Interpersonal Communication Exam 2

Chapters 4-7

Being other-oriented

Seek to understand what others actually think and feel

Why learn about interpersonal comm and diversity

Helps us grow our awareness of cultural differences and similarities to be more respectful, and eliminate discrimination and stereotypes that cause people to prejudice others

Culture

Learned system of knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms shared in a group

Co-culture

Distinct culture within larger culture

Enculturation

Learning culture you were born into

Acculturation

Learning culture that you weren’t born into

Group norms

Rules or guidelines that reflect expectations of how group members should act and interact

High vs Low context

Cultures that rely on nonverbals and assumptions (high) vs using explicit, direct verbal codes (low)

Individualism

Personal goals are valued more than the group’s goals

Collectivism

Group goals are valued more than personal goals

Power distance

Centralized structure (large distance) vs decentralized and equal distribution (small distance)

Chronemics

cultural attitudes towards time

Long-term orientation

Emphasis on the future; values perseverance

Short-term orientation

Emphasis on present and past; values tradition

Monochronic orientation

Time is highly valued

Polychronic orientation

Time is fluid and relationship-based

Uncertainty avoidance

Tolerance for uncertainty (low) vs avoid uncertainty (high)

Feminine Culture

Value fluidity and emotional expression

Masculine Culture

Value assertiveness, power, and control; traditional gender norms

Universality

Absolute rules, beliefs, or notions of morality

Cultural relativity

Belief that behavior can only be judged in a cultural context

The Contact Hypothesis

Increased contact with people of different backgrounds increases their positive regard and decreases stereotyping

Sex

Biologically based differences that determine whether one is male or female

Gender

Socially learned and reinforced characteristics that include one’s biological sex and psychological characteristics

Sexual orientation

Part of a person’s identity as it relates to who they are attracted to

Gender identity

How a person identifies according to their gender

Race

Group of people with a common cultural history, nationality, or geographical location, as well as genetically transmitted physical attributes

Ethnicity

Social classification based on nationality, religion, language, and ancestral heritage, shared by a group of people who also share a common geographical origin

Age and generational differences

Various generations tend to view life differently because of the cultural and historical events they have experienced in their lives

Social class

Perception of a person’s perceived status influence, authority, and power, based on economic, educational, and family history

Intercultural communication

Communication between or among people who have different cultural traditions

Culture shock

Feelings of stress and anxiety a person experiences when encountering a culture different from his or her own

Ethnocentrism

Belief that your cultural traditions and assumptions are superior to those of others

Stereotypes

To place a person or group of persons into an inflexible, all-encompassing category

Assuming similarities

Focusing on superficial factors such as appearance, clothing, or other categories can lead to false impressions because of a self-focused perspective instead of an other-oriented one

Assuming differences

Communication effectiveness is diminished when we assume we’re all different from one another in every aspect

Third culture

Common group established when people from separate cultures create a third, “new” more comprehensive and inclusive culture

Social decentering

Consciously thinking about another’s thoughts and feelings

Empathy

Responding emotionally to another’s feelings

Communication accommodation theory

Theory that all people adapt their behaviors to others to some extent

Hearing

Physiological process of decoding sounds

Listening

Process of selecting, attending to, creating meaning from, remembering, and responding to verbal and nonverbal messages

Selecting

Process of choosing one sound while sorting through various sounds competing for your attention

Attending

Process of focusing on a particular sound or messages

Understanding

Process of assigning meaning to sounds

Remembering

Process of recalling information

Responding

Process of confirming your understanding of a message

Relational listening style

Those who prefer to focus on the emotions and feelings communicated verbally and nonverbally by others

Analytical listening style

Those who withhold judgment, listen to all sides of an issue, and wait until they hear the facts before reaching a conclusion

Critical listening style

Those who prefer to listen for the facts and evidence to support key ideas and an underlying logic; they also listen for errors, inconsistencies, and discrepancies

