COMS August 24th
-Cool hand Luke
--workplace communication, persuasion
-Jimmy Kimmel Live!
--Language, being credible, Organization
-Contact
--Language, small group communication, gender issues(listening)
-Nova: The deadliest plane crash
--Listening; Intercultural, Interpersonal, Workplace, And Small Group Communication
-Office Space
--Listening, Workplace communication
-Gung Ho
--Intercultural & Workplace communication
-Don Draper’s Guide…
--Perception & Self, nonverbal communication
-Flight of the Conchords
-- Perception & Self, Interpersonal communication
Mon, August 29th
Aristotle’s 3 types of appeals- Ethos, Pathos, Logos
SMCRE VariablesSource- The person initiating the communication.
Message- The message the speaker intends to send.
Channel- The means through which the message is sent.
Receivers- The audience to whom the message is delivered.
Environment- The situation or context in which the transaction takes place.
The communicator has the most control over the message (You can change it at will).
Definition of the environment according to the SMCRE- The situation or context in which the
transaction takes place.
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM); What is the likelihood one can elaborate the message?
-There are 2 routes to persuasion
1) Central (Message)
2) Peripheral (outside the message)
Why should one strive to increase central route processing?
-Because when persuasion is done through the central route it is more lasting and resistance to
counter-persuasion.
Most persuasion is done peripherally.
How do you get to the central route?
-Motivation
--Personal relevance to receiver
-Ability
--Organization
What is perception?
The process of becoming aware of objects and events from the senses.
-Active perception
--Our minds select, organize, and interpret what we sense
-Subjective perception
--Our minds construct unique meaning to sensed stimuli
What occurs in perception?
-3 distinct activities
selection, organization, interpretation
Occurs quickly and almost simultaneously
Difference in perception
-Physiological factors
-Past experiences and roles
-Culture and co-culture
-Present feelings and circumstances
-Perceptual constancy
-Past experiences lead you to see the world in a way that is difficult to change.
-Role: an individual’s function or expected behavior
Stereotypes & Demographics
-Demo:
Age: Important in selecting- topics of interest, authorities to cite, persuasive strategies
;May be related to values and attitudes
Gender: May not be a good predictor of audience reaction; Avoid -sexual stereotyping and
sexist language.
Education: Important in selecting: Supporting material, persuasive strategies, language usage.
Indicative of knowledge and interests.
Group affiliations: May relate to attitudes, interests, values. Can suggest: topics, authorities to
cite.
Socio-cultural background: Suggests different experiences, interest, and perceptions.
Mandates sensitivity to and awareness of cultural barriers impeding identification with source.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological -> Security/Safety -> Social -> Self-esteem Ego -> SelfActualization
Wednesday, Aug 31st
Part one language lecture:
Linguistic relativity hypothesis:
What we perceive is limited by the language in which we think and speak.
Different languages lead to different patterns of thought.
Language- Symbolized thought
Lang can
1)clarify
2) Obscure/lie
3) Influence perception
4) Set parameters of thought
Doublespeak- Deliberately euphemistic/obscure ex. Friendly fire, colleterial
Doubletalk- Words that sound like real words but aren’t real.
When did language begin?
Glottology- Study of origin of language
-No “original” language exists
-Language us not static (neat -> cool -> sweet -> fire -> slay)
-More than 7.1k language currently used worldwide.
Mokusatsu: One Word, Two Lessons
Suzuki replied to the Potsdam Declaration using the word “Mokusatsu”.
The word “Mokusatsu” is derived from the world for “silence”.
However, it can also mean negotiate/ withhold comment
The allied forced believed that Suzuki was saying that the ultimatum was “not worthy of comment” and
this angered the Allied. -> Atomic bomb dropped.
Wednesday Sep 7th
Part 2 Language lecture:
The Five Canons of Rhetoric:
-Invention
-Arrangement
-Style
-Delivery
-Memory
What is style
-No matter how erudite, if style is ineffective, its BAD
-No matter how plan, if the style if effective, it GOOD
Effective Lang
-Helps listeners remember
-Awakens feelings
-Moves people to action
Rhetorical Devices
-Simile
“We’re going to go through them like crap through a goose!”
-Metaphor
“That stuff u hear about America not wanting to fight is a lot of horse dung.”
-Hyperbole
“The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff for the Saturday Evening post don’t know anything
more about real battle than they do about fornicating.”
-Alliteration
“Bilious bastards, hot in hell, shoveled shit.”
-Parallelism
“Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly.”
-Antithesis
“No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb
bastard die for his country.”
-Repetition (NOT Redundancy”.
“Yes, we can.”
-Inversion
“Ask not what you can do for you.”
-Inversion + Antithesis + Parallelism
“My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your
country.”
Cool Rhetorical Devices
-Onomatopoeia
-Portmanteau Word
“ginormous” “fantabulous” “sharknado” “FunGals”
Uncool Rhetorical Devices
-Malapropism
“Helen is a good speaker; she aroused apathy in her audience
“I will oppose any effort to build a nuclear waste suppository in this state”
-Spoonerism
“ Here at Rollins college, we cherish knowledge, we welcome challenge, we nurture curiosity.
