Chapter 1

Roberto did not get much sleep last night. When he looked in the mirror he thought about how tired he looked. He ran into Maria at the mall and she told him how nice he looked today. Roberto took the comment to be sarcastic based on Maria’s tone, delivery, and facial expressions. What best explains how Roberto’s interpretation of the interaction was different than the words Maria spoke?

• Communication is symbolic.

• Communication is irreversible.

• Communication is certain.

• Communication is linear.

Which of the following is true of communication?

• Communication by the sender is intentional

• Feedback requires saying something back

• Communication is something we have to do with others

• Communication is symbolic interaction that creates meaning

Mikayla believes that Amber thinks highly of her. Amber is just being polite toward Mikayla, but Mikayla perceives it as admiration. What best describes Mikayla’s misperception?

• Psychological noise.

• Physiological noise.

• External noise.

• Environmental noise.

John is in biology class trying to listen to the lecture. He’s having difficulty following because he stayed up most of the night studying for an economics test. This best exemplifies ________________.

• 1. external noise

• 1. psychological noise

• 1. physiological noise

• 1. environmental noise

Isaac feels very strongly about whether the government should intervene to help people who are struggling financially. He has these strong feelings because his own family is struggling – his mother just got laid off from her job. Isaac’s feelings could be attributed to his ________.

• process

• transaction

• encoding ability

• environment

Which of the following is an example of intrapersonal communication?

• 1. Joanne is asked to make a speech about the club, to which she replies, “Absolutely!”

• 1. Joanne is asked to make a speech about the club, to which she replies, “Absolutely!”

• 1. Joanne is asked to make a speech about the club, to which she replies, “Absolutely!”

• 1. Tanya is asked to speak to the school board and she thinks, “I’m not a good enough speaker to do that.”

Devon is having a conversation with Carol. As Devon speaks to Carol, she crosses her arms and looks perturbed. Devon notices that Carol looks unhappy and begins to talk about something else. When Devon changes topics, Carol wonders why the conversation shifted and looks confused. From what is described here, what best characterizes the interaction?

• Devon is the sender, encoding messages to Carol. Carol is the receiver, that then decodes the message.

• Devon is the sender and Carol is the receiver. Her facial expressions are encoded messages.

• Devon and Carol are the senders and receivers simultaneously. This is apparent because Carol’s facial expressions sent a message to Devon while he spoke.

• Neither Devon nor Carol is a sender or receiver because they are oblivious to each other’s messages

Which statement below breaks down the differences between the linear and transactional models?

• The linear model relies on messages and the transactional model does not.

• Most communication is linear, not transactional

• The roles of sender and receiver are separate in the linear model, but they are both considered communicators in the transactional model.

• The linear model is based on simultaneous communication, while the transactional model is based on sender feedback.

A large national retailer uses Twitter to send messages to its customers. In this case, social media is ________________.

• 1. more like mass communication

• 1. more like interpersonal communication

• 1. more like intercultural communication

• 1. more like small group communication

The CEO and lead engineer for a large tech company are revealing the latest gadget to their customers. They are taking and answering questions from their Twitter feed during the presentation. There is a large audience in the room and a larger one watching the live video feed. What best describes the communication context?

• This is public and organizational communication.

• This is organizational interpersonal communication.

• This is mass and organizational communication.

• This is public communication and mass communication.