Potential Exam Questions for Media Effects Research: A Basic Overview (5th Edition) by Glenn
G. Sparks
Chapter 3
1. According to the text, the example from the Payne Fund Studies of the 19-year-old male
who behaved like “Tarzan” fits very nicely with which of the following theories of mass
communication?
2. According to the text, Ted Bundy’s testimony that his exposure to massive amounts of
pornography caused him to rape and kill women is a good example of which of the
following?
3. According to the text, the “People’s Choice Study”:
a. was an experiment on public attitudes toward media effects; it helped to establish
the hypodermic needle model of mass communication.
b. was an experiment on voter behavior; it helped to establish the hypodermic needle
4. According to the text, Fritz Hippler’s observation that, “People only want to see things
that they find to be agreeable” is consistent with which of the following principles of
communication?
a. the principle of selective exposure
d. the principle of conversion
e. the principle of stabilization
5. According to the text, studies that monitor physiological arousal while viewers watch a
horror movie illustrate studies that are concerned with:
a. diffuse general effects
b. alteration type effects
6. Based on the text discussion, which of the following statements best characterizes the
historical progression of studies in media effects?
a. the dawn of TV came first—followed by the hypodermic needle model of mass
communication—followed by the limited effects model of mass communication
7. According to the text, which of the following statements best describes the
methodological quality of the studies reported by Frederic Wertham on the negative
effects of comic books?
a. The content analysis procedures were not systematic and did not rely on random
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part.
c. The survey procedures were well conceived and relied on random samples and the
youth were representative of comic book readers across the nation.
d. The experimental procedures were both internally and externally valid and the
youth were carefully chosen as “typical” of all comic book readers.
e. The ethnographic methods used were screened by an impartial panel of judges
prior to their implementation; the youth he surveyed were not typical of the
general population but they were not highly unusual either.
8. According to the text, the “War of the Worlds” broadcast in October 1938 and its
consequences immediately following the broadcast helped to reinforce what some media
scholars refer to as the:
a. legacy of passivity
9. According to the text, the “two-step flow” is the idea that:
d. the media influences the mass audience; the mass audience then influences the
opinion leaders
10. According to the text, one explanation for the fact that the “Why We Fight” films seemed
to have a fairly meager effect on American soldiers was because of a:
a. delayed effect
b. two-step flow