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Answer Key
1. A
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45. C
1. Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion is considered by many academics to be “the founding
book in American media studies.”
A) True
B) False
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2. Social psychology studies measure public attitudes.
A) True
B) False
3. Media effects research first emerged because of concerns about television violence.
A) True
B) False
4. Between 1930 and 1970, “Who says what to whom with what effect?” became the key
question in American communications research.
A) True
B) False
5. Researchers associated with the minimal-effects model argue that people engage in
selective exposure and selective retention with regard to the media.
A) True
B) False
6. The minimal-effects model of mass media research holds that the media reinforce
existing behaviors and attitudes rather than change them.
A) True
B) False
7. Survey research is better than experimental research at establishing cause-effect
linkages, but experimental research gets closer to real-world conditions.
A) True
B) False
8. Content analysis is the primary method researchers use to measure the amount of
violence on network television.
A) True
B) False
9. One of the main problems in studying the effects of media is that whatever real effects
the media cause, they also often serve as a scapegoat for larger social problems.
A) True
B) False
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10. Agenda-setting theory refers to the media’s ability to change public opinion on
controversial issues.
A) True
B) False
11. The cultivation effect theory suggests that heavy viewing of television leads individuals
to perceive the world in ways that are more consistent with television’s portrayals of the world.
A) True
B) False
12. Textual analysis is able to demonstrate the effects of the media on audiences.
A) True
B) False
13. One key difference between content analysis and textual analysis is the greater emphasis
on counting, measurement, and reliability in content analysis.
A) True
B) False
14. The idea of the public sphere, defined as a space for critical public debate, was first
advanced by American media critic Walter Lippmann.
A) True
B) False
15. Philosophers such as Jürgen Habermas believed that critical public debate beyond the
control of aristocrats, royalty, and religious elites led to support for causes like free speech.
A) True
B) False
16. Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere was about the need for global cooperation
with public projects.
A) True
B) False
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17. The scientific study of mass media got started because of interest in ______.
A) French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville
B) how media messages were used to inspire public support for World War I
C) knowing which forms of advertising were most effective
D) finding out how the public feels about political and social issues
E) how violent video images might inspire violent behavior
18. Researchers’ negative definition of the kind of propaganda used by various governments
during World War I was ______.
A) “the opinions of various political groups and candidates for political office”
B) “the control of military communication through the use of secret codes”
C) “the use of reliable and truthful information in an honest discussion of national
policy”
D) “partisan appeal based on half-truths and devious manipulation of communication
channels”
E) “the public’s ability to set the agenda of those holding office or other form of power
through communication”
19. Call-in online, or person-in-the-street polls that the news media use to address a
“question of the day” are known as ______.
A) propaganda analysis
B) the uses and gratifications model
C) the scientific method
D) pseudo-polls
E) random assignment
20. The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds made millions of listeners believe that
Martians were invading Earth; however, most listeners didn’t believe that the story was real.
This outcome ultimately helped lay the groundwork for which research model?
A) The hypodermic-needle model
B) The minimal-effects model
C) The uses and gratifications model
D) The survey model
E) The textual analysis model
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21. The hypodermic-needle research model might be considered the opposite of which
research model?
A) The agenda-setting model
B) The minimal-effects model
C) The uses and gratifications model
D) The survey model
E) The textual analysis model
22. People often choose to expose themselves only to media outlets that express their views.
What is this called?
A) The uses and gratifications model
B) Selective exposure and retention
C) The hypodermic-needle model
D) The marketing research model
E) The propaganda analysis model
23. The question “Why do we use the media?” is often asked under the ______ model.
A) uses and gratifications
B) selective exposure and retention
C) hypodermic-needle
D) marketing research
E) propaganda analysis
24. Which of the following is not a common characteristic of private or proprietary mass
media research?
A) It is more theoretical than applied.
B) It is generally conducted for a business, a corporation, or even a political campaign.
C) It relies on the scientific method to reach conclusions.
D) It tends to try to find answers to meet a real-life problem or need.
E) It could help create more effective advertising.
25. Which kind of research method employs a control group for comparison?
A) Focus group interviews
B) Content analysis
C) Political economy
D) Experiment
E) Survey
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26. In experiments, subjects are picked for each group through ______, which simply means
that each subject has an equal chance of being placed in either group.
A) random assignment
B) hypotheses
C) control groups
D) scientific method
E) surveys
27. A mass media effects researcher might choose an experiment approach if he or she has
______.
A) a desire to get results that reflect some truth about a large population
B) a desire to find out if two variables are related in some undetermined way
C) a desire to try to show a cause-effect relationship between two variables
D) a desire to study a large population
E) the ability to study a large population and see how it changes over time
28. Which of the following is not a legitimate technique for gathering quality research data?
A) Surveys
B) Content analysis
C) Textual analysis
D) Online question of the day polls
E) Laboratory experiments
29. Which of the following is not one of the steps in the scientific method listed in your
textbook?
