COMM100 Midterm

Ch 1. Definitions of Communication: Connection

Build relationships

Ch 1.Definitions of Communication: Dialogue

Create Mutual Understanding

Ch 1. Definitions of Communication: Expression

Share Experiences

Ch 1. Definitions of Communication: Information

Transmit Knowledge

Ch 1. Definitions of Communication: Persuasion

Changes Attitudes, Beliefs, and Actions

Ch 1. Definitions of Communication: Symbolic Interaction

Constitutes our Reality

Ch 1. Social Construction

knowledge, meaning, and reality are not inherent or objective, but are actively created and maintained through human interaction, communication, and social agreement

Ch 2. Communication Tiers: Message

Verbal and nonverbal communication. Signs and symbols. Intention and unintentional communication.

Ch 2. Communication tiers: Communicator

The relationship between the message and its creator. Relationships as created through communication. Role of communication in creating culture.

Ch 2. Communication tiers: Level

Power indefinites that communication discipline includes interpersonal, group, and public. Each _____ is distinguished by patterns of communication.

Ch 2. Communication tiers: Contexts

Describes the situation. Education, family, health, legal, organizational, religion, sports mediated.

Ch 2. Discourses of Communication: Normative Studies

Mirrors those of the natural sciences. ________ highlights the search for law-like rules/patterns that govern human experience. Usually backed by quantitative data. EX: affection exchange theory.

Ch 2. Discourses of Communication: Interpretive Studies

Research participants themselves are privileged over the research process. They are concerned with people as active sense makers, so research participants. Focus on local meaning making and shared norms. EX: Stigma Management Communication Theory.

Ch 2. Discourses of Communication: Dialogic Studies

Researchers working within the _____ tradition share with critical studies an interest in domination, but they see domination as a situational rather than a preexisting structural condition. More oriented towards addressing issues in a local environment. EX: cultural contracts theory

Ch 2. Discourses of Communication: Critical Studies

Researchers interested in _____ studies identify and critique various forms of social domination and oppression. Their goal is emancipation from false and distorted constructions of reality that appear normative or natural but in fact favor certain social interests. EX: critical race theory

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Semiotic

Focuses on how meaning is created through signs, symbols, and language.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Phenomenological

Focuses on how individuals experience communication and interpret meaning through dialogue.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Cybernetic

Views communication as systems of information processing that rely on feedback and interdependence.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Sociopsychological

Examines how communication influences individual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Sociocultural

Focuses on how communication creates and reflects culture, norms, and shared social realities.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Critical

Examines power structures, oppression, and how communication can promote social change.

Ch 2. Traditions of Communication Theory: Rhetorical

Studies public persuasion and how communication influences audiences in society.

Ch 3. Attribution Theory

The process of explaining the causes of behavior by making judgments about internal traits or external situations.

Ch 3. Social Judgment

How people evaluate and respond to persuasive messages based on their existing attitudes and beliefs, which is symbolized by an anchor.

Ch 3. Communication Competence

The ability to communicate effectively, appropriately, and skillfully in different situations. Comes from knowledge (content & procedural), motivation (positive or negative), skills (repeatable & intentional).

Ch 3. Presentation of the Self

The idea that people manage impressions and perform certain roles to influence how others perceive them. Everyday situations viewed as a performance that we try to align with norms and expectations. We draw upon scripts. (Front stage & back stage)

Ch 3. +Uncertainty Reduction

In initial encounters between strangers, communicators use passive, active, interactive, retroactive, and extractive information-seeking strategies to reduce uncertainty

Ch 4. Systems Theory

A theory that views communication as part of interconnected systems that influence each other and adapt through feedback. A system works together, and a change in one part affects the whole system.

Ch 4. Narrative Theory

The idea that humans understand and communicate meaning through stories.

Ch 4. Identification

A persuasion strategy where a communicator creates a sense of shared values, beliefs, or experiences with the audience.

Ch 4. Inoculation Theory

A theory explaining how exposure to weak counterarguments can strengthen resistance to persuasion.

Ch 4. +Coordinated Management of Meaning

Explains how people create and manage shared meaning through communication and interaction.

Ch 4. +Speech Acts

The idea that communication does not just convey information but also performs actions (like promising, apologizing, requesting).

Ch 5. Media Framing

The way media select, emphasize, and organize information to shape how audiences interpret events.

Ch 5. Spiral of Silence

The tendency for people to withhold opinions they believe are unpopular to avoid social isolation.

Ch 5. Uses and Gratification

A theory that sees audiences as active users who choose media to satisfy specific needs like entertainment or information.

Ch 5. Medium Theory

The idea that the form of media itself shapes communication and society (“the ______ is the message”).

Ch 5. +Agenda-Setting

The idea that media influence what issues people think are important by giving certain topics more attention.

Ch 6. Media Multiplicity

The use of multiple communication channels within relationships, often related to the strength of social ties. There is a wide variety of media platforms and communication channels available today.

Ch 6. Hyper (In)visibility

A concept describing how groups are either invisible in media or overly stereotyped and misrepresented.

Ch 6. Transactional Affordance Theory of Social Media Use

Explains how social media effects depend on the interaction between users and platform features like asynchronicity, cue manageability, and scalability.

Ch 6. Adaptive Structuration

A theory explaining how people adapt and use communication technologies differently based on social rules, structures, and interactions.

Ch 7. Family Communication Patterns

The ways families develop communication norms that shape relationships, decision making, and interaction styles.

Ch 7. Equity Theory

The idea that people evaluate relationships based on fairness in the balance of rewards and costs.

Ch 7. Relational Dialectics

The theory that relationships involve ongoing tensions between opposing needs (Autonomy/Connectedness, Openness/Closedness, Novelty/Predictability, Instrumentality/Affection, Equality/Inequality, Favoritism/Impartiality)

Ch 7. +Communicate Bond Belong

The idea that communication helps people form bonds and develop a sense of belonging within relationships and communities.

Models of Communication

Conceptual frameworks that explain how communication works and how messages move between people.

Models of Communication: transmissional

A model where a sender transmits a message to a passive receiver.

Models of Communication: Transactional

A model where communicators simultaneously send and receive messages.

Models of Communication: Strategic Ambiguity

The deliberate use of unclear or vague messages to allow multiple interpretations.

Models of Communication: Balancing Creativity & Constraint

The idea that communication operates within social rules and structures but still allows individual choice and agency.

Family Communications Patterns Theory: Consensual

High conversation and high conformity

Family Communications Patterns Theory: Pluralistic

High conversation and low conformity

Family Communications Patterns Theory: Protective

Low conversation, high conformity

Family Communications Patterns Theory: Laissez-Faire

Low conversation and low conformity