This is why our motto proudly declares: Liat fux”
Monday, September 12th
Non-verbal communication
Emblem- a gesture that can be directed translated into words. Ie. Flicking someone off (fuck u)
Nonverbal communication- the process of using messages that are not words to generate meaning.
-Repetition
-emphasis
-Complementation
-Contradiction
-Substitution
-Regulation
Paralinguistic features:
-Volume
-Rate
-Pitch
-Quantity
-non-word sounds
-pronunciation (Correct sound)
-Articulation (clear sound)
Leitmotif- a recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, idea. (Jaws music and
song of the Valkyries).
Types of Gestures
-Emblems (directly translator to words)
-Illustrators (using your arms to show how big or small something is)
-Regulators (Clap or raise hand).
-Affect displays (Smiles or frowns).
-Adaptors (For public use, swiping your nose instead of picking it)
Distance
-intimate (0-18 inches)
-Personal (18 inches - 4 feet)
-Social (4-12 feet)
-Public (more than 12 feet)
Wednesday, September 14th
Is non-verbal more reliable than verbal communication?
- A growing body of research suggests not
- Liars don’t have trouble making eye contact
- The guilty don’t fidget
Nonverbal- involuntary communication
- Do lie detectors work?
o No
Monday, September 19th
Why we don’t listen:
-Message overload
-Preoccupation
-Faulty assumptions
-Hearing problems
-External noise
-Lack of apparent advantages (why should I listen, what is in it for me?)
Men interrupt conversations far more often than women.
Men typically interrupt to gain control of the conversation
Women interrupt less than men, and on the average AND women interrupt to communicate
agreement, elaborate on the speaker’s idea, or simply to participate in the conversation.
Active listening- A study (Rhodes) of Midwestern personnel managers found that those
managers think active listening equals:
-Asking questions
-Creating a supportive climate
-Participating actively
-Paraphrasing
-Providing feedback
Payoff: Higher positions, business managers want good listeners, Fortune 500 companies train
listeners, Better listeners have been correlated to better speakers. Save you time, money, lives
Critical thinking- asking the right question
Universal intellectual standards for critical thinking:
-Clarity
-Accurate
-Precision
- Relevance
-Depth (Just say no (to drugs))
-Breadth (counter argument)
-Logic
Wednesday, September 21st
Recognizing Common Logical fallacies
Critical thinker- someone who analyzes a speaker and/or situation in order to make judgements
about the message presented.
Unsupported Assertion- “Im not buying it”
Begging the question- The premise is the same as the conclusion “Freedom of speech is for the
common good because unrestrained expression of opinions if ultimately in the best interest of
all concerned.”
Hasty Generalization- Forming a general rule by examining only a few specific cases which are
not representative of all possible cases; a.k.a. “jumping to a conclusion”. “NY has more people
than Cali.”
Slippery slope- Once an event occurs, an inevitable trend is established that will lead to
disastrous results. Domino effect
False Dilemma- The “Black and white” Fallacy; presenting two alternatives when in fact others
exist. “Vote or die” “America—love it or leave it”
Straw Man- Mispresenting opponent’s position for sake of easy refutation.
Red Herring- (has a purpose) To throw off the scent; introducing irrelevant material to divert
attention from opponent’s argument. Richard Nixon
Misused Statistics-Incomparable percentages
-Myth of the mean
False Analogy- Comparing two things that are not really comparable. “In sport, as in war, there
is no substitute for victory.”
Post Hoc Ergo Porpter Hoc- After this, therefore because of this.
Non Sequitur- Does not follow- “All Texans are jerks. Sam Smith is a Texan. Its going to rain
tomorrow”
Argument Ad Hominem- Argument directed at the person; A.k.a “name calling”.
Argument Ad Populum- Argument to the people. “Fifty million Frenchman cant be wrong”. Yes
they can.
Argument Ad Ignorantiam- Argument to ignorance- “Can you prove me wrong?”
Monday, September 26th
What is interpersonal communication
- The process of using messages to generate meaning between at least two people in a situation
that allows mutual opportunities for both speaking and listening
-Communication that occurs within interpersonal relationship
;Associations between 2 people who are interdependent , who use some consistent patterns
for interaction and who have interacted for an extended period of time.
Interpersonal; make predictions based on information about the other specific person; use
knowledge of the other as a unique person as the basis for the interaction
Impersonal; Make guesses about the conversation based on sociological or cultural
information. Use general social interaction rules as the basis for the interaction.
Importance of interpersonal relationship:
Need for inclusion, affection, control
Some relationships are complimentary relationships: Batman + Joker Tom + Jerry
Some relationships are symmetrical relationships: SpongeBob + Patrick Micky + Minnie
Self-disclosure: The process of making intentional revelations about oneself that others would
be unlikely to know and that generally constitute private, sensitive, or confidential information.
