Intro to Communications Mississippi State University Test 1

Why do we communicate?

To form personal relationships, maintain them, and end them.

What is communication?

The process in which we use signs, symbols, and behaviors to exchange information and create meaning

What needs do communication meet?

Physical and practical needs relational needs, spiritual needs, identity needs, and instrumental needs

Models to explain the communication process

action model- a one-way process of communication in which a source encodes and sends a message to a receiver, who must then decode it
interaction model- a two-way process of communication that picks up where the action model left off; it includes adding context to the conversation and feedback from the receiver
transaction model- different from the interaction model in that it recognizes that both people involved must constantly interchange roles as sender and receiver to keep the conversation flowing smoothly

Communication characteristics

It relies on multiple channels, passes through perceptual filters, is given its meaning by people, has literal meaning and relational implications, send messages (intentional or unintentional), and is governed by rules

Five types of communication

Intrapersonal- communication within ones self
Interpersonal- communication between two people within the context of their relationship
Small group- communication within groups of about 3 to 20
Public- communication aimed towards a group larger than a small group; think giving a speech
Mass- communication delivered to a large audience via electronic or print media

Communication myths

1. Everyone is a communication expert
2. Communication will solve any problem
3. Communication can break down
4. Communication is inherently good
5. More communication is always better

Communication competence

Communicating in ways that are effective and appropriate for a given situation

What is culture?

The totality of learned, shared symbols, language, values, and norms that distinguish one group of people from another; groups of people that share cultures are called societies

Components of culture and co-culture

Symbols, language, values, and norms

What is a co-culture?

Groups of people who share values, customs, and norms related to mutual interests or characteristics other than their national citizenship

How culture affects communication

1. Individualistic culture (people believe their primary responsibility is to themselves) vs. collectivist cultures (people believe that their primary responsibility is to their families, communities, and employers)
2. Low context culture (people are expected to be direct and say what they mean) vs. high context culture (people are taught to speak in an indirect, in-explicit way)
3. Low power distance (people believe that o one person or group should have excessive power) vs. high power distance (certain groups, such as the royal family or dictators, have much greater power than the average citizen)
4. Masculine culture (people cherish traditionally masculine values and prefer specific roles for women and men) vs. feminine culture (people cherish traditionally feminine qualities and prefer little differentiation in the roles of women and men)
5. Monochronic (culture that sees time as a valuable commodity that should be used wisely) vs. polychronic (culture that views time as holistic fluid, and infinite)
6. Uncertainty avoidance (the extent to which people try to avoid situations that are unstructured unclear, or unpredictable)

How we perceive others

Perception is the process of making meaning from environmental experiences; we form our perceptions of others based on the information available to us

Perception is a process by

which we use selection (the process of paying attention to a certain stimulus), organization (the process of categorizing information that has been selected for attention), and interpretation (the process of assigning meaning to information that has been selected for attention and organized) in a nonlinear process to form ideas about others

What is attribution?

An explanation for an observed behavior

What is self-serving bias?

The tendency to attribute one's successes to stable internal causes and and one's failures to unstable external causes

How we perceive ourselves

We perceive ourselves based on our self concept; based on traits that are fairly stable over the course of our lives. This influences how we communicate and our self esteem.

What is self-concept?

The set of stable perceptions a person has about who he or she is; aka identity

What is identity?

The set of stable perceptions a person has about who he or she is; aka self-concept

Johari Window

A visual representation of components of the self that are known or unknown to the self and to others

What is self-fulfilling prophecy?

An expectation that gives rise to behaviors that cause the expectation to come true

The Nature of Language

Language has a structured system of symbols used for communicating meaning

Ways we use and abuse language

Some forms are used for positive reasons and can have good outcomes, such as entertaining others, strengthening, relationships, and even contributing to healing. An example would be humor. Other forms can cause devastating hurt, such as hate speech.

Improving your use of language

Separate opinions from factual claims, speak at an appropriate level, and own your thoughts and feelings

What is non-verbal communication?

Behaviors and characteristics that convey the meaning without the use of words

Six characteristics on non-verbal communication

1. Nonverbal communication is present in most communication contexts
2. Nonverbal communication often conveys more information than verbal communication
3. Nonverbal communication is usually believed over verbal communication
4. Nonverbal communication is the primary means of expressing emotion
5. Nonverbal communication metacommunicates
6. Nonverbal communication serves multiple functions

Culture influences nonverbal communication

Many forms of nonverbal behaviors are shaped by cultural practices, such as emblems (think the "come here" gesture), affect displays (emotion), personal distance, eye contact, facial displays of emotion, greeting behavior, time orientations, touch, and vocalics

Improving your nonverbal communication skills

Be sensitive to nonverbal messages and decipher the meaning of nonverbal messages

Listening vs. hearing vs. attending

1. Listening- the active process of making meaning out of another person's spoken message
2. Hearing- the sensory process of receiving and perceiving sounds
3. Attending- paying attention to someone's words well enough to understand what that person is trying to communicate

Misconceptions about listening

1. Hearing is the same as listening- hearing is merely the perception of sound, whereas listening is the active process of paying attention, assigning meaning, and responding to it
2. Listening is natural and effortless- listening is a learned skill, not an innate ability

The HURIER model of listening

A model describing the stages of effective listening as hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluation, and responding

Common barriers of effective listening

Noise, pseudolistening and selective attention, information overload, glazing over, rebuttal tendency, closed-mindedness, and competitive interrupting

