Comm Exam 2 Vocab

Language

A structured system of symbols used for communicating meaning.

Onomatopoeia

A word formed by imitating the sound associated with its meaning.

Denotative meaning

A word's literal meaning or dictionary definition.

Connotative meaning

A word's implied or secondary meaning, in addition to its literal meaning.

Loaded language

Terms that carry strongly positive or strongly negative connotations.

Ambiguous language

Language having more than one possible meaning.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The idea that language influences the ways that members of a culture see and think about the world.

Ethos

A speaker's respectability, trustworthiness, and moral character.

Pathos

Listeners' emotions.

Logos

Listeners' ability to reason.

Reason

To make judgments about the world based on evidence rather than emotion or intuition.

Credibility

The extent to which others find someone's words and actions trustworthy.

Euphemism

A vague, mild expression that symbolizes something more blunt or harsh.

Slang

Informal, unconventional words that are often understood only by others in a particular group.

Defamation

Language that harms a person's reputation or image.

Libel

A defamatory statement made in print or in some other fixed medium.

Slander

A defamatory statement made aloud.

Profanity

A form of language considered vulgar, rude, or obscene in the context in which it is used.

Hate speech

A form of profanity meant to degrade, intimidate, pr dehumanize groups of people.

Communication climate

The emotional tone of a relationship.

Confirming messages

Behaviors that indicate how much we value another person.

Disconfirming messages

Behaviors that imply a lack of regard for another person.

Defensiveness

Excessive concern with guarding oneself against the threat of criticism.

Supportiveness

A person's feelings of assurance that others care about and will protect him or her.

Non-evaluative feedback

A reply that withholds assessment of what the speaker has said or done.

Evaluative feedback

A reply that offers an assessment of what the speaker has said or done.

I-statement

A statement that claims ownership of one's thoughts or feelings.

You-statement

A statement that shifts responsibility for one's own thoughts or feelings to the listener.

Nonverbal communication

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

Emoticons

Textual representations of facial expressions.

Emoji

Cartoon depictions of faces and other objects.

Nonverbal channels

The various behavioral forms that nonverbal communication takes.

Turn-taking signal

Nonverbal behavior that indicates when a person's speaking turn begins and ends.

Immediacy behavior

Nonverbal behavior that conveys attraction or affiliation.

Facial display

The use of facial expression for communication.

Symmetry

The similarity between the left and right sides of the face or body.

Proportionality

The size of facial features relative to one another.

Oculesics

The study of eye behavior.

Kinesics

The study of movement.

Gesticulation

The use of arm and hand movements to communicate.

Emblem

A gesture with a direct verbal translation.

Illustrator

A gesture that enhances or clarifies a verbal message.

Affect display

A gesture that communicates emotion.

Regulator

A gesture that controls the flow of conversation.

Adaptor

A gesture used to satisfy a personal need.

Haptics

The study of how people use touch to communicate.

Vocalics

Characteristics of the voice that convey meaning in communication ; also referred to as paralanguage.

Olfactics

The study of the sense of smell.

Proxemics

The study of spatial use.

Intimate distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with intimate partners: ranges from 0 to 1.5 feet.

Personal distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with friends and relatives: ranges from 1.5 to 4 feet.

Social distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with casual acquaintances: ranges from 4 to 12 feet.

Public distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with public figures during a performance: ranges from 12 to 25 feet or more.

Halo effect

The tendency to attribute positive qualities to physically attractive people.

Chronemics

The use of time.

Artifact

An object or a visual feature of an environment with communicative value.

High-contact culture

A culture in which people touch frequently and maintain little personal distance with one another.

Low-contact culture

A culture in which people touch infrequently and maintain relatively high levels of personal distance with one another.

Listening

The active process of making meaning out of another person's spoken message.

HURIER model

A model of effective listening that involves hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding.

Informational listening

Listening to learn something.

Critical listening

Listening with the goal of evaluating or analyzing what one hears.

Empathic listening

Listening in order to experience what another person is thinking or feeling.

Pseudolistening

Using feedback behaviors to give the false impression that one is listening.

Selective attention

Listening only to what one wants to hear.

Information overload

The state of being overwhelmed by the amount of information one takes in.

Glazing over

Daydreaming during the time not spent listening.

Rebuttal tendency

The tendency to disrupt listening to internally debate a speaker's point and formulate a reply while the person is still speaking.

Closed-mindedness

The tendency to not listen to anything with which one disagrees.

Competitive interrupting

Using interruptions to take control of a conversation.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to pay attention only to information that supports one's values and beliefs while discounting or ignoring information that doesn't.

Vividness effect

The tendency for dramatic, shocking events to distort one's perception of reality.

Skepticism

The practice of evaluating the evidence for a claim.

Emotion

The body's multidimensional response to any event that enhances or inhibits one's goals.

Mood

A feeling, often prolonged, that has no identifiable cause.

Happiness

A state of contentment, joy, pleasure, and cheer.

Love

The emotion of caring for, feeling attached to, and feeling deeply committed to someone.

Passion

A secondary emotion consisting of joy and surprise, plus experiences of excitement and attraction for another.

Liking

A positive overall evaluation of another person.

Anger

An emotional response to being wronged.

Contempt

A feeling of superiority over, and disrespect for, others.

Disgust

A feeling of revulsion in reaction to something offensive.

Jealousy

The perception that an important relationship is being threatened by a third party.

Envy

The desire for something another person has.

Sadness

Emotion involving feeling unhappy, sorrowful, and discouraged, usually a result of some form of loss.

Depression

A physical illness involving excessive fatigue, insomnia, changes in weight, feelings of worthlessness, and/or thoughts of suicide or death.

Grief

The emotional process of dealing with profound loss.

Fear

The mind and body's reaction to perceived danger.

Amygdala

A cluster of neurons in the brain that largely controls the body's fear response.

Social anxiety

Fear of not making a good impression on others.

Action tendencies

Motivations to act in a particular way when experiencing an emotion.

Valence

The positivity or negativity of an emotion.

Primary emotions

Distinct emotional experiences not consisting of combinations of other emotions.

Secondary emotions

Emotions composed of combinations of primary emotions.

Meta-emotion

An emotion about an emotion.

Display rules

Unwritten codes that govern the ways people manage and express emotions.

Emotional contagion

The tendency to mimic the emotional experiences and expressions of others.

Agreeableness

One's tendency to be pleasant, accommodating, and cooperative.

Extroversion

One's tendency to be sociable and outgoing.

Neuroticism

One's tendency to think negative thoughts about oneself.