Self-disclosure allow us to:
- develop a greater understanding of ourselves, develop a more positive attitude about
ourselves and others, establish more meaningful relationships with others.
Factors affecting appropriate self-disclosure
Generally increases as relational intimacy increases
Tends to be reciprocal
Negative disclosure is directly related to relational intimacy
May sometimes be avoided.
Varies across cultures
Varies by co-culture
Relational satiation and disclosure have a Curvilinear Relationship!
Motivations for initiating relationships
-Proximity
-Attractiveness
-Responsiveness
-Similarity
-Complementarily
Maintain relationship:
Co-culture differences affect how and why we maintain relationships
The way communicate affects how we maintain relationships
Bad:
Hurtful messages
Deceptive comm
Aggressiveness
Argumentative
Defensive
Good:
Affectionate and supportive comm
Influencing others; Compliance- gaining, Compliance-gaining
Developing a unique relationship; personal idioms, Rituals
Improve interpersonal communication
Bargaining
Commit to learn a variety of comm skills
Demonstrate behavioral flexibility
What is intercultural communication?
-Exchange of info between individuals who are unalike culturally
Reason to study:
Communication with people from other cultures & co-cultures is common
Money
Curiosity
Convergence of tech
Immigration has changed the face of America
What is culture: Unique combination of rituals, religious beliefs, way of thinking, and the ways
of behaving that invite outsiders to see others as a unified member of a human group.
Co-culture group: A group that exists within a larger dominant culture but differs from the
dominant culture in some significant characteristic
Comm Goals for Marginalized groups:
Assimilation goal: Attempts to fit in with dominant culture ex. Star trek
Accommodation goal: Keep a co-culture identity while striving for positive relationships with
dominant culture ex. Vulcans
Separation goal: Relates exclusionary with its own group and avoids contact with dominant
culture ex. Amish
Intercultural comm problems
-Attribution and perceptual errors ex. Thumbs up, pointing
-Ethnocentrism (Comparing others cultures of yours and believing your culture is the best)
Pocahontas
-Stereotyping
Characteristics of different cultures:
Individualistic
Value individual freedom, choice,
uniqueness. And independence. (Dutch)
Collectivist
Value the group, family, tribe, clan and
culture over the individual (Peru)
Low Context
Communication style emphasizes the source
of the communication (North America and
Europe).
Uncertainty-Accepting
Tolerate ambiguity and diversity (India)
Implicit Rule
Implied rules for behavior are implicitly
known to all members of the culture
Monochronic
View time as compartmentalized between
task, personal, and social dimensions ex.
Germany
High Context
Much of the information about the source
and intentions is understood and not
explicitly stated (Argentina)
Uncertainty-Rejecting
Loss tolerant of ambiguity and diversity
(France)
Explicit-Rule
More likely to openly discuss procedures for
action and expectations for behavior
(America)
Polychronic
View time as culturally based and relationally
orientated ex. Morocco
What is organizational communication?
-The ways in which groups of people both maintain structure and order through their symbolic
interactions and allow individual actors the freedom to accomplish their goals.
Types: Economic Orientation, Political Orientation, Integration Orientation, Pattern
Maintenance Orientation.
What is Small-group communication?
- The interaction between more than two people who are working together to achieve an
interdependent goal.
What are Communication Networks?
-Patterns Of relationships through which information flows in an organization
Formal Communication
- Messages that follow prescribed channels of communication throughout the organization.
(Upward, downward, and horizontal communication)
Informal Communication
-Any interaction that does not generally follow the formal structure of the organization
-Emerges out of social interaction among organization members
-Grapevine communication
-“Corridor culture”
What can you learn from studying organizational communication?
-Organizational communication students gain an understanding of organizations on both the
large and small scale.
Org Comm students learn to analyze organizations and make recommendations for
improvements using their understanding of different types of levels of communication.
What careers are open to org comm majors? Manager, lobbyist, Public information officer,
Human resources, Accident investigator
The deadliest plane crash
Action: A decision made or a step taken that contributed to the crash and could have been
changed at the time.
Condition: A feature of the situation that may have played a role in the crash but could not
have been changed at the time.
Monday, October 24th
What is Communication Apprehension?
-An individual’s level of hear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated
communication with another person or persons.
2 types of CA:
-Situation-specific ex. Public Speaking, speaking to a police officer, asking someone out
-Generalized anxiety in nearly all situations
Nature:
-Genetic (communibiology)
-Twin Studies intriguing
Nurture:
-Environmental reinforcers (learned helplessness)
-Cultural factors (Collectivist cultures= High CA)
Effects of communication apprehension
High CA correlates to:
-Lower Standardized test scores
-Lower GPA
-Lower Grad rate
How to reduce the effects
-Positive self-talk, positive visualization, change your perspective, be prepared.
Extemporaneous Style
-Speaking in a conversational way
-Using minimal notes
Allows: Eye contact, natural gestures, and informal language.
Immediacy- a sense of closeness
1) Confident 2) Conversational 3) Comfortable 4) compelling
-Increases your personal immediacy
-Audience will be more receptive
Wednesday, October 26th
Through the use of the telegram, The news of the assassination of President Lincoln was spread
within hours of the assassination occurring.
