Chapter 3: Identities, Perceptions, and Communication
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The “onion model” has persisted as what sort of approach to the study of identities,
even though it is not supported by research?
a. Horsesense
b. Sensible
c. No-nonsense
d. Traditional
2. Individualized ways of understanding the world and its contents are known as
______.
a. social constructs
b. symbolic constructs
c. talking dialectic constructs
d. personal constructs
3. To share narratives with others about our personal identity, we must have _______.
a. the ability to adapt stories of our identities to a social context
b. the ability to tell stories well to all our listeners
c. the ability to tell new stories to each new listener we encounter
d. the ability to tell stories with consistency despite having many listeners
4. Performing your “self” requires ______.
a. having more money than your audience has
b. having an audience
c. having a positive self-image
d. having material objects that support your performance
5. The front region refers to ______.
a. a place where we perform identity
b. a place where we can perform our informal self
c. an occasion in which we perform our professional, proper self
d. an informal occasion of identity
6. The idea of the performative self indicates that ______.
a. we create narratives of our self according to social norms
b. we are guided by social ideals in fulfilling our identity
c. we use objects to represent our identity
d. we enact different identities in different settings
7. Which of the following can be considered a master identity?
a. Boss
b. Biological sex
c. Professor
d. Happy
8. The revelation of identity is ______.
a. a simple declaration of facts
b. a direct lead to intimacy
c. rarely a simple progression
d. not connected to intimacy
9. The idea of the symbolic self indicates that ______.
a. we use objects to represent our identity
b. we enact different identities in different settings
c. we create our self partly in response to social interaction
d. we use our communicative behavior to express our inner self
10. Facework has to do with people’s sense of ______.
a. their own master identity
b. their back region
c. their core self
d. their own dignity
11. Culture affects our identity experience because ______.
a. cultural norms can help to shape our identity
b. cultural norms destroy identity
c. cultural heritage is not a part of identity
d. cultural heritage determines identity
12. Narratives are important in establishing your identity because they reveal to others
______.
a. how effective a storyteller you are
b. how interesting a speaker you are
c. how you think about the world
d. how others think about the world
13. The earliest important influence on a person’s sense of origin and identity is that
person’s ______.
a. best friend
b. spouse
c. work supervisor
d. family
14. The work someone’s communication does to impose, support, or reject identities of
others is which of the following?
a. Forecasting
b. Altercasting
c. Spincasting
d. Othercasting
15. Which of the following calls into question the notion of having a core self?
a. People’s moods are stable, so they always act the same way.
b. People often act differently in different situations.
c. People tend to be evaluated in similar ways by other people.
d. People tend not to care what other people think.
16. Performative self means that ______.
a. selves are discovered in layers
b. selves are creative performances
c. selves are acting the same in all situations
d. selves are unchanged after we reach adulthood
17. Self-disclosure is most likely to reveal information that is ______.
a. private and confidential
b. private and controversial
c. public and controversial
d. public and not sensitive
18. The openness–closedness dialectic is defined as occurring when ______.
a. people are unsure how connected versus how independent they want to be
b. people are unsure how others will react to their disclosures
c. people are unsure how much information to keep public versus private
d. people are unsure of their own identity
1. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. People can experience mood swings as a result of
______.
a. bad hair days
b. gluten intolerance
c. hormonal imbalances
d. lack of sunshine
2. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Our beliefs, attitudes, and values impact the selection
process, as explained by which of the following?
a. Selective exposure
b. Selective retention
c. Selective disclosure
d. Selective perception
3. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Narratives can be ______.
a. an epistemology
b. an ontology
c. an individual construction
d. a relational process
4. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Master identities are one way people might argue that
a core self exists because ______.
a. a person is born male or female
b. a person is born a particular race
c. a person is born homosexual or heterosexual
d. a person is born in a particular place
5. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. What are some of the ways in which we organize
information?
a. Personal constructs
b. Front and back regions
c. Schemata
d. Prototype
6. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. What are some examples of how multiple experiences
in everyday life call into question having a core self or identity?
a. Different evaluations
b. Different situations
c. Different relationships
d. Different moods
1. Identity is exclusively self-determined.
2. Identity is variable, is complex, and can change over time.
3. Self-disclosure involves revealing details about yourself that are public and easily
visible to others.
4. It is possible to self-disclose too much information in given situations.
5. Selective exposure refers to people’s likelihood of exposing themselves to what
supports their values and attitudes.
6. Schemata are the ways others reflect on how they view our identities.
7. Symbolic interactionism refers to how broad social forces affect an individual’s view
of self.
8. Cultural heritage is often a part of establishing personal identity.
9. We would never change our mind about someone who was a good and loyal friend.
10. Altercasting is an idea that is about the performance of one’s identity in public, or a
way of presenting one’s self to others that is intended to make the self look good.
11. If not for symbols, there would be no need to talk about people being unique or
enacting particular identities.
12. Stories about you must fit with what your societal audience believes to be coherent
and acceptable.
13. Receiving self-disclosures from another person might cause a listener to feel
uncomfortable.
1. What term explains why people might be more likely to spend time with individuals
whose beliefs, values, and attitudes are similar to their own?
2. What is the term for when we create a rut by allowing certain ways of behaving and
viewing the world to become deeply ingrained in our thinking?
3. Self-disclosure is an important aspect of identity construction, but what is another
way that people construct identities that involves stories?
4. Define what Erving Goffman meant by the “front region/back region” aspect of social
performance.
5. Explain metacommunication.
6. Give one reason why a layered onion is not an accurate way to think about the
transaction of identities in everyday life.