Professions draw upon a specialized body of knowledge based primarily on which one of the following?
Theory developed through research
Many public relations leaders have argued that public relations should act as the ______________ of their organization.
ethical conscience
Although all of the following apply, which one is the primary purpose for establishing professional codes of ethics and standards of performance?
Protect the clients
The "fiduciary relationship" differentiates professionals from other skilled practitioners. Which one of the following best represents the nature of a fiduciary relationship?
Professionals hold you and your possessions in trust, and are obliged to act in your best interest.
If public relations is an emerging profession, society should benefit in several important ways. Which one of the following is NOT considered a benefit?
Public relations practitioners strive to develop recommendations concerning communication strategy in the marketing plan and help management relate decisions to corporate goals.
Codes of ethics for public relations practitioners have little impact unless they are accepted and applied by their employers. Which two of the following practices is NOT used by public relations firms to encourage ethical practice among their employees?
D. Requiring all new employees to have taken at least three of the five courses prescribed by the Commission on Public Relations Education
E. Requiring all new employees to be accredited in public relations (APR)
Which of the following professional values from the PRSA Code of Ethics requires practitioners to "adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth . . . in communicating with the public"?
honesty
Which of the following core principles from the PRSA Code of Ethics requires practitioners to "be honest and accurate in all communications"?
Disclosure of information
Edward L. Bernays for decades pointed to the absence of which one of the following as a major factor keeping public relations from being recognized as a profession?
Licensing
According to the late Edward L. Bernays and other advocates, licensing is necessary to preserve the well-being of society by doing which one of the following?
Excluding those not properly qualified
Opponents of licensing for public relations practitioners raise what Constitutional issue(s) as the major obstacle(s) to state licensing in the United States?
Compelling state interest and freedom of expression
The argument that licensing would "professionalize the practice" has no legal basis because:
Licensing cannot be imposed simply for the benefit of an occupational group
Although public relations is an unlicensed field, practitioners may obtain a form of professional status and credentialing by which of the following?
A strongly enforced accreditation program
Practitioners who successfully complete the Universal Accreditation Board's portfolio presentation, panel interview, and computer-based examination are allowed to use which of the following after their names?
Accredited in Public Relations
Administrative law include rules and decisions written by government agencies established by statute to write and enforce rules in regulated areas and activities�such as mass communication, public trading of stocks, and labor relations. Which of the follo
Statutory law
If a state legislature passes and the governor signs a law that grants public relations the status of a profession that requires a state license in order to practice, which of the following would take precedence and lead to the law being reversed?
U.S. Constitution
Freedom of expression is protected from government control in the United States by which one of the following?
First Amendment
Which of the following rights is NOT protected explicitly by the First Amendment?
Freedom of publicity
Which one of the following rights is protected by the First Amendment?
Print media have the right to choose what to publish and what not to publish.
The Freedom of Information Act of 1966 is designed primarily to do which one of the following?
To promote full disclosure from the executive branch of government
The Freedom of Information Act of 1966 allows government employees to withhold�under special conditions�whole or parts of documents if the information deals with which of the following?
E. All of the above
In deciding the precedent-setting corporate political speech case, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, the Supreme Court ruled which one of the following?
That "political speech" is protected, regardless of who is speaking
The Campaign Reform Act of 2002 prohibits which of the following?
Solicitations for soft money accounts by members of Congress
Which of the following is "lobbying" and therefore covered by the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 and more clearly defined in the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995?
Hiring a staff member to conduct a direct mail campaign to representatives and senators providing basic information about the bill
When Congress passed a law in 1938 to deal with "the spread of pernicious propaganda" and to put "the spotlight of pitiless publicity" on "the sources of such efforts," they were concerned about which one of the following?
Foreign agents
In corporate communications with its employees regarding the possibility of workers bringing in a union, the Taft-Hartley Act prohibits which of the following?
Promising early vacations to workers not affiliated with the union
The Securities Act of 1933 and subsequent acts regarding public trading of company stock require that public relations practitioners report information if it does which one of the following?
D. All of the above
Public relations practitioners who work in investor relations or financial relations typically and legally are not involved in which of the following activities?
Reporting to other managers nonpublic information in order to help them buy or sell stock
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, along with related legislation, resulted in which of the following important changes in financial public relations?
A. Held top management personally accountable for a company's financial reports
D. Established oversight boards to ensure uniform legal behavior by companies' outside auditors
Copyright protection CANNOT be extended to which of the following:
The design of the table lamp on your nightstand
Which of the following requirements must be met for a libel lawsuit to be actionable?
Fault
In countering a libel lawsuit, which one of the following legal defenses basically means that time has run out?
Statute of limitations
The concept of privacy as it relates to public relations practice includes which of the following:
A. Public disclosure of "embarrassing" facts about a plaintiff
B. Publicity that puts the plaintiff in a "false light" in the eyes of the public
C. "Appropriation" of the plaintiff's name or likeness
What is the term introduced to represent the concept of interdependence of organizations and publics in their environments?
ecology
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for a set of interdependent parts?
