Mid-term Exam

COM 395: Communication Relationships and Communities

Take home exam. Due at the beginning of class on Monday, October 21. Typed answers are preferred. Written answers are fine. If you want an blue exam book, drop by my office after class. Its all right to discuss the exam questions with other students in class, but you must write your own answers in your own words. Even quotations from textbooks are strongly discouraged. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via instant messenger or e-mail.

Answer all of the following questions:

  1. A number of perceptual biases affect how we arrive at causal attributions. Explain two of these biases. How does bias show up in groups and cultures? Relate attribution to thse biases.
  2. Describe the "I-It", "I-You", and "I-Thou" modes of interaction. How do the four things we do whenever we communicate differ for these modes of inteaction?
  3. There are 4 listening skills we went over in class. Relate these skills to the elements of emotional communication competence.
  4. Yankelovich says there are 3 features that differentiate dialog from discussion. How does bringing assumptions into the open differ in dialog from discussion?
  5. What does a so-called "stupid" question reveal?
  6. What kinds of problems are you likely to encounter in trying to tell an alien that "I need to go to the bathroom." Your answer should make use of the models and concepts that we have discussed in class.