Intro To Human Communication - Exam 1

Human Communication

A process in which people generate meaning through verbal and nonverbal messages

Denotative meaning

The concrete meaning of the message, such as the definition you would find in the dictionary - subjective meaning based in personal experiences and beliefs

Content Meaning

Includes denotative and connotative meaning

Connotative meaning

Describes the meanings suggested by or associated with the message and the emotions triggered by it

Example of Denotative and Connotative meaning

Mother = female parent

Mother = meanings such as warmth, nurturance, intimacy

Relationship meaning

Describes what the message conveys about the relationship between the parties ; bases how we communicate

The Synergetic Model

A transactional model that depicts communication as occurring when two or more people create meaning they respond to each other and their environment

Channels

is the means through which a message is conveyed : face to face, written, technology

- can effect how the message is perceived and its impact on the relationship

Noise

Refers to any stimulus that can interfere with or degrade the quality of the message : can be internal or exterior; hungry, thinking, hairstyle, lawnmower

Communication is influenced by culture

1) We learn them

2) Always changing

3) Artifacts show who we are

4) The way we communicate

5) How we make sense of the world

6) Links to each other

We learn them; Culture

The learned patters of perceptions, values and behaviors, that a group of people share

Always changing; Culture

technology - smart phones

Artifacts that show who we are ; Culture

A societies: art, games, customs and traditions

The way we communicate; Culture

The modes that define a culture

How we make sense of the world; Culture

Symbols of expression that individuals, groups, societies use, that make sense of daily life

Links to each other; Culture

Links individuals to their society

Communication Ethics

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

Four areas of communication ethics

-Truthfulness

-Sharing and Withholding information

-Benefit and Harms of messages ( how we communicate with people)

-Absolutism( Communicating exactly the same way) Vs Relativism ( behavior changes among individuals, groups, and culture and across situations)

Perception refers to

- selection

- organization

-interpretation

Social Identity Theory

-1979

-A person has not one, "personal self," but rather several selves that correspond to widening circles of group membership

- Apart from the level self an individual has multiple social identities

- The individuals self-concept derived from perceived membership of social groups

Social Comparison

We compare ourselves to others in our reference group and decide how we measure up

Role Expectations

- The expectation that one will perform in a particular way because of the social role occupied

- Dad teach son how to play ball

- Mom take care of son in grocery store

Performance of Identity

The process by which we show the world who we think we are

Self fulfilling prophecy

When an individual expects something to occur, the expectation increases the likelihood it will

Generalized Others

The collection of roles, rules, norms, beliefs, and attitudes endorsed by the community in which a person lives

for ex: masculinity in young boys

Social identity

What makes our group unique from other groups

Identity

Who a person is; composed of individual and social categories a person identifies with, as well as the categories that others identify with that person

Looking Glass Self

The idea that self-images result from the images others reflect back to an individual

Particular Others

The important people in an individuals life, whose opinions and behavior influence the various aspects of identity

Interpretive Approach

- Small : Use description

- Not numbers based

- Strengths: in depth understanding

- Limitations: Cannot generalize conclusions to a larger population/ researchers are often outsiders to those groups they study so this influences as well

- Views communication as unique

Method

- Way to test a theory

- how you analyze data

-The specific ways that scholars collect and analyze data which they then use to prove or disprove theories

Theory

-A set of statements that explains a particular phenomenon

-ideas

Social Scientific Approach

-Numbers and statistics

- Assumes communication is predictable

- larger population

- Strengths: Can explain larger communication patterns/ predict effects

- Limitations: Communication is not always predictable

- you can't elaborate or explain

Critical Approach

-Method/Theory

-Communication as power based

-own thing

- Strengths: emphasis on the importance of economic, political and historical forces in communication - acknowledge role of power

-Limitations: Lack of attention to face-to face communication

Selective Attention

Consciously or unconsciously we attend to just a narrow range of the full array of sensory information available and ignore the remainder