A) Identifying the research problem
B) Determining an appropriate research method or design
C) Collecting information or relevant data
D) Reviewing existing research or theories related to your problem
E) Presenting the proposed research problem to companies for funding
30. A mass media effects researcher might choose a survey approach if he or she has a desire
to ______.
A) try to control variables using a control group and an experiment group
B) demonstrate a clear cause-effect relationship
C) observe people in a laboratory, or tightly controlled, situation
D) observe people using mass media in their own homes
E) collect information that applies to a large population
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31. What type of study looks at changes in a population over time?
A) Content analysis study
B) Longitudinal study
C) Agenda-setting study
D) Experiment study
E) Textual analysis study
32. Which kind of research method reveals correlations between two variables?
A) Content analysis
B) Experiment
C) Political economy
D) Focus group interviews
E) Survey
33. Just like science fiction movies of the 1950s and 1960s revealed our fears of nuclear
bombs, after 9/11 one television series exposed our fear of terrorism. How did the fictional
series 24 become notable?
A) Support for the use of torture or enhanced interrogation techniques declined from
58 percent in 2005 to 45 percent in 2016.
B) The series began production after 9/11 to reflect the fight against terrorists.
C) Many television critics praised the series for normalizing torture.
D) The story line references the U.S. political debate on torture as an appropriate tactic
to stop terrorism.
E) All of the options are correct.
34. Which kind of research involves systematically coding and measuring media content?
A) Experiments
B) Focus group interviews
C) Surveys
D) Content analysis
E) Political economy
35. What method is a researcher using if he or she watches a season of a television program
and counts each time an act of violence is shown?
A) Content analysis
B) Experiment
C) Textual analysis
D) Survey
E) Focus group
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36. Which of the following is not one of the four steps identified as part of the social
learning theory process?
A) Retention
B) Motivation
C) Attention
D) Motor reproduction
E) Cultivation
37. Which line of research has generally demonstrated that the mass media don’t tell people
what to think as much as they tell people what to think about?
A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Social learning theory
D) Spiral of silence
E) Audience studies
38. Which line of research helps to explain why Midwesterners started to rank shark attacks
as a problem after the 1975 release of the movie Jaws and its subsequent press coverage?
A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Spiral of silence
D) Textual analysis
E) Social learning theory
39. If someone has never been the victim of a violent crime and lives in an area that has very
low rates of violent crime, yet still feels he or she is at a high level or risk for such crimes after
watching a lot of Law & Order, this might be an example of ______.
A) the cultivation effect
B) agenda-setting
C) political economy
D) textual analysis
E) audience studies
40. The major research in the area of cultivation effect grew from the attempts of ______ to
make generalizations about the impact of televised violence.
A) social learning theorists
B) George Gerbner and his colleagues
C) Walter Lippman
D) Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
E) None of the options are correct.
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41. The cultivation effect (also known as “mean world” syndrome) argues that ______.
A) the more television people watch, the meaner they become
B) people who watch more television believe they are more likely to become victims
of crime or violence than they actually are
C) people who consider television watching an “uncultured” activity are more likely to
believe most people are violent
D) people who watch violent television will become more violent
E) None of the options are correct.
42. Which of the following is a theory that contends that people who believe they hold
minority opinions on controversial issues tend not to speak out for fear of social isolation?
A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Social learning
D) Textual analysis
E) Spiral of silence
43. ______ is the theory that people believe others are more affected by media messages
than they are themselves.
A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Third-person effect
D) Textual analysis
E) Spiral of silence
44. Which of the following is characteristic of a cultural studies approach to mass media
research?
A) The belief that audiences are primarily passive and easily persuaded
B) An attempt to understand how people use media to serve their own ends
C) The belief that media don’t tell us what to think but what to think about
D) A focus on how people make meaning, understand reality, and order their
experiences
E) An interest in measuring and coding the content of particular media texts
45. The close reading and interpretation of the meaning of cultural forms is called ______.
A) content analysis
B) agenda-setting
C) textual analysis
D) the cultivation effect
E) uses and gratifications
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46. While social science research can be characterized as trying to establish a
cause-and-effect relationship, cultural studies ______.
A) does exactly the same thing, but calls it something different
B) looks at how propaganda might affect a group of people
C) only examines how the media affect the world
D) only focuses on how society shapes mass media
E) forms more general perspectives about how the mass media interact with the world
47. Which of the following is a focus of cultural studies approaches to media studies?
A) Textual analysis
B) Audience studies
C) Political economy studies
D) Debate in the public sphere
E) All of the options are correct.
48. When mass media researchers say they are studying political economy, they are most
likely looking at which of the following?
