Chapter 4 Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following definitions BEST defines criminogenic media?
a. media content that is proven to be a direct cause of crime
b. media content that is proven to be an indirect cause of crime
c. media content that is hypothesized as a direct cause of crime
d. media content that is hypothesized as an indirect cause of crime
2. The primary reasons video gamers play video games include all of the following
EXCEPT:
a. Achievement and competition
b. Mastering the game
c. Social connections
d. Realism
3. Which of the following is a theoretical mechanism by which violent video games might
lead to social aggression?
a. Social learning
b. Excitation transfer
c. Cognitive neoassociation
d. All of the above
4. The media may do which of the following?
a. Increase the seriousness or harmfulness of the crimes that are committed by
making criminals more selective or violent
b. Foster theft and other property crimes by cultivating desires for unaffordable
things
c. Make crime seem more exciting, satisfying, and socially acceptable
d. All of the above
5. Which of the following is NOT one of the major elements commonly incorporated into
the crime(s) of a copycat criminal?
a. the number of victims
b. the choice of victim
c. the motivation
d. the technique
6. Which of the following mechanisms, in relation to copycat effects generated by the
media, is characterized through the following description: the portrayals of certain
behaviors by the media activate a cluster of associated ideas and concepts within the
potential copycat offender that increase the likelihood that he or she will behave
similarly?
a. Imitation
b. Priming
c. Scripts
d. None of the above
7. Which of the following is NOT one of the four factors that interact to contribute to the
amount of copycat crime in a society?
a. the initial crime and the criminal
b. subsequent media coverage
c. the social context
d. all of the above are factors that contribute to copycat crime
8. The size of the copycat crime pool is affected both by the level of media distribution of
the criminogenic content and by other social context factors such as all of the following
EXCEPT:
a. Social norms regarding deviance and violence
b. The lack of social conflicts
c. The number of opportunities available to the potential offender to copy a crime
technique
d. The nature, credibility, and pervasiveness of the mass media
9. Concerning the question of who follows copycat crime pathways, commits the copycat
crime, and generates the copycat crime rates, a set of five umbrella concepts have
emerged as hypothesized flags for at-risk copycat individuals. These include all of the
following EXCEPT:
a. Immersion in crime-related
b. Psychological traits
c. A personal belief in criminal efficacy
d. All of the above are hypothesized flags for at-risk copycat individuals
10. Which of the following delineates the extreme violent media–copycat crime relationship?
a. Predictable violence
b. Violence by individuals with unknown violent histories
c. Repetitive viewing and self-editing of content
d. None of the above
11. Copycat crime research suggests all of the following EXCEPT:
a. The effect of the media is more likely qualitative rather than quantitative
b. Copycat offenders usually do not have the criminal intent to commit a particular
crime before they copy a media-based technique
c. There is a pragmatic use of the media by offenders, with borrowing media crime
techniques as the most common practice
d. Copycat criminals are more likely to be career criminals involved in property
offenses rather than first or violent offenders
12. Which of the following is one of the five principles that guide contemporary terrorists?
a. Victims are chosen for symbolic meaning
b. Victims are chosen because of personal vendettas
c. Victims are chosen because of their geographical location
d. All of the above
13. Media-oriented terrorism is highly valuable to news organizations for all of the
following reasons EXCEPT:
a. Terrorism is dramatic, often violent, and timely
b. Acts of terrorist violence lack a beginning and an end
c. Acts of terrorism involve participants who are perceived by the viewing public as
unambiguous
d. Terrorist acts are not so complex as to be unintelligible by those who are only
tuning in briefly
14. As the media pursued terrorists, terrorists became media wise. They came to understand
the dynamics of newsworthiness and the benefits of media exposure including which of
the following?
a. Increased legitimacy and political status
b. Heightened perception of their strength and threat
c. An increased ability to attract resources, support, and recruits
d. All of the above
15. Whether criminogenic effects, such as copycat crime, emerge in any particular individual
depends on which of the following?
a. The media’s characterization and crime and criminals
b. The individual’s predispositions
c. The media’s social context
d. The individual’s social context
True/False
1. The “stimulating effect” hypothesis for the impact of violent media on aggression
postulates that exposure to media violence acts as a therapeutic release for anger and self–
hatred.
2. The two paths between the media and criminality that copycat criminals can take which
are related to social cognition theory are systematic central processing and heuristic
peripheral processing.
3. The research to date and the critiques of the research suggest an interaction between
video game characteristics, with violent content as one factor.
a. True
b. False
4. The United States is not a supportive copycat environment.
5. The decision to copy a crime is weighed not only against the expected reward versus
punishment from the crime, but also against expected outcomes of alternate law-abiding
behaviors.
6. Media and terrorists have a symbiotic relationship because each receives certain benefits
from the other.
7. Terrorists are always guaranteed media attention.
8. The World Wide Web has been beneficial to terrorists because it helps them reach their
target audiences.
9. The media alone is responsible for turning most people into criminals.
10. The media’s influence on the behavior of most of us is to cause us not to do certain
things.