Task-oriented listening style

Those who look at the overall structure of the message just to see what action needs to be taken; they also like efficient, clear, and brief messages

Benefits of understanding your listening style

You can better adapt to how you listen to others, determine if you have multiple preferred listening styles, adapt style to achieve your listening goal, better understand cultural and gender influences, and adapt what you say to others

Barriers to listening

Being self-absorbed, unchecked emotions, criticizing speaker, speech rate differs from thought rate, information overload, and external noise

Ambush listener

Person who is overly critical and judgmental when listening to others

Listener apprehension

Fear of misunderstanding, misinterpreting, or being unable to adjust to the spoken messages of others

Conversational narcissism

People who are only focused on their own agenda

Selective listening

Listening for what we want to hear

Becoming a better informational listener

Stop (remain in the present), look at the person, listen without interrupting, determine listening goal, transform barriers into goals, summarize major ideas, actively listen

Confirmation bias

Tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories

Becoming a better critical listener

Assess information quality, appropriateness, value, importance, and separate facts from inferences

Possible

Something can/could have happened

Probable

Something likely happened

Certain

Something definitely happened (with facts)

Become a better empathic listener

Empathize and socially decenter

Sympathy

Acknowledgment of someone else’s feelings

Social support

Encompasses verbal and nonverbal assistance, comfort, or advice we give to others or seek and receive during difficult times

Informational support

Give advice or information

Instrumental support

Tangible aid (help with physical tasks)

Appraisal support

Help with reframing a situation

Esteem support

Build their self-esteem

Emotional support

Express care and concern

Network support

Connect person to someone or something else that can help

Enacted support

Support we actually receive

Perceived support

Support we think we can get if we need it

Solution messages

Communication that helps resolve or de-escalate a situation

Confirmation skills

Skills that effectively and appropriately confirm others and their feelings

Confirming response

Statement that causes another person to value himself or herself more

Disconfirming response

Statement that causes another person to value himself or herself less

Direct acknowledgement

Responding directly to something another person says to you to acknowledge that the person is worth responding to

Agreement about judgements

Confirm someone’s evaluation of something to affirm their sense of taste and judgment

Supportive response

Expressing reassurance and understanding to confirm a person’s right to their feelings

Words are symbols

Words that represent something else, such as a thought, concept or object

Referents

The thing that a symbol represents

High-shared meaning

The meaning for a word is sometimes shared between you and another person

Low-shared meaning

No shared meaning; meanings sometimes get completely misunderstood

Denotative meaning

Restrictive or literal definition of a word

Connotative meaning

Personal and subjective association with a word

Words are concrete

If you can see, touch, smell, taste, or hear a word’s referent

Words are abstract

Referents that you cannot use the five senses with

Ladder of abstraction

Continuum from concrete words to abstract words

Words are arbitrary and culture-bound

Meaning of symbols or words can change from culture to culture, and the meaning of words are shaped by our experiences

Symbolic interaction theory

Theory that people make sense of the world based on their interpretation of words or symbols used by others

Words create perceptions

Words give you a tool to create how you perceive both yourself and the world by naming and labeling experiences

Words influence thoughts

Words transmit our dreams and emotions to others when we verbalize what we feel; words symbolize meaning, but precise meaning originate in the minds of both people, changing as they experience new things

Euphemism

An expression that describes something people prefer not to directly talk about in less explicit language

Words influence actions

Thoughts, which are influenced by words, affect how you behave

Words affect and reflect culture

The words you use to describe your view of the world reflect and shape your future perspectives, shaping your culture

Sapir-whorf hypothesis

Language shapes our thoughts and culture, and our culture and thoughts affect the language we use to describe our world

Words make and break relationships

What you say and how you say it have a strong impact on how you relate to others

Managing misunderstandings

Be aware of missed meaning, changes in meaning, polarizing either-or extremes, and be clear, specific, and unbiased