Interpersonal Communication Chapter 2 Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental terms, perception stages, communication models, and ethical concepts from Chapter 2.

Interpersonal Communication

The process of sharing information between individuals, occurring in face-to-face or mediated contexts, which can be formal or informal and helps individuals meet personal, relational, and professional goals.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A psychological model proposing that human needs emerge in order from basic physiological needs to safety, love and belonging, esteem, and ultimately self-actualization.

Self-Concept

The relatively stable set of perceptions an individual holds about themselves, including preferences, talents, emotional states, pet peeves, and beliefs.

Self-Esteem

An element of self-concept that involves judgments and evaluations of one's own self-worth, ranging from high to low evaluations.

Social Comparison

The process of comparing oneself to others to discern similarities, differences, and relative standing, which directly influences self-esteem.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

A theory introduced by Charles Berger and Richard Calabrese stating that when individuals meet new people, they experience cognitive and behavioral uncertainty and actively seek to reduce it through self-disclosure and specific strategies.

Passive Strategies

Uncertainty reduction strategies that avoid disrupting the observed individual and rely on unobtrusive observation.

Active Strategies

Uncertainty reduction strategies that involve seeking information about someone through third parties or checking social networking sites without direct interaction.

Interactive Strategies

Uncertainty reduction strategies that involve direct face-to-face or digital communication and self-disclosure with the person of interest.

Discovery Phase

The period in online dating defined as occurring after swiping right on a profile and before meeting in person, during which individuals engage in initial uncertainty reduction.

Self-Presentation Lies

Deceptive statements made during initial communication to present oneself as more attractive or compatible, such as exaggerating interest in hobbies, gym attendance, or religious activities.

Availability Maintenance Lies

Deceptive statements regarding an individual's availability or excuses for delayed communication, such as claiming a phone battery died.

Source

The encoder or sender in the communication process who decides to communicate a message based on intent, feelings, thoughts, and past experiences.

Receiver

The individual who obtains and decodes a message, interpreting it through personal filters such as attitudes, beliefs, values, and past experiences.

Message

The textual, verbal, or nonverbal components of communication created intentionally or unintentionally to convey meaning.

Channel

The medium through which a message is communicated, such as face-to-face interaction, text messaging, email, or social media platforms.

Feedback

The response sent back from the receiver to the sender that indicates whether the original message was comprehended, which can be positive, negative, or ambiguous.

Environment

The physical, situational, or social context in which communication occurs, including individuals' fields of experience and backgrounds that shape the interaction.

Noise

Any internal or external factor that interferes with, disrupts, or distorts a message, preventing it from being accurately understood by the receiver.

Physical Noise

External environmental distractions or auditory sounds, such as lawnmowers, traffic, or loud talking, that impede message transmission.

Psychological Noise

Mental or emotional distractions occurring within an individual's mind, such as stress, anger, anxiety, or personal worries, that hinder effective communication.

Semantic Noise

Distractions and misunderstandings caused by language factors, such as unfamiliar jargon, accents, ambiguous words, or complex terminology.

Physiological Noise

Biological or bodily factors, such as fatigue, hunger, headaches, or sensory impairments, that interfere with message processing.

Perception

The process of acquiring, attending to, organizing, and interpreting sensory information from the surrounding environment.

Rubin Vase

An ambiguous optical figure created by Edgar Rubin that demonstrates selective perception by presenting an image that can be perceived as either a white vase or two black profile faces.

All is Vanity

An 1892 drawing by Charles Allan Gilbert illustrating perceptual dualities by depicting a woman looking into a vanity mirror while simultaneously forming the silhouette of a skull.

My Wife and My Mother-in-Law

A 1915 drawing by William Ely Hill showcasing visual perception differences, capable of being seen as either a young woman turning her head or an older woman in profile.

Attending

The first stage of the perception process, involving the deliberate or automatic selection of specific sensory stimuli to focus on while ignoring others.

Selective Perception

The tendency to focus attention on specific elements of the environment that align with personal motives, emotions, or intense stimuli while ignoring other details.

Organizing

The second stage of the perception process, where selected sensory data is structured and classified in the brain using perceptual schemas to create meaning.

Physical Constructs

Perceptual schemas used to classify people based on physical appearance and characteristics, such as height, age, or size.

Role Constructs

Perceptual schemas used to organize individuals based on their social positions or professional roles, such as teacher, doctor, or parent.

Interaction Constructs

Perceptual schemas used to categorize people based on displayed social behaviors during an interaction, such as being friendly, aggressive, or dismissive.

Psychological Constructs

Perceptual schemas used to organize information based on individuals' internal states, dispositions, and emotions, such as confidence, sadness, or insecurity.

Interpreting

The final stage of the perception process, in which meaning is assigned to organized sensory information based on factors like experience, expectations, and relational satisfaction.

Relational Satisfaction

The degree of happiness and contentment experienced in a relationship, which strongly influences how one interprets a partner's behaviors and intentions.

Model

A simplified visual or conceptual representation of a system that highlights key components and relationships to explain, predict, or analyze real-world phenomena.

Action Model

A category of communication models that views communication as a one-directional linear transmission of a message from a source to a receiver.

Shannon-Weaver Model

A classic linear action model developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories engineers depicting message encoding, transmission through a channel with noise, and decoding by a receiver without immediate feedback.

SMCR Model

David K. Berlo's action model detailing four primary communication elements: Source, Message, Channel, and Receiver, and the specific factors influencing each.

Interaction Model

A category of communication models depicting interaction as a circular, two-way process that emphasizes reciprocal feedback and interpretation.

Osgood-Schramm Model

A circular interactional communication model asserting that communication is reciprocal and equal, with participants continually encoding, decoding, and interpreting messages.

Transactional Model

A communication model depicting communication as a dynamic, continuous process where participants act as senders and receivers simultaneously in shared contexts.

Barnlund's Transactional Model

A multi-layered transactional model highlighting simultaneous message exchange, verbal/nonverbal feedback, public/private/behavioral cues, and situational contexts.

Mindful Communication Model

An expanded transactional framework integrating Shauna Shapiro and Linda Carlson's three core components of mindfulness: attention, intention, and attitude.

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)

An assessment measuring five dimensions of mindfulness: nonreactivity to inner experience, observing, acting with awareness, describing with words, and non-judging of inner thoughts.

Mindful Listening

The practice of giving complete, conscious, and thoughtful attention to spoken messages without distraction or immediate judgment.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

The ability to monitor and recognize one's own emotions and those of others, discriminate among them, and use emotional information to guide thought and behavior.

Rhetorical Sensitivity

A mindset identified by Rodrick Hart and Don Burks describing an individual's awareness and willingness to adapt communication choices based on situation, audience, and potential consequences.