Mass Communication Eras
The tribal era
-Oral cultures bonded by stories and rituals
-Reliance on spoken word made hearing the dominant sense
-Prevailed until ~2000 B.C.
The Literate Era
-Phonetic alphabet invented
-For the first time, select individuals have access to mass messages
-Linear written communication cultivated linear thinking
-Prevailed until ~1450 AD
The Print Era
-Printing press invented
-For the first time, nearly everyone has access to mass messages
-Mass produced written communication cultivates homogeneity
-Prevailed until ~1850 A.D.
The Electronic Era
-Telegraph perfected; leads to telephone, radio, and television
- “global village” is created –650 million see 1st moon walk, 2.5 bullion see Diana’s funeral
-New tech improves ability to multitask but erode ability to focus attention.
Mass Communication Theories
Uses and Gratification theory
-Audiences selects media that satisfies a want or need.
- If wants and needs change, then so will the media.
-Focus is on how individuals use media; does not inform on how media may shape society.
Agenda setting theory
-Mass media set the public agenda—it doesn’t tell us what to think, it tells us what to think
about
-Gatekeepers/ filters/ editors
-Omission as important as inclusion
Cultivation theory
-Mass media, particularly TV, cultivates a worldview that is inaccurate but that viewers assume
reflects real life
-This effect is cumulative and is achieved through
--Mainstreaming
--resonance
Cultivation theory- Bogus trend story
“Teens using vodka tampons to get drunk”
“The Medium is the message”
Marshall McLuhan, 1967
-The medium of communication determines the substance of communication
--The act of watching TV shapes how we think, regardless of what we’re watching
- “The medium is the mass age.”
--The dominant medium of our age is mass communication.
Monday Oct 31st
“Who is credible”
DEA Agent Lee Paige- Orlando Youth Minority Gold Association
Shot himself in the foot on accident after saying he was the only one in the room trained to use
a firearm.
Who has more credibility
Topic: Benefits to the American consumers of trade with the People’s Republic of China
Authority:
a) A wealthy business person from china
b) Paul Krugman
c) An American union official from the clothing industry
Topic: How to build a great body through weightlifting
Authority:
a) A professional of physical education
b) Arnold Schwarzenegger
c) Dwayne Johnson
Topic: Babies not being able to sleep at night
Authority:
a) Dr. Spock
b) Mr. Spock
Experts aren’t definitive
When using expert testimony, make sure its used in context and is accurate
Distinguish between fact and opinion
“Trust, but verify” look up the expert yourself
Remember, not all experts are created equal.
Monday, November 14nd
Five Canons of Rhetoric:
Invention Arrangement Style Delivery Memory
Four methods of delivery:
Manuscript, Memorized, Impromptu, Extemporaneous
Use a manuscript when you don’t want to be misquoted. But otherwise, it is not a good way to
give a presentation.
Memorized is worse because you have not script in-front of you. Doesn’t allow for audience
interaction.
Impromptu is when you have to give a presentation/speech when you had no idea you had to
give one.
Extemporaneous is the best way to give a speech/presentation as it combines the strengths
from the previous 3.
Speak from your heart
Use your voice—vary your:
-Volume
-pitch
-tempo
Use your body—Show us:
-Emblems (Middle finger, Thumbs up)
-Illustrators (up, down)
-Regulators
Guidelines for proactive speech delivery
-Be familiar with speaking environment
-Control your appearance
-Increase nonverbal immediacy
-Use natural gestures
-improve your voice
-time your speech
-Avoid self-adapting behaviors
-Check your posture
Organization
-Group stimuli into meaningful units or wholes
--Figure & ground
--Closure
--Proximity
--Similarity
Aristotle’s Poet
-Beginning, middle, end
-Gain attention, arouse interest. State the purpose, establish qualifications, forecast
development and organization
Visual
help us:
-Focus audience attention
-Emphasize key points
-Show relationships between points
-Simplify statistical information
-Make examples more specific
-Illustrate difficult-to-describe objects or scenes
-Enhance audience recall
Visuals should be
-Visible
--Large enough
--Legible
-Simple and Clear
-Non-distracting
--out of sight when not in use
--In your possession
-Functional
-“Profitable”
Employee Creativity
-Keep channels open
-Encourage new ideas
-Reward Creativity
-Promote Participation
Common Visual Aids
-Transparencies
-35 mm slides
-Flipcharts
-Posters
-Objects
-Models
-Handouts
-Marker boards
-Chalkboards
-Audio-visual aids
-Computer-generated visuals
Don McMillan
Selecting Typefaces
-Sans Serif typefaces great for titles & Subtitles
-Serif typefaces readable when small
-Avoid using more than one of each on the same visual
Design rules for text visuals
-4 to 6 lines of type
-40 characters per line
-Phrases not sentences
-Upper- and lowercase type
-Simple typeface
-Same space at tops of visuals
Design rules- graphic visuals
-Limit data
-Group Data
-Eliminate grid lines & data points
-Make bars wider than space between them
-Always use headings
Guidelines for visuals
-Keep hidden
-Put away when finished
-Talk to the audience
-Be prepared!
