COM - Exam 1

Be familiar with definitions and examples of the following to prepare for the exam:

• Noise

  • Anything that interferes with message transmission and interpretation

    • Physical noise: interferences that are external to the sender and receiver and part of the communication environment

      • Phone ringing

    • Psychological noise: Mental interferences

      • Biases, making an assumption about someone when they enter the room or being preoccupied with personal thoughts that distract from the conversation.

      • Semantic noise: Misunderstandings that arise from the use of jargon, ambiguous language, or cultural differences that can lead to confusion between the communicator and the receiver.

    • Physiological noise: bodily interferences

      • Headache

    • Semantic noise: linguistic challenges

      • Misunderstanding meaning of words

• Quantitative and qualitative research methods

  • Quantitative methods: Interested in observations that come in or can be converted to numerical data

  • Qualitative methods: interested in observations that come in or can be recorded in linguistic form

• Ontology and epistemology

  • Ontology - questions about the nature of reality (What is there to know?)

    • Realism - there is an actual spoon (there is a world that exists apart from them)

    • Idealism - there is no actual spoon. When I leave, it is not there because I am not there to perceive it (the only world that exists is what they perceive). Thinks our minds can affect matter

  • Epistemology - questions about how we know things (How can we try to learn about those things?)

    • Objectivists- presume the truth exists apart from the knower of truth (and that researchers can study that truth)

    • Subjectivists- reject this idea, think reality only exists in our perceptions and interpretations (and, thus, those perceptions and interpretations should be the focus of the study)

• Critical, interpretive, and empirical approaches to research

  • Critical Approach:

    • Believe that those in power shape knowledge in ways that perpetuate the status quo

    • Powerful people work at keeping themselves in power, silencing minority voices

    • Main concern is with power

  • Interpretive Approach:

    • Views truth as subjective and co-created by the participants, with the researcher clearly being one of the participants

    • Complete objectivity is seen as impossible

  • Empirical Approach:

    • Assumes that objective truths can be uncovered and the process of inquiry that discovers these truths can be value-neutral

• Self-fulfilling prophecy & self-concept

  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: self-expectations that guide your behavior

  • Self-concepts are “a relatively stable set of perceptions people hold about themselves.”

• Mind & thought

  • Mind: The ability to use symbols with common social meanings

  • Thought: Inner conversation

• Constructs (in Constructivism)

  • The core assumption of constructivism is that people make sense of the world through systems of personal constructs.

    • Aka: stereotypes

• Fundamental attribution error & actor-observer bias

  • The Fundamental Attribution Error describes our tendency to over-emphasize dispositional explanations for the behavior of others while under-emphasizing situational explanations. (internal attributions)

    • Late to work: assume someone has bad time management instead someone was stuck in unexpected traffic

  • The Actor-Observer bias occurs when we over-emphasize situational explanations for our OWN behavior and under-emphasize dispositional explanations. (external attributions)

    • Getting a bad grade, blaming it on family issues

• Passive, active, and interactive uncertainty reduction strategies

  • Passive - Observing

  • Active - Asking others or observing a response to a manipulation

  • Interactive - Engaging directly

• Stigma

  • Goffman defined stigma as “an attribute that is deeply discrediting.”

    • Abominations of the body – physical “defects”

    • Blemishes of individual character – character deficits

    • Tribal associations – membership in a religious, racial, or ethnic group that is not the majority

• Primary, secondary, and public territories

  • Primary territories are the exclusive domain of an individual. Markers or signs are usually erected to indicate ownership.

    • Bedroom

  • Secondary territories signal some sort of personal connection with an area or object. They are not exclusive to an individual, but the person identifies with them.

    • The seat you sit in in a classroom

  • Public territories involve no personal affiliations and include those areas that are open to all people.

    • Library

• Proxemics

  • Proxemics is the study of how humans use space to communicate.

    • Intimate distance includes behaviors that take place in a range from 0 to 18 inches.

    • Personal distance includes behaviors that take place in an area ranging from 18 inches to 4 feet; it is typically reserved for interactions with family and close friends.

    • Social distance includes behaviors that take place in an area ranging from 4 to 12 feet; it is typically reserved for casual and social settings.

    • Public distance includes behaviors that take place in an area ranging from 12 feet and beyond; it is typically reserved for formal discussions.

• Territoriality

  • Territoriality is frequently accompanied by prevention and reaction.

    • Humans typically stake out their territory in four primary ways:

      • Markers (marking one’s spot)

      • Labels (identification symbols)

      • Offensive displays (demonstrating aggressive looks and behaviors)

      • Tenure (being there first and staying the longest)

• Expectancies

  • Expectancies (or expectations) drive human interaction.

    • Expectancies are defined as the cognitions and behaviors that we anticipate in conversations with others.

    • These expectancies include nonverbal and verbal behaviors.

