Interpersonal Communications

Channel

A medium through which messages are exchanged between people.

Communication

Using symbols to represent ideas so that meanings can be shared

Communication Skills

The ability to create symbols and perform behaviors that are clear appropriate, satisfying, effective, efficient, and ethical in a given social situation.

Concepts

Categories of phenomena that are believed to be relevant to understanding an event, situation, or experience.

Content Messages

Content Messages The literal or typical meanings of the symbols used to communicate.

Curvilinear association

Content Messages The literal or typical meanings of the symbols used to communicate.

Dyad

Two people, which is a common context for interpersonal communication.

Ethical Communication

Ethical Communication Using values as a moral guide when you interact with other people.

Fidelity

Fidelity The extent to which meanings can be correctly inferred from the symbols that are used.

Impersonal Communication

Impersonal Communication Using symbols to represent ideas to a manner that ignores personal qualities of the people involved in the interaction.

Interpersonal communication

Using symbols to represent ideas in order to share meanings and create a personal bond between people.

Interpersonal communication competence

The ability to use symbols appropriately and effectively to create a personal connection with another person.

Interpersonal Communication Ethics

Considering moral responsibilities to other people and relationships when making communication decisions.

Negative Association

When a decrease in the amount, frequency, or intensity of one phenomenon corresponds with an increase in another phenomenon.

Positive Association

When an increase in the amount of frequency, or intensity of one phenomenon corresponds with an increase in another phenomenon.

Relational Messages

The nature of the relationship between communication partners that is implied by the symbols that are used to communicate.

Social Rules

Guidelines that specify the actions that are expected, preferred, and off-limits within an interaction.

Symbols

Sounds, gestures, or images that represent ideas.

Technology mediated communication

Interaction between people that is made possible by computer technology.

Theory

A description of the relationships among concepts that promote an understanding of a phenomenon

Transactional Model of Communication

A conception of the components present in an interpersonal interaction and how people participate together in the act of communicating

Working self concept

The information that dominates a person’s sense of self at a particular moment.

Subcultures

Speech communities that share some unique practices within a broader cultural group.

Stanpoint

The position which people see the world based on their social or economic standpoint

Speech Community

group of people who use and interpret symbols the same way

Socialization

the process which newcomers to a cultural group come to understand its guidelines and assumptions

Self esteem

overall judgement of ones self worth or value

Self disclosure

explicitly sharing information with another person

Self concept

the sum total knowledge you have about yourself

Rituals

Carefully scripted performances that mark culturally significant events

Relational Layer of identity

Relational Layer of Identity Characteristics of the self that are related to relationships with other people.

Personal Layer of identity

The perceptions people have about themselves that they communicate to others.

Norms

Expectations for behavior that are shared within a cultural group.

Myths

Myths Sacred stories in which the characters and their actions embody core cultural themes.

Marginalization

Less dominant groups of people in society are treated inferior or unimportant

Interpenetration

A characterization of the layers of identity that captures how they are interconnected or permeate each other.

Intercultural communication

An interaction guided by participants’ memberships in different social groups, rather than their unique qualities as individuals

Identity Gap

A mismatch in the qualities associated with two or more layers of identity.

Identity

The image of a person that is embodied in communication.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to see one’s own cultural beliefs as more correct, appropriate, and moral than other cultures.

Enactment layer of identity

The characteristics of the self that are revealed through a person’s verbal and nonverbal style of communication.

Emerging adulthood

The period spanning ages 18-25, when people in our society are less constrained by their families and not yet burdened by adult responsibilities

Culture

The values, beliefs, and customs that we share with a group of people.

Cultural Institutions

The broadest level of culture; defined by members’ nationality, religion, or ethnic heritage

Communal Layer of identity

Communal Layer of Identity Characteristics of the self that are related to a person’s group memberships.

Boundary Markers

Messages that signal that an action is inappropriate or off-limits within a cultural group.