– Chapter Seven –
Test Items
Multiple Choice
1. According to Spitzberg, the competence of a social behavior depends on ________.
2. The _______ system of intercultural competence includes the personality features that allow a person
to interact competently in intercultural contexts.
3. The ________ system includes the components that help someone be a competent intercultural
communicator over time rather than in just a couple of situations.
4. According to Spitzberg, as conversational altercentrism ________, communicator skill ________.
5. Which statement below refers to the individual system?
6. The coordinative function of communication involves _________.
7. According to the ________ principle, as motivation, knowledge and skill increase, so do impressions
of speaker competence—to a point, after which competence impressions decrease.
8. People from individualist cultures tend to have an ________ construal of self.
9. For someone from a collectivist, high context culture, negotiation resources in a conflict often
revolve around ________.
10. For M-time people, ________.
11. Individualistic, low context people typically favor a ________ model for negotiating conflict.
12. Conflict issues in collectivist, high context cultures typically revolve around ________.
13. In conflict negotiations in individualist cultures, power often means ________.
14. In conflict situations, a person who is part of Australian culture is likely to use ________, while a
person who is part of Japanese culture is likely to use ________ in their communication.
15. Which statement below is true?
16. Which statement below gives the best advice for individualists approaching intercultural conflict
negotiation with collectivists?
17. Identifying with a group of people who also grew up in South Africa is an example of thinking of
culture as ________.
18. In step two of Collier’s ten steps, the researcher should identify a research question that ________.
19. Which of the following is the basis of a cultural system?
20. The term ________ refers to the interrelationships between cultural identities as sex, race, and class.
21. A woman being in a situation where she is more aware of her gender than she usually is provides an
example of the effect of ________ on cultural identities.
22. The ________ perspective on communication involves believing that there is a material reality that
can be observed and measured.
23. The ________ perspective on communication is concerned with exploitation, power, and
empowerment, and questions what we know and who we are as scholars and people.
24. According to Collier, which question should an intercultural communications researcher ask
him/herself LAST?
25. When a person moves to a foreign country, they go through both ________, the process of learning
new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, and ________, the unlearning of some of their old cultural
habits.
26. What is host communication competence?
27. Which type of competence allows strangers to empathize with natives in a host culture?
28. Which type of competence allows strangers to choose verbal and nonverbal actions needed to engage
in everyday interactions?
29. Which personality trait helps strangers adapt to a new culture by making them receptive to new
information?
30. Strength, a personality trait that involves ________, is helpful for cross-cultural adaptation.
1. What is intercultural communication competence?
2. How do appropriateness and effectiveness relate to intercultural communication competence?
3. Explain the individual system as described by Spitzberg.
4. Explain the episodic system as described by Spitzberg.
5. Explain the relational system as described by Spitzberg.
6. What are the linguistic, management, and coordinative functions of language?
7. How do the cultural values of individualism/collectivism and low context/high context affect the
8. How does a culture’s orientation to time affect intercultural conflict?
9. How do the cultural values of individualism/collectivism and low context/high context influence
10. Explain how silence functions differently in conflict for people from individualist and collectivist
11. List five tips that would help an individualist negotiate conflict more effectively with a collectivist.
12. List five ways of conceptualizing culture, as explained in Collier’s essay.
13. List five different groups that form cultural systems.
14. Explain the concepts of avowal, ascription, salience, and intensity.
15. Describe the positivist perspective on communication.
16. Describe the interpretive perspective on communication.
17. Explain the processes of acculturation and deculturation.
18. Define the concepts of cognitive competence, affective competence, and operational competence in
19. Define the concept of host receptivity and discuss its impact on a person’s adjustment to a new
20. Explain how openness, strength, and positivity affect the process of adapting to a new culture.