    • One's cultural background has a strong influence on expectations of appropriate behaviors.

  • Expectancies for human behavior are learned.

• Cognitive and physical arousal

  • Arousal - increased interest or attention when deviations occur

  • Cognitive arousal is an alertness or an orientation to a violation.

  • Physical arousal includes those behaviors that a communicator employs during an interaction.

• Violation valence, communicator reward valence

  • The positive or negative characteristics that an individual brings to an interaction.

  • Violation valence: the perceived positive or negative impact of a breach of expectations in communication, which can influence how the recipient interprets the behavior.

  • Communicator Reward Valence: Acts performed by high-reward communicators might be assigned positive meanings, whereas the same act performed by a low-reward communicator might be interpreted negatively.

• Falsification, equivocation, and concealment

  • Deception strategies

    • Falsification creates a fiction.

    • Concealment hides a secret.

    • Equivocation dodges the issue.

• Leakage

  • Unconscious nonverbal cues that signal an internal state.

Familiarize yourself with the following:

• The linear, interactional, and transactional models of communication

  • Linear model of communication: sender/source -> message -> target/receiver

  • Interactional Model of communication

    • Allows receiver to reply and give feedback. Only allows one message to be sent in response to another

  • Transactional Model of Communication

    • Able to go back and forth between communicators. Instead of sender/receiver

• The different parts of the definitions of communication and theory

  • Defining Communication

    • Communication is a process - dynamic and ever changing

    • Meaning matters - not assumed or inherent

    • Shared meaning should not be assumed - there is lots of miscommunication

    • Communication occurs between people

  • Defining Theory:

    • Judee Burgoon: “A set of systematic, informed hunches about the way things operate”

    • Not an isolated idea: Theories provide explanations

    • Reserved for an integrated system of concepts: Theories connect the dots

    • Based on research: Theories are educated guesses

• Theory components (including the difference between real and nominal concepts)

  • Concepts: words or terms that label the most important elements of a theory

    • Nominal Concepts - unobservable

      • Require operationalization- turning something unobservable into an observable concept

      • Ex: For love, using a number scale, counting amount of time they show physical affection

    • Real Concepts – observable

  • Relationships: ways in which the concepts of a theory link together

• The purpose of theory

  • To explain, to understand, to predict, to effect social change

• Criteria used to evaluate theory

  • Scope - breadth of behaviors covered by the theory

    • Don’t want theory to be too broad - trying to accomplish everything

    • Don’t want to be too narrow - only applies in limited circumstances

    • Want to be in the middle

  • Logical consistency - clear, consistent relationships

  • Parsimony - simplicity of the explanation

    • Parsimonious - straightforward, simple explanations

  • Utility - usefulness or practical value

  • Testability - our ability to investigate a theory’s accuracy

    • Never will be able to “prove” a theory

    • All you can do is disprove

  • Heurism - the amount of research and new thinking generated by the theory

  •  Test of Time – durability

    • Want theories that have been tested and stood the test of time

• Subjectivist and objectivist epistemologies

  • Epistemology - questions about how we know things (How can we try to learn about those things?)

    • Objectivists- presume the truth exists apart from the knower of truth (and that researchers can study that truth)

    • Subjectivists- reject this idea, think reality only exists in our perceptions and interpretations (and, thus, those perceptions and interpretations should be the focus of the study)

• What POEM stands for

  • Paradigm - General world view (dictates your ontology)

  • Ontology - Questions about nature of reality

  • Epistemology - How you think you can study reality

  • Method - (Objectivist - lean towards quantitative)

• The role of meaning in SIT

  • Individuals construct meaning via communication

    • Meaning is not intrinsic to things; it takes people to make meaning

    • Goal of interaction is to create shared meaning

    • Meaning occurs BETWEEN people

      • Meaning can only exist if people share common interpretations of the symbols they exchange in interaction

    • Meanings are modified through interpretive processes

• Criticisms of SIT (Symbolic Interaction Theory)

  • Scope- some complain it’s too broad

  • Testability

  • Utility - Implications of a language-based definition of humanity

    • Saying people that can’t speak are not human

• The use of the RCQ(Role Category Questionnaire) in Constructivism Theory

  • The RCQ is designed to sample personal constructs.

  • Used to measure the respondent’s degree of cognitive complexity.

  • People with a large set of personal constructs have better social perception skills than those with fewer constructs.

• Person-centered messages and cognitive complexity

  • Messages which reflect an awareness of and adaptations to subjective, affective, and relational aspects of the communication contexts.

