16) ________ data provides information about an individual’s personality, attitudes, lifestyle, and
other psychological characteristics.
A) Demographic
B) Ideographic
C) Psychographic
D) Lithographic
17) In general, the best persuasive messages ________ the audience’s motivations.
A) avoid mentioning
B) downplay
C) openly address
D) dismiss
E) minimize
18) As a human need that affects motivation, self-actualization involves the need to
A) cultivate lifelong involvement.
B) feel a sense of accomplishment.
C) reach one’s full potential as a human being.
D) control situations or exert authority over others.
E) avoid problems wherever possible.
19) If you can’t be sure which medium will be best to convey your persuasive message to a
diverse audience, you should
A) choose the one that is most economical.
B) select the one that is easiest to use (such as email).
C) use two or more media at the same time.
D) choose one at random and see how well it works.
E) ask the audience about their preference.
20) If a supervisor tells a worker who consistently arrives late, “I know you don’t want to have
your pay docked,” the supervisor is addressing the worker’s need for
A) safety and security.
B) acceptance.
C) status and esteem.
D) self-actualization.
E) belonging.
21) Business professionals know that ________ is the attempt to change an audience’s attitudes,
beliefs, or actions.
A) deception
B) falsification
C) persuasion
D) trickery
E) manipulation
22) During which step of the three-step writing process should you determine how the
distribution method fits the audience’s expectations and preferences?
A) When completing the message
B) When organizing the information
C) When determining appropriate media
D) When gathering information
E) When planning the message
23) What type of persuasive message is designed to convince business audiences to purchase
products and services?
A) Spider webs
B) Anecdotes
C) Persuasive business messages
D) Continuous operations messages
E) Marketing and sales messages
24) Which of the following should be evaluated when reviewing the content of a persuasive
message?
A) The incorporation of evidence to increase credibility
B) An understanding of the needs of the audience
C) The objectivity of your argument
D) An understanding of cultural expectations
E) An indication of your authority and power in the organization
25) Which of the following will help to encourage a positive response to a persuasive message?
A) Using polite but blunt language
B) Understanding and respecting cultural differences
C) Ignoring organizational culture and focusing on individual needs
D) Assuming the audience understands your authority and credibility
E) Showing the audience how their past choices have been poor decisions
26) After analyzing the situations, which of the following should be the next step in creating a
compelling persuasive message?
A) Selecting the channel and medium
B) Organizing information
C) Limiting the scope of information
D) Writing the message
E) Gathering necessary information
27) Demographic information includes people’s psychological characteristics, such as
personality, attitudes, and lifestyle.
28) Most persuasive business messages involve requests for action.
29) Persuasion is about letting audiences know they have choices and presenting your choice in
the best possible light.
30) Successful professionals understand that persuasion is the attempt to get your audience to
make the choices you want them to make—even if those choices are not in their best interest.
31) Discuss the way various types of motivation drive an audience and affect a persuasive
message, particularly in relation to Maslow’s theory.
32) In preparing to write persuasive messages, what two categories of information are vital to
assess the needs of your audience and what do the two categories include?
33) Describe at least five strategies for establishing credibility when preparing persuasive
messages.
34) Your success as a businessperson is connected closely to your ability to convince others to
A) accept new ideas.
B) change old habits.
C) act on your recommendations.
D) all of the above.
35) Most persuasive messages combine
A) truth and falsehood.
B) current and very old evidence.
C) logical and emotional factors.
D) many major points all at once.
E) direct and indirect wording.
36) What are the four communication stages in the AIDA model?
A) Attention, indirect, direct, action
B) Action, interest, desire, attention
C) Affiliation, interests, demographics, audiences
D) Attention, interest, desire, action
E) Aggregation, independence, dependence, activity
37) In which phase of the AIDA model does the writer encourage the audience to hear more
about the problem, idea, or product?
A) Audience
B) Attention
C) Interest
D) Desire
E) Action
38) When you’re composing a persuasive message, all of the following EXCEPT ________ are
common mistakes that you need to avoid.
A) using a hard-sell approach
B) promoting compromise
C) relying solely on great arguments
D) assuming that persuasion is a one-shot effort
39) Which of the following is one of the drawbacks to using the AIDA approach to persuasive
messages?
A) The message talks with the audience, not at them
B) The message is multidirectional
C) The message is built around a single event
D) The message is built around long-term relationships
E) The message cannot be effectively sent over email
40) What do persuasive business messages tend to rely on most heavily for effectiveness?
A) Culture
B) Emotion
C) Timing
D) Logic
E) Motivation
41) Why are persuasive business messages based only on emotional appeals less effective?
A) The audience will want proof you can solve a problem
B) The audience will easily reach the same conclusion as the writer
C) Emotional appeals take more time to read and process
D) The audience will need help identifying the conclusion
E) Analogies between the problem and the appeal will not be easily understood
42) AIDA stands for
A) appeal, indirect, direct, action.
B) anticipate inquiry in doing adjustments.
C) assume, insist, describe, act.
D) attention, interest, desire, action.
43) Which type of reasoning does a logical appeal use when working from specific evidence to a
general conclusion?
A) Analogy
B) Induction
C) Persuasive
D) Deduction
E) Circular
44) Which of the following is one of the best ways to deal with audience resistance to your
message?
A) Use circular reasoning
B) Avoid illogical support
C) Eliminate faulty analogies
D) Anticipate and address objections
E) Simplify complex issues
45) With regards to persuasive messages in social media, the AIDA approach is limited because
it
A) cultivates long-term relationships.
B) focuses on one-time events.
C) lacks persuasive elements.
D) uses a multidirectional, conversational approach.
E) allows the audience to respond immediately with questions.
46) Circular reasoning is a logical fallacy that involves
A) reducing a wide range of choices to a simple “either/or” scenario.
B) using irrelevant evidence to support your argument.
C) trying to support a claim by restating it in different words.
D) attacking an opponent’s character, rather than countering his or her argument.
E) identifying negative outcomes if your argument is not supported.