Communication in Context: Introduction

Final - Vocabulary

Communicated Diseases

Imaginary diseases that spread because people communicate about them.

Cyberchondriacs

People who compulsively searches online for information about real or imagined symptoms of illness.

Health Communication

Study and use of interpersonal and mediated communication to form and influence individual decisions that enhance health.

Narrative Competence

The ability to identify, listen to, tell, and understand stories and to be touched by and act on them.

Nocebo Effect

Experiencing a treatment effect based solely on a provider’s words.

Patient Activation

Involvement in one’s own health improvement and adherence to recommended treatments.

Algorithmic Journalism

Using computer algorithms in the news collection and distribution process without human intervention.

Concentration of Ownership

Ownership of many different media companies by an increasingly small number of conglomerates.

Convergence

Erasure of traditional distinctions among media.

Hyper-commercialism

The increasing amount of commercial content appearing in the media.

Mass Communication

Communication occurring between mass media and their audiences.

Media Addiction

Over-attachment to media.

Media Multitasking

Using more than one medium simultaneously.

Platform Agnostic

Neutrality in choice of content-delivery technoology.

Third-person Effect

The idea that others are affected by media messages, but we are not.

Agenda-setting Theory

Idea that media may not always tell us what to think, but they certainly tell us what to think about.

Media Texts

Content originating from communication technologies.

Parental Mediation Theory

Stresses the importance of parents taking an active role in managing and regulating their children’s interaction with media. It involves active mediation—talking with children about media content; restrictive mediation—setting rules and limits on children’s media use; and co-viewing—engaging in media consumption with children. A fourth form of parental mediation is internet specific: participatory learning involves parents actively engaging in internet use with their children.

Asynchronous Communication

Delay of some length between sending and receiving.

Synchronous Communication

Immediate, real-time communication interaction.

Computer-mediated Communication (CMC)

People interacting via digital technology.

Extended Real-life Hypothesis

Tendency for social networking site users to communicate their real personalities.

Idealized Virtual Identity Hypothesis

Tendency for creators of social network site profiles to display idealized characteristics not reflective of their actual personalities.

Privacy Paradox

Contradiction between their desire to protect their privacy and how people actually behave online.

Media Richness Thoery

Different media’s contribution to meaning making falls along a continuum of lean to rich, as judged by criteria such as the presence of instant feedback, the use of multiple cues and natural language, and the medium’s personal focus.

Anticipatory Socialization Stage

Learning about work through lifetime of communication.

Organizational Entry and Assimilation Stage

Moving from being an organizational outsider to organizational insider.

Communication Traits

Traits exhibited by members of an organization, such as assertiveness, secrecy, superiority, motivation, empowerment, supportiveness, and intimidation.

Hierarchical Mum Effect

Self-imposed suppression of dissent in upward messages.

Horizontal Message

Messages exchanged between colleagues of similar rank.

Upward Message

Messages that flow from lower- to higher-ranked employees,

Downward Message

Messages that flow from higher- to lower-ranked employees.

Organizational Communication

Any communication, verbal or nonverbal, that occurs within an organization.

Strategic Communication

Effective message development and delivery by using high levels of planning and audience research as per business objectives to meet organizational goals.

Organizational Assimilation

How individuals become integrated into an organization’s culture.

Organizational Climate

The meaning of employees attach to their organization’s policies and protocols, and the work activities they understand as expected, supported, and rewarded.

Organizational Culture

Pattern of shared basic assumption or inferences that members learn from an organization’s stories, myths, traditions, everyday experiences, and observed behaviors.

Serial Distortion

Alteration of messages as they move through stopping points between the original source and the intended receiver.

Water Cooler Communication

Informal chat within an organization.

Grapevine

Informal chain of communication that spreads through an organization, often leading to message distortion.

Circumscribed Agency

When individuals have some degree of autonomy, but delimited by a range of forces, including cultures from which they come, conventions of the media they consume, priorities of their organizations and superiors, etc.

Ideological Uncertainty

Requires understanding how social issues perceived in communication interaction influence how uncertainty is experienced and reduced.

First Copy Costs

When a company spends heavily on hiring, purchasing rights, and advertising. Also known as fixed costs.

Artificial Scarcity

Refers to the different ways media companies deliberately limit access to their goods and services.

Media Conglomeration

The concentration of ownership in the medias. More specifically, to the series of policies that have facilitated ownership of the majority of the major media outlets by a small number of corporations.

Formatting

The process of organizing text, images, and other elements of a document or presentation to enhance readability and visual appeal. It is essential for creating clear and effective communication, as it helps guide the audience through the material and emphasizes key points.