Introduction to Communication - Exam 1 Study

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental communication elements, models, perception, the Big Five personality traits, cultural dimensions, politeness theory, verbal/nonverbal communication, and social penetration theory.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

A communication theory developed by Berger and Calabrese (1975) proposing that individuals use three stages (passive, active, and interactive) to reduce uncertainty when interacting with others.

Passive Stage (Uncertainty Reduction)

The uncertainty reduction stage where an individual observes a person from a distance.

Active Stage (Uncertainty Reduction)

The uncertainty reduction stage that involves asking other people about the person or looking them up (such as searching them on Google).

Interactive Stage (Uncertainty Reduction)

The uncertainty reduction stage involving face-to-face conversation to learn about the person through asking questions, self-disclosing, allowing reciprocal self-disclosures, verifying guesses, and observing nonverbal behaviors.

Source

The person who decides to communicate, identifies the intent of the message (entertain, inform, distract), and constructs its content; also used synonymously and interchangeably with sender.

Encoding

The process by which sources formulate their thoughts into verbal or nonverbal messages.

Receiver

The individual who decodes the message and tries to understand the source of the message and the meaning they intended.

Message

The information, meaning, and/or emotion conveyed by verbal or nonverbal means, serving as the content and basis of meaning in a communication interaction.

Channel

The mode, means, or media that transmits a message from the sender to the receiver.

Environment

The context or situation where communication occurs, encompassing physical location as well as situational factors like occasion, audience familiarity, or social events.

Feedback

The receiver's response to a message that informs the source whether the message was received and how they reacted to it, allowing the source to adapt content or delivery.

Noise

Anything that interferes with, hinders, or distorts a message, preventing it from being completely received and/or understood.

Psychological Noise

Mental distractions or thoughts that interfere with message processing, such as daydreaming about a party or wishing for class to end.

Semantic Noise

Interference caused by language differences, accents, or specialized jargon that impedes clear understanding of a message.

Physiological Noise

Physical or bodily conditions (such as extreme hunger or abdominal pain) that distract an individual from receiving and interpreting messages.

Gatekeeper

A middleman positioned between the source and receiver who decides whether a message is granted passage, potentially introducing inaccuracies, omissions, and distortion.

Action Model

A category of communication models that view communication as a one-directional transmission of information from a source or sender to a destination or receiver, minimizing the receiver's role in creating meaning.

Aristotelian Model

A linear action model representing communication in a public setting as: $\text{Speaker} \rightarrow \text{Message} \rightarrow \text{Audience}$.

Lasswell Model

A linear action communication model characterized by five foundational questions: Who, Says What, In Which Channel, To Whom, With What Effect.

Berlo's SMCR Model

A communication model delineating the process into four primary components: Source, Message, Channel, and Receiver, each influenced by internal skills, senses, attitudes, and cultural contexts.

Interaction Model

A category of communication models portraying both sender and receiver as responsible for communication effectiveness, placing heightened emphasis on feedback.

Shannon-Weaver Model

An interaction model outlining communication flow from source encoding, transmission, channel with noise, reception, receiver decoding, and returning feedback.

Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson Model

An interaction model illustrating communication as an alternating, sequential series of communicative turns and reciprocal exchanges between two individuals.

Transaction Model

A category of communication models demonstrating that individuals act simultaneously as both senders and receivers, co-creating meaning in real time.

Barnlund's Transactional Model

A transactional communication model where communicators continuously encode, decode, send, and receive messages across channels in the presence of noise.

Axley's Conduit Model / Metaphor

A perspective assuming communication is simply sending information through a conduit pipe, where words are containers holding fixed meaning transferred directly from sender to receiver.

Attending

The perceptual process of selecting specific sensory information to focus on based on how stimuli look, feel, smell, touch, and taste.

Organizing

The perceptual process of arranging sensory data in our mind using mental constructs to make sense of and define our experiences.

Physical Constructs

Mental categories used to classify individuals based on external physical characteristics (such as young/old, tall/short, big/small).

Role Constructs

Mental categories used to classify individuals based on social positions or titles (such as mother, friend, doctor, teacher).

Interaction Constructs

Mental categories used to classify individuals based on social behaviors observed during communication (such as aggressive, friendly, dismissive, indifferent).

Psychological Constructs

Mental categories used to classify individuals based on internal states, emotions, and dispositions (such as confident, depressed, happy, insecure).

Interpreting

The perceptual process of attaching meaning to organized sensory data to understand its significance.

Dispositional Attribution

Explaining someone's behavior by attributing it to their personality, character, or personal traits rather than their external circumstances.

Situational Attribution

Explaining someone's behavior by attributing it to external circumstances or situational factors rather than internal personality traits.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate personality traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining other people's behavior.

Openness

A Big Five personality trait reflecting an individual's receptiveness to new experiences, willingness to challenge underlying life assumptions, and amenability to differing viewpoints.

Conscientiousness

A Big Five personality trait reflecting the degree to which an individual is aware of their actions and how those actions impact others.

Extraversion

A Big Five personality trait reflecting the degree to which an individual is sociable, outgoing, and person-oriented.

Agreeableness

A Big Five personality trait reflecting the degree to which an individual engages in prosocial behaviors such as altruism, cooperation, and compassion.

Neuroticism

A Big Five personality trait reflecting the degree to which an individual is vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and emotional instability.

Individualistic Culture

A cultural orientation where individuals view themselves primarily as autonomous entities rather than as part of a collective group.

Collectivistic Culture

A cultural orientation that is group-focused, prioritizing actions and decisions that affect the entire collective over individual members.

