Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
1) Which of the following best characterizes Americans' knowledge of public affairs today?
A) Millennials are better informed than older generations by a wide margin.
B) Americans are consistently shown to be among the most well-informed when
compared to people in other democracies.
C) Most Americans today are far better informed than previous generations, though
knowledge levels are still rather low.
D) Misinformation is now at its highest level in the history of polling.
E) Baby boomers have been shown to be the most well-informed generation, while
younger generations know little about public affairs.
2) Critical thinking is best described as
A) the process of forming an opinion after weighing the relevant facts.
B) discounting the news from ordinary media outlets.
C) rejecting the accounts of bureaucrats and finding alternative versions online.
D) assuming that all news presents lies until alternative truths present themselves.
E) trusting your instincts on the way the world works.
3) Approximately what share of Americans refused to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously?
A) less than one third
B) more than one half
C) more than one third
D) less than one half
E) nearly all
4) What type of government suppresses individuality, forcing people to think and act in
prescribed ways or risk punishment?
A) communist
B) socialist
C) authoritarian
D) egalitarian
E) republican
1
,Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
5) Which of the following has most recently proven to serve as a significant obstacle to critical
thinking?
A) changes in the media landscape
B) political partisanship
C) television
D) newspapers
E) the coastal elites
6) What do behavioral scientists Gordon Pennycook and David Rand call the habit of judging
the accuracy of a claim on the basis of who's saying it or whether we've heard it before?
A) "cognitive laziness"
B) "cognitive disconnect"
C) "cognitive bias"
D) "the cult of personality"
E) "cognitive dissonance"
7) In recent years,
A) American politics has become more heated and divisive.
B) Americans have become more tolerant of leaders slanting facts.
C) American leaders have become more willing to lie.
D) Americans have embraced more truthful politicians.
E) our politics has become more divisive and heated, leaders have lied more readily, and
we have come to tolerate it more.
8) Which of the following is an example of politicians' deliberate slanting of facts?
A) calls for tax increases to fund infrastructure
B) debates over immigration policy and amnesty for current undocumented immigrants
C) the claim that free trade is the cause for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs
D) the insistence that President Barack Obama is a citizen and born in Hawaii
E) the claim that Russia interfered in the 2020 U.S. elections
9) What is the likely result of spending hours listening to partisan talk shows?
A) misinformation
B) liberalism
C) pragmatism
D) well-rounded political views
E) a distaste for politics
2
,Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
10) Which of the following is NOT among the frameworks used in political science?
A) rational choice theory
B) liberalism
C) institutional analysis
D) historical reasoning
E) behavioral studies
11) Who among the following was the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution and also one of
America's top political scientists?
A) James Madison
B) Andrew Jackson
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Benjamin Franklin
E) John Adams
12) Which important aspect of European thought had the greatest impact on the formation of the
political culture of America?
A) Romanticism
B) the Reformation
C) the Renaissance
D) Rationalism
E) the Enlightenment
13) Which of the following is NOT one of the core values of American political culture?
A) individualism
B) equality
C) cooperation
D) liberty
E) self-government
14) Which of the following statements about cultural or political beliefs in America is FALSE?
A) America's origins as a wilderness society led to the belief that government is
responsible for providing material assistance to its inhabitants.
B) Americans believe that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose.
C) Americans reject European notions of aristocratic privilege.
D) America has a strongly individualistic culture.
E) Americans generally believe that the people are the ultimate source of governing
authority.
3
, Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
15) Which of the following best describes Americans' "unalienable rights," as described in the
Declaration of Independence?
A) freedoms belonging to every person that cannot be legally taken away by the
government
B) "God-given" rights that all people possess from birth
C) freedom from government interference in any aspect of life
D) freedom from religious persecution
E) the freedoms necessary to become "a perfect nation"
16) Individualism is the idea that
A) individuals should be free to act and think as they choose.
B) all individuals are equal in their moral worth.
C) people are the ultimate source of governing authority.
D) people should take initiative and be self-sufficient.
E) there should be formal limits on the people’s power.
17) To what aspect of America were William Watts and Lloyd Free referring when they labeled
it "the country of individualism par excellence"?
A) the majoritarian nature of the voting and election system
B) the ability of any individual to aspire to high political office
C) the judicial nature of American politics, in which any individual can challenge
powerful interests
D) the engrained nature of individualism, from freedom of expression to fair-trial
protections
E) the ability of the individual to join in labor unions and interest groups to pursue his or
her political and financial self-interests
18) Europeans have a greater acceptance than Americans of
A) welfare policies that could relieve people of the responsibility to care for themselves.
B) the strength of the executive branch of government.
C) the majoritarian system of government.
D) the influence of corporate special interests in the legislative process.
E) the influence of corporate money in the election process.
4
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
1) Which of the following best characterizes Americans' knowledge of public affairs today?