Monday Nov 21st
Persuasion
-Appeals to primitive beliefs (aka. Compliance gaining strategies or “weapons of influence”)
-Reciprocity
Xmas card experiment
-Commitment/consistency
Lowball technique
-Scarcity
Deadline technique (its on sale and you don’t know when it will be on sale again)
-Social Support
Salting technique (You put money in a tip jar because if other people tip, you
should too)
-Liking
Tupperware parties
-Authority
Expert (Dr.) or Power (Police officer)
Chapter 1 Textbook notes
Attributes of Communication:
 Pervasiveness:
-Communication takes place whenever humans are together because people
tend to look for meaning, even when a message is not deliberately sent. Much of the
time, the meaning assigned to the lack of an overt message is incorrect.
 Amoral:
- In the context of communication, amoral means ethically neutral –neither
moral nor immoral. The process itself is neutral—the people engaged in the process
provide the mortality, or lack of it.
 Advance our life-agenda:
-Communication is the means by which each of us advances our life-agenda. As
infants, we cried to be fed. We can use our communication skills to influence others to
think, feel, or act in ways that we believe they should. The process of communication is
ethnically neutral and that advancing our life-agenda can be an ethical pursuit, enriching
those around us. However, it would also be an unethical exploitation, advancing our
agenda at the expense of others. Which one it is depends on the morality that we bring
to the process.
Logos
Pathos
Ethos
Appealing to the audience via a logical conclusion. Be well organized, have
credible evidence, and have your evidence be clearly presented.
Emotional connection from the audience. “Accept my message because of the
feelings it evokes.” Accepting it feels like the right thing to do, or rejecting it feels
like the wrong thing to do.
Credibility; trustworthiness. Can be defined as a receiver’s perception of a
sender’s competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. Being well-prepared,
organized, and appropriately dressed for your presentation will increase your
audience’s perception of your competence.
The process of communication is transactional, meaning we are engaged in sending
(encoding) and receiving (decoding) messages simultaneously.
SMCRE factors- used to study what elements, or variables, make up the process of human
communication.
Source
The person initiating the communication
Variables: Age, Gender, Intelligence, Education,
Attractiveness, Personality, Voice Quality, Attitudes,
Prejudices, and Values.
Message
The message the speaker intends to send
(Most control) Variables: Message Length, Organizational Scheme, Use of
humor, Types of appeals & arguments, use of evidence.
Channel
Receivers
(Least control)
Environment
The means through which the message is sent
Variables: 5 senses and modalities (Live, recorded, emailed,
text-messages, etc.)
The audience to whom the message is delivered
Variables: Age, Gender, Cultural Background, listening ability,
prior knowledge on the topic, mood, values, prejudices, etc.
Effective communicators tailor their messages specifically to
the audiences who will be receiving them.
The situation or context in which the transaction takes place
Variables: Noisiness, crowdedness, temperature, messiness,
etc.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
based on the premise that those who are both motivated and able are more likely to engage in
elaborative processing.


Central route processing
-Receivers mentally elaborate on the elements of your message and scrutinize
your arguments and evidence.
-Receiver attitudes based on central route processing are more persistent, more
predictive of behavior, and more resistant to counter-persuasion.
-Focused primarily of message variables
Peripheral route processing
-Receivers give brief attention to the message without elaborated thought.
- Focused more on sender, channel, receiver, and environment variables.
-When people are motivated and able to scrutinize a message, they are likely to do so.
Alternatively, people who lack either motivation or ability are more likely to be influenced by
peripheral cues.
What can we do to increase the likelihood that our audience will engage in elaborate (central
route) processing? Or what can we do to maximize our audience’s motivation and ability?
-  Importance/Relevance Motivation to process the message carefully. To maximize your
audience’s motivation to process your message, make the case for relevance, and make it early.
- Avoid doing things that might diminish their ability to process our message. ie. Jargon,
misspellings and grammatical errors, excessive “ah” or “um”.
- Motivation and ability will cause the effect of peripheral cues to be diminished, but not
eliminated.
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the way we establish and
maintain relationships and the way we disengage from
relationships. It is often the way we get into conflicts with
others, and the way we resolve (or don’t resolve) those
Small group Communication
Organization Communication
Public Speaking
Mass-media Communication
Journalism
Health Communication
Family Communication
conflicts. Used to find our personal concept of self and is
how we present, disclose, and defend our self.
Communication that takes place among three or more
individuals who are interdepend, share goals, identify with
one another and interact.
Communication that is necessary to form and maintain an
organization. Balancing the competing interests of being
creative and being organized is the mission of
organizational communication. The study of
organizational communication also includes the
communication of leadership, assimilation, and the role
communication plays in conflict resolution.
The process of using messages to generate meanings in a
situation in which a single source transmits a message to
several receivers.
