(Key concepts: virtue ethics (agent), Kant’s perspective (action), utilitarianism (consequences), care ethics (relationships), ethos (character and credibility), logos, pathos)

Define ethics.

· Explain tension between being ethical vs. being effective in communication?

Ethical reasoning.

· Aristotle’s virtue ethics – Agent

o What does character entail?

o Vices (extreme) vs virtues (balance/reasonable)?

· Kant’s perspective – Action

o “is this action, and the intention behind it, ethically worthy?”

§ What is action?

§ What is intention?

o Universal laws – why is lying to get a loan that one knows cannot repay is unethical?

o “Humans should not be treated as objects or used as a means to an end” – explain.

o Fully informing, free choice for others

· Utilitarianism – Consequences

o “what makes an action right one to do is determined by the consequences of that action” – explain.

o Maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

o Explain the conflict between Kant’s focus on action vs utilitarianists’ consequences – “should one use an individual as a mere means if it could greatly help others?

o Is it okay to create happiness for many at the expense of a few?

· Care ethics – Relationships

o Humans are not autonomous but interdependent.

o We live in an interconnected system of relationships.

o Obligations to each other

Ethical decision points in public speaking

· Linguistic choices

o Inclusive, offensive?

· Speech structure

o Easy to follow?

o Has a clear organizational pattern?

o Are you putting too much burden on your audience to understand the message?

· Persuasive appeals

o What kind of persuasive appeals will you use in your speech?

o Different appeals depending on contexts?

· Ethical listening.

o Open and attentive?

o Critical?

o Constructive dialogue?

Chapter 3: So What’s Stopping You?

(Key concepts: Dispositional anxiety, stage fright, situational anxiety, conspicuousness, cognitive restructuring, systematic desensitization, visualization)

Communication apprehension

· Dispositional anxiety (trait-like means it is a stable characteristic)

· Situational anxiety/stage fright – how is different from dispositional anxiety?

Reasons people get speaking anxiety

· Inadequate positive reinforcement

o Learned helplessness?

· Poor skill development

· Inadequate or poor models

Why do we have stage fright?

· Fear of evaluation is the key reason.

o Reframing?

· Lack of preparation

o “Novelty begets anxiety.”

· Feeling conspicuous

o “the more you focus on yourself, the more you get distracted from your message”

o “Focusing on yourself hurst the quality of your delivery.”

· Rigid rules

o Writer’s block

· Negative self-talk

o Label

How can we manage fear of communication?

· Systematic desensitization

o Associate communication with a sense of relaxation rather than nervousness

· Cognitive therapy

o Cognitive restructuring (“Get more realistic about what will happen when you give a speech”)

o Visualization (play the speech in your mind)

Chapter 4: Listening

(Key concepts: Backchanneling cues, discriminating, interpreting, evaluating, responding)

Listening process

· Explain this model to a friend/roommate/classmate.

What influences listening?

See why audience analysis is important.

· Listeners’ purposes – why are they here?

· Listeners’ knowledge and interest – what they already know?

· Listeners’ listening skills – why speech structure helps?

· Listeners’ attitudes – to themselves, the speaker, and the subject?

· Listeners’ cultural backgrounds – vocabulary mismatch, cultural presumptions

· Listeners’ surroundings – how to reduce externa noise?

Be a better listener

· Adapt to the speaker’s delivery.

· Eliminate external and internal noise.

· Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

· Monitor emotional reaction to messages.

· Avoid jumping to conclusions.

· Be a selfish listener.

· Listen for major ideas.

What are your listening goals?

How can you practice listening?

Chapter 5: The Audience

(Key concepts: Audience analysis, situational analysis, psychographic profile, cultural considerations, target audience, literal audience, rhetorically constructed audience)

AUDIENCE acronym.

· Discuss every term with a friend/roommate/classmate.

Three levels of audience

· Iteral – anyone who hears your speech (306M class)

· Target – anyone who your message is tailored to (sales pitch)

· Rhetorically constructed – “not real people per se”; you ask the audience to assume an identity (as UT applicants) or value (as defenders of animal rights)

Needs

· Imagine examples of speeches addressing each of these needs.

What is a psychographic profile?

· Psychographic profile (what they believe, value and what they think of your topic?)

o Attitudes

o Beliefs

o Values

o Common ground

How is the psychographic profile different from cultural considerations?

