2.4: Test Bank

Multiple-Choice

1. _______ are deeply felt and often serve as principles that guide people in their perceptions and behaviors.

a. Cultures

*b. Values

c. Dimensions

d. Beliefs

2. Individualism is where you are concerned with the needs of the individuals in a culture as a whole.

a. True

*b. False

3. “Daniel Boone’s father knew it was time to move whenever a new neighbor was so close that he could see smoke from the neighbor’s fireplace,” illustrates what enduring American value?

*a. Individuality

b. A lack of formality

c. Efficient use of time

d. Cooperation with nature

4. Among Japanese students, when an underclassman addresses an upperclassman, they ordinarily use the term sempai to identify the individual’s status. This example illustrates what aspect of Japanese culture?

a. High context

b. Low context

*c. Large power distance

d. Small power distance

5. The extent to which people within a culture are made nervous by situations, which they perceive to be unstructured, unclear, or unpredictable, reflects the cultural orientation toward:

a. Flexibility

*b. Uncertainty avoidance

c. Power distance

d. Indulgence

6. Collectivist cultures value independence over interdependence.

a. True

*b. False

7. People in this type of culture tend to be relatively laid-back about status and social standing.

a. Long-term orientation

b. Short-term orientation

c. Large power distance

*d. Small power distance

8. ______ cultures typically offer generous paid maternity and paternity leave, free healthcare, and free access to higher education.

a. Masculine

*b. Feminine

c. Indulgent

d. Restrained

9. In the US there may be a respect for tradition, there is also an emphasis on personal representation and honor, a reflection of identity and integrity. This reflects:

a. The long-term orientation

*b. The short-term orientation

c. Strong uncertainty avoidance

d. Weak uncertainty avoidance

10. This dimension refers to the degree of freedom that societal norms give to citizens in fulfilling their human desires.

a. Uncertainty avoidance

b. Power distance

c. Masculinity v. Femininity

*d. Indulgence v. Restraint

11. On this scale, the United States is moderate as its score is ranked in the middle between masculine and feminine classifications.

*a. True

b. False

12. Early Western European immigrants to North America encountered a vast, unforgiving wilderness that they set out to “tame,” and modern astronauts working to “conquer” space, are examples of:

a. Humans being subject to nature

b. Cooperation with nature

*c. Controlling nature

d. Nurture over nature

13. Some societies are rooted in the past, believing that people should learn from history and strive to preserve the traditions of the past. Other societies place more value on the here and now, believing people should live fully in the present. What orientation is reflected in these values?

a. Human nature

b. Relationship to the natural world

*c. Time

d. Activity

14. Contemporary scholars of intercultural communication urge caution in using categories, as they tend to "present people's individual behavior as entirely defined and constrained by the culture in which they live so that the stereotype becomes the essence of who they are" this is known as:

a. Ethnocentrism

*b. Essentialism

c. Cultural appropriation

d. Decentered

15. We may think of a white, heterosexual male as being very privileged, he may also have a disability that leaves him without the able-bodied privilege that a Latina woman has. This example best illustrates what dialectic?

a. Cultural-Individual

b. Personal-Contextual

c. Static-Dynamic

*d. Privilege-Disadvantage

16. This dialectic suggests that culture and communication change over time yet often appear to be and are experienced as stable.

a. Cultural-Individual

b. Differences-Similarities

*c. Static-Dynamic

d. Privilege-Disadvantage

17. In societies that are primarily oriented to ______, people are likely to think of the inactive life as a wasted life.

a. Becoming

*b. Doing

c. Being

d. Longing

18. This critique of cultural value analysis argues that it reduces identities to a predetermined set of characteristics, associated with ethnic or cultural stereotypes.

a. Ethnocentrism

b. Racism

c. Essentialism

*d. Reductionism

19. ________ are dualistic ways of thinking that highlight opposites, reducing the ability to see gradations that exist in between concepts.

*a. Dichotomies

b. Dyads

c. Disingenuous

d. Delusions

20. When discussions of reparations, or compensation for descendants of slaves, comes up. a common refrain of some white people is “I’ve never owned slaves. Why should I have to care about this now?” This example illustrates the tension between ______ dialectic?

a. Static-Dynamic

*b. History/Past-Present/Future

c. Privilege-Disadvantage

d. Personal-Contextual

Type: E

Short-Answer

1. Explain the “Dialectical Approach” to intercultural communication.

2. How do cultural values underlie cultural norms? Elaborate with real world examples.

3. How does ethnocentrism affect one's viewpoint?

4. How do the beliefs and values of individuals affect society?

5. How do geography, climate, and natural resources affect what a culture values?

Essay

1. Compare and contrast how the current culture that you are a member of, values and displays one of the following in everyday life: Individualism vs. Collectivism, Power Distance, Uncertainty avoidance, or Masculinity vs. Femininity. (be sure to use everyday examples as well as course content to back your claims).