Comm 100 - Exam 1

Based on the study guide provided for exam 1 for Fundamentals of Communication (COMM 100) - Chapters 1-5

What is intrapersonal communication?

Communication with oneself through internal vocalization or reflective thinking

How is intrapersonal communication triggered?

By either internal or external stimuli

What is noise?

Something that interferes with a message being sent between participants within a communication encounter

Environmental noise is…

Any physical noise present in a communication encounter—refers to the transmission of a message

Semantic noise is…

Noise which occurs within the encoding and decoding process when participants don’t understand a symbol

What is the social context?

The stated rules or unstated norms which guide communication

What is communication competence?

The knowledge of effective and appropriate communication patterns and the ability to use and adapt that knowledge in various contexts

What is communication apprehension?

The fear or anxiety experienced by a person due to actual or imagined communication with another person or persons

When someone is experiencing the CA public speaking anxiety, what are the three types of reactions are exhibited?

Cognitive, physiological, and behavioral

What is perception?

2

The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information

What is salience?

The degree to which something attracts our attention in a particular context

What is the first stage/part of the perception process?

Selecting

What occurs in the selection stage of the perception process?

We focus our attention on certain incoming sensory information

What is the second stage/part of the perception process?

Organizing

What occurs in the organization stage of the listening process?

We sort and categorize information that we perceive based on innate and learned cognitive patterns

What is the third stage/part of the perception process?

Interpreting

What occurs in the interpretation stage of the listening process?

We assign meaning to our experiences using mental structures known as schemata

What are schemata?

Databases of stored, related information used to interpret new experiences

What is the fundamental attribution error?

The tendency to explain others’ behaviors using internal rather than external attributions

What is the halo effect?

When initial positive perceptions lead us to view later interactions as positive, even if they’re not

What is the horn effect?

When initial negative perceptions lead us to view later interactions as negative, even if they’re not

What is self-concept?

The overall idea of who a person thinks they are and how they view themselves

What is social comparison theory?

We describe and evaluate ourselves in terms of how we compare to other people

What is self-efficacy?

Judgements people make about their ability to perform a task within a specific context

What is self-esteem?

The judgements and evaluations that we make about our self-concept. It is an evaluation of oneself rather than simply a description of oneself

What are self-fulfilling prophecies?

Thought and action patterns in which a person’s false belief triggers a behavior that makes the initial false belief actually or seemingly come true

What is affective language?

Language used to express a person’s feelings and create similar feelings in another person

What are dialects?

Versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and punctuation

What are accents?

Distinct styles of pronunciation

What is communication accommodation theory?

A theory which explores why and how people modify their communication to fit situational, social, cultural, and relational contexts

What is convergence in the context of communication?

When a person makes their communication more like another person’s

What is divergence in the context of communication?

When a person uses communication to emphasize the differences between their conversational partner and themselves

What is code-switching?

Changes in accent, dialect, or language

What are the three types of gestures?

Adaptors, emblems, and illustrators

What are adaptors?

Touching behaviors and movements that indicate internal states typically related to arousal or anxiety

What are emblems?

Gestures which have a specific (pre-determined) agreed-upon meaning

What are illustrators?

The most common type of gesture which is used to illustrate the verbal message they accompany

Bouncing your leg or clicking a pen are examples of which type of gesture?

Adaptors

A thumbs up or a peace sign are examples of which type of gesture?

Emblems

Nodding to indicate that you understand while on a audio only call (despite the fact they cannot see you) is an example of which type of gesture?

Illustrators

What are the four spatial/proxemic distance zones?

Public, social, personal, and intimate

Public space: at least ____ feet or more away; and the context communication is more ____

12; formal

Social space: Between ____ to ____ feet away; and the context of communication is more ____ or ___

4-12; professional or casual

Personal space: Between ____ to ____ away; typically reserved for communication between ____ and ____

1.5-4; Friends and close acquaintances

Intimate space: At most ____ feet away or less; reserved for ____, ____, and ____

1.5; closest friends, family, and romantic/intimate partners

What are the five stages of the listening process in order?

Receiving, interpreting, recalling, evaluating, and responding

What occurs in the receiving stage of the listening process?

We take in stimuli from our senses

What occurs in the interpreting stage of the listening process?

We combine the visual and auditory information we receive and try to make meaning out of it using schemata

What occurs in the recalling stage of the listening process?

The information and its assigned meaning are sorted into either short-term or long-term memory depending on the situation

What occurs in the evaluating stage of the listening process?

We make judgements about the credibility, completeness, and worth of the information we have gathered

What occurs in the responding stage of the listening process?

We send verbal and nonverbal messages that indicate attentiveness and understanding or lack thereof

What are the different types of listening?

