Test 1

Human Communication

A transitional process in which people generate shared meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture

Messages

Content being transmitted. Both verbal and nonverbal contain symbols

Encoding

The process of taking ideas and converting them into messages

Decoding

Is receiving a message and interpreting its meaning

Symbol

Something that conveys meaning

Content Meaning

Understanding the message based on prior knowledge of words/language

Relationship Meaning

Understanding the message based on the prior relationship with the speaker

Setting

Physical surroundings (location, day/time, proximity)

Participants

People, and relationships, interacting during communication

Channel

Means through which the message is transmitted (in person/zoom)

Noise

Interferes with/degrades the quality of a message (physical noise/mental noise)

Feedback

Response to a message

Synergetic Model

The transactional model depicts communication as occurring when two or more people create meaning as they respond to each other and their environment and is influenced by cultural, societal, and individual forces

Field of Experience

Includes past life experiences as well as attitudes and beliefs

Culture

The learned patterns of perceptions, values, and behaviors shared by a group of people

Communication Ethics

Refers to the “standards of right and wrong that one applies to messages that are sent and received

Absolutism

There is a rationally correct, moral standard that holds for everyone, everywhere, every time

Relativism

There is a view that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, and cultures

Communication Competence

The ability to put someone in a situation, no matter the differences, and they can communicate effectively.

Appropriateness

What is appropriate behavior for the context?

Effectiveness

Did you reach the goal you intended to with your message?

Identity

An informing aspect of communication. It comes with you to every communication. The culmination of self-concept, self-esteem, self-respect

Reflected Appraisals

Your opinion of yourself is determined by how others see you. Other's interactions with you shape the identity of a person

Looking-Glass Self

A term that highlights the idea that your self-image results from the images others reflect back to you

Particular Others

The important people in your life whose opinions and behavior influence the various aspects of your identity (Boss, parents, friends, etc.)

Generalized Others

The “people” and “strangers” who endorse the collection of communal roles, rules, norms, beliefs, and attitudes

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When an individual expects something to occur, the expectation increases the likelihood that it will because the expectation influences behavior

Stereotype Threat

The process in which reminding individuals of stereotypical expectations regarding important identities can impact their performance. EX Asian people being good at math

Self-Concept

A person is made from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others.

Self-Esteem

A part of an individual’s self-concept that describes how you evaluate yourself overall and arises out of how you perceive reflected appraisals and social comparisons

Self-Respect

The way you treat yourself and how you let other people treat you based on self-concept

Performance of Identity

The process of means by which we show the world who we think we are and is related to self-presentation

Self-Presentation

The notion that in performing identity we try to influence others’ impressions of us

Enacting Identities

Using scripts for the roles we’re playing at that moment. Ex presenting yourself when you are with different people

Role Expectations

The expectation that someone will behave in a certain way in a certain context

Mutable

Subject to change

Racial Identity

The identification with a particular racial group and develops as a result of societal forces because society defines what a race is and what it is called

National Identity

Refers to citizenship

Ethical Identity

Draws from some or all of the characteristics of a particular group, socially not genetically

Gender Identity

Refers to how and to what extent one identifies with the social construction of masculinity and femininity

Cisgender

The match between one’s gender identity and biological body

Transgender

Someone who identifies with a different gender than their biological body

Sexual Identity

Refers to the various categories of sexuality (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, etc.) one identifies with

Gender Fluid

Explains that gender identity isn’t fixed, dynamic dependent on context and time. It differs from day to day

Age Identity

The combination of self-perception of age along with what others understand age to mean

Social Class Identity

Based on income, occupation, education, dwelling, childrearing habits, and other factors. However culturally, social class is more of an identity rather than the exact monetary income

Disability Identity

Defined as having a physical or mental impairment (hearing, sight, mobility) that substantially limits one or more major life activities of the inability

Religious Identity

Defined by one’s spiritual beliefs in terms of both a particular belief system (what religion) and depth of belief (how much does the religion affect your daily life)

Perception

The process of selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory information (not just words but also touch, sound, smell, and appearance) into a coherent or lucid depiction of the world around us

Selection

Process of choosing which sensory information to focus on

Organization

Organize information into a recognizable picture to interpret recognize what sensory input represents and give it meaning.

Interpretation

Involves assigning meaning to stimuli that we have selected to attend to

Selective Attention

Our conscious (able to choose) or unconscious (without choose) ability to focus on only a narrow range of stimuli at any given time.

