Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
CHAPTER 1: CONNECTING PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1) Which of the following principles helps provide a foundation for understanding communication?
A) Communication is moral.
B) Communication is natural.
C) Communication is a system.
D) Communication is linear.
E) Communication is based on language.
2) The statement, “Communication is a process” implies that
A) the function of communication seldom changes.
B) communication is ongoing and ever changing.
C) communication is best understood as a series of step-by–step actions.
D) communication is generally transmitted through electronic means.
E) social systems are merely contexts in which communication occurs.
3) According to the text, the essential components of communication are
A) symbols, understanding, purpose, ideas, opinions, nonverbals, and reaction.
B) radio, television, Internet, symbols, and gender.
C) source/sender, message, interference, channel, receiver, feedback, environment, and context.
D) source, destination, interaction, and correlation.
E) symbols, understanding, communication, and communicant.
4) The principles of effective composition and speech delivery were first studied by
A) social scientists after the conclusion of WWII.
B) religious leaders during the European “Middle Ages.”
C) the rhetoricians of ancient Greece and Rome.
D) media theorists after the advent of radio and mediated political debates.
E) followers of Buddha, who advised his disciples to avoid “harsh speech.”
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
5) Communication is a diverse discipline involving a range of behaviors and situations. The common thread
connecting all of these behaviors and situations is
A) classical rhetoric.
B) public speaking.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) human symbolic interaction.
E) organizational behavior.
6) The classical rhetorician who noted that communication needed to be presented by “a good man speaking
well” was
A) Caesar.
B) Aristotle.
C) Quintilian.
D) Corax.
E) Plato.
7) Sam tells the interviewer that he has 15 years of sales experience even though he has only two years of sales
experience. The prospective employer offers him the sales job on the spot. This example illustrates that
unethical communication
A) can be easily discovered by the audience.
B) is virtuous.
C) is always ineffective.
D) may, in fact, constitute effective communication.
E) makes use of ethos.
8) Aristotle, a Greek rhetorician, argued that communication was most powerful when a speaker’s character, or
________, was engaged in presenting truth.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
A) telos (purpose)
B) ethos (ethical appeal)
C) pathos (emotional appeal)
D) logos (logical appeal)
E) kairos (effective timing)
9) When individuals are involved in a simultaneous communication process, they are involved in
A) encoding.
B) a reaction.
C) decoding.
D) a transaction.
E) reception.
10) Bailey notices that her typically soft-spoken movie theater supervisor has been yelling at her and several of
her coworkers. She speculates that problems at home may be impacting her supervisor’s work relationships.
This speculation best illustrates the principle that communication is
A) overt.
B) intentional.
C) a process.
D) systemic.
E) transactional.
11) Although communication can be considered both transactional and interactional, the prime function of the
communication source/sender is to
A) decode the intended message.
B) serve only as the sender.
C) create the message.
D) evaluate the message.
E) respond to the message.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
12) Kyle is frantically trying to finish his outline, because he forgot that it was due the following day. Since the
Internet is easy to access and there are so many sites available, he decides to take someone else’s work and
pass it off as his own, assuming he will not get caught. Kyle’s decision illustrates that technology has led to a
greater tendency for some people to
A) conduct research in libraries.
B) use ethical communication.
C) plagiarize.
D) enhance their credibility using verifiable sources.
E) build ethos.
13) Dr. Halliday is presenting a lecture to an audience of over 100 students. She asks, “Can you hear me?” and
Courtney, who is sitting in the back row, nods. What component of the communication process does
Courtney’s response illustrate?
A) context
B) noise
C) channel
D) environment
E) feedback
14) Effective communication skills
A) are inherited from your parents.
B) are learned over time through instruction and practice.
C) are mainly important for those who have jobs in the media.
D) will guarantee that the communicator’s goals are morally correct.
E) are best learned through classroom instruction.
15) Which of the following statements about culture and communication is most accurate?
A) Some cultures need to improve the way they communicate.
B) Due to technology, we no longer need to be concerned about improving our understanding of people
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
from different cultures.
