Interpersonal Communication: Chapters 1-2

Definitions of Interpersonal Communication

Bochner: at least two communicators; intentionally orienting toward each other; as both subject and object; whose actions embody each other’s perspectives both toward self and toward other

Knapp & Daley: (1) Number of communicators, (2) Physical proximity, (3) Nature of the interaction, and (4) Degree of formality & structure.

Why study communication?

1. New perspectives

2. How much time is allotted to it

3. To increase our effectiveness

Physical Needs

Adler, Rosenfeld & Proctor: that communication has been beneficial to avoiding/decreasing: (1) stress, (2) anxiety, (3) depression, (4) cancer, (5) coronary problems and (6) common cold.

• Because most health problems are stress-induced, communication offers a way to relieve this tension and alleviate some of the physical symptoms

Identity needs

Communication is also important to discover who we are.

Social needs

We use communication to establish relationships.

Practical needs

Communication is the means to tell the barista what coffee you prefer, inform your physician about what hurts, and advise others that you might need help. 

Define and explain the term “communication.”

Communication: a process by which we share ideas or information with other people.

• Latin word communico, which is translated to mean “to join or unite,” “to connect,” “to participate in” or “to share with all.”

Describe the nature of symbols and their importance to human communication.

Symbol: a mark, object, or sign that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention

Explain seven important factors related to human communication.

Communication is…

1. Symbolic

2. Shared Meanings

   • Denotative Definition v. Connotative Definition

3. Involves Intentionality (controversial)

   • Relational Dimension v. Content Dimension

4. An Ongoing Process

5. Culturally Determined

6. Occurs in a context

7. Is purposeful… to persuade

Competence

Communication competence: being appropriate and effective.

• Appropriate = acceptable

• Effective = desired outcome

• Characteristics: skillfull; adaptable; involved; understands their audience; cognitive complexity; self-monitoring

Intrapersonal Communication

self-talk

Interpersonal Communication

the exchange of messages between two people

Small Group Communication

3-15 people interacting with a common goal

Public Communication

Occurs when an individual or group of individuals sends a specific message to an audience.

• Smaller audience results in more feedback, leading to customizations in speech. A large audience speech is strict and formal

Mediated Communication

The use of some form of technology to facilitate information between two or more people

Shapiro & Carlson’s Mindful Practice

3 Behaviors:

1. Attention

2. Intention

3. Attitude

Baer’s 5 Facets of Mindfulness

1. Observing

2. Describing

3. Acting with Awareness

4. Non-judging inner experience

5. Non-reactivity to inner experience

Building and Maintaining Relationships

We will build and maintain relationships with others who have similar self-concepts to us, or we perceive them to have a similar self-concept about ourselves.

• Uncertainty Reduction Theory: When people first meet, they are uncomfortable with not knowing what to expect and are driven to reduce this uncertainty to feel more comfortable and predict the interaction

  • Passive Strategies: observation

  • Active Strategies: asking a friend for information or observing social networking.

  • Interactive Strategies: direct contact

Upon meeting new people, we focus on…

1. The person’s ability to reward or punish us

2. the degree to which they meet or violate our social expectations

3. whether we expect to reencounter them

Action Models

Action models: communication models that view communication as a one-directional transmission of information from a source or sender to some destination or receiver.

1. Shannon Weaver Model (linear communication)

2. Early Shramm Model

3. Berlo’s SMCR Model

Shannon Weaver Model (linear communication)

Scholars believed that communication occurred in a linear fashion, where a sender encodes a message through a channel to a receiver, who will decode the message. Feedback is not immediate. Examples of linear communication were newspapers, radio, and television

Early Shramm Model

• regards communication as a process between an encoder and a decoder through a medium. A person’s background has an impact on their interpretation, and communication is not fulfilled if there is no feedback from the reciever.

Berlo’s SMCR Model

Three main parts of all communication, which is the speaker, the subject, and the listener. He maintained that the listener determines the meaning of any message.

• SMCR stands for sender, message, channel, and receiver.

• Elements: verbal and nonverbal behaviors how the message is sent

• Treatment: How the message was presented

• Structure: how the message was organized

• Code: the form which the message was sent

• Channel of the message relies on the 5 senses.

