1. Leander is a project manager at an auto-repair workshop. He currently requires various automobile parts to begin the repair of a car that is rare in the market. The car needs to be returned to its owner by August 7. To ensure that his supplier sends the parts on time, which of the following should Leander say in his e-mail to the supplier?

Materials must be delivered on August 7.

Please ensure the materials are delivered on August 6, 10am.

Please deliver the materials as soon as they are ready.

The materials must be delivered as soon as possible.

Please ensure the materials are delivered by July 25.

2. Selena works for a publishing house and needs to write to her manager to get approval on creating a new subscription letter. Which of the following statements written by her best illustrates positive tone in a persuasive message?

It is requested that you approve the creation of a new subscription letter.

Please approve the creation of our new subscription letter.

Based on the consensus arrived at the meeting, I expect you to approve.

A request had been made to confirm your approval for the new subscription letter.

Please consider this to be a request for your approval.

3. In which of the following situations is a threat likely to be more effective than persuasion?

When it pertains to particularly bad behavior that is out of the ordinary

When any behavior needs to be changed permanently

When an employee needs to get back at a boss for humiliating him or her

When a supervisor needs to enlist cooperation on the next issue that arises

When a supervisor feels threatened and would rather put his energy into ego defense

4. When should the sales pattern be used in choosing a persuasive strategy?

When emotion is more important than logic in making a decision

When the audience will undertake a task without any resistance

When an audience is not likely to read the entire message

When the audience is willing to do as asked in a message

When the significance of rationality is paramount

5. The action close of a fund-raising message must:

not mention when the customer will get the product.

make the action sound difficult and hence challenging to the audience.

ensure that the audience does not act quickly.

not remind people of central selling points.

end with a positive picture and not with a selfish request for money.

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6. Which of the following is most likely to help increase the perceived importance of a message?

Giving people all the information that is available to you

Linking your sales message to the things people do or use every day

Mentioning costs at the beginning of the message

Avoiding stories about how the product was developed

Presenting a series of unanswered questions at the end of the message

7. Which of the following is best suited to persuade the audience under dire situations?

Sales pattern

Problem-solving pattern

Direct request

Indirect request

Emotional appeal

8. When writing a persuasive problem-solving message, if you know that your audience's initial position is negative, then _____.

evade the audience and deal with the objections later.

eliminate the objection before persuading the audience.

avoid confronting your audience's objections early on.

point out a logical fallacy in the audience's argument.

avoid naming or repeating the objection.

9. Which of the following should charities do while appealing to donors for investments?

Offer to educate donors with site visits or information packages.

Ignore those who currently contribute and focus on those who may be interested in contributing later.

Compare the donors to other investors.

Make "emergency" requests to increase the chances of receiving money.

Provide donors with plenty of information on the charity.

10. Which of the following best defines the common logical fallacy known as appeal to ignorance?

It is the error of making general assumptions based on limited evidence.

It is the error of using lack of evidence to support the conclusion.

It is the error of quoting from a famous person who is not really an expert.

It is the error of setting up the situation to look like there are only two choices.

It is the error of making comparisons that don't work.

11. While making a written direct request, you should:

give the audience all the information they will need to act on the request.

put the request at the end of a message.

use a generic title for the subject.

avoid putting the topic of interest in the subject line of the message.

make the request ambiguous to avoid offending the reader.

12. Stan is a reporter for his city's leading newspaper. He receives feedback from his editor on one of his reports. The feedback is "The direct quote you have used to strengthen your argument is not from an expert on the subject." Which of the following logical fallacies in Stan's report is the editor most likely referring to?

Weak analogy

False cause

False dichotomy

Appeal to authority

Appeal to ignorance

13. Which of the following statements best describes choice architecture?

It refers to making general assumptions based on limited evidence.

It refers to setting up a situation to look like there are only two choices.

It refers to creating persuasive messages that make the audience want to do what you want.

It refers to capitalizing on the well-known aversion to loss by taking away choice from audience members.

It refers to changing the context in which people make decisions to encourage them to make specific choices.

14. Which of the following statements is true of the writing style of direct mail for the purpose of persuasion?

It is a style that focuses purely on efficiency and does not welcome elegance.

It is a style that is closer to the language of academia than of poetry.

It is a style that renders it useful to provide a psychological description to describe the problem your product will solve.

It is a style that considers it more useful to make your letter sound like an advertisement than a letter.

It is a style that makes it unacceptable to break the rules of grammar.

15. While making an argument, a common error that refers to making comparisons that do not work is known as _____.

appeal to popularity

false dichotomy

hasty generalization

weak analogy

false cause

16. Companies use tools such as _____ to locate influencers who help their sales.

Jaycut

Audacity

Klout

Splashup

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