COMM 1101 -Test #1 -Northeastern -Prof Granelli

Why do we study communication?

Learn more about ourselves

Essential to relationships

Helps us achieve goals

Critical thinking

requires that one become a critic of one's own thoughts and behavior

involves reflection and weighing evidence, is a key to successful communication

What are messages?

are the building blocks of communication, and the process of taking ideas and converting them into messages is called encoding.

What are shared messages?

the mutual understanding of a message between speaker and audience

What is the difference between content level and relational level meaning?

What words and body language mean

Can you name/define/explain the seven components of the communication process?

1. Setting (location, day/time, proximity)

2. Participants (#)

3. Message creation: encoding & decoding

4. Meaning creation: filtered through content & relationship

5. Channel: how we send messages, appropriateness

6. Noise: what stops us from communicating

7. Feedback (laughter, silence, etc.)

What are the differences in three communication models from the slides?

1st: does not account for shared messages, linear model, there is a sender and receiver

2nd: transactional, both people are communicators, shared meaning

3rd: accounts for societal forces, relationship and experience, and culture

· What individual forces influence communication?

Individual forces include your demographic characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender/sex, sexual orientation, regional identity and socioeconomic class. Also includes other factors such as personality and cognitive and physical ability. Also includes your field of experience which includes education, life events and cultural background.

Can you define communication competence?

The ability to adapt one's communication to achieve one's goals

What are the goals that are studied in interactions?

Identity goals, relationship goals, content goals

Content goals

describe the concrete outcomes you would like to achieve during an interaction—to receive a job offer, earn a high grade on a speech, or to successfully initiate a new relationship.

Relationship goals

refer to your desire to change or maintain your relationship with another, for example, when you say "I love you" to your romantic partner in hopes of increasing your commitment to one another, or when you apologize so your romantic partner won't leave you.

identity goals

identity goals describe how we would like others to see us or help us see ourselves.

Process of Communication (multiple terms)

1. Setting (location, day/time, proximity)

2. Participants (#)

3. Message creation: encoding & decoding

4. Meaning creation: filtered through content & relationship

5. Channel: how we send messages, appropriateness

6. Noise: what stops us from communicating

7. Feedback (laughter, silence, etc.)

Communication Ethics

the standards of right and wrong that applies to messages that are sent and received

Paradigm

a belief system that represents a particular worldview-- stitching holes in the net

Theory

set of statements that explain a phenomenon

Hypothesis

A proposed explanation and you need research to create it

Methods

How scholars collect and analyze data

History of Comm.: Greece, Renaissance

Greece: democracy meant that "everyone" (social inequity) had the power to communicate their opinion, made rhetoric valued

Renaissance: behaviorism and humanism arose

Behaviorism vs. Humanism

Behaviorism: study of behavior, observations, predicting FUTURE behavior

Humanism: celebrating human potential and observing what's going on right now

Theoretical Approaches to Comm. (There's a certain #, define their goals)

Social science: future, interpretive: world around us, and critical: change society

Absolutism

the belief that there is a single correct moral standard that holds for everyone, everywhere, every time

Golden Mean

Moral behavior exists in moderation

Pragmatism

The pragmatist always considers the practical effects of a speech act, use what works, discard what doesn't

The usefulness of the information is paramount (in the mind of the individual), if it is useful, it is good/right

Utilitarianism

-Weigh out the benefits/harms of communicative decisions.

-A rightness or wrongness of an action should be judged by the consequences.

-Goal is to bring the most happiness to the most people, if an action/message results in the most happiness for the most people, it is good/right

Self-Concept

What you know and believe about yourself

Self-Esteem

Net sum of your self-esteem (positive or negative)

Self-Respect

Standard set for how you think you should be treated / respected

Reflected Appraisals

Your opinion of yourself is determined by how others see you

Looking Glass Self

You see yourself as others see you

Influential interactions

Identity and how you communicate shifts depending on who you're talking to

Social Comparisons

judgments of one's own appearance, abilities, and behavior in relation to those of others (IG #s)

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

When you expect something to happen, it's more likely that it will (affects identity)

Stereotype Threat

When you feel stereotyped by others and the way you react (changing their mind or not caring?)