System
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for anything that generates change pressures?
environment
A component in one system, can be a/an ______ in another suprasystem?
subsystem
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for the part that directs and controls other parts of the system?
Managerial subsystem
Which one of the following refers the goal states that change because of changing environments?
Homeostasis
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for goal states that are relatively stable, versus relatively changeable?
static states
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for changes in the structure and process element in the open systems model?
Morphogenesis
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for the response that says, "Cut back, slow down, discontinue"?
Negative feedback
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for when the system responds by amplifying or maintaining deviation?
Positive feedback
What is the appropriate term from systems theory for the input-output, self-regulation process?
Cybernetics
The beef industry denies that "mad cow" disease is an issue in the U.S., resists increased inspections of cattle arriving slaughterhouses, and calls on cattlemen nationwide to persuade their representatives and senators in Congress to stop legislation to
Reactive public relations
In contrast to what many organizations and their associations do, the California Pistachio Commission (the growers) asked the Agriculture Department to apply tighter standards and to increase inspections to ensure product safety when increased levels of m
Open systems approach
Which of the following does NOT fit with the functionary practitioner role?
Calls for an open system response to adjusting to change.
Which of the following does NOT fit with open systems?
Maintains the status quo and changes the organization's publics.
Which approach calls for research skills to monitor publics and other environmental forces?
Open systems
Public relations scholars (James and Larissa Grunig) describe "craft public relations" and "professional public relations" as similar to the text definitions of which of the following?
Closed versus open
The text suggests that the most useful aspect of the open systems model of public relations is which one of the following?
Proactive corrective action
Which action best demonstrates adjustment to changing environments?
Implement actions based upon information provided by patients and publics.
Which one of the following represents the correct order of the tasks of public relations communications efforts?
Get attention, stimulate interest, build desire to act, and direct the action
Which one of the following is NOT true about the challenge for public relations communications?
People generally try to pay attention to every message they receive
The "myth of communication" suggests that which one of the following is confused with the real meaning of communication?
dissemination
Communication is the reciprocal process of exchanging messages designed to inform, instruct, or __________. Which of the following completes the statement?
persuade
In the communication model, characteristics of which one of the following affect people's initial acceptance of the message, but not the message's long-term impact?
the sender
In the communication model, message effects are mediated by which one of the following?
the receiver
For which one of the following, should you include only one side of an argument?
If receivers already agree with your position
Early notions of mass communication viewed mass society as both passive recipients of media messages and vulnerable to being manipulated. Which best describes current thinking?
Active receivers are not uniformly affected by mass communication messages.
Which of the following theories suggests that mass media affect what we think about�raising the salience of issues and the positions taken by people in the news?
agenda setting
Which of the following theories suggests that media provide information from sources that would otherwise not be available through interpersonal networks?
diffusion theory
The "silent majority" represents a condition in which:
Individuals think their opinion conflicts with those of most other people.
Evidence showing the extent to which people think others share their opinions indicates which one of the following dimensions of public opinion?
Social support
A survey question asking people whether they "strongly agree," "agree," "disagree" or "strongly disagree" is measuring which of the following two dimensions of public opinion?
Direction and intensity
The text discusses five dimensions of public opinion. Which one of the following does NOT belong on the list?
Agreement
Which of the following is NOT a useful concept in public relations programs?
General" public
Which of the following is NOT a variable in Grunig's situational theory of publics?
Cognitive organization
Individuals assign value to objects in their environment based on their previous history with the objects and their assessment of the objects in the current context. Which of the following describes these two sources of value?
Salience and pertinence
Which one of the following is a "cross-situational predisposition or preference"?
Attitude
In the coorientational model, if Person A holds a positive evaluation of Object "X" and Person B feels the same about "X," this is an example of which one of the following?
High agreement
n the coorientational model, if Person A holds a positive evaluation of Object "X" and thinks that Person B feels the same about "X," this is an example of which one of the following?
High congruency
If someone told you that public opinion on an issue could be described as "dissensus," which one of the following (in coorientational terms) best fits that situation?
Low agreement, low congruency, and high accuracy
Which one of the following represents the state of public opinion in which a majority perceives little agreement, but in fact there is widespread agreement?
Pluralistic ignorance
What is the most likely outcome of public communication?
accurate perceptions of agreement
Use of repeated measures of coorientational states over time can help track changes in which of the following?
e. all of the above
Which coorientational description best defines this relationship?
Low agreement, high congruency, and low accuracy
Which of Scheff's states of coorientational consensus best describes the relationship between your client and the majority of the registered voters interviewed?
False consensus
What is your decision about trying to impress prospective clients by claiming that your firm has "several national clients"?
It is unethical because you cannot disseminate inaccurate information.
Knowing the IABC Code of Ethics, what is your decision regarding the ethics of promising "to raise the bottom line"?
It is unethical because the code prohibits guarantees of specific results, which are beyond the practitioner's direct control.