Exam 3: Cultural Influences on Consumer Decision-Making

Every year, the students at a prestigious engineering school remove a car from the parking lot and place it on the highest point of the roof of the main engineering building. The students have been doing this for decades, but not once has anyone ever confided to an outsider how it was done. This is a classic example of a ritual.

A metaphysical myth fulfills the cultural function of explaining how the components of the universe relate to each other.

Ralf and his brother had a business in a Midwest college town taking SUVs and modifying them into tailgating machines. These "awesome party wagons" were equipped with the owner's desired team logo on the front, side, and back; gas grills; and large beverage coolers. Their business boomed, especially when the university had a winning season. Ralf and his brother were creating and selling what could be best described as ________.

Grooming rituals express two kinds of binary opposition: private/public and ________.

________ occurs as marketers appropriate elements of popular culture and convert them for use as promotional vehicles.

Explain the idea of an antifestival and describe an example of an antifestival.

Researchers primarily see the gift-giving ritual as one of ________ exchange.

Use cultural ideas about food and eating as examples to explain the differences between the three types of crescive norms discussed in the book.

In many cultures, stories feature talking animals that act as mediating figures.

Hofstede's Dimensions of National Culture organizes cross-cultural values based on power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence.

Which functional area is consistently a part of a cultural system?

Casting directors, textbook authors, and retail buyers are all examples of formal gatekeepers in the culture production process.

When a sacred item or symbol is removed from its special place or is duplicated in mass quantities, then it becomes profane as a result of ________.

A professor was given a warning after he made a bad joke about Princess Diana shortly after her death. Students were likely upset because they saw Princess Di as a profane character worthy of special attention and respect.

Pavel was an inventor. He read that there were several million people who could not sleep at night until they looked under the bed. He invented a light that could be put under a bed and went on automatically when someone looked there. Pavel's product is designed to help people perform a ________.

Values associated with a long-term orientation are respect for social obligations and the need to save face.

As a relationship grows and progresses, gift giving tends to become more ________.

Country singers Marty Stewart and Travis Tritt and their record label decided to change the culture of the Country and Western music scene. With their now famous "No Hats" tour, the singers abandoned conventional country and western fashion (they threw away their hats, let their hair grow long, and wore t-shirts) and tried to appeal to larger and younger audiences with a grinding, sexy message. The process that these singers went through is best described as a ________.

A special ritual marking a person's change in social status is called a ________.

A style typically begins as a risky or unique statement by a relatively small group of people.