- influenced by aspects of your identity, features of the person, your goals/ interests

- we select what we pay attention to

Cognitive Representation

Describes the human ability to form mental methods, or cognitive maps, of the world we live in

-we create these maps and then refer to them later when circumstances call for them

Script

A relatively fixed sequence of events expected to occur; it functions as a guide or template for how to act in particular situations

Label

a name assigned to a category based on one's perception of the category ( ex: goths, jocks, emos)

Stereotyping

Occurs when schema overgeneralize attributes of a group to which others belong

- an assumption that every member of the group possesses certain characteristics

Attribution Theory

-Explains the cognitive and verbal processes we use to judge our own behavior and other'e behavior

- The process of drawing inferences

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to attribute other's negative behavior to internal causes an their positive behaviors to external causes ( others behavior)

Self Serving Bias

The tendency to give one's self more credit than is due when good things happen and to accept too little responsibility for those things that go wrong

- we "rate" our behaviors and imagine our intentions more charitably

- we perceive our own anger as justified. We dismiss other people's anger as irrational

Selection : perception

We select what we pay attention to

-Selective Attention

Organization : perception

Recognize and order observed stimuli

-Cognitive Representation

-Script

-Label

-Stereotyping

Interpretation: perception

Assign meaning to the stimuli through perception of others

-Attribution Theory

-Fundamental Attribution Error

-Self Serving Bias

Cognitive Complexity

The degree to which a person's constructs are detailed, involved, or numerous

- more constructs for things that interest us

-constructs develop with age, intellect, experiences

- Higher Complexity = Diverse explanations/perceptions

Role of Power

Every society has a hierarchy, and in a hierarchy some people have more power than others

-your relative position of power, or lack of power influences how others perceive you, how you perceive others, and how you interpret events in the world

Role of Culture

Sensory Models

- all cultures emphasize one of the five senses

Cultural norms, values, expectations, form a backdrop of familiarity, which affects perception

The role of Social Comparison

Leads to expectations about how others should or should not behave

- Ethnocentrism

-Stereotypes

- Prejudice

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to view one's own group as the standard against which all others are judged

Stereotypes

Creating schemas that overgeneralize attributes of a specific group

Prejudice

Experiencing aversive or negative feelings toward a group as a whole or toward an individual because she or he belongs to a group

Cohort Effect

Depending on where you were born, you perceive the world a certain way ( great depression)

Seven functions of language

- Instrumental

-Regulatory

-Inform

-Heuristic

-Interactional

-Personal Language

-Imaginatively

Instrumental

- The most basic function of language

- We can use it to brain what we need or desire

-Inviting someone somewhere

Regulatory

Meaning that we can use it to control or regulate the behaviors of others

-your mom telling you to do your chores

Informative

To communicate information or report facts

- Teaching ( similar to Heuristic)

Heuristic

Using language to acquire knowledge and understanding

- ( similar to Informative)

Interactional

It established and defines social relationships in both interpersonal and group settings

- How we communicate with different people in different ways: considered most important because how we maintain relationships with people

Personal Language

Express individuality and personality and is more common in private than in public settings

Imaginatively

Used to express oneself artistically or creatively; poetry

Influences on Verbal Communication

When identities influence several aspects of language, we say that speakers have a distinct dialect

- gender

-age

-Rationality

-Ethnicity and Race

-Education and Occupation

Language and Perception : Nominalists

Claim that any idea can be expressed in any language and that the structure and vocabulary of the language do not influence the speakers perception of the world

Language and Perception: Relativists

Argue that language serves not only as a way for us to voice our ideas but that, in addition, it "is itself shaper ideas, the guide for the individual's mental activity"

Hate Speech

The use of verbal communication to attack others based upon some social category such as race, ethnicity, religion , or sexuality is seen as threatening an entire group of inciting violence against members of these groups

- attacks on others based on an entire group

- threaten an entire group

-incite violence against members of these groups

Semiotics

The study of signs and symbols, especially as means of language or communication

- larger discussion of meaning

Sign

Signifier- material form/visual mark or sound ( must live in a system of difference)