A) The ways political candidates make decisions about reaching an audience
B) The ways economists become political candidates
C) The way ownership of a television network influences the kinds of information in
the network news
D) The way ordinary people engage in political activism or conversations about
politics
E) None of the options are correct.
49. Habermas formed his ideas about the public sphere while examining which aspect of
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English and French society?
A) Aristocrats, royalty, and religious leaders’ discussions of important issues
B) The way newspapers manipulated the lower and middle classes
C) How the middle class began to gather in places like coffeehouses to critically
discuss public life
D) The idea that communication and culture could be viewed as the same thing
E) None of the options are correct.
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50. In what way did Habermas think mass media could be an enemy of democracy?
A) Media power could be used to increase consumerism.
B) The powerful could use the media to manipulate the public into supporting the
status quo.
C) The media could be used to procure mass loyalty among the populace.
D) Citizens would not engage in critical examination of the power held by those who
ruled.
E) All of the options are correct.
51. Media historian James Carey defined communication as ______.
A) “an exchange of verbal or nonverbal symbols between individuals or groups”
B) “a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and
transformed”
C) “the gathering of a middle class to critically discuss the world around them”
D) “a strict set of rules governing how different social classes interact”
E) All of the options are correct.
52. An example of Carey’s description of communication as culture might be seen in
______.
A) people gathering in meeting houses to talk about issues like free speech
B) the way a message goes simply from sender to receiver
C) the attempts to repair and transform society through adjusted narratives and
symbols following the Civil Rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s
D) how culture disconnects from the communication of a period in time
E) All of the options are correct.
53. If you are trying to understand human behavior rather than explaining and predicting it,
which approach to mass communication research would you take?
A) A media effects approach to research
B) A cultural approach to research
C) An agenda-setting approach to research
D) A content analysis approach to research
E) None of the options are correct.
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54. Critics of mass media research point to which of the following as a reason why the
growing body of academic knowledge about the media seems to have little impact on the vast
majority of mass media users?
A) Members of the public just don’t care how media affect their lives.
B) None of the research addresses the concerns of marginalized groups.
C) Specialized jargon makes it nearly impossible for nonacademics, and even other
academics, to understand the results of research.
D) Some researchers publish hoaxes to see if anyone is paying attention.
E) Researchers just don’t care about the concerns and interests of the general public.
55. ________________________-polls are typically call-in, online, or person-in-the-street
polls that news media use to address a “question of the day.”
56. Between 1930 and 1970, “Who says what to whom with what
________________________?” became the key question “defining the scope and problems of
American communications research.”
57. The hypodermic-needle model is sometimes also called the magic
_______________________ theory.
58. Researchers associated with the minimal-effects model argue that people engage in
selective ________________________ and selective retention with regard to the media.
59. In social science research, the ________________________ group serves as a basis for
comparison with the experimental group.
60. ________________________ is the kind of research method used in the Bobo doll
study.
61. ________________________ theory is a theory within media effects research that
suggests a link between the mass media and behavior
62. ________________________ is a media research argument that says that when the mass
media pay attention to particular events or issues, they determine the major topics of discussion
for individuals and society.
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63. In media research, the ________________________ is the idea that heavy television
viewing leads individuals to perceive reality in ways that are consistent with the portrayals they
see on television,
64. In media research, the ________________________ studies approach tries to understand
how the media and culture are tied to the actual patterns of communication used in daily life.
65. In media research, an area that focuses on media ownership and what that might mean
for the messages distributed to the public is called ________________________.
66. _____ has generally demonstrated that the mass media don’t tell people what to think as
much as they tell people what to think about.
67. The results of a(n) _____ are usually generalizable to a larger population.
68. The _____ suggests that heavy viewers of television are more likely than light viewers to
perceive reality in ways that are more consistent with “TV reality.”
69. _____ might help to calculate how many times a person watching an hour of prime-time
television might see a violent act.
70. The _____ research method employs a control group for comparison.
71. What are pseudo-polls? Why are they used?
72. Name (and briefly explain) two major study conclusions used to discount the magic
bullet, or hypodermic-needle, theory.
73. When studying media effects, which kinds of issues should you look at?
74. What are agenda-setting and the cultivation effect?
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75. What is the spiral of silence? In what kinds of circumstances might the theorized effects
not occur?
76. Our media culture helps to make sense of the world. It changes our culture and we are
changed by it. Media also changes our history, politics, and economics. Provide examples from
the textbook and by searching the Web.
77. How does a cultural studies approach to media research differ from an experimental,
scientific approach?
78. What problems do academic studies, including cultural research, face? How have
academics tried to solve these problems?
79. While new communication technologies like the Internet might offer new opportunities
for people to participate in Habermas’s public sphere, explain how his concerns about how the
mass media might harm democracy might be influenced by the Internet.
80. Why might it be important for academic researchers to make the results of their work
accessible to people outside of their disciplines and outside of academia?
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Answer Key
1. A
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45. C