Having empathy means feeling sorry for someone else.
Answer:
Information overload can impair our ability to listen effectively.
Answer:
Social practices and messages influence both the emotions we feel and the ways in
which we react to emotions.
Answer:
Metacommunication occurs when individuals discuss the meaning or subtext of their
messages.
Answer:
Transsexual individuals are always born with one or more chromosomal abnormality.
Answer:
Traditional gender socialization encourages men to use accommodating conflict
management strategies.
Answer:
According to the norm of reciprocity, people expect the level of disclosures in their
personal relationships to be relatively equivalent.
Answer:
Research has shown that much of the communication that typically occurs during the
initiation phase is now being done online.
Answer:
Your senses are unable to attend to every stimulus in the environment at the same time.
Answer:
Physiology exerts several effects on interpersonal perception.
Answer:
The concept of perceptual filters states that everyone will derive the same meaning
from any given message.
Answer:
If you try hard enough, you can resolve any conflict.
Answer:
Research suggests that women are more likely than men to use self-references, such as
“me” or “I”.
Answer:
Smoking cigarettes is worse for your health than not having close friendships.
Answer:
Listening non-judgmentally is important for effective critical listening.
Answer:
The self-serving bias is a form of self delusion.
Answer:
When nonverbal cues conflict with verbal cues, people usually believe the verbal
statements.
Answer:
Egocentrism is a normal stage of human development.
Answer:
People raised in collectivistic cultures typically express more negative emotion to
outsiders than do people raised in individualistic cultures.
Answer:
Scientific studies have confirmed that girls have lower self-esteem than boys.
Answer:
Recent data indicate that English is the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Answer:
To qualify as conflict, a struggle or disagreement has to be expressed.
Answer:
The face communicates more information than any other nonverbal channel.
Answer:
Self-concept is entirely subjective.
Answer:
Uncertainty reduction theory suggests that people get to know each other if they believe
the effort will be worth it.
Answer:
An allness claim is one in which the speaker intentionally misleads the hearer by
arguing that everyone else agrees with his or her position.
Answer:
In personal relationships, it’s always best to increase the breadth and depth of
self-disclosure.
Answer:
Men are more likely than women to initiate touch with other adults, but women are
more likely than men to initiate touch with children.
Answer:
Voices that have low amounts of inflection are said to be monotone.
Answer:
It is impossible to lie if everything you say is TRUE.
Answer:
Just because friendship is voluntary, that doesn’t mean we choose our friends arbitrarily.
Answer:
The practice of polygamy is, by definition, an exception to which social expectation
about marriage?
A.It is voluntary.
B.It is based on love.
C.It is permanent.
D.It is exclusive.
Answer:
______________ is the ability to manipulate, influence, or control other people or
events.
A.conflict
B.fear
C.power
D.coercion
Answer:
Martin disclosed something personal to his friend Tony. Afterward, Tony felt as though
he had to disclose something personal in return. Tony’s feelings exemplify which
principle?
A.breadth
B.need for autonomy
C.norm of reciprocity
D.identity management
Answer:
When forming friendships, people find several forms of similarity to be attractive.
According to research, which of the following is TRUE?
A.Cognitive similarity is not influential at any stage of friendship formation.
B.Attitude similarity is the strongest predictor of initial attraction.
C.People generally see attitude similarity as a bad thing.
D.Similarity in personalities is the strongest predictor of initial attraction.
Answer:
This aspect of communication relates to how well a message meets its goals:
A.effectiveness
B.clarity
C.appropriateness
D.ethics
Answer:
During conflict episodes, someone playing this family role tends to agree with whatever
is said in order to keep others from getting angry:
A.computer
B.distracter
C.placater
D.blamer
Answer:
Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous encourage people to share about problems they
are facing. This type of disclosure is based theoretically on which of the following
principles?