Role Complexity

The diff. roles we have to play in at any amount of time, ex. in class, you're a student

Primary and Secondary identity

Primary: consistent and enduring impact on our lives, ex: race, gender, religion, nationality (citizenship)

Secondary: more fluid and often dependent on situation, ex: college major, relationship status, occupation

Racial vs. National vs. Ethnic Identity

Racial: develops as a result of societal forces, identification w/ a particular racial group

National: citizenship

Ethnicity: identification with a group that has some/all of these affiliations: language, religious beliefs, natural/tribal affiliation, cultural origins/background

Gender, sexual, and age identity

Gender: How and to what extent we identify w/ masculinity and femininity

Sexual: (when applying to identity), normally private but can become public, plays a role in choices of media, where we socialize, who we identify with, products we purchase

Age Identity: chronological & generational, self-perception and how others identify age

What are some of the ways we judge ethical decisions in communication?

- Truthfulness

- Benefit and harm of messages

- Sharing or withholding information

- Absolutism vs. relativism

Religious Identity

Defined by one's spiritual beliefs

Disability Identity

Having an impairment: hidden disabilities, punishment and privilege

Why do we study comm.? (3 reasons)

Learn more about ourselves

Essential to relationships

Helps us achieve goals

Content

What words and body language mean

What are the differences in three communication models from the slides?

1st: does not account for shared messages, linear model, there is a sender and receiver

2nd: transactional, both people are communicators, shared meaning

3rd: accounts for societal forces, relationship and experience, and culture

Communication competence

Appropriate behavior for context, is the interaction's goal reached?

Interaction goals

Identity goals, relationship goals, content goals

Communication definition

A transactional process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture

Critical Approach to Comm.

Observing the world for power relationships, shows what's happening and how to correct it

Ethical Decision Framework

- Recognize ethical issues

- Get all the facts

- Alternative actions

- Make and test a decision

- Act and reflect on outcome

How identity exists + and how it's understood

Can be understood only in relation to historical, social, and cultural environments, exists on an individual and societal level

Performing Identity

Process in which we show the world who we think we are

Can you define perception, selection, organization, and interpretation?

Perception: The process of selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory information into a coherent or lucid depiction of the world around us

What types of stimuli are we more likely to attend to?

Ones with intensity, ones that are larger in size, contrast w/ surroundings, ones that are repeated, have sudden movements, or are outside of expected norms

What is the difference between cognitive representation and categorization?

Cognitive representation: A mental map / model used to represent surroundings

Categorization: process of grouping objects and infos with linguistic symbols

Schemas

Cognitive structures that help us organize information

Prototypes

Representative / idealized version of a concept (person, place, etc.)

Scripts

Relatively fixed events sequences that function as guides or templates for communication and behavior

Labeling

Names assigned to categories based on one's perception of that category ex. sorority girls, jocks, nerds, etc.

Stereotyping

Creating schema that overgeneralize attributes of a specific group - makes life easier because you know what to expect from them

Frames

How you perceive the world and other's intentions, develops from life experience, interactions w/ others, personality, a lens/filter that shape how we see the world

Attribution theory

Explanation of the processes we use to judge our own and others' behavior

Attributional bias / fundamental attribution error

Bias: Negative behaviors are due to external causes, positive behaviors are because of internal state

Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to attribute others negative behavior to internal causes and positive behaviors to external causes

Shared meaning

the mutual understanding of a message between speaker and audience

Relationship

Messages are filtered through the lens of your relationship

Symbols in messages

Body language, atmosphere, clothing, tone, words, etc.

Enacting identities

Performing scripts deemed proper for particular identities

ethics

The study of the nature of morals and values and the specific moral choices to be made in various situations.

Communications involves...

a series of choices, as individuals, groups, organizations and/or nations.

relativism

the belief that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, cultures and across situations

Golden Mean (Aristotle)

Morality is found in moderation, striving for balance between extremes