Application #2 CMST 100

Communication needs

shows us how communication fulfills our needs

Communication motives

reasons why we communicate with others

Impression management

the attempt to generate as favorable an impression of ourselves as possible, particularly through both verbal and nonverbal techniques of self-presentation

Social penetration theory

this theory helps to explain how individuals gradually become more intimate based on their communication behaviors

Hearing

refers to a passive activity where an individual perceives sound by detecting vibrations through an ear

Listening

is generally seen as an active process

Critical listening

the careful, systematic thinking and reasoning to see whether a message makes sense in light of factual evidence

Silent listening

occurs when you say nothing

Paraphrasing

defined as restating in your own words, the message you think the speaker just sent

Empathizing

is used to show that you identify with a speaker’s information

Analyzing

is helpful in gaining different alternatives and perspectives by offering an interpretation of the speaker’s message

Duration

the length of any relationship

Contact frequency

is how often you communicate with the other person

Sharing

the more we spend time with other people and interact with them, the more we are likely to share information about ourselves

Support

think of the people in your life and who you would be able to call in case of an emergency

Interactional variability

when we have a relationship with another person, it is not defined by your interaction with them, rather on the different types of conversations you can have with that person

Goals

in every relationship we enter into, we have certain expectations about that relationship

Physical attraction

refers to the degree to which you find another person aesthetically pleasing

Social attraction

the degree to which an individual sees another person as entertaining, intriguing, and fun to be around

Task attraction

people we are attracted to because they possess specific knowledge and/or skills that help us accomplish specific goals

Comparison level

the minimum standard that she is willing to tolerate

Comparison level of alternatives

the comparison between current relationship rewards and what she might get in another relationship

Similarity thesis

people with similar cultural, ethnic, or religious backgrounds are typically drawn to each other for this reason

Complementary

differences can make a relationship stronger, especially when you have a relationship

Initiating

we might say hello and introduce yourself to the other person

Experimenting

at this stage, you are trying to figure out if you want to continue the relationship further

Intensifying

we share more intimate and/or personal information about ourselves with that person

Integrating

is where two people truly become a couple

Bonding

where you reveal to the world that your relationship to each other now exists

Differentiating

is where both people are trying to figure out their own identities

Circumscribing

is where the partners tend to limit their interactions with each other

Stagnating

the relationship is not improving or growing

Avoiding

where both people avoid each other altogether

Terminating

where the parties decide to end or terminate the relationship

Relationship maintenance

the stabilization point between relationship initiation and potential relationship destruction

Dialectical tension

how individuals deal with struggles in their relationship

Storge

develops slowly out of friendship where stability and psychological closeness are valued along with commitment, which leads to enduring love

Ludic

view love as a game, and playing this game with multiple partners is perceived to be acceptable by individuals with this love style

Agape

involves altruism, giving, and other-centered love

Pragma

is known as practical love involving logic and reason

Mania

the final love style characterized by dependence, uncertainty, jealousy, and emotional upheava

Gender

refers to the behaviors and traits society considers masculine and feminine

Androgynous

a combination of both feminine and masculine traits

Undifferentiated

neither masculine or feminine

Instrumental

task-oriented responsibilities

Expressive

focused on helping and nurturing others, which are relationship-oriented roles

Disagreement

a difference of opinion

Argument

a verbal exchange between two or more people who have differing opinions on a given subject or subjects

Tolerance for disagreement

whether an individual can openly discuss differing opinions without feeling personally attacked or confronted

Conflict

an interactive process occurring when conscious beings (individuals or groups) have opposing or incompatible actions, beliefs, goals, ideas, motives, needs, objectives, obligations resources and/or values

Disagreement

a difference of opinion between two or more people or groups of people

Substantive disagreement

a disagreement that people have about a specific topic or issue

Procedural disagreements

concerned with procedure, how a decision should be reached or how a policy should be implemented

Interdependence

occurs when those involved in a relationship characterize it as continuous and important, making it worth the effort to maintain

Emotions

our reactions to stimuli in the outside environment

Feelings

the responses to thoughts and interpretations given to emotions based on experiences, memory, expectations, and personality

Emotional awareness

an individual’s ability to clearly express, in words, what they are feeling and why, is an extremely important factor in effective interpersonal communication

Alexithymia

a general deficit in emotional vocabulary—the ability to identify emotional feelings, differentiate emotional states from physical sensations, communicate feelings to others, and process emotion in a meaningful way

