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Chapter 6: Culture and Communication
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Individualist cultures are generally known to ______.
a. emphasize the importance of one’s place in the system
b. stress group benefit
c. emphasize acting for the common good
d. focus on personal goals and achievements
2. A person who comes from a monochronic culture would be most likely to ______.
a. arrive on time, if not early, for appointments
b. multitask on a regular basis
c. carry out multiple conversations at the same time
d. establish relationships before introducing business
3. A person who comes from a polychronic culture would be most likely to ______.
a. arrive on time, if not early, for appointments
b. think of time as a straight line from beginning to end
c. be less concerned about arriving on time for appointments
d. be more concerned about business than getting to know someone
4. The cultural approach to conflict that views it as opportunity would likely assume that
______.
a. conflict is a destructive disturbance of the peace
b. members should adapt to established social values
c. confrontation is ineffective
d. confrontation releases tensions
5. The cultural approach to conflict that views it as destructive would likely assume that
______.
a. conflict is a normal, useful process
b. all issues are subject to change through negotiation
c. people who dispute issues should be disciplined
d. confrontation releases tensions
6. Giving up your own positions on a regular basis to satisfy others in a conflict, even
when no one else compromises anything, is typical of this style of conflict management.
a. Dominating
b. Integrating
c. Obliging
d. Avoiding
7. Forcing others to see every conflict your way, without compromising your views, is
typical of this style of conflict management.
a. Dominating
b. Integrating
c. Obliging
d. Avoiding
8. Certain topics that people in a society never bother to persuade anyone else about
because their arguments are always raised against a background of common
understanding and shared beliefs are known as ______.
a. cultural persuadables
b. cultural expendables
c. cultural communities
d. cultural entities
9. Believing that our own cultural way of acting is right and normal, and all other ways of
acting are only variants of the only really good way to act, is called ______.
a. ethnography
b. ethnocentric bias
c. egocentric bias
d. autoethnography
10. A smaller group of culture within a larger cultural mass is considered to be,
according to Duck and McMahan, a(n) ______.
a. subculture
b. nonculture
c. co-culture
d. insignificant culture
11. Your authors’ perspective that “society is a coded system of meaning” reflects the
belief that ______.
a. society is the hierarchical structure in which we live
b. society is the power structure in which we live
c. society is a set of beliefs, heritage, and way of being in which we live
d. society is an illusion in which we live
12. According to your authors, children who learn the “rules” of how to talk to others also
learn ______.
a. the habits of their particular culture
b. the most effective way to throw a tantrum
c. the problems of human communication
d. the lack of human culture
13. High-context societies are more likely to ______.
a. emphasize the actual words of the message rather than the context
b. consider relationships as important as, if not more important than, the actual
message
c. separate the relationships from the message
d. focus on the details and the logic of the message
14. Low-context societies are more likely to ______.
a. take more cues from their relationship with the speaker than from the message
b. pay attention to the details and the logic of the message
c. pay more attention to contextual issues such as nonverbal communication
d. pay less attention to the spoken words of the message
15. In an organizational setting, a low-context culture would emphasize ______.
a. commitment to people
b. adherence to set plans
c. concern for relationships
d. open friendliness over privacy
16. In an organizational setting, a high-context culture would emphasize ______.
a. commitment to people
b. adherence to set plans
c. concern for others’ privacy
d. promptness
17. Collectivist cultures are generally known to ______.
a. emphasize the individual person
b. emphasize individual goals and achievements
c. emphasize the right to personal choice
d. emphasize acting for the common good
1. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which groups are considered members of a unique
culture?
a. Comic book fans
b. Farmers
c. Musicians
d. Fast-food employees
2. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. The research that has been conducted about culture
from a structural standpoint, examining communication within and among nations or
physical regions, is usually referred to as ______.
a. nation-state communication
b. cross-cultural communication
c. transactional communication
d. intercultural communication
3. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Culture is not just structured but is also transacted in
communication by which means?
a. Heritage
b. A way of being
c. A coded system of meaning
d. A set of beliefs
4. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which are considered cross-cultural characteristics?
a. Time
b. Conflict
c. Collectivism/Individualism
d. Context
5. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which best describe the assumptions known as
cultural persuadables?
a. It is important to have a well-structured argument or well-delivered presentation.
b. Certain topics and ideas are taken for granted within a given society.
c. There is a background of common understanding and shared belief within a given
society.
d. There are norms that delineate a range of what may and what must be persuaded
within a given society.
6. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which are true of transacting culture?
a. Culture goes beyond physical location.
b. Cultural groups are created through communication.
c. Cultural membership is enacted through communication.
d. Culture is embedded within your communication.
7. CHOOSE ALL THAT APPLY. Which is an indication that culture is embedded within
your communication?
a. Wearing “cultural clothes”
b. Speaking in a manner that prompts someone to ask, “Are you from the South?”
c. Speaking in a language that is not your native language
d. When someone says to you, “I love your accent”
1. Culture refers exclusively to geographical or ethnic differences between groups of
people.
2. Co-cultural groups and “social communities” often exist within the framework of a
larger culture.
3. Context has to do with the number of words in a message.
4. Collectivism involves placing more emphasis on the needs of the group over the
needs of the individual.
5. Individualism involves placing more emphasis on the needs of the group over the
needs of the individual.
4. If cultural understanding is fundamental to enacting cultural membership, then how is
that understanding learned?
5. The most common approach to studying culture has been to view it as what kind of
structure?
6. On one hand, the authors say culture is not equivalent to nation or geography, yet
they focus on many of those features in this chapter. Why?
7. Your culture is ______ in your communication not only in the language you speak but
also in the thoughts you express and the assumptions you make.
8. What is a term that describes how people can know something about a person’s
culture when that person speaks?
1. Explain what is meant by the term ethnocentric bias.
2. Identify what is studied in the field of cross-cultural communication as compared with
intercultural communication.
3. Define what a speech community is and where speech communities are found.
4. Distinguish between low-context and high-context societies.
5. Identify the differences between individualist and collectivist cultures.
6. Describe how studying culture as a transaction is different from studying culture in
structural or geographic terms.
7. Describe how enacting membership into a cultural group is more complicated and
restrictive than it may initially appear?
8. Explain how the view of culture as transacted proposes that communication can lead
to membership in a particular culture.