Low-Context Culture (LCC)

A culture where meaning is expressed primarily through explicit verbal messages, both spoken and written, emphasizing direct and clear communication.

High-Context Culture (HCC)

A culture where meaning and intent are conveyed largely through implicit contextual cues, including gestures, social customs, silence, nuance, or tone of voice.

Politeness Theory

A theory explaining how people utilize communication strategies to maintain their own and others' social image (face), prevent embarrassment, and manage conflict.

Positive Face

A person's desire to be liked, accepted, appreciated, approved of, and respected by others.

Negative Face

A person's desire to maintain freedom, autonomy, independence, and control over their own decisions without feeling pressured or obligated.

Face-Threatening Acts

Words or behaviors that threaten an individual's positive face (e.g., insults, criticism) or negative face (e.g., demands, unwanted requests).

Politeness

The use of respectful, thoughtful, and considerate communication intended to protect someone's face and diminish the impact of face-threatening acts.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The theory (associated with linguistic determinism) proposing that language shapes thoughts, perceptions, and cultural worldviews.

Denotative Meaning

The standard, agreed-upon literal definition of a word that is widely understood within a linguistic community (e.g., phone, car).

Connotative Meaning

The subjective, personalized, or emotional associations attached to a word beyond its literal dictionary definition (e.g., using 'baby' to mean a partner).

Pejorative

A word or expression carrying a negative, insulting, or disrespectful connotation used to belittle, criticize, or express disapproval (e.g., 'lazy').

Euphemistic Language

The substitution of mild, indirect, or polite words for harsh, blunt, offensive, or unpleasant expressions (e.g., saying 'passed away' instead of 'died').

Informal Language

Everyday, casual communication that typically incorporates casual words, slang, and relaxed phrasing.

Jargon

Specialized or technical vocabulary used by a specific profession or subgroup that is often difficult for outsiders to understand.

Slang

Informal words and expressions used predominantly in spoken communication by specific demographic groups (such as teens or young adults).

Colloquialisms

Informal regional words or expressions utilized in everyday conversation (e.g., 'wanna', 'gonna', 'beat around the bush').

Idioms

Expressions or figures of speech whose overarching meaning cannot be deduced literally from the individual words that comprise them (e.g., 'breath of fresh air').

Clichés

Phrases or expressions that have been so excessively overused that they have lost their original meaning, novelty, and impact (e.g., 'light as a feather').

Bias Language

Language that reflects prejudice, unfair preferences, or demeaning attitudes toward specific viewpoints or groups.

Express Emotion (Nonverbal Function)

The nonverbal communication function of conveying feelings and emotional states through facial expressions, body language, gestures, and vocal tone without spoken words.

Represent Meaning (Nonverbal Function)

The nonverbal communication function where gestures, facial expressions, or body movements communicate a specific message or substitute for verbal statements entirely.

Inform Perceptions (Nonverbal Function)

The nonverbal communication function where an individual's appearance, posture, and facial expressions shape how observers evaluate and form impressions of them.

Regulate Interaction (Nonverbal Function)

The nonverbal communication function of using eye contact, body movements, and gestures to guide conversational flow and signal when to speak, listen, or end interactions.

Haptics

The study of touch as a form of nonverbal communication, including greetings, expressions of comfort, and displays of affection.

Proxemics

The study of how space and physical distance are used and interpreted in communication, categorized into intimate ($0-18\,\text{in}$), personal ($18\,\text{in}-4\,\text{ft}$), social ($4-12\,\text{ft}$), and public ($12-25\,\text{ft}$) zones.

Paralinguistics

The vocal elements of speech that accompany verbal messages—focusing on how something is said rather than what is said, such as pitch, volume, speed, pauses, and tone.

Kinesics

The study of bodily movement in communication, encompassing facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and posture.

Chronemics

The study of how time is perceived, structured, and utilized to communicate meaning.

Attractiveness

The degree to which a person's physical appearance influences how others judge, perceive, and interact with them regarding traits like friendliness, confidence, and personality.

Discourse

A one-way, cooperative conversation type whose purpose is for the sender to transmit information to the receiver (e.g., a lecture or formal speech).

Dialogue

A two-way, cooperative conversation type where participants exchange information and build interpersonal relationships with one another.

Debate

A two-way, competitive conversation format where communicators aim to persuade others, win an argument, or change someone's mind.

Diatribe

A one-way, competitive conversation form aimed at expressing raw emotions or venting to inspire those who share the same viewpoint.

Social Penetration Theory

A theory conceptualized by the onion metaphor explaining how interpersonal relationships develop intimacy over time through increasing the breadth and depth of self-disclosure.

Self-Disclosure

The process of sharing personal thoughts, experiences, and feelings about oneself with another person, thereby fostering greater emotional intimacy.

Orientation Stage

The first stage of Social Penetration Theory where communicators interact superficially about safe topics like the weather.

Exploratory Affective Stage

The second stage of Social Penetration Theory where communicators begin sharing opinions and feelings about common topics like favorite movies, foods, and friendships.

Affective Stage

The third stage of Social Penetration Theory where communicators engage in discussions regarding more private and personal topics.

Stable Stage

The fourth stage of Social Penetration Theory characterized by open sharing of highly intimate, deeply personal thoughts and details.

Depenetration Stage

An optional stage of Social Penetration Theory where partners gradually reduce the breadth and depth of self-disclosures, leading to relational dissolution.

Mutuality

A relational dynamic where both partners equally contribute to self-disclosure and support each other's emotional development rather than unilateral sharing.

Reciprocity

The communication norm where an individual's disclosure prompts the other person to respond with a disclosure of comparable intimacy.