Speech Review Chapters 1-4

Communication

The sharing of meaning by sending and receiving symbolic cues.

Intrapersonal Communication

Cognition or thought within oneself.

Interpersonal Communication

Dyadic communication with one person.

Group Communication

3 or more people interacting to influence each other toward a common goal.

Public Communication

A person speaks face-to-face with an audience (one-way).

Mass Communication

A person or group communicates to an audience via print or electronic medium with delayed feedback.

Encode

Selecting symbols to carry a message.

Decode

Attach meaning to symbols received.

Speaker

Sender, source, and encoder of a message.

Listener

Receiver or decoder of a message.

Message

Ideas communicated verbally and nonverbally.

Channel

The means through which a message is sent.

Environment

The occasion, social context, and physical setting of communication.

Noise

Anything that distracts from effective communication.

Physical Noise

External environmental distractions (e.g., fan noise).

Psychological Noise

Mental distractions within the speaker or listener (e.g., anxiety).

Physiological Noise

Physical bodily distractions (e.g., a headache).

Interpreter (Triangle of Meaning)

The person who attaches meaning to a message or symbol.

Referent (Triangle of Meaning)

The actual object that a symbol represents.

Symbol (Triangle of Meaning)

Anything to which we attach meaning (e.g., the letters T-A-B-L-E).

6-Step Listening Process

1. Receive (Hearing), 2. Select (Focus on stimuli), 3. Interpret (Attach meaning), 4. Understand (Integrate into own words), 5. Evaluate (Judge merits), 6. Resolve (Decide what to do).

5 Barriers to Listening

1. Physical (environment), 2. Psychological (mind of listener), 3. Physiological (body of listener), 4. Factual (trying to remember all details), 5. Semantic (confusion over word meaning).

Ethics

Moral standards used to determine right from wrong, good from bad, in both thought and action.

Listening

An intermittent, active, and learned process of giving attention to aural stimuli.

Principles of Ethical Speakers

1. Speak up about topics you find important to better your communities and educate others. 2. Speak to benefit your listeners by providing interesting or useful information.

Ethical Responsibility in Communication

All parties in the communication process (every listener and every speaker) have an ethical responsibility.