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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the second of the "extravagant expectations" held by Americans, according to Boorstin?
(a) There is always more that the world can provide.
(b) Money can buy anything.
(c) We have unlimited power to fashion the world to our desires.
(d) Time is of the essence.

2. Established by Boorstin, what is the third way pseudo-events can overshadow real or spontaneous events?
(a) They are less dramatic.
(b) They are easier to distribute.
(c) They can be repeated.
(d) They are more dramatic.

3. Who wrote Crystallizing Public Opinion?
(a) Edward A. Smith.
(b) Edward L. Bynay.
(c) Edward L. Bernays.
(d) Edward R. Burns.

4. What is the second quality of the pseudo-event described by Boorstin?
(a) It is ambiguous.
(b) It is intended as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
(c) It is intentionally created.
(d) Its purpose is to be recreated or reported.

5. What term refers to that which is of foreign origin or character, not native, introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized?
(a) Dangerous.
(b) Indiginous.
(c) Other.
(d) Exotic.

6. What refers to a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position?
(a) Stereotype.
(b) Propaganda.
(c) Pseudo-event.
(d) Newspaper.

7. What is the first of the "extravagant expectations" held by Americans, according to Boorstin?
(a) Money can buy anything.
(b) We have unlimited power to fashion the world to our desires
(c) There is always more that the world can provide.
(d) Time is of the essence.

8. Pseudo-events, according to Boorstin, create distortion through what?
(a) Falsehood.
(b) Complication.
(c) Ambiguity.
(d) Propaganda.

9. Where was Al Capone born?
(a) Naperville, IL.
(b) Chicago, IL.
(c) Queens, NY.
(d) Booklyn, NY.

10. How much were tickets on Thomas Cook's first train tour?
(a) One shilling.
(b) Five shillings.
(c) Ten shillings.
(d) One pence.

11. With whom did Thomas Cook form a partnership and rename the travel agency as Thomas Cook and Son?
(a) Alexander Mason Cook.
(b) Andrew Michael Cook.
(c) Thomas Cook, Jr.
(d) John A. Mason Cook.

12. What is the third characteristic of the pseudo-event, according to Boorstin?
(a) It is ambiguous.
(b) It is intentionally created.
(c) It is intended as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
(d) Its purpose is to be recreated or reported.

13. Established by Boorstin, what is the first way pseudo-events can overshadow real or spontaneous events?
(a) They can be repeated.
(b) They are more dramatic.
(c) They are easier to distribute.
(d) They are less dramatic.

14. In Chapter 1 - Section II, Boorstin discusses the temptation of newsmen to make images that were what?
(a) Believable.
(b) Newsworthy.
(c) Aligned politically.
(d) Probable.

15. Boorstin suggests, in Chapter 2 - Section 1, that heroes can now be what?
(a) Copied.
(b) Mass-produced.
(c) Destroyed.
(d) Emulated.

Short Answer Questions

1. What term refers to widespread reputation, especially of a favorable character of renown and public eminence?

2. In Chapter 1 - Section IV, Boorstin suggests that leaks are a form of what by governments?

3. What does Boorstin call "a person who is known for his well-knownness"?

4. What term is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy?

5. What does Boorstin refer to pseudo-events as, in Chapter 1 - Section IV?

(see the answer keys)

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