COMM 345 - WEEK 3 KEY TERMS EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026
Charles Berger - Answers A communication theorist at the University of California, Davis, who
developed uncertainty reduction theory.
Judee Burgoon - Answers A theorist from the University of Arizona who developed expectancy
violations theory.
Personal Space - Answers The invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that
defines that individual's preferred distance from others.
Edward Hall - Answers An anthropologist from the Illinois Institute of Technology who coined the
term proxemics.
Proxemics - Answers The study of people's use of space as a special elaboration of culture.
Intimate Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 0 to 18 inches.
Personal Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 18 inches to 4 feet.
Social Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 4 to 10 feet.
Public Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 10 feet to infinity.
Threat Threshold - Answers The hypothetical outer boundary of intimate space; a breach by an
uninvited other occasions fight or flight.
Arousal, relational - Answers A heightened state of awareness, orienting response, or mental
alertness that stimulates review of the relationship.
Expectancy - Answers What people predict will happen, rather than what they necessarily desire.
Violation Valence - Answers The perceived positive or negative value assigned to a breach of
expectations, regardless of who the violator is.
Communicator Reward Valence - Answers The sum of the positive and negative attributes that the
person brings to the encounter plus the potential he or she has to reward or punish in the future.
Paul Mongeau - Answers A communication researcher from Arizona State University whose research
on dating demonstrates expectancy violations theory's increased predictive power.
Interactional Adaptation Theory - Answers A systematic approach to how people adjust their
approach when another's behavior doesn't mesh with what's needed, anticipated, or preferred.
Interaction Position - Answers A person's initial stance towards an interaction as determined by a
blend of personal requirements, expectations, and desires (RED).
Reciprocity - Answers A strong human tendency to respond to another's action with similar behavior.
Fritz Heider - Answers As the founder of attribution theory, this psychologist argued that we
constantly draw inferences about why people do what they do.
Attribution theory - Answers A systematic explanation of how people draw inferences about the
character of others based on observed behavior.
Uncertainty reduction - Answers Increased knowledge of what kind of person another is that provides
an improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out.
Axiom - Answers A self-evident truth that requires no additional proof.
Malcolm Parks and Mara Adelman - Answers Communication researchers from University of
Washington and Seattle University, respectively, who have demonstrated that there is a relationship
between shared communication networks and uncertainty reduction.
Theorem - Answers A proposition that logically and necessarily follows from two axioms
Message plans - Answers Mental representations of action sequences that may be used to achieve
goals.
Passive strategy - Answers Impression formation by observing a person interact with others.
Active strategy - Answers Impression formation by asking a third party about a person.
Interactive strategy - Answers Impression formation through face-to-face discussion with a person.
Extractive strategy - Answers Impression formation by searching the Internet for information about a
person.
Plan complexity - Answers A characteristic of message plan based on the level of detail it provides and
the number of contingencies it covers.
Hedging - Answers Use of strategic ambiguity and humor to provide a way for both parties to save
face when a message fails to achieve its goals.
Hierarchy hypothesis - Answers The prediction that when people are thwarted in their attempts to
achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter lower-level elements of their message.
Leanne Knobloch - Answers Communication scholar at the University of Illinois who explores
uncertainty in ongoing relationships and the resulting relational turbulence.
Charles Berger - Answers A communication theorist at the University of California, Davis, who
developed uncertainty reduction theory.
Judee Burgoon - Answers A theorist from the University of Arizona who developed expectancy
violations theory.
Personal Space - Answers The invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that
defines that individual's preferred distance from others.
Edward Hall - Answers An anthropologist from the Illinois Institute of Technology who coined the
term proxemics.
Proxemics - Answers The study of people's use of space as a special elaboration of culture.
Intimate Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 0 to 18 inches.
Personal Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 18 inches to 4 feet.
Social Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 4 to 10 feet.
Public Distance - Answers The American proxemic zone of 10 feet to infinity.
Threat Threshold - Answers The hypothetical outer boundary of intimate space; a breach by an
uninvited other occasions fight or flight.
Arousal, relational - Answers A heightened state of awareness, orienting response, or mental
alertness that stimulates review of the relationship.
Expectancy - Answers What people predict will happen, rather than what they necessarily desire.
Violation Valence - Answers The perceived positive or negative value assigned to a breach of
expectations, regardless of who the violator is.
Communicator Reward Valence - Answers The sum of the positive and negative attributes that the
person brings to the encounter plus the potential he or she has to reward or punish in the future.
Paul Mongeau - Answers A communication researcher from Arizona State University whose research
on dating demonstrates expectancy violations theory's increased predictive power.
Interactional Adaptation Theory - Answers A systematic approach to how people adjust their
approach when another's behavior doesn't mesh with what's needed, anticipated, or preferred.
Interaction Position - Answers A person's initial stance towards an interaction as determined by a
blend of personal requirements, expectations, and desires (RED).
Reciprocity - Answers A strong human tendency to respond to another's action with similar behavior.
Fritz Heider - Answers As the founder of attribution theory, this psychologist argued that we
constantly draw inferences about why people do what they do.
Attribution theory - Answers A systematic explanation of how people draw inferences about the
character of others based on observed behavior.
Uncertainty reduction - Answers Increased knowledge of what kind of person another is that provides
an improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out.
Axiom - Answers A self-evident truth that requires no additional proof.
Malcolm Parks and Mara Adelman - Answers Communication researchers from University of
Washington and Seattle University, respectively, who have demonstrated that there is a relationship
between shared communication networks and uncertainty reduction.
Theorem - Answers A proposition that logically and necessarily follows from two axioms
Message plans - Answers Mental representations of action sequences that may be used to achieve
goals.
Passive strategy - Answers Impression formation by observing a person interact with others.
Active strategy - Answers Impression formation by asking a third party about a person.
Interactive strategy - Answers Impression formation through face-to-face discussion with a person.
Extractive strategy - Answers Impression formation by searching the Internet for information about a
person.
Plan complexity - Answers A characteristic of message plan based on the level of detail it provides and
the number of contingencies it covers.
Hedging - Answers Use of strategic ambiguity and humor to provide a way for both parties to save
face when a message fails to achieve its goals.
Hierarchy hypothesis - Answers The prediction that when people are thwarted in their attempts to
achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter lower-level elements of their message.
Leanne Knobloch - Answers Communication scholar at the University of Illinois who explores
uncertainty in ongoing relationships and the resulting relational turbulence.