The process of using messages to generate meaning in a
mediated system, between a source and many unseen
receivers.
The communication of news, information about events in
our communities, our nation, and our world; and
commentary.
With our growing and increasingly more complicated
health-care system, the need for more clearer, more
effective communication between patients and healthcare providers, and among health-care professions.
Effective communication within the family is crucial due to
the infinite variety of blended families.
Chapter 2 Notes:
Perception- the use of the senses to process information about the external environment.
1) Active perception- Perception in which your mind selects, organized, and interprets
that which you sense.
2) Subjective perception- Your uniquely constructed meaning attributed to sensed
stimuli.
Gender identity- How you feel about and express your gender.
Perceptual constancy- The idea that your past experiences lead you to see the world in a way
that is difficult to change; your initial perceptions persist.
Roles- The part you play in various social contexts. Influences perception and affects your
communication.
Current emotions affect your perception and alters your communication.
You engage in three important yet separate activities during perception:
1) Selection: You neglect some stimuli and focus on others.
-Selective exposure
-You expose yourself to information that reinforces, rather than contradicts,
your beliefs or opinions. Had the downside of protecting our biases that can lead to
increased polarization.
-Selective attention
- The tendency, when you expose yourself to information and ideas, to focus on
certain cues and ignore others.
-Selective perception
- The tendency to see, hear, and believe only what you want to see, hear, and
believe.
-Selective retention
- The tendency to better remember the things that reinforce your beliefs than
those that oppose them.
2) Organization: The grouping of stimuli into meaningful units or wholes.
- Figure and Ground
- Figure is the focal point of your attention.
-Ground is the background against which your focused attention occurs.
-Closure
- The tendency to fill in missing information in order to complete an otherwise
incomplete figure or statement.
-Proximity
- The principle that objects physically close to each other will be perceived as a
unit or group.
-Similarity
- The principle that elements are grouped together because they share
attributes, such as size, color, or shape.
- Intergroup perspective- The theory that emphasizes the ways in which people in a
social interaction identify and categorize themselves or others in terms of group membership
and how these categorizations shape perceptions and interactions with others.
- In-group- A group that people belong to that gives them a source of pride, self-esteem,
and sense of belonging to a social world.
- Out-group- A group of people excluded from another group with higher status; a group
marginalized by the dominant culture.
3) Interpretation:
- Interpretive Perception
- Perception that involves a blend of internal states and external stimuli.
Perceptual errors:
Stereotyping- Making a hasty generalization about a group based on a judgement about an
individual from that group. The trouble with stereotyping is that we practically insist that our
stereotypes are correct through selected attention and selected retention.
Prejudice- An unfavorable predisposition about an individual because of that person’s
membership in a stereotyped group.
One way to reduce these perceptual errors:
Perception Checking- A process of describing, interpreting, and verifying that helps you
understand others and their messages more accurately.
1) Describe to the other person the behavior- including verbal and nonverbal cues- that
you observed.
2) Describe how that behavior is making you feel
3) Suggest plausible interpretations
4) Seek verification through asking questions and observing for clarification, explanation,
or amplification.
Personal Identity: Perception of what makes an individual unique with regard to various
personality characteristics, interests, and values.
Symbolic interactionism- The process of development of the self through the messages and
feedback received from others.
Abraham Maslow wrote that we experience two sets of personal needs:
1) Deficiency needs- Basic human needs
2) Growth needs- higher-order human needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Biological needs -> Safety needs -> Belongingness and love -> Self-esteem and social esteem
(All Deficiency needs) -> Self- actualization (Growth needs)
The Four Tendencies – by Gretchen Rubin highlights four personality types and describes how
to harness the potential of each type and how to manage relationship with others of the same
or different types. Each is linked to specific ways for addressing inner (thing we want to do) and
outer expectations (things other people want us to do) …
 UpholdersTend to meet inner and outer expectations rather easily. Value rules and plans
and are self-motivated.
 QuestionersTend to meet their inner expectations but have a harder time meeting outer
expectations. You need a reason to be motivated to complete tasks.
 ObligersThe most common tendency, typically meet other people’s expectations but
struggle to meet their own.
 RebelsResist both inner and outer expectations. The option to be free from constraints
and to do work that makes them feel challenged in a way that maintains their
independence works best for them.
A way for you to influence how others perceive you:
Impression management- Sharing personal details in order to present an idealized self.
Three types of communication are used to manage impressions:
 Manner
o Includes both verbal and nonverbal codes. Your manner might be seen as
assertive or friendly.
 Appearance
o May suggest a role you are playing (admin), a value you hold (environmentalist),
or your personality (easygoing).
 Setting
o Immediate environment (the space in which you communicate) as well as other
public displays of who you are (type of home you have and vehicles).
Chapter 3: Language and meaning
Language: A collection of symbols, letters, or words with arbitrary meanings that are governed
by rules and used to communicate.
Encode: the process of translating your thoughts into words.
Decode: assign meaning to others’ words in order to translate them into thoughts of your own.
