Chapter 3 Quiz
- According to research on the television film, The Day After, which graphically depicted the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the United States:
a) viewers thought that surviving a nuclear war was very unlikely, while nonviewers thought surviving a nuclear war was very likely.
b) viewers were more preoccupied than usual with thoughts of nuclear war, while nonviewers were less preoccupied than usual with thoughts of nuclear war.
c) viewers went into “denial” and believed that the movie presented a highly exaggerated depiction of the horrors of nuclear war.
d) both viewers and nonviewers said they intended to work toward preventing nuclear war by supporting a nuclear-weapons freeze and other antinuclear activities.
- Recent research suggests that many of the events covered on a news broadcast are selected based on their:
a) inclusion of minorities.
b) appeal to women.
c) current relevance.
d) entertainment value.
- The news media's sensationalizing of events such as suicides and the Tylenol poisonings sometimes incites copycat suicides and copycat poisonings. This phenomenon is known as:
a) media proliferation.
b) reactive imitation.
c) emotional contagion.
d) forensic journalism.
- The impact of television commercials on very young children is reflected in the fact that:
a) most children express a desire to imitate the behavior of TV characters.
b) fewer than 20 percent of preschool-aged children asked for toys or food they saw advertised on TV.
c) very young children tend to be quite cynical about advertising claims.
d) according to their mothers, a majority of preschoolers were able to sing commercial jingles learned from television.
- Suppose you watch a TV ad for a deodorant that tells you almost nothing about the product, but presents it being used by beautiful, popular, successful people. The persuasion appeal is:
a) the primacy effect.
b) the inoculation effect.
c) the central route.
d) the peripheral route.
- Suppose you see an ad for a deodorant that focuses on how effective it is in comparison tests, how it compares in cost to other products, and that it is all-natural. The persuasion appeal is:
a) the central route.
b) the peripheral route.
c) the logical route.
d) the inoculation effect.
- When lawyers and politicians want to persuade, they often use:
a) strictly central route arguments.
b) strictly peripheral route arguments.
c) neither but only logical arguments.
d) both central and peripheral.
- In the case of people with low self-esteem, communications that arouse a great deal of fear tend to:
a) be ineffective under all circumstances.
b) be effective when accompanied by instructions regarding appropriate action.
c) inhibit immediate action, but are effective after a delay.
d) persuade the person to take immediate action.
- According to Aronson's chapter on persuasion, emotional appeals tend to influence ______and specific instructions tend to influence ______.
a) actual behavior; attitudes
b) attitudes; intentions
c) intentions; attitudes
d) attitudes; actual behavior
- Fear appeals seem to function best when:
a) followed by specific instructions for appropriate actions.
b) the fear is extremely high.
c) the fear cannot be reduced.
d) recommendations offered produce an increase in arousal.
- According to the text, perhaps the best way to encourage young people to use condoms when having intercourse is to:
a) print a warning about AIDS on each condom label.
b) encourage people to think of condoms as part of erotic foreplay.
c) present the startling statistics about how high the risk of AIDS is for young American heterosexuals.
d) show explicit film footage of people dying from AIDS.
- When is a two-sided message likely to be more effective than a one-sided message?
a) when the position advocated falls within the audience's latitude of acceptance
b) when the audience is poorly informed and in general agreement with the source
c) when the audience is well-informed and in general opposition to the position of the source
d) when the position advocated falls in the audience's latitude of rejection
- Martha's mother tells her that she is absolutely never to dye her hair a “funny color.” Martha proceeds to dye her hair purple. Martha's behavior is best thought of as an example of:
a) the primacy effect.
b) the recency effect.
c) the inoculation effect.
d) reactance.
- McAlister's field experiment was successful in helping seventh-graders resist peer pressure to smoke cigarettes. His strategy involved teaching students:
a) how to be assertive and just say “no.”
b) a series of counterarguments they could use against peer pressure, such as, “I'd be a real chicken if I smoked just to impress you.”
c) how to educate their peers about the tremendous health risks involved in smoking.
d) how to maintain high self-esteem, so they would be more resistant to peer pressure.
- According to several studies of television crime dramas:
a) television accurately portrays criminals as committing crimes because of psychopathology or insatiable greed, as happens in the real world.
b) television tends to ignore situational pressures which lead to criminal activity.
c) television police officers are portrayed as being about as effective as their real-world counterparts.
d) heavy viewers of such crime shows tend to be more lenient and to believe in the presumption of innocence for the defendant.