C) Culture illustrates the linear nature of communication.
D) Culture rarely becomes an element of communication.
E) The way in which people communicate is primarily a function of culture.
16) News reporters, anchors, or book authors communicate with or to a very large number of people via
newspaper, television, or books. This example best illustrates
A) mass communication.
B) intrapersonal communication.
C) public communication.
D) dyadic communication.
E) small group communication.
17) After finishing a lecture on thermodynamics, Arleen compliments Dr. Phen by saying, “Sir that was a ‘bad’
lecture,” to which Dr. Phen responds, “Why, what was wrong with it?” Which of the following statements
about communication best illustrate Dr. Phen’s response?
A) The ability to communicate is learned.
B) Communication is a good thing.
C) Meanings are in people.
D) More communication would solve the problem.
E) Words have meaning.
18) Becky decides to translate her feelings of anger into words and communicate them to Brent. In doing so,
Becky enacts the communication process of
A) receiving.
B) decoding.
C) encoding.
D) feedback.
E) reacting.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
19) Josh and Mark take turns exchanging information about their plans for the day during their morning chat over
coffee. Their conversation best demonstrates that communication is
A) unintentional.
B) interactive.
C) ethical.
D) cognitive.
E) multicultural.
20) An important principle related to the basic elements of communication is that you
A) act as a source first, then as a receiver.
B) intentionally choose whether you want to be a source or a receiver.
C) act as a receiver first, then as a source.
D) are responsible for selecting the feedback.
E) are simultaneously a source and a receiver.
21) Kristen had a disagreement with Paul and told him that he was an idiot. Later, while apologizing, Kristen
asked Paul to “forget that little comment.” Kristen does not realize that
A) oral communication is irreversible.
B) we have a natural ability to communicate.
C) quantity means quality.
D) meaning is in the words we use.
E) communication is a cure-all.
22) Your boss walks by you in the hall, gives you a report, and says, “I need you to have a summary of that report
done ASAP.” You take the report home overnight, summarize it, and give it to your boss the next morning.
Your boss takes the summary and complains to you, “I’m disappointed that you did not get it to me by when I
told you to.” This example illustrates the myth that
A) we have a natural ability to communicate.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
B) communication is a cure-all.
C) communication is reversible.
D) meaning is in the words we use.
E) quantity means quality.
23) After her friend sent her a Facebook message that said “we need to talk,” Erin began analyzing and
interpreting what the Facebook message meant. This process is known as
A) encoding.
B) internalizing.
C) responding.
D) decoding.
E) remembering.
24) “I don’t know why I bother taking a communication class! I’m not like everyone else in here—I simply do not
have the knack for communicating very well.” This statement best illustrates which of the following
misconceptions about communication?
A) quantity means quality
B) meanings are in people
C) meanings are in words
D) communication is a natural ability
E) communication is a cure-all
25) As a communication source, an individual
A) controls the channels by which the message will be mediated.
B) determines the meaning of what is to be communicated.
C) decodes the message into meaning.
D) often assigns meaning to unintentional behaviors.
E) is primarily responsible for sending feedback.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
26) Thinking of communication as a “cure-all” is a myth because
A) communication is used unethically most of the time.
B) sometimes communication can create more problems than it solves.
C) communication is irreversible.
D) the act of communicating does carry some guarantees.
E) communication is a panacea.
27) Melissa uses her iPhone to text her friends Katie and Stephen to see if they want to join her for lunch at the
university cafeteria. Which of the following best describes their conversation?
A) intrapersonal
B) public
C) interactive
D) viral
E) not replicable
28) After a few dates, Marcus and Kate decide to make their relationship official. After this conversation, Kate
analyzes what happened while alone in her dorm room. What type of communication does Kate’s analysis
illustrate?
A) intrapersonal
B) public
C) interpersonal
D) mass
E) introspective
29) Which of the following is NOT a type of interpersonal communication?