A) Millennials are better informed than older generations by a wide margin.
B) Americans are consistently shown to be among the most well-informed when
compared to people in other democracies.
C) Most Americans today are far better informed than previous generations, though
knowledge levels are still rather low.
D) Misinformation is now at its highest level in the history of polling.
E) Baby boomers have been shown to be the most well-informed generation, while
younger generations know little about public affairs.
2) Critical thinking is best described as
A) the process of forming an opinion after weighing the relevant facts.
B) discounting the news from ordinary media outlets.
C) rejecting the accounts of bureaucrats and finding alternative versions online.
D) assuming that all news presents lies until alternative truths present themselves.
E) trusting your instincts on the way the world works.
3) Approximately what share of Americans refused to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously?
A) less than one third
B) more than one half
C) more than one third
D) less than one half
E) nearly all
4) What type of government suppresses individuality, forcing people to think and act in
prescribed ways or risk punishment?
A) communist
B) socialist
C) authoritarian
D) egalitarian
E) republican
1
,Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
5) Which of the following has most recently proven to serve as a significant obstacle to critical
thinking?
A) changes in the media landscape
B) political partisanship
C) television
D) newspapers
E) the coastal elites
6) What do behavioral scientists Gordon Pennycook and David Rand call the habit of judging
the accuracy of a claim on the basis of who's saying it or whether we've heard it before?
A) "cognitive laziness"
B) "cognitive disconnect"
C) "cognitive bias"
D) "the cult of personality"
E) "cognitive dissonance"
7) In recent years,
A) American politics has become more heated and divisive.
B) Americans have become more tolerant of leaders slanting facts.
C) American leaders have become more willing to lie.
D) Americans have embraced more truthful politicians.
E) our politics has become more divisive and heated, leaders have lied more readily, and
we have come to tolerate it more.
8) Which of the following is an example of politicians' deliberate slanting of facts?
A) calls for tax increases to fund infrastructure
B) debates over immigration policy and amnesty for current undocumented immigrants
C) the claim that free trade is the cause for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs
D) the insistence that President Barack Obama is a citizen and born in Hawaii
E) the claim that Russia interfered in the 2020 U.S. elections
9) What is the likely result of spending hours listening to partisan talk shows?
A) misinformation
B) liberalism
C) pragmatism
D) well-rounded political views
E) a distaste for politics
2
,Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
10) Which of the following is NOT among the frameworks used in political science?
A) rational choice theory
B) liberalism
C) institutional analysis
D) historical reasoning
E) behavioral studies
11) Who among the following was the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution and also one of
America's top political scientists?
A) James Madison
B) Andrew Jackson
C) Woodrow Wilson
D) Benjamin Franklin
E) John Adams
12) Which important aspect of European thought had the greatest impact on the formation of the
political culture of America?
A) Romanticism
B) the Reformation
C) the Renaissance
D) Rationalism
E) the Enlightenment
13) Which of the following is NOT one of the core values of American political culture?
A) individualism
B) equality
C) cooperation
D) liberty
E) self-government
14) Which of the following statements about cultural or political beliefs in America is FALSE?
A) America's origins as a wilderness society led to the belief that government is
responsible for providing material assistance to its inhabitants.
B) Americans believe that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose.
C) Americans reject European notions of aristocratic privilege.
D) America has a strongly individualistic culture.
E) Americans generally believe that the people are the ultimate source of governing
authority.
3
, Test Bank for We The People - 15 - Patterson - Chapter 01 Critical Thinking and Political
Culture: Becoming a Responsible Citizen
15) Which of the following best describes Americans' "unalienable rights," as described in the
Declaration of Independence?
A) freedoms belonging to every person that cannot be legally taken away by the
government
B) "God-given" rights that all people possess from birth
C) freedom from government interference in any aspect of life
D) freedom from religious persecution
E) the freedoms necessary to become "a perfect nation"
16) Individualism is the idea that
A) individuals should be free to act and think as they choose.
B) all individuals are equal in their moral worth.
C) people are the ultimate source of governing authority.
D) people should take initiative and be self-sufficient.
E) there should be formal limits on the people’s power.
17) To what aspect of America were William Watts and Lloyd Free referring when they labeled
it "the country of individualism par excellence"?
A) the majoritarian nature of the voting and election system
B) the ability of any individual to aspire to high political office
C) the judicial nature of American politics, in which any individual can challenge
powerful interests
D) the engrained nature of individualism, from freedom of expression to fair-trial
protections
E) the ability of the individual to join in labor unions and interest groups to pursue his or
her political and financial self-interests
18) Europeans have a greater acceptance than Americans of
A) welfare policies that could relieve people of the responsibility to care for themselves.
B) the strength of the executive branch of government.
C) the majoritarian system of government.
D) the influence of corporate special interests in the legislative process.
E) the influence of corporate money in the election process.
4
