Chapter 1: Thinking About Communication: Definitions, Models, and Ethics

Authors: Richard West, Emerson College, Lynn H. Turner, Marquette University
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Locations: Boston, Burr Ridge IL, Bangkok, Bogota, Caracas, Milan, Montreal, New Delhi, etc.

Characters: Jimmy and Angie Bollen, married for nearly 30 years, with three adult children.
Situation: Eddy, their 24-year-old son, returns home after losing his job.
Initial Response: The parents are happy to have Eddy back, appreciating his tech skills and help around the house, especially with tasks like instant messaging and family website creation.
Emerging Issues: Initially positive dynamics change due to:
- Eddy's constant presence at home, often using his laptop during meals.
- Infringement on Jimmy and Angie’s personal time as Eddy seeks to join them on walks.
- Late-night phone calls disturbing the parents.
Conflict: After discovering Eddy hungover from a party,
- Confrontation ensues, escalating to Eddy's angry retort and subsequent removal from the house.
Communication Challenge: Jimmy and Angie struggle to express their feelings of frustration and disappointment without causing Eddy further distress.
Underlying Themes: The case symbolizes the complexities of communication even among family members, revealing the difficulty of conveying thoughts and feelings.

Effective communication is highly valued in various sectors, particularly in the U.S. where:
- Corporations emphasize clear communication to ensure safety (e.g., National Safety Management Society).
- Health care benefits significantly from effective doctor-patient communication (Blanquicett et al., 2007).
- Student learning is enhanced by affirmative feedback (Goodboy & Myers, 2008).
- Romantic relationships utilize communication technology to monitor relationship status (Stern & Taylor, 2007).
Overall, communication plays a critical role in social interactions and personal relationships.

Complex Nature: Katherine Miller (2005) notes the abundance of definitions, while Sarah Trenholm (1991) illuminates the persistent ambiguity surrounding the term.
Proposed Definition: Communication is a social process in which individuals employ symbols to establish and interpret meaning in their environment.

Social: Relates to interactions involving people, both face-to-face and online.
Process: Ongoing and dynamic, indicating that communication does not have a defined beginning and ending.
- Example: Conversations can shift and change as dynamics evolve.
Symbols: Arbitrary representations of phenomena. Can be concrete (representing objects) or abstract (representing ideas).
- Example: Words like “home” denote a physical space but also invoke feelings of safety and belonging.
Meaning: What individuals derive from messages, often layered and culturally influenced.
- Example: The term "crusade" related to war terminology and its impact on perceptions.
Environment: The context influencing communication, including time, place, and the cultural backgrounds of those involved.

Key Question: Is all behavior considered communication?
- Dual Perspectives:
- Intentionalists argue communication requires intention, citing Miller and Steinberg (1975): "If there is no intent, there is no message."
- The Palo Alto Group asserts that all behavior in interaction communicates something, supporting the view that you cannot not communicate (Watzlawick et al., 1967).
- Critique of Definitions: Broad definitions of communication complicate systematic study in the field, making it necessary to establish boundaries.

Originated by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949), focusing on how messages travel through channels.
Elements:
- Source: The sender who transmits the message.
- Receiver: The individual who interprets the message.
- Channel: Sensory pathway through which the message travels (visual, auditory, etc.).
- Noise: Any interference affecting message comprehension (semantic, physical, psychological, physiological).

Developed by Wilbur Schramm (1954), highlighting two-way communication.
Features:
- Interaction includes feedback: responses from receiver to sender.
- Emphasizes ongoing and two-directional nature of messages.
- Acknowledges personal experiences that shape communication.

Acknowledges simultaneous sending and receiving of messages.
- Reciprocity: Both communicators influence and enhance the meaning-making process through shared experience.
- Field of Experience: Overlapping backgrounds of communicators that shape interactions.

Definition: Ethics pertains to perceived rightness or wrongness in actions, influenced by societal standards.
Importance: Ethical considerations impact decisions throughout various contexts like business, politics, and healthcare, highlighting the complexity of moral decision-making.
Institutional Examples:
- Business ethics include issues like corporate fraud.
- Medical ethics concern practices such as physician-assisted suicide.
- Educational institutions face ethical dilemmas in reporting statistics honestly.
Communication's Ethical Dimension: When sending messages, participants must be aware of the ethical implications their decisions carry, affecting all communicative interactions.
Discussion on Ethics from Various Fields:
- Business, religion, entertainment, education, medicine, and technology are all areas where ethical considerations are crucial.

Reiterates the importance of understanding communication processes, models, and ethics in personal and professional realms.
Encourages developing critical thinking and creating informed citizenry through educational journeys in communication.