Interpersonal Communication, Culture, and Self-Concept

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering interpersonal communication, culture, ethnography, gender, essentialism, and self-concept.

Dimensions of Messages

Messages have both content and relationship dimensions (e.g., "close the window").

Floyd's Definition of Interpersonal Communication

Communication between 2 people that defines their relationship, varies from intimate to mundane topics, and serves as the means through which we establish and maintain relationships.

Culture

Aspects of daily life that give common significance to a specific group at a specific time.

Clifford Geertz Quote

"We are suspended in webs of significance that we ourselves have spun"

Ethnography

Derived from ethnos (the people) and graphy (writing), referring to writing about or describing people.

Thin Description

Simply description of behavior with no interpretation.

Thick Description

Interpretation of behavior.

Key Features of Culture

Language, values/beliefs, norms/customs, and ways of speaking/accents.

Gender ID

Feelings of who we are regarding our gender.

Gender Expression

How we choose to communicate identity.

Trans and Gender Non-Conforming

Term used to describe people whose way of expressing their own gender is different from societal expectations.

Essentialism

Reducing a group down to a set core of characteristics, which ignores complexity.

Interpersonal Needs Theory

A theory with the big idea that three core human needs shape interactions: need for control, inclusion, and affection.

Stable Aspects of Self-Concept

Psychological traits, such as introverted vs. extroverted and compassionate vs. competitive.

Changeable Aspects of Self-Concept

Situated social identities.