Signified: Meaning ( mapped a system of onto the physical world as well as our own heads)

-a unit

Code

A system of meaning

Meaning

In the world itself and in the language people use to describe it

- People make it - it is not simply in the world or in our heads

-representational - always points or refers to the real world

- involves a process of naming

Text

refers to a more or less coherent and circumscribed set of codes or symbols

- a book

May also refer to a set of organized visual and/or auditory codes ( song, film, video, advertisement)

Relationship between meaning and codes

In semiotics, meaning has an independence from the world and the pictures in our heads

- meaning is located in the codes of society

Relationship between meaning, absence, and difference

Meaning as a function of absence and difference

-absence in that the object is not there.

- the sign must always be different than what it represents

-without codes of meaning we could not distinguish one object from another. We know something, often, by what it is not ( difference)

Deliberative rhetoric

the type of rhetoric used to argue what a society should do in the future

Forensic rhetoric

rhetoric that addresses events that happened in the past with the goal of setting things right after an injustice has occurred

Social Movements

a large, organized body of people who are attempting to create social change

Four Parts of the individual rhetoric and society

- Reaffirming Cultural Values

-Increasing Democratic Participation

-Bringing about justice

- Prompting social change

Three artistic proofs of rhetoric

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Ethos

the rhetorical construction of character

- credibility

- do they have good sense, moral character, good will

Pathos

the rhetorical use of emotions to affect audience decision making

-use of emotion of emotional appeals

logos

rational appeals; the use of rhetoric to help the audience see the rationale for a particular conclusion

-rational appeals refers to reasoning/rationality

The problem of the 21st century is the problem of the image

Photographs- what the tagline says distorts how you read the image

What do Iconic Images do

-Reproduce ideology

-Communicate social knowledge: we know who we are by images we have seen

- shape collective memory: our social knowledge of the world

- Model citizenship: Show us that citizenship should look like, what we should do depends on culture

- provide figural resources for communication action: these images make things happen

What are the three codes identified in the Iwo Jima photo?

1) Egalitarianism

2) Nationalism

3) Civic Republicanism

Egalitarianism code

No rank/ anonymous physical entertainment ( collective discipline)

Nationalism code

grounds abstract national identity in embodied social performance ( not just the flag but the collective labor of soldier) the flag and the marines

Civic republicanism code

coordinated effort by ordinary people/private sacrifice for public good

What is the relationship between nostalgia for the "greatest generation" and the popularity of the flag raising photo at ground zero?

The greatest generation: great depression

-Nostalgia for how we used to be, when we were innocent

What are the influences on Nonverbal communication

Culture

The relationship

How well we know the communicator

sex

Culture - influence on nonverbal communication

cues are used widely across culture, such as nodding to mean yes- not true in every culture

The relationship

between the people interacting affect the meaning of nonverbal behavior

How well we know the communicator

the meaning we attribute to someone's nonverbal behavior varies based on

example : sarcasm

sex

tend to interpret individuals nonverbal behavior based on this

- due to biological as well as social and cultural differences

5 nonverbal codes

kinesics, paralinguistic, time and space, haptics, and appearance/artifacts

kinesics

nonverbal communication sent by the body, including gestures, posture, movement, facial expressions, and eye behavior

paralinguistic/paralanguage

All aspects of spoken language except the words themselves; includes rate, volume, pitch, stress

- those aspects of language that are oral but not verbal

time and space

Chronemics

proxemics

Chronemics

the study of the way people use time as a message

Proexemics

The study of how people use spatial cues, including interpersonal distance, territoriality, and other space relationships to communicate

Haptics

The study of the communicative function of touch

-professional touch

-function touch

-social polite touch

-friendship touch

-love touch

-demand touching

Appearance/artifacts

clothing and other accessories

- we use this and objects to communicate information about ourselves to others

- tanning, weight control, muscle development