A.self-disclosure enhances relationships and trust
B.self-disclosure has a norm of reciprocity
C.self-disclosure brings about emotional release
D.self-disclosure can help others
Answer:
Jon recently stopped a conflict with his girlfriend, Ana, and said to her, “You don’t
know how to have a disagreement without losing your temper and swearing!” Ana
replied, “Well at least I want to confront the issues instead of avoiding them!” Jon and
Ana’s exchange is an example of:
A.the content dimension of conflict
B.the relational dimension of conflict
C.meta-conflict
D.pseudoconflict
Answer:
A fellow student in one of your communication classes, Rose, starts acting particularly
nice to you in the weeks leading up to the first exam. Classmates have frequently
treated you this way in the past in the hope that you will help them study. As a result,
you are suspicious of Rose’s motives. In this scenario, you are likely basing your
suspicions on:
A.personal experience
B.your knowledge of Rose
C.the closeness of your relationship with Rose
D.all of these
Answer:
What term is used to describe anything that interferes with the accurate decoding of a
message?
A.channel
B.noise
C.feedback
D.context
Answer:
Different cultures have different standards that define competent communication. This
cultural variation speaks to which element of communication competence?
A.effectiveness
B.sensitivity
C.appropriateness
D.responsibility
Answer:
Which of the following statements about facial or vocal expressions of emotions is
factually incorrect?
A.Infants are unable to respond to pleasant stimuli before they are 12 months old.
B.Facial expressions of emotion are fairly consistent across cultures.
C.Disgust, boredom, and grief are typically accompanied by a lower vocal pitch.
D.People tend to speak faster when they are scared.
Answer:
Which of the following sequences accurately depicts the process of stereotype
formation?
A.identify group membershipapply generalizationact on prejudice
B.identify group membershipact on prejudiceform group generalization
C.identify group membershiprecall group generalizationapply generalization
D.identify group membershiprecall group generalizationact on prejudice
Answer:
A sign in the library that reads “No Talking Allowed” would constitute an example of
what?
A.perceptual filter
B.relational dimension
C.explicit rule
D.unintentional communication
Answer:
Your _____________ is the family that includes your parents and your siblings.
A.family of procreation
B.family of origin
C.extended family
D.nuclear family
Answer:
Which of the following statements is not true regarding feminine cultures?
A.feminine cultures value nurturance
B.feminine cultures value achievement
C.feminine cultures value quality of life
D.feminine cultures do not strongly differentiate between male and female roles
Answer:
While talking to a friend at a party, you notice that your romantic partner has just
arrived. Eager to greet your partner, you angle your posture away from your friend and
toward your partner. That movement:
A.is culturally insensitive, especially to members of high-contact cultures
B.is a form of leave-taking behavior known as left-positioning
C.incorrectly suggests to your friend that your partner is more important than he or she
is
D.each of these is correct
Answer:
When we consider how we want to be perceived by other people, we are considering
our:
A.identity
B.image
C.self-monitoring
D.self-concept
Answer:
Saying that someone has been “let go” instead of “fired” is an example of which
language behavior?
A.hate speech
B.slang
C.euphemism
D.profanity
Answer:
This display rule involves acting as though you’re indifferent or emotionless when you
are actually experiencing an emotion:
A.de-intensification
B.inhibition
C.simulation
D.masking
Answer:
Your text described five stages in the grieving process. Which of the following was not
among them?
A.depression
B.retribution
C.bargaining
D.anger
Answer:
This theory predicts that the more we learn about someone, the more we like that
person:
A.social exchange theory
B.uncertainty reduction theory
C.attraction theory
D.equity theory
Answer:
Which of the following vocal behaviors is a dimension of nonverbal communication?
A.tone of voice
B.rate of speech
C.loudness
D.all of these
Answer:
A study conducted by communication researchers Kathryn Dindia and Bonnie Kennedy
concluded that college students
A.spend as much time listening as they do engaging in all other communication
activities combined
B.spend about 20% of their time speaking
C.spend about 13% of their time reading
D.all of these are TRUE
Answer:
People use many strategies for dealing with dialectical tensions. Going back and forth
between the two sides of a tension is a characteristic of which strategy?
A.segmentation
B.integration
C.balance
D.alternation
Answer:
The claim that “4 out of 5 doctors prefer” a certain medication for a headache is an
example of what kind of statement?
A.an equivocal statement
B.weasel words
C.a red herring
D.an allness claim
Answer:
The research on sex and cultural differences in self-esteem has primarily disputed
which of the following claims?
A.Caucasian men and women do not differ in reported levels of self-esteem.
B.Caucasians report the highest levels of self-esteem of any ethnic group in the U.S.
C.On the whole, Native Americans report lower levels of self-esteem than Caucasians.
D.Differences in self-esteem among various ethnic groups tend to be modest.