A) intrapersonal communication
B) public speaking
C) small group communication
D) dyadic communication
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
E) an interview
30) Which of the following statements best illustrates the point made in the textbook about whether or not
communication is reversible?
A) Listeners will often let you take back something you say.
B) Listeners may forgive and forget an angry statement.
C) Speakers are given wide latitude in correcting their mistakes.
D) Speakers rarely need to worry about things they say as long as they act naturally and don’t spend
much time planning their messages.
E) Speakers must explain and compensate for improper statements.
TRUE/FALSE
1) Communication is irreversible.
2) Communication includes both intentional and unintentional messages.
3) Mary Beth is in a hurry to get to her afternoon communication class and is not paying attention to her
surroundings. Rather than waving back to her best friend, Taylor, Mary Beth walks right by Taylor without
acknowledging her. This example illustrates that communication that is not intended is usually nonverbal.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
4) Individuals who are high in communication competence will most likely have a narrow repertoire of
communication behaviors.
5) Communication is a natural ability.
6) Unethical communication is equivalent, or the same as, ineffective communication behavior.
7) What we need to improve our relationships is more communication.
8) Sam touches Taylor’s hand and she thinks to herself, “I wonder if that means he might ask me out on a date.”
Taylor is engaging in intrapersonal communication about this event.
9) Judy asks Cade questions to see whether he would make a good intern at a local nonprofit organization. This
interview is a form of interpersonal communication.
10) Jack hosts an afternoon sports talk show on his campus radio station. Jack’s show is an example of mass
communication.
SHORT ANSWER
1) What does it mean to say that communication is a process? Provide an example of a process.
2) What does transactional mean?
3) Briefly explain why it is important to know that communication can be both intentional and unintentional.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
4) Define context. What is the role of context in communication?
5) Discuss some trends resulting in an increasingly multicultural society.
6) What does a message consist of?
7) Define interference. Provide an example to illustrate your definition.
8) Identify two classical rhetoricians who provided suggestions considering ethics and communication.
9) Identify two ways that demographic changes in our culture will affect communication.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
10) Explain and provide a brief example for why action does not accurately describe communication.
11) Define the term “go viral.”
12) How can communication be intentional? Provide an example of intentional communication.
13) What are the roles of the receiver in the communication process?
14) Define feedback and briefly explain its advantages and disadvantages.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
15) In what ways does environment affect communication?
16) Explain the difference between external and internal interference. Provide examples of each to illustrate your
answer.
17) Explain why “quantity means quality” is a misconception. Provide an example from your own life that
illustrates why this is a misconception.
18) Discuss the difference between viewing communication as a natural ability versus viewing communication as
an ability we learn. Provide an example of something else you do that must be learned.
19) Describe how communication via social media has enabled people to have global “face-to–face
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
conversations.”
20) Can unethical communication actually be effective communication? Explain your answer.
1) The Association for Communication Administration defines the communication discipline as a body of
research, study, and application focusing on “how, why, and with what effects people communicate through
spoken language and associated nonverbal messages.” Central to this definition is the concept of human
symbolic interaction. Discuss what human symbolic interaction is and why it is central to the study of
communication. Finally, provide an example of how you use human symbolic interaction in your life.
2) Human communication includes various types of communication encounters. Your textbook identifies five
types of communication in Chapter 1. Explain what intrapersonal, interpersonal, public and mass
communication, and communication via social media are.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
3) Explain the seven concepts that help us distinguish social media from face-to–face communication. Provide an
example of how the social media you use reflects these seven concepts.
4) You attend a networking event sponsored by the career center on your campus. At the networking event you
are introduced to Brendan, and you immediately “hit it off” with him. Does this meeting signal the
“beginning” of your communication with Brendan? You should develop a clear answer to this question and
explain your answer.
Test Bank for Communication: Making Connections, Tenth Edition
5) Universally, the study of changes in population trends and characteristics is called demography. Recent
demographic trends indicate that the world in general, and the United States in particular, is experiencing
rapid demographic changes. What are some of these demographic trends and how will they affect
communication in the future? Provide examples to illustrate your answer.