Potter, Introduction to Media Literacy
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Chapter 7: Test Bank
1. Formulas are
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
a. conventions that message producers use as guidelines when creating messages.
2. Producers of mass media messages apply message formulas to
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
a. attract audience members.
3. Audience members know how to recognize and understand suspenseful cues in stories. This
is evidence that
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
4. All media messages follow
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
a. rules of entertainment.
5. The next-step reality formula
d. helps viewers determine which messages are real and which are fantasy.
6. The reality elements in media messages
@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
a. are unnecessary.
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7. The fantasy elements in media messages
@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
a. are unnecessary.
8. All of the following statements are true, except
@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
a. sometimes we want more reality than fantasy in a media message.
9. One reason why people go to media rather than getting an experience in real life is that
@ Section Location: Audience’s Perspective; Learning Objective: 2
a. they are bored.
10. The “formula with farce” mentioned in the text refers to
@ Section Location: Programmers’ Perspective; Learning Objective: 2
a. the fact that the genre of “reality television” is deceptive and far from reality.
11. The three meta-genres of mass media content are
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 3
d. news, advertising, and drama.
12. News are included in
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 3
d. interactive message platforms.
13. Reality shows are included in
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d. interactive message platforms.
14. Commercial advertisements are included in
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 3
d. interactive message platforms.
15. The inverted pyramid news-writing formula
@ Section Location: Informing; Learning Objective: 3
a. developed as an adaptation to the digital news environment.
16. “Puffery” refers to
@ Section Location: Persuading; Learning Objective: 3
a. the fact that Americans can choose from more than 40,000 supermarket items.
17. The genetic blueprint for a successful movie contains
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
a. more love, sex, and romance than comedy.
18. Audiences enjoy tragedies because they make people feel
d. All of the above
19. In general, which of the following statements about action/horror formulas is NOT true?
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
a. Violence is a staple.
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20. The key element of a put-down comedy is
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
d. a budding romance between characters.
21. In a romance story
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
a. an important element of the plot is missing.
22. Reality TV programming became a recognizable genre in the year
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
a. 1980.
d. 2010.
23. With regard to electronic games, affective tone refers to
@ Section Location: Designing Electronic Games; Learning Objective: 3
d. the color scheme of game visuals.
24. Which of the following is NOT a design rule of electronic games?
@ Section Location: Designing Electronic Games; Learning Objective: 3
a. Rewards must only go to good players.
25. When a digital game player is focused on sequential steps in a process leading to a greater
accomplishment, this is called
@ Section Location: Experience of Playing Electronic Games; Learning Objective: 3
26. Which of the following is not a popular form of social contact through interactive media
platforms?
@ Section Location: Social Contact; Learning Objective: 3
Potter, Introduction to Media Literacy
a. Online friendship
27. What do people share through interactive media platforms?
@ Section Location: Sharing; Learning Objective: 3
28. Blogs are
@ Section Location: Sharing; Learning Objective: 3
29. To increase your media literacy with regard to content, you need to
@ Section Location: Increasing Media Literacy; Learning Objective: 4
30. When you understand the next-step reality organizing principle
@ Section Location: Mass Media Message Formulas; Learning Objective: 4
a. you can better appreciate media content.
31. Producers of media messages apply content formulas to attract audiences.
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
32. Messages that share the same content formulas have been placed in the same genres.
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
33. According to the text, the issue of reality entails making a simple decision about whether
something actually happened.
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@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
34. Every media message is a mix of reality and fantasy.
35. “Next–step reality” does not apply to news programs.
@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
36. People expose themselves to the media to find messages they cannot get in real life.
@ Section Location: Audience’s perspective; Learning Objective: 2
37. A tragedy must have characters that are noble and good.
38. An important element of the mystery formula is withheld until the mystery is solved.
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
39. To get in “the flow,” people must immerse themselves in a task so that they lose all track of
time and place.
@ Section Location: Experience of Playing Electronic Games; Learning Objective: 4
40. To increase our media literacy, we need to increase our capacity to compare patterns of
media messages with corresponding patters in the real world.
@ Section Location: Your Skills; Learning Objective: 4
41. Discuss the relationships between formulas and genres.
@ Section Location: Message Formulas and Genres; Learning Objective: 1
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@ Section Location: Most General Formula: Next-Step Reality; Learning Objective: 2
43. Name and explain the story formulas of the traditional subgenres of the entertainment genre.
@ Section Location: Entertaining; Learning Objective: 3
44. Describe the process of video game design, step by step.
@ Section Location: Designing Electronic Games; Learning Objective: 3
45. Name and discuss the steps you need to take to increase your media literacy with regard to
content.
@ Section Location: Increasing Media Literacy; Learning Objective: 4