Interaction Models

Interaction Models: view the sender and the receiver as responsible for the effectiveness of the communication. One of the biggest differences between the action and interaction models is a heightened focus on feedback

1. Osgood and Shramm Model (Circular Model)

2. Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson Model

Osgood and Shramm Model (Circular Model)

Once a person decodes a message, then they can encode it and send a message back to the sender. They could continue encoding and decoding into a continuous cycle.

Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson Model

Communication happens all the time. Every time a message is sent, then a message is returned, and it continues from Person A to Person B until someone stops. Feedback is provided every time that Person A sends a message

• Five axioms:

  1. One cannot not communicate

  2. Every message has a content and relationship dimension

  3. How the communicators punctuate their communicative sequence

  4. Can be analog or digital

     • Digital: what the words mean

     • Analogical: how the words are said & nonverbal behavior

  5. Communication could either be symmetrical or complementary.

     • If the communicators have similar power relations or not.

     • Conflict & misunderstandings can occur if the communicators have different power relations

Transaction Models

demonstrate that individuals are often acting as both the sender and receiver simultaneously. Basically, sending and receiving messages happen simultaneously.

1. Barnlund’s transaction Model

Barnlund’s Transaction Model

during interpersonal interactions, we are both sending and receiving messages simultaneously. Out of all the other communication models, this one includes a multi-layered feedback system. We can provide oral feedback, but our nonverbal communication (e.g., tone of voice, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures) is equally important to how others interpret the messages we are sending we use others’ nonverbal behaviors to interpret their messages.

• Transaction Principles:

  • Communication is complex

  • Communication is continuous

  • Communication is dynamic

• 3 types of cues; contexts; noise; and principles

Barnlund’s Transaction Model - 3 Cues

1. Public: anything that is physical or environmental

2. Private (the private objects of the orientation): include the senses of a person

3. Behavioral: nonverbal and verbal cues

Barnlund’s Transaction Model - 3 Contexts

1. Social Context: The rules and norms that govern how people communicate with one another.

2. Cultural Context: The cultural and co-cultural identities people have (e.g., ability, age, biological sex, gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, race, sexual orientation, social class).

3. Relational Context: The nature of the bond or emotional attachment between two people (e.g., parent/guardian-child, sibling-sibling, teacher-student, health care worker-client, best friends, acquaintances)

Noise - 4 Contexts

Anything that interrupts the flow of communication

1. Physical Context: The physical space where interaction is occurring (office, school, home, doctor’s office, is the space loud, is the furniture comfortable, etc.).

2. Physiological Context: The body’s responses to what’s happening in its environment.

   • a. Internal: Physiological responses that result because of our body’s internal processes (e.g., hunger, a headache, physically tired).

   • b. External: Physiological responses that result because of external stimuli within the environment (e.g., are you cold, are you hot, the color of the room, are you physically comfortable).

3. Psychological Context: How the human mind responds to what’s occurring within its environment (e.g., emotional state, thoughts, perceptions, intentions, mindfulness).

4. Semantic Context: The possible understanding and interpretation of different messages sent (e.g., someone’s language, size of vocabulary, effective use of grammar).

Model of Mindful Communication

Mindfulness mixed with transnational model

• Mindful communication: learning to harness the power of mindfulness to focus our ability to communicate with other people interpersonally effectively

  • Listening to your partner without being distracted.

  • Holding a conversation without being too emotional.

  • Being non-judgmental when you talk, argue, or even fight with your partner.

  • Accepting your partner’s perspective even if it is different from yours.

  • Validating yourself and your partner

Perceptual Process

Attending: selecting what information to focus on

• We pay attention to…

  1. Extreme/Intense

  2. Different/contradicting

  3. Repetitive

  4. Based on motives

  5. Based on emotional state

Organizing: defining and making sense of information

• 4 Constructs:

  1. Physical constructs

  2. Role constructs

  3. Interaction constructs (aggressive, friendly)

  4. Psychological constructs (states of minds of communicators)

Interpreting: attaching meaning to information

• Influences:

  1. Personal experience

  2. Involvement

  3. Expectations

  4. Personal assumptions

  5. Relational satisfaction