Discriminative, informational, critical, and empathetic

When does discriminative listening usually occur?

During the receiving stage of the listening process

What is discriminative listening?

When we engage in listening to scan and monitor our surroundings in order to isolate particular auditory or visual stimuli

What is informational listening?

Listening with the goal of comprehending and retaining information

What is critical listening?

Listening with the goal of analyzing or evaluating a message based on information presented verbally and information that can be inferred from context

What is empathetic listening?

When we try to understand or experience what a speaker is thinking or feeling

What are the four different styles of listeners?

People-oriented, action-oriented, content-oriented, and time-oriented

People-oriented listeners are…

…concerned about the needs and feelings of others and may get distracted from a specific task or the content of a message in order to address feelings

Action-oriented listeners are…

…those who tend to prefer well-organized, precise, and accurate information. They can become frustrated when they perceive communication to be unorganized

Content-oriented listeners are…

…analytic and enjoy processing complex messages. They like in-depth information and like to learn about multiple sides of a topic or hear multiple perspectives on an issue. Their thoroughness can be difficult to manage if there are time constraints.

Time-oriented listeners are…

…concerned with completing tasks and achieving goals. They do not like information perceived as irrelevant and like to stick to a timeline. They may cut people off and make quick decisions (taking short cuts or cutting corners) when they think they have enough information

What is physiological noise?

Noise stemming from a physical illness, injury, or bodily stress

What is psychological noise?

Noise stemming from our psychological states including moods and level of arousal; can facilitate or impede listening

What is selective attention?

Our tendency to pay attention to the messages that benefit us in some way and filter others out

What is response preparation?

Our tendency to rehearse what we are going to say next while a speaker is still talking

What are the bad listening practices?

Interrupting, distorted listening, eavesdropping, aggressive listening, narcissistic listening, and pseudo-listening

What is interrupting?

Talking over or disrupting someone else while they are still speaking; not always intentional

What is distorted listening?

A phenomenon where individuals misinterpret or misunderstand messages being communicated to them

What is eavesdropping?

A calculated or planned attempt to secretly listen to a conversation

What is aggressive listening?

When someone is paying attention in order to attack something that a speaker says

What is narcissistic listening?

A form of self-centered and self-absorbed listening in which listeners try to make the interaction about themselves

What is pseudo-listening?

Behaving as if you’re paying attention to a speaker when you’re actually not

What is active listening?

The process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cognitive listening practices

What is covert coaching?*

Sending yourself messages containing advice about better listening

When giving feedback to others, you should be…

Specific, descriptive, positive, constructive, realistic, and relevant

When giving feedback to yourself, you should…

Identify strengths and weaknesses, evaluate yourself within the context of the task or assignment guidelines, set goals for next time, and revisit goals and assess progress at regular intervals

What are listenable messages?

Orally delivered messages that are tailored to be comprehended by a listener

The following is a description of how communication is integrated into the ____ part of our lives: Poor listening skills were shown to contribute significantly to failure in a person’s first year of college. Students who take a communication course report more confidence in their communication abilities; these students also tend to have higher grade point averages and are less likely to drop out of school

Academic

The following is a description of how communication is integrated into the ____ part of our lives: Many employers desire good communication skills in those they hire, as well as good listening skills and interpersonal communication skills

Professional

The following is a description of how communication is integrated into the ____ part of our lives: Despite much of our knowledge being gained though learning from experience, there are times (especially early in life) where experience is yet to be gained, and even with said experience, sometimes it’s simply not enough. This is why communication is so important, especially earlier on as we need to be able to have the tools to make sense of experiences until we learn the specific vocabulary and develop foundational knowledge of communication concepts and theories needed to do so

Personal

The following is a description of how communication is integrated into the ____ part of our lives: This part of our lives is developed through engagement with the decision making that goes on in our society at the small-group, local, state, regional, national, or international level

Civic

The ______ leads us to place more value on the first information we receive about a person

Primacy effect

The ____ leads us to place more weight on the most recent impression we have of a person’s communication over earlier impressions

Recency effect

What are the functions of language?

Expressive, powerful, fun, dynamic, and personal

What are the principles of nonverbal communication?

Conveys important interpersonal and emotional messages, more involuntary than verbal communication, more ambiguous and more credible

What are the functions of nonverbal communication?

1. Conveys meaning by reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication

2. Is used to influence others in a variety of ways, with the most common one being deception. It can also be used in an attempt to influence someone to react to something in a certain manner and can also influence the behavior of others

3. Helps to regulate the flow of conversation so that we aren’t constantly interrupting each other or waiting in awkward silence between speaker turns

4. The nonverbal messages we send and receive influence our relationships in positive and negative ways and can work to bring people together or push them apart