· Cultural considerations (what is appropriate vs inappropriate in the audience’s culture?)

o Norms

o Traditions

o Symbols

Situational analysis

· Location and time

o Show up in the right place at the right time

· Audience size

o Formal vs informal (conversational, off-the-cuff) delivery

· Speaking occasion

o Corporate banquet vs. casual family barbecue

· Technological logistics

o Check the audio-visual technology where you give your speech.

Chapter 6: The Speaker

(Key concepts: Ethos, character, credibility)

What is Aristotle’ ethos composed of?

· Character (honesty, integrity, morality)

· Credibility (competence, trust, believability)

o Initial vs. achieved credibility

o Sources of credibility (i. Personal experience/narrative proof, ii. Education and training, and iii. Research)

· Speak with character (being honest, ethical, reliable, responsible)

o Share all relevant information

o Do not lie

o Do not attempt to trick or manipulate your audience

o Act consistently

Chapter 7: Research & Supporting Material

(Key concepts: Critical thinking, verbal citations, qualifier, recency)

What does critical thinking involve?

· Questioning, challenging information and perceived wisdom

Evaluate sources

· Purpose – why is the information presented?

· Author – credible, an expert?

· Recency – too old or outdated?

· Verification – horizontally (read several sources on the same topic) and vertically (read the entire article or source for complete understanding)

APA style/citations

· In-text citation (Parenthetical): … Brummett (2019)

· In-text citation (Narrative): According to Brummett (2019) …

· Verbal citation: In a 2021 research article, psychology professor Brandrick and colleagues mentioned that 33 percent of the population in the US are believed to be affected by speech anxiety.

· How can you use when verbally citing? Why is it important?

· Reference list (a journal article): Lindner, P., Dagöö, J., Hamilton, W., Miloff, A., Andersson, G., Schill, A., & Carlbring, P. (2021) Virtual Reality exposure therapy for public speaking anxiety in routine care: a single-subject effectiveness trial. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 50(1), 67-87, DOI: 10.1080/16506073.2020.1795240

Chapter 12: Informative Presentations

(Key concepts: Expert testimony, logos, statistic)

Pick a topic that is not…

· too technical (goes over the listeners’ heads)

· too personal (relatable)

· too boring (intriguing)

· too broad (manageable)

· too trivial (substantive)

Using evidence

· Statistics (numbers)

· Narrative (personal stories) vs objective evidence (logos)

Audience-focused delivery

· Self-focused (problematic) – don’t forget your audience.

· Message-focused (problematic) – don’t distance yourself from the audience.

· “a visual AID is just that, an aid – not a crutch”

Chapter 14: Working & Presenting in Teams

(Key concepts: Synergy, leadership types, dialectic, confirming responses, groupthink, multiplexity, social loafing, provisionalism)

Why is teamwork important?

· Synergy – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Why is teamwork hard?

· “teamwork takes work”

How can we foster a supportive climate?

· Multiplexity – multiple connections with someone (team member as well as a friend); increases trust.

· Confirming responses – “You are right that we have to keep our audience interested, but I’m not sold on this exact idea.”

Leadership types

· Transformational (charismatic, uses a greater ideal like a social cause) vs. transactional (uses reward and punishment)

· Assigned vs. emergent

Leadership and decision making

· Authoritarian (autocratic) – no consideration of what the team wants

· Laissez-faire (delegative) – hands-off, high freedom to team members

· Democratic – incorporates input form team members

Team roles

· Task leader – has strong analytical skills, can synthesize ideas, facilitate decision making and task completion

· Socioemotional leader – pays attention to nonverbals and emotions; makes team experience safe; a natural peacemaker

· Tension releaser – lightens the mood; helps with dealing with interpersonal conflict

· Information provider – researches the topic, gathers information

· Central negative – a devil’s advocate; helps avoid overlooking key issues; prevents groupthink

· Silent observer – introverted but can make meaningful contribution when included

What is a conflict style?

· A person’s orientation toward conflict.

· Use the matrix below to explain an individual’s conflict management style along two dimensions (concern for other and concern for self). For example, a person with high concern for themselves and low concern other will demonstrate a competing style. Another individual with low concern for themselves and high low concern for other will demonstrate an accommodating style.

Provisionalism

· “your opinions and preferences are only temporary”

Nominal group technique

· Why should we use it instead of brainstorming?

Who are social loafers? How can we deal with them?

Why is groupthink bad? How can a team fight it?