American Ways Ch 3, Ways of Reasoning

If you say that Americans have "tunnel vision," what you mean is that...

• they struggle to think about two things at once

• they aren't willing to change their minds about issues

• they focus on the object or individual and place less emphasis on the context and background.

• they don't value the perspective of people from outside the culture

The results of the experiment where students were shown pictures of fish and other underwater objects demonstrated that ...

• Japanese and Americans notice the same things

• Japanese tend to pay more attention to context and background

• Japanese tend to pay more attention to the fish

If you are too direct in your communication style, a listener from an Asian background might feel that...

• you are highly knowledgeable about the topic

• you are insulting their intelligence by being so explicit

• you are very certain of your opinions

• you are not sure about their level of English

In speech and writing, Americans tend to value

• direct, focused, clear presentation of information that "gets to the point"

• indirect presentation of information that allows the listener to figure out the point on their own

• the use of highly technical vocabulary in order to show expertise in a subject area

When commenting on a friend's outfit, who would be more likely to say "Maybe this coat would look even better than the one you have on." Pick TWO

• Americans

• Japanese

• Malaysians

• Germans

One possible reason for Asians' tendency to be indirect in communication is that....

• the education system in Asia is different than it is in the West

• languages like Chinese and Japanese don't allow speakers to gracefully "get to the point"

• people have grown up with different religious beliefs

• everyone is speaking English as a second language, which leads to misunderstandings

The advice that you "tell the audience what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them" is an example of

• Americans' preferred context

• Americans' preferred evidence to support a conclusion

• Americans' preferred organization of information

According to the chapter, Americans prefer information that is free from ...

• digressions and tangents

• complements and pleasantries

• small talk

• scientific data to support

Americans think that fate, luck, and chance play a significant role in what happens to people.

• True

• False

Latin Americans and Europeans are more likely to attach more weight to ______________ than Americans

• ideas and theories

• emotion

• scientific data

• religious explanations