Semantic rules
Syntactic rule
Pragmatic rules
Semantics- the study of the way humans use
language to evoke meaning in others.
Focus on individual words and their meaning.
Interested on how language and its meaning
changes over time.
Syntax- The way in which words are arranged
to form phrases and sentences.
Pragmatics- the study of language as it is
used in a social context, including its effect
on the communicators.
Phatic communication (Small talk)communication that is used to establish a
mood of sociability rather than to
communicate important information or
ideas.
Culture: the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular
period, class, community, or population.
Culture and language are thus related as the transmission of culture occurs, in part, through
language.
Culture creates a lens through which we perceive the world and create shared meaning.
Language thus develops in response to the needs to the culture or to the perceptions of the
world.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: A theory that our perception of reality is determined by our thought
processes, our thought processes are limited by our language, and therefore language shapes
our reality and our behaviors.
Critics believe that our need to describe our environment and the items within it cause us to
create language to do so.
Language organizes reality, and our own identities are symbolically created through language.
Language is arbitrary and have no inherent meanings.
Denotative meaning: The agreed-upon meaning or dictionary meaning of a word
Connotative meaning: an individualized meaning of a word, which may be emotionally laden.
Possible positive and negative language
Slang: informal, casual language used among equals with words typically unsuitable for more
formal contexts.
Cliché: An expression that has lost originality and force through overuse
Euphemism: A more polite, pleasant expression used instead of a socially unacceptable form.
Profanity: A type of swearing that uses indecent words or phrases.
Jargon: Language particular to a specific profession, work group, or culture and not meant to be
understood by outsiders.
Regionalism: Words and phrases specific to a particular region or part of the country.
Negative Language
Gender-biased language: Language that privileges a certain gender over another
Racist Language: Language that insults a group because of its race or ethnicity
Heterosexist Language: Language that implies that everyone is heterosexual
Ageist language: Language that denigrates people for being young or old.
Descriptiveness: The practice of describing observed behavior or phenomena instead of
offering personal reactions or judgements.
1) Checking your perceptions
-Describe the behavior you see and hear
-Describe how the behavior is making you feel.
-Offer two possible explanations for why you think the behavior is occurring
-Ask the other person for clarity.
2) Paraphrasing
-Restating another person’s message by rephrasing the content or intent of the
message
3) Operational definitions
-A definition that identifies something by revealing how it works, how it is made,
or what it consists of.
4) Defining terms
-Offer a definition that clarifies the term. You need to ask others for definitions
when they use words in new or unusual ways.
Concrete language: Words and statements that are specific rather than abstract or vague.
Semanticists encourage practices that make language more certain to engender shred
meanings. Two such practices are Dating and Indexing.
- Dating: Specifying when you made an observation, since everything changes over time.
- Frozen Evaluation: An assessment of a concept that does not change over time.
- Indexing: Identifying the uniqueness of objects, events, and people. Stereotyping is the
opposite of indexing.
Observations- Descriptions of what is sensed
Inferences- conclusions drawn from observations.
Chapter 4: Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication- the process of using messages other than words to create meaning
with others.
-Facial expressions, gestures, vocal volume, speed of talking, nonword vocalizations, etc.
60%-90% of our daily communication behaviors are conducted nonverbally.
Repeating- Sending the same message both verbally and nonverbally.
Emphasizing- The use of nonverbal cues to strengthen verbal messages.
Complementing- Using nonverbal and verbal codes to add meaning to each other and to
expand the meaning of either message alone.
Contradicting- Sending verbal and nonverbal messages that conflict.
Substituting- Using nonverbal codes instead of verbal codes.
Regulating- Using nonverbal codes to monitor and control interactions with others.
Nonverbal codes- Messages consisting of symbols that are not words, including nonword
vocalizations. Ex. Body movies, facial expression, physical attractiveness, use of space, use of
time, touch, vocal cues, and clothing and artifacts.
Bodily movement and facial expression:
Kinesics- The study of bodily movements, including posture, gestures, and facial expressions.
Albert Mehrabian:
Liking- expressed by forward leaning, a direct body orientation, close proximity, increased
touching, relaxed posture, open arms and body, positive facial expression, and direct eye
contact.
Status- Large gestures, relaxed posture, and infrequent eye contact.
Responsiveness- Exhibited by movement toward the other person, spontaneous gestures, shifts
in posture and position, and facial expressiveness.
Paul Ekman:
Emblems- Nonverbal movements that substitute for words and phrases.
Illustrators- Nonverbal movements that accompany or reinforce verbal messages.
Affect Displays- Nonverbal movements of the face and body used to show emotion.
Regulators- Nonverbal movements that control the flow or pace of communication.
Adaptors- Nonverbal movements that usually involve the unintended touching of our bodies or
manipulations of a body artifact that serves some physical or psychological need.
Ekman and Friesen determined that people’s facial expressions provide information to others
about how they feel. Facial expressions are important in conveying information to others and in
learning what others are feeling. Bodily movement and orientation add to that information by
suggesting how intense the feeling might be.