  • Says you must be cognitively complex to make a person-centered message. That is not sufficient, also have to be motivated and in the right place

  • Better able to adapt messages to individuals

• The three types of interpersonal goals

  • Identity goals - want to present a specific impression of yourself

    • Nice towards professors

  • Relational goals - always craving a relationship

    • If you don’t like someone, may keep interaction brief

    • Flirty because you have a goal to create intimate relationship

  • Instrumental goals - tangible goals that guide communication

    • Need a ride home after class

• O’Keefe’s design logics

  • The goals that one chooses to pursue are sources of variation in message design

  • 3 design logics ordered in terms of cognitive complexity (least to most)

    • Expressive - Communication as a means of self-expression

    • Conventional - Communication as a game

    • Rhetorical - Communication as a negotiation of realities (most sophisticated)

• Criticisms of constructivism

  • Some argue that it just measures “wordiness”

• Heider’s sliding scale of personal causation

  • Association, causality, justifiability, foreseeability, and intentionality

• Steps in the attribution process

  • Step 1: Observation of the action

  • Step 2: Judgment of Intention

    • In this step, we ask, “To what extent was the behavior intended?”

  • Step 3: Attribution of Disposition

• Attributional tendencies of actors and observers

  • The Actor-Observer bias occurs when we over-emphasize situational explanations for our OWN behavior and under-emphasize dispositional explanations. (external attributions)

• Three types of stigma and the difference between discredited and discreditable identities

  • Goffman also described three kinds of stigma:

    • Abominations of the body – physical “defects”

    • Blemishes of individual character – character deficits

    • Tribal associations – membership in a religious, racial, or ethnic group that is not the majority

  • Goffman described two types of “spoiled identities:” discreditable (invisible) and discredited (visible) identities.

• Effects of attributional ambiguity on those with discredited and discreditable identities

  • This theory states that we are sense-making creatures who engage in continual processes to understand the feedback we receive from others.

    • This sense-making process is more difficult for stigmatized individuals.

  • AA can cause stress for those with discreditable identities.

• Goals of individuals in initial interactions (according to URT – Uncertainty Related Theories)

  • A primary goal of individuals in initial interactions is prediction, defined as the ability to forecast one’s own and others’ behavioral choices.

  • Another goal in initial interaction is explanation, defined as the ability to interpret the meaning of behavioral choices.

• The assumptions of URT

  • People experience uncertainty in interpersonal settings

  • Uncertainty is an aversive state, generating cognitive stress

  • When strangers meet, their primary concern is to reduce uncertainty & increase predictability

  • Communication is the primary means of uncertainty reduction

  • Interpersonal communication is a developmental process that occurs in stages, and it is the primary means of uncertainty reduction.

  • It is possible to predict people’s behavior in a law-like fashion

• The phases of interpersonal communication

  • Entry phase

    • This is the first stage in an interaction between strangers.

    • Interaction is guided by rules and norms.

  •  Personal phase

    • Parties in a conversation start to communicate more spontaneously.

    • More personal information is disclosed during this phase.

  • Exit phase

    • Individuals make decisions about whether they wish to engage in future interactions with this person. The quantity and nature of info that people share changes over time

• Uncertainty appraisals (according to uncertainty management theory) and their related uncertainty management strategies

  • Reactions to uncertainty are predicated on emotions and appraisals.

    • Appraisal theory says that we judge meanings of events based on two factors: relevance and likelihood.

    • If a situation elicits positive emotions, then uncertainty likely will be evaluated positively.

    • If a situation elicits negative emotions, then uncertainty likely will be evaluated negatively.

    • If a situation does not elicit emotions, then uncertainty will be appraised as inconsequential.

  • Uncertainty management strategies are chosen based on appraisals.

    • Uncertainty as an opportunity

      • May avoid information/experiences that would reduce their uncertainty

      • May seek conflicting information to increase uncertainty

    • Uncertainty as a threat

      • May seek information or support to reduce uncertainty

    • Uncertainty as a chronic condition

      • May learn to appreciate or tolerate uncertainty

• The two competing needs for space (from Expectancy Violations Theory)

  • Affiliation refers to the need to belong to a group.

  • Humans also need to maintain personal space.

    • This refers to the "invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual which defines that individual's preferred distance from others."

• The history of deception research

  • Attributed to David Buller and Judee Burgoon

  • Explains the relationship between sender and receiver cognitions and behavior in deceptive exchanges

  • They defined deception as “a message knowingly transmitted by a sender to foster a false belief or conclusion by the receiver.”

  • Deception strategies identified by Buller and Burgoon include:

    • Falsification creates a fiction.

    • Concealment hides a secret.

    • Equivocation dodges the issue.

  • People are rarely more than 60 percent accurate in their ability to spot deception.

• Nonverbal deception cues (as identified by Zuckerman)

  • Leakage

    • Increased blinking and enlarged pupils.

    • Frequent speech errors

    • Increased speech hesitations.

    • Higher voice pitch

    • Increased discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal channels

• Conditions under which liars put more effort into planning and control

  • When situation is highly interactive

  • When participants know each other well

  • When deceiver is fearful of discovery

  • When motive for lying is selfish