Comm 356 Test Chapter 5

T F 1. To communicate successfully with people of different cultures a person must become ethnocentric.
T F 2. The language a person uses is a good indicator of the person's cultural identity or identities.
T F 3. Members of a small group who come from two or more cultures may have learned different rules about what may be discussed, how to express disagreement, how to reach decisions, and where to look in face-to-face groups.
T F 4. Despite linguistic differences, nonverbal signals are used about the same in different cultures.
T F 5. There can be great differences between "masculine" and "feminine" in different cultures.
T F 6. Because enculturated differences are learned, they can be changed quickly and easily when people are taught how to make some changes.
T F 7. Most North Americans share the belief that life is like a flowing river, so one must learn to go with the flow rather than seek to change it.
T F 8. Malaysians and Arabs are more likely to challenge what a person of high rank in a group says than are Americans.
T F 9. People who identify most strongly with a collectivist culture perform better if they are rewarded as a group rather than as individuals.
T F 10. In a culture with low-context communication, the meaning of a message encoded in words is indicated primarily by the verbal signals.
T F 11. High context cultures tend to be very individualistic.
T F 12. Many Japanese people are suspicious of persons who display great skill at being explicit, clear, and direct when expressing opinions.
T F 13. Although words in two different languages may seem to refer to the same thing (e.g., "family"), the referents may be drastically different during an intercultural transaction.
T F 14. The "backchannel" primarily carries verbal messages, such as paraphrases by active listeners.
T F 15. People from collectivists cultures are less likely to pay close attention to time during a meeting than are most people from individualistic cultures.
T F 16. Ethnically diverse groups tend to come up with less creative solutions than ethnically homogeneous group do.
T F 17. Members of collectivist cultures (e.g., China) tend to value verbal clarity more than members of an individualistic culture (e.g., USA).
T F 18. The United States has a high uncertainty avoidance culture.
T F 19. Differences in the ways men and women communicate are the result of some undetermined mix of biological and cultural causes.
T F 20. Propp found that in mixed-sex groups, information provided by men was evaluated more rigorously than information provided by women.
T F 21. In the United States, it tends to be difficult for African Americans to participate in groups dominated by Caucasian Americans, and vice versa.
T F 22. A recent investigation reported that information provided by a male group members was twice as likely to be used by the group in making a decision as was information provided by female members.
23. "Culture" was defined in Effective Group Discussion as
A. the artistic and technological output of a society.
B. the different ways in which peoples communicate.
C. the patterns of beliefs, symbols, norms, and ways of acting shared by a group of people.
D. a group of people who share a language, a religion, and values.
E. education and development of people so they can fit into a society or other large group.
24. "Backchannel" refers to
A. visible gestures discussants make in response to each other's comments.
B. speaking alternately in turn, as A to B, B to A, A to B, and so on.
C. any and all responses of group members to messages from each other.
D. vocalizations uttered in response that show interest and listening.
E. vocalized responses to other member's opinion to show agreement and disagreement.
25. A "worldview" is a set of beliefs about
A. self, others, and human relationships that are building blocks of society.
B. individuals, small groups, and large groups and how groups interrelate to form the world of people.
C. what makes a culture successful or a failure in meeting the needs of its members.
D. crosscultural, intercultural, and international relations in view of principles of the cosmos.
E. the nature of life, its purposes, and how humans relate to the rest of the cosmos.
26. In China and Japan, the preferred procedure for making decisions affecting a group is to
A. talk one-on-one with individuals involved until everyone has arrived at the same point, then confirm the decision in a group meeting.
B. meet as a group to discuss different opinions about what to do, then in one-on-one meetings argue strongly for your position, then meet again as a group to decide by vote and work out a plan of action.
C. let the authority figures decide for the group, then meet so the entire membership can be organized to carry out the decision, much as infantry follow decisions of the officer corps.
D. let high-status group members decide, then announce the decision at a meeting at which everyone else is obliged to express support.
E. engage in all stages of decision making in group meetings, so nothing is worked out or settled in one-on-one meetings.
27. People from a culture in which the backchannel is rarely used are likely to perceive people who use it often as being
A. courteous and attentive.
B. rude interrupters.
C. argumentative and dogmatic.
D. stupid and emotional.
E. active listeners
28. When a Hispanic person looks down while talking with a person perceived as being in a position of authority (such as a police office, teacher, or boss), that is probably a sign of the Hispanic person's feeling of
A. respect.
B. disrespect.
C. dislike.
D. confusion.
E. disagreement.
29. Recent research surveying women in roles as small group leaders indicates
A. women are more dominant and effective than men.
B. men are more dominant and effective than women.
C. sex alone is a poor basis for judging who will make an effective leader for a small group.
D. women are better than men at leading mixed-sex groups, but cannot lead well if all other members are men.
E. women lead well only if other members are all women, whereas men lead mixed group, all male, or all female groups equally well.
30. In a study of stereotypes typically held by African Americans and Caucasians about each other, Leonard and Locke found that
A. persons in each of these categories held equally negative stereotypes about the other.
B. Caucasians had more negative impressions of African Americans.
C. African Americans had more negative impressions of Caucasians.
D. there is a good reason to think such stereotyping will soon end.
E. these stereotypes do not affect communicative behavior between persons in the two categories.
31. Persons with a high poor-distance culture prefer
A. conformity and directive leadership.
B. individualism and authoritarian leadership.
C. nonconformists and democratic leadership.
D. hands-off leaders, or shared leadership.
E. low levels of conformity among group members.
32. Techniques (suggested by Bantz) for managing cultural diversity among members of a work group:
A. avoid specific goals and deadlines.
B. establish explicitly consensus goals and deadlines.
C. mix persons from different cultures in task teams.
D. integrate work and socializing so they occur simultaneously.
E. teach Esperanto to all members as a work language.

http://www.fisherhouse.com/bsu/comm356/outline.htm