comm unit 3 - Family Communication

Genetic Ties

Family bonds that are established through blood relations.

Legal Obligation

Family connections that are formed through legally recognized relationships.

Role Behaviors

Roles that individuals take on within a family, regardless of blood or legal ties.

Involuntary Family

Family members that one does not choose, such as parents and siblings.

Voluntary Family

Family members that one chooses to consider family, such as close friends.

Family of Procreation

The family that an individual starts as an adult, including spouse and children.

Family of Origin

The family in which one is raised, typically consisting of parents and siblings.

Communication Climate

The emotional tone of a relationship, which affects interactions among family members.

Confirming Messages

Behaviors that demonstrate the value and worth of another person in a relationship.

Disconfirming Messages

Behaviors that imply a lack of regard for another person.

Family Systems Theory

A theory that suggests families create their unique personality or culture distinct from individual members.

Symbolic Interaction Theory

A theory stating that individuals form interpretations based on past experiences and social influences.

Interpersonal Attraction

The desire to initiate a relationship based on a general feeling of liking or appealing qualities.

Social Penetration Theory

A theory describing how relationships develop through exchanges of information, with breadth and depth.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

The theory that describes the process of reducing uncertainty in relationships through questioning.

Dialectical Tensions

Conflicting desires in relationships, such as the need for connection versus autonomy.

Prosocial Behaviors

Positive actions aimed at fostering and maintaining relationships.

Antisocial Behaviors

Actions that may seem unfriendly or coercive, potentially harming relationships.

Equity Theory

A theory suggesting that relationships are equitable when both partners' inputs and outputs are balanced.

Terminal Relationships

The conclusion of a relationship and the process involved in ending it.

Cultural Norms

Rules or expectations guiding behavior within a culture.

Individualistic Cultures

Cultures where individuals prioritize themselves over the group.

Collectivistic Cultures

Cultures where individuals prioritize the needs of their family and community.

High-Context Cultures

Cultures that rely on indirect communication and contextual cues.

Low-Context Cultures

Cultures that emphasize direct communication and explicit expression of thoughts.

Cultural Hegemony

The dominance of one culture's worldview over others, influencing perceptions and beliefs.

Launching stage:

• the period when children begin the seperation process from their family

• this term is often misleading because many families continue to experience a sense of interdependence in their lives after the child reaches legal age

• traditional Couples

• take a culturally connection approach to marriage and believe in gender typical roles

• Separate Couples

• Like traditional marriages, but pouses are autonomous rather than interdependent

• have own social networks

• Independent Couples

• see themselves as being interdependent of social expectations for marriage

• may not follow traditional gender norms

• wholeness

• a family creates its own personality or culture unique from that of each family member

• interdependence

• the family system is comprised of interrelated members

• conformity

• the degree to which a family encourages autonomy in individual beliefs, values, and attitudes

Symbolic Interaction Theory

• “ I am who I am, because of who I think you think I am.”

• we form interpretations of the messages and behaviots in out lives based on past experiences or influences

Assumtions of the theory:

1. Individuals create a sense of self which serves as a guide for selecting future behaviors

2. behavior of family members is influenced by culture and society

• Linear Model:

• where listeners give feedback

• recognizes people create and interpret messages within personal fields of experience

• Transaction Models

• emphasizes dynamism of interpersonal communication and multiple roles people assume during the process

• time emphasizes that messages, noise, and fields of experience vary over time

• Recognizes noise is present throughout interpersonal communication

• I -It

• • we treat others very impersonally, almost as objects

  • we do not acknowledge the humanity of other people

• I-You

• most of our interactions happen here

• people acknowledge one another as more than objects, but they don’t fully engage each other as unique individuals

• I- Thou

• rarest kind of relationship

• highest form of human dialogue, because each person affirms the other

• we meet others in their wholeness and individuality

• instead of occupants of social roles, we see them as unique human being

• Definition of Interpersonal communication

• is selective, systemic, unique, processual transactional that allow people to reflect and build personal knowledge of one another and create shared meanings

• Selective

• we don’t want ot communicate intimately with themajorty of people we encounter

• Systemic

• takes place within various systems. Communication occurs in contexts that influence events and the meaning we attribute

• Unique

• all the relationships we have are unique in certain ways

• Processual

• interpersonal comunication is an ongoing, continous process. Communication evolves over time, becoming more persoanl as people interact

• Individual

• the deepest level of communication involves engging others as individuals who are unlike anyone else

• Personal Knowledge

• to connects as unique individuals, we must get to know othe

• Meaning

• the heart of communication, shared meanings between people

• Content Meaning

• deals ith literal, or denotative meaning

• Relationship Meanings

• what communication expresses about relationships between

5 principles of interpersonal

1. We can not communicate

2. interpersonal communication is irreversible

3. interpersonal communication involves ethical choices

4. people construcvt maning in interperosnal communication

5. meta communication aggects meaning

• intimacy

• the significant emotional closeness experienced in a relationship

• Duration:

• the length of time we have known the other person

• ex: my friend from kindergarten

• Context

• setting in which the relationship was initiated

• offers clues to rules or expectations for communication

• ex. friends from soccer team so you only talk about soccer stuff

• Interdependence:

• a state in which each persons behaviors affect everyone else in the relationship

• we invest significant resources( time, energy, money) in our most important relationship

• Interpersonal Attraction:

• eneral feeling or desire that impacts our decision to approach and initiate a relationship with someone