HCOM 100 Midterm

Communication

The process by which we use symbols, signs, and behaviors to transfer information

Affiliation

The feeling of connectedness you have with others

Interdependence

What we do affects others and what they do affects us

Encoding

The process of mentally constructing a message

Decoding

The process of mentally interpreting and assigning meaning to the message recieved

Transactional Communication

involves people exchanging messages in both a sender and receiver role

Communication Skills

Behavioral abilities based on social understanding that are used to achieve particular goals

Linear Communication Model

a sender originates communication with words or action constituting a message

Interaction Communication Model

Shows communication as a two-directional process that incorporates feedback into communication between sender and receiver

Competent Communication Model

Not only includes feedback but also shows communication as an ongoing transactional process

Rhetoric

the art of speaking to inform, persuade, or motivate audiences

Mediated Communication

Some technology that is used to deliver messages between sources and receivers (ex. handwritten letters, telephone, internet, and smartphone apps)

Digital Communication

using electronic networks to transmit digital data, including text, images, video, or voice.

How can digital communication help us?

• It can foster support

• It can increase productivity and connected ness with friends and family

Internet usage

• Nearly 2/3 of people have smartphones

• Texting is easier

• We use our phones for everything: transportation, leaving reviews, dating, looking up information

• Social networking sites are competing aginst each other

Internet of Things

The internet, artificial intelligence, and big data will be like “electricity” - less visible but everywhere; it could control our lives more than it does now.

Media Synchronicity theory

different channels of communication support different levels of synchronicity

Synchronicity

the ability to allow people to communicate “at the same time with shared pattern of coordinated behavior”

Richness

Degree of visual, vocal, and personality cues that are possible as well as opportunities for feedback

Naturalness

The degrees to which a channel is communicative by stimulating more biologically natural communication usually experienced in real-life interactions

Social Information Processing Theory

Although such mediated interaction lacks the nonverbal cues of natural spoken communication, we compensate by using other cues

Perception Process

• Reality is constructed: Most social scientists agree that the world we know isn’t “out there.”

• We create our reality with others through communication

• There are two levels of reality: First-order realities and Second-order realities

• Conversations run more smoothly when people share second-order realities

• Communication is more problematic when the second-order realities are different

First-order realities

physically observable qualities of a thing or situation

ex) your neighbor speaks with an accent

(usually isn’t debatable)

Second-order realities

involve attaching meaning to first-order things or situations

ex) the accent makes her sound exotic

(is subjective)

Steps in the Perception Process

selection, organization, interpretation, and negotiation

Selection

Determining which data we will attend to

• Intensity: something that is louder, larger, or brighter stands out

• Repetition: Repetitious stimuli can also attract our attention

• contrast/change: unchanging people or things are less noticeable

Organization

arranging it in some meaningful way (out of many possibilities to help make sense of the world

• Physical (beautiful or plain)

• Role-based (student, attorney)

• Interaction-based (friendly, helpful)

• Psychological (confident, insecure)

Once we have selected an organizing scheme to classify people, we use it to make generalizations about member of the groups who fit our categories

We then organize our observations into generalizations (Women tend to…)

Interpretation

attaching meaning to sense data — plays a role in virtually every interpersonal act

• Relational satisfaction

• Expectation

• Personal Experience (people taking advantage of your kindness —> skeptical moving forward)

• Personality (“cold” personalities —> tough time interpreting emotions of others)

• Assumptions about human behavior

Negotiation

the process by which communicator influence each other’s perceptions

Narratives

stories we use to describe our personal worlds

ex) “I’m smart”

Confirmation Bias

We tend to seek out and organize our impressions to support that opinion

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency to give more weight to personal qualities than to the situation when making attributions

Halo Effect

the tendency to form an overall positive impression of a person on the basis of one positive characteristic

Influences on perception

• Access to Information

  • we can only make sense of what we know, and none of us knows everything about even the closest people in our lives; when new information becomes available, perceptions of others change

• Physiological influences

  • The senses

  • Age: alters not just our bodies but our perspectives

  • Health: can have a strong impact on how you perceive and relate to others

  • Biological cycles: Each of us has a daily cycle in which all sorts of changes constantly occur

  • Hunger: being hungry (and getting grumpy) or having overeaten (and getting tired) affect how we interact with others

  • neurobehavioral challenges: people with ADHD get easily distracted from tasks and have difficulty delaying gratification

• Psychological Influences

  • Mood

  • Self-concept

Nonverbal Communication

Intentionally or unintentionally signaling meaning through behavior instead of words

ex) A deaf woman using sign language

ex) writing a note

Leakage cues

nonverbals that “leak” out unintentionally and let people know what we’re thinking

Channel discrepancy

one channel of communication says one thing and another says something different

ex) verbal communication says you’re fine, nonverbals say otherwise

Repeating

Verbal message and nonverbal cue represent the same idea

ex) putting up 3 fingers while saying “three”

Complementing

nonverbal message that enhances verbal message

ex) pat on the back with a “good job”

Accenting

Clarifying and emphasizing specific information

Substituting

using a nonverbal cue instead of speaking

• can be more powerful than speaking sometimes

• you can use it when you don’t speak the same language as someone

• a hug when you miss someone instead of saying it verbally

• silence to show being angry or annoyed

Regulating Conversations

Using nonverbal cues to coordinate verbal communication

ex) pausing during conversation

ex) raising your hand during class

Illustrators

reinforce verbal messages

Regulators

help us manage the flow of a conversation

Emblems

there “is” a meaning in symbols for the culture that uses them

ex) thumbs up

adaptors

satisfy our physical or psychological needs

ex) rubbing eyes when tired

affect displays

convey positive and negative feelings

ex) jumping for joy

ex) fist for anger

Language

a system of symbols (words) that we use to think about and communicate experiences and feelings

Phonological Rules

these rules govern how words are pronounced

Syntactic rules

guides the placement of words in a sentence

5 competencies for language function

controlling, informing, feeling, imagining, and ritualizing

Control

to exert influence over others and our environment

Informing

the functional competency of using language to give and receive information

ex) asking or being asked for directions

feeling

you let people know how much you value (or don’t value) them by the emotions you express

imagining

a complex functional competency; the ability to think, play, and be creative in communication

ex).a play or a song

Ritualizing

involves the enacting for rules we are supposed to say in routine conversations or situations

ex) telling someone “thank you,” or saying “congratulations” to a bride and groom at a wedding

Questioning

• important aspect of informing

something we learn to obtain information

Describing

• important aspect of informing

helps us tell others about our world

Reinforcing

• important aspect of informing

helps us become competent listeners. Taking notes when somebody explains something, or repeating information to confirm comprehension

Witholding

• important aspect of informing

not providing all information you have. This could help us manage difficult situations

Ritualized Language

involves the enacting for rules we are supposed to say in routine conversations or situations

ex) telling someone “thank you” or saying “congratulations” to a bride and groom at a wedding

Semantics

relationships among symbols, objects, people, and concepts

ex) being younger and using inappropriate words when we’re upset

Evasion

avoiding specific details

Equivocation

using words that can be interpreted in multiple ways, on purpose

Euphemism

using a word with positive or neutral meaning to replace a word with a bad meaning

Hate speech

language that offends, threatens, or insults a person based on their background

Hurtful language

statements that affect others in a negative way. Not always intended