Answer:
According to your text, all of the following are common reasons for deception except:
A.some lies take advantage of others’ ignorance
B.some lies make you look better
C.some lies benefit the hearer
D.some lies amuse you
Answer:
Regarding sex differences in verbal behavior, which of the following is true, according
to your text?
A.women are not more talkative than men
B.women interrupt more than men do
C.men use more disclaimers and hedges than women do
D.women ask fewer questions than men do
Answer:
This process involves changing the way you think about the situation that gave rise to a
negative emotion:
A.emotional contagion
B.emotional reappraisal
C.emotional intelligence
D.alexithymia
Answer:
You liked most everything about your new roommate when you first met, but when you
found out she smokes, that overshadowed all of her good qualities in your mind. What
perception-making process are you displaying here?
A.primacy effect
B.negativity bias
C.stereotyping
D.egocentrism
Answer:
Imagine that you are giving advice to a friend who is interested in someone else (that
you both know) as a potential romantic partner. Give this friend some guidance about
nonverbal behaviors in romantic relationships. Specifically, what behaviors should your
friend focus on to determine if the other person is romantically interested in them?
Likewise, what behaviors should your friend engage in to signal that he or she is
romantically interested? What behaviors (if any) should your friend avoid when talking
to their prospective love interest?
Answer:Answers will vary
In no more than three sentences, write a definition of family. Be sure your definition is
clear about what counts and does not count as a family relationship. For the rest of your
answer, defend your definition, making reference to alternative ways of defining the
family and justifying why you defined it the way you did.
Answer:Answers will vary
One thing that research has taught us is that many of the average person’s beliefs about
deception are wrong (e.g., lack of eye contact is a good clue to deception, most people
are good at spotting deception, it is harder to lie to a suspicious person than an
unsuspicious one). Offer reasoned speculation as to why people’s beliefs about
interpersonal deception are, on average, so inaccurate. Consider the potential roles
played by emotion, religion, the media, and the psyche.
Answer:Answers will vary
Much gets made of the benefits of friendship, but suppose you were asked to argue
against having friends. Using what you’ve learned in this chapter, make a reasoned
argument against friendship. Why should people avoid making friends? Your argument
should be sound and should make explicit reference to concepts covered in this chapter.
Answer:Answers will vary
People in positions of power frequently use words as a form of violence. How and why
does that happen? Imagine that you are a friend of someone who has been subjected to
linguistic violence. What would you tell that person? Now imagine that a friend of
yours uses words as a form of violence. What would you say to this friend?
Answer:Answers will vary
How prevalent is hate speech in American culture today? What types of environments
promote or foster this type of language? What, if anything, should be done to eliminate
hate speech and/or protect the targets of hate speech? Finally, using some of the
concepts from the textbook and/or class, make some recommendations for ways that
hate speech can be avoided on your campus.
Answer:Answers will vary
Emotional skills training, or ‘sensitivity training” as it is sometimes called, helps people
recognize, understand, and manage emotions in complex social environments like the
workplace or the military. Imagine that you are asked to give one of these presentations
to your coworkers. Create a short summary of how you would approach this topic and
what you would include in your presentation. Using skills you’ve learned in this
chapter, suggest at least two techniques each for helping people recognize, understand,
and effectively manage their emotions in the workplace.
Answer:Answers will vary
Imagine that a close friend of yours just found out that his or her mother has died. How
would you respond empathically to your friend’s needs? Specifically, what
communication behaviors would you try to incorporate into your actions with this
person? What communication behaviors would you avoid?
Answer:Answers will vary
Describe in detail the direct and indirect perception-checking processes. Next, think of
a unique situation in which it would be appropriate to engage in direct
perception-checking but not indirect perception-checking. Also think about a situation
in which indirect perception-checking is a preferable option. What factors/features of
those situations led you to make those decisions? Finally, discuss why the
perception-checking process in general is important.
Answer:Answers will vary
Image management can be particularly difficult for people who represent a
marginalized group or those who have to manage a serious illness. Discuss the
difficulty these people might face in presenting their identity to others. How is the
process similar to identity management for people who don’t face these challenges?
How is it different? What additional considerations in disclosure do these individuals
face? How can people who don’t face these challenges respond in ways that are
appropriately supportive of their face needs?
Answer:Answers will vary