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

an individual’s appraisal and expression of their emotions and the emotions of others in a manner that enhances thought, living, and communicative interactions

Influence

when an individual or group of people alters another person’s thinking, feelings, and/ or behaviors through accidental, expressive, or rhetorical communication

Expressive or emotionally-based communication

messages that are sent either verbally or nonverbally related to an individual’s emotions and feelings

Rhetorical communication

involves purposefully creating and sending messages to another person in the hopes of altering another person’s thinking, feelings, and/or behaviors

Compliance

implies that an individual accepts influence and alters their thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors

identification

occurs when an individual accepts influence because they want to have a satisfying relationship with the influencer or influencing group

Internalization

occurs when an individual adopts influence and alters their thinking, feeling, and/or behaviors because doing so is intrinsically rewarding

Power

the degree that a social agent (A) has the ability to get another person(s) (P) to alter their thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors

Informational power

refers to a social agent’s ability to bring about a change in thought, feeling, and/or behavior through information

Coercive power

the ability to punish an individual who does not comply with one’s influencing attempt

Reward power

the ability to offer an individual rewards for complying with one’s influencing attempts

Legitimate power

a person (P) believes that the social agent (A) has a valid right to influence P, and P has an obligation to accept A’s attempt to influence P’s thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors

Expert

the power we give an individual to influence us because of their perceived knowledge

Dunning-Kruger effect

the tendency of some people to inflate their expertise when they really have nothing to back up that perception

Referent power

a social agent’s ability to influence another person because P wants to be associated with A

Integrative conflict

a win-win approach to conflict; whereby, both parties attempt to come to a settled agreement that is mutually beneficial

Distributive conflict

a win-lose approach; whereby, conflicting parties see their job as to win and make sure the other person or group loses

Affect

refers to “any experience of feeling or emotion, ranging from suffering to elation, from the simplest to the most complex sensations of feeling, and from the most normal to the most pathological emotional reactions

Communication competence

the ability of an interactant to choose among available communicative behaviors in order that he \[she/they\] may successfully accomplish his \[her/their\] own interpersonal goals, while maintaining the face and line of his \[her/their\] fellow interactants within the constraints of the situation

Contextual dialectics

dialectics that stem out of the cultural order where the friendship exists

Interactional dialectics

help us understand how communicative behavior happens within friendships

Commemorative friendships

ones that reflect a specific space and time in our lives, but current interaction is minimal and primarily reflects a time when the two friends were highly involved in each other’s lives

Postmodern friendship

one where the “participants co-construct the individual and dyadic realities within specific friendships

Concept-oriented

use positive constraints to stimulate the child to develop his own views about the world. and to consider more than one side of an issue

Individuality

a universal, biological life force that propels organisms toward separateness, uniqueness, and distinctiveness

Togetherness

the complementary, universal, biological life force that propels organisms toward relationship, attachment, and connectedness

Third-culture

when a couple negotiates their cultural background with the cultural background of their partner essentially creating a third-culture or hybrid culture between the two

Launching stage

occurs when late adolescents leave the parental home and venture out into the world as young singles themselves

Sibling hostility

characterized by such sibling behaviors as causing trouble, getting into fights, teasing/name-calling, taking things without permission, etc

Sibling warmth

characterized by sibling behaviors such as sharing secrets, helping each other, teaching each other, showing physical affection, sharing possessions, etc

Ideology of traditionalism

marriages that are marked by a more historically traditional, conservative perspective of marriage

Autonomy

an individual’s independence in their own behaviors and thoughts

Undifferentiated space

the idea that there are few constraints on physical spaces within the home

Temporal regularity

examines strict a schedule couples stick to

Traditionals

highly interdependent, have a conventional ideology, and high levels of conflict engagement

Independents

have a high level of interdependence, an unconventional ideology, and high levels of conflict engagement

Separates

have low interdependence, have a conventional ideology, and low levels of conflict engagement

Asynchronous

a mediated form of communication in which the sender and receiver are not concurrently engaged in communication

Netiquette

the set of professional and social rules and norms that are considered acceptable and polite when interacting with another person(s) through mediating technologies

Catfishing

a deceptive activity perpetrated by Internet predators when they fabricate online identities on social networking sites to lure unsuspecting victims into an emotional/romantic relationship

Uses and gratifications theory

was originally devised in the mid-1970s to explain why people use the types of mass media they do

Social presence

the degree to which we as individuals perceive another as a real person and any interaction between the two of us as a relationship