Become a better informational listener

1. Separate what is and what isn't- beware of our tendency to "hear" words or statements that aren't actually there.
2. Avoid the confirmation bias- the tendency to pay attention only to information that supports one's values and beliefs, while discounting or ignoring information that does not
3. Listen for substance more than style- try to look past the vividness effect, or the tendency of dramatic, shocking events to distort one's perceptions of reality

Become a better critical listener

1. Be a skeptic- skepticism is a method of questioning that involves evaluation evidence for a stated claim
2. Evaluate a speaker's credibility- credibility is the reliability and trustworthiness of someone or something
3. Understand probability- evaluating the merits of a claim means speculating the likelihood that he claim is true. If the statement has a 50% chance of being true, it is probably. It is only certain if there is a 100% chance of it being true

Become a better emphatic listener

1. Listen nonjudgmentally- good empathetic listening is about being open-minded and nonjudgemental
2. Acknowledge feelings- acknowledge a speaker's feelings and allow them to continue expressing them
3. Communicate support nonverablly- when you're listening to rather than speaking, your nonverbal behaviors convey your interest, understanding, and empathy to the speaker

Why social relationships matter

It is in our nature to form them . Relationships help us feel we aren't alone because we belong to a social community.

Attraction theory

theory that explains why individuals are drawn to others

Uncertainty reduction theory

theory suggesting that people find uncertainty to be unpleasant, so they are motivated to reduce their uncertainty by getting to know others

Social exchange theory

theory suggesting that people seek to maintain relationships in which their benefits outweigh their costs

Equity theory

theory suggesting that a good relationship is one in which one's ratio of costs and benefits if equal to the partners

Social penetration theory

theory suggesting that the depth and breadth of self-disclosure help us learn about a person we're getting to know

Characteristics of friendships

1. They are voluntary- both friends are in the relationship by choice
2. Usually develop between peers- most of us conceive friendships with our equals
3. Governed by rules- we expect certain things from our friends and are expected to provide certain things
4. Differ by sex- male-male, female-female, and male-female relationships all have different behaviors linked to them

The nature of intimate relationships

1. Require deep commitment
2. Foster interdependence
3. Require continuous investment
4. Spark dialectical tensions

Characteristics of romantic relationships

1. Require deep commitment- commitment is our desire to stay in a relationship no matter what happens; commitment ensures us that no matter what happens our relationships will withstand it
2. Foster interdependence- what happens to one person will affect everyone else in the relationship
3. Require continuous investment- high commitment of our energies and other resources
4. Spark dialectal tensions- experiencing conflict between two important but opposing needs or desires

Stages of relational developement

1. Initiation- initial meeting and interaction
2. Experimenting- once you have decided you are interested in someone, you will try to learn more about them
3. Intensifying- transition from acquaintances to close friends; you will begin to share more intimate information and increase commitment
4. Integrating- when deep commitment has formed and the partners share a strong sense that the relationship has its own identity (a "you" and "I" rather than a "we")
5. Bonding- when partners make a public announcement of their commitment together

Communication in romantic relationships

the four communication behaviors that have particular influence in satisfaction with the relationship are conflict, privacy, emotional communication, and instrumental communication

Ending Romantic Relationships

1. Differentiating- when partners begin to see their differences as undesirable or annoying rather than complementary
2. Circumscribing- decreasing the quality and quantity of of their communication with each other
3. Stagnating- when the relationship stops going and the partners feel as if they are just "going through the motions"
4. Avoiding- when partners create physical and emotional distance from each other
5. Terminating- when the relationship is officially judged to be over

Improving communications in romantic relationships

Express more affection, use more humor, and communicate more assurances, as opposed to expressing more negative emotions and anger.

What is a small group?

a collection of people working interdependently to accomplish a task; small groups typically include 3-20 members

Functions of a small group

1. Focus on discrete tasks
2. Evaluate and advise
3. Create art and ideas
4. Provide service and support
5. Promote social networking
6. Compete
7. Help us learn

Joining small groups

We join small groups for various reasons, such as a need to belong, to give us protection, improve our effectiveness at a certain task, or because of peer pressure

Advantages and challenges of small group communication

Advantages of small group communication can include that they provide resource, experience synergy, and expose us to diversity. Disadvantages can include that they require sacrifices, can experience conflict, and can be difficult to coordinate.

Becoming a better small group communicator

Socialize new members constructively, maintain positive group relationships, and build group cohesion

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to judge other cultures' practices as inferior to one's own

Haptics

The study of the sense of touch

Pseudo-listening

Pretending to listen

Information overload

the state of being overwhelmed by the enormous amount information encountered each day

Uncertainty reduction theory

a theory suggesting that people find uncertainty to be unpleasant, so they are motivated to reduce their uncertainty by getting to know others

Equity theory

theory that a good relationship is one in which a person's ratio pf costs and benefits is equal to his or her partner's

Social penetration theory

theory suggesting that the depth and breadth of self-disclosure help us lean about a person we're getting to know

Intimacy

Significant emotional closeness experienced in a relationship, whether romantic or not

Interdepedence

the state in which what happens to one person affects everyone in the relationship

Monogamy

The state of being in only one romantic relationship at a time and avoiding romantic or sexual involvement wit others outside that relationship

Stonewalling

responding to another person's words with silence and a lack of expressions

Brainstorming groups

small groups of people who are assembled to generate innovative ways of thinking; can help to be creative, urge everyone to contribute, and allow piggybacking

Assimilation phase of a group acquiring its own identity

phase of group socialization in which members decide to accept the groups's culture and the group acquires its own identity