Primacy Effect

Form a judgment or opinion based on the first information received

Recency Effect

Form a judgment or opinion on the most recent information received

Cognitive Representation

A mental model or map (representation of things) humans can create to represent their surroundings and can later refer to when circumstances call for them

Schemas

Cognitive structures that help us organize information. (I have been to a class before, I know what it is supposed to look like)

Prototype

A representative or idealized version of a concept. (The typical college professor looks like)

Script

A relatively fixed (but can be tailored) sequence of events that functions as a guide or template for communication or behavior. (“How are you doing?” “Good, how are you”)

Categorization

Process of grouping objects or categories of information together with linguistic symbol

Label

Name assigned to a category based on one’s perception of that category.

Stereotyping

Using one label/part of someone to generalize everything about the person and define the person in relation to ourselves

Frame

Assumptions and attitudes we use to filter (also like a lens) perceptions to create meaning (If your friend waves at you and you don't wave back. A cynical person would think you are being rude while an optimistic person would think you just didn’t see them.)

Attribution Theory

Explains the cognitive and verbal processes we use to judge our own and other’s behavior and then attempt to collect all stimuli and determine the causes of behavior (external or internal)

Attributional Bias

My negative behaviors are because of external causes and my positive behaviors are because of my internal state. (“I am never the enemy, it is always the world”

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to give yourself more credit than is due when good things happen and accept very little responsibility when things go wrong

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to attribute other's negative behavior to internal causes and their positive behaviors to external causes

Over Attribution

Selecting an individual’s most obvious characteristic and using it to explain almost anything that person does

Constructs

Categories we form

Cognitive Complexity

Refers to how detailed, involved, or numerous a person’s constructs are

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to view one’s own group as the standard against which all others are judged

Prejudice

Occurs when people experience aversive or negative feelings towards a group as a whole or toward an individual because they belong to a particular group (based on physical characteristics, age, race, etc)

Ego-Defensive Function

Describe the role it plays in protecting individuals’ sense of self-worth (A poor person might look down on poorer people as a way to protect their ego)

Value-Expressive Function

Allowing people to view their own values, norms, and cultural practices as appropriate and correct

Cohort Effect

The process of how perceptions influence how, and about what, the various generations communicate

Social Role

Refers to the specific position or positions (job, family, etc) that an individual holds in a society

The Golden Mean

Morality is found in moderation

Pragmatism

“If it gets me what I want, then it is okay that I said it”- Get the outcome that YOU want

Utilitarianism

The goal is to bring the most happiness to the most people, if an action/message results in the most happiness for the most people, it is good/right. No matter if it is a lie or unethical

Paradigm

A belief system that represents a particular worldview. A young kid thinks that they know everything about the world but they only know about the world around them and haven’t been exposed to everything yet.

Theory

A set of statements that explains a particular phenomenon

Methods

Specific ways that scholars collect and analyze data which they then use to test hypotheses and prove or disprove their theories. Include interviews, focus groups, analyses of texts, data tables, etc

Social Science Approach

The contemporary term for the behaviorist approach, the goal to predict future behavior

Behaviorism

Focus on the study of behavior

Hypothesis

A supposition or proposed explanation.

Naturalistic

Derived from real-life situations

Quantitative Methods

Methods that convert data to numerical indicators and are then analyzed using statistics to establish relationships among the concepts

Social Penetration Theory

Proposes relationships develop through increases in self-disclosure (revealing information about themselves to another)

Demand-Withdrawal

When one partner criticizes or tries to change the other partner, who responds by becoming defensive and/or then disengaging

Rhetoric

The art of persuasion

Interpretive Approach

A contemporary term for humanistic study, the goal is to explore and explain the world around us

Humanism

A system of thought that celebrates human nature and its potential

Qualitative Methods

Methods in which researchers study naturally occurring communication rather than assembling data and converting it to numbers

Content Analysis

Approach to understanding by focusing on specific aspects of content

Defensive Communication

Behavior that occurs when an individual perceives a threat or anticipates a threat from another individual

Ethnographic

Relating to studies in which researchers actively engage with participants, insert yourself within a community

Cultural Communication

Communication patterns within a specific community

Rhetorical Analysis

Used by researchers to examine texts or public speeches as they occur in society with the aim of interpreting textual meaning

Member-Checking

Obtaining feedback from respondents to help improve the accuracy of research results

Critical Approach

An approach used not only to understand human behavior but ultimately to change society also, goal is the aim to change society