Physical attractiveness- Perceived desirability of another person’s outward physical
appearance.
Proxemics- Study of the human use of space and distance
Territoriality- the need to establish and maintain certain spaces as your own.
Personal space- The personal “bubble” that moves around with you
Intimate distance- Radius of 18 inches or less around a person, and it is used by people who are
relationally close.
Personal Distance- Ranges from 18 inches to 4 feet, and it is the distance used by most
Americans for Conversation and other nonintimate exchanges.
Social Distance- Ranges from 4 to 12 feet, and it is used most often to carry out business in the
workplace.
Public distance- exceeds 12 feet and is used most often in public speaking.
Chronemics- Also called temporal communication; the way people organize and use time and
the messages that are created because of their organization and use of that time.
Monochronic people view time as very serious and they complete one task at a time. Value
privacy, tend to work independently, rarely borrow and lend money or other items. Appear
secluded or isolated. US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland
Polychronic people work on several tasks at a time. Time is important, but not revered.
Interpersonal relationships are more important to them than their work. Tend to be highly
engaged with others. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Philippines.
Tactile communication- The use of touch in communication
- Because touch always involves invasion of another person’s personal space, it commands
attention.
-When the right to touch is abused, it can result in a breach of trust, anxiety, and hostility.
Paralinguistic Features- The nonword sounds and nonword characteristics of language
Perhaps the most important in public speaking.
Pitch- The highness or lowness of your voice
Rate- How rapidly or slowly you speak
Inflection- The variety or changes in pitch
Volume- The loudness or softness of our voice
Quality- The unique resonance of your voice, such as huskiness, nasality, raspiness.
Nonword Sounds- “mmh”, “huh”, “ahh” and the like, as well as pauses or the absence of sound
used for effect in speaking.
Pronunciation- Whether or not you say a word correctly
Articulation – Whether or not your mouth, tongue, and teeth coordinate to make a word
understandable
Enunciation- Whether or not you combine pronunciation and articulation to produce a word
with clarity and distinction so that is can be understood.
Silence- Lack of sound
Objectics- Also called object language; the the human use of clothing and artifacts as nonverbal
codes.
Artifacts- Ornaments or adornments you display that hold communicative potential. Provide
physical and psychological protection; permit personal expression; and communicate age,
gender, socioeconomic class, and personality.
You can improve your understanding of nonverbal communication by being sensitive to
context, audience, and feedback.
Context- Physical setting, the occasion, and the situation
Audience makes a difference in your nonverbal communication, so you have to adapt.
Feedback can be important in helping others interpret your nonverbal cues that might
otherwise distract your listeners.
Suggestions you can use to begin analyzing and improving your own nonverbal communication
behaviors:
1. Eye contact and demonstrate interest through bodily movement and the use of space and
artifacts.
2. Recognize that others may use time differently than you do.
3. Manage our time to maximize success
4. Manage your time in your interaction with others.
5. Be aware of professional norms that guide nonverbal communication behaviors.
6. Dress appropriately for the situation.
7. Avoid using overly dramatic nonverbal behaviors to intentionally or unintentionally signal
disagreement.
Chapter 5
We spend more of our time listening each day (about 24%) than we spend speaking (about
20%). We spend the least amount of time writing (9%) and reading (8%).
Decoding required a listener to translate messages into understandable symbols.
Denotative meaning: The literal or explicit definition of a word.
Connotative meaning: The implied meaning of a word based upon its use within a given
context.
Listening: the process of receiving, attending to, and assigning meanings to aural and visual
stimuli.
Receiving: We take in lots of information, but we only attend to some of the information.
Listening required mental energy.
1) Selective attention: you must decide what sound you want to hear.
2) Assign meaning to the sound
3) You must decide how to associate it and store if if you want to recall it later.
Listening required more than simply hearing, which is only the physical process of receiving
sound.
Listening is also done with the eyes. Early research on contradictory messaging suggested that
we tend to believe nonverbal communication when it directly contradicts the verbal message.
However, some recent studies has suggested that we decide whether to believe the verbal,
vocal, or visual cues based on the situation. The more “Dominant” channel of communication
given the situation and context will determine how we assign the meaning to the message.
The Systems Model Of Listening:
Presage: includes the things listeners bring to a listening situation and the context in which
listening occurs, including the listener’s culture, the norms governing conversations in that
culture, and the listening styles the person has.
Process: The actual mechanics of listening, including converting sound into electrical impulses
and then into meaning, and accessing memories in order to prepare effective responses.
Behaviors of listening such as head nods and eye contact are seen here.
Product: Outcomes of the process, such as a strengthened relationship between friends, a
personal feeling of satisfaction or accomplishment, or a deeper understanding of a particular
concept or idea.
Five Ways of Listening
Discriminative Listening: Used to distinguish the auditory and visual stimuli. Answers the
question, “What is that sound?”
Comprehensive Listening: Used to understand the message in order to retain, recall, and
possibly, use that information at a later time. Refers to the process of information acquisition,
storage, and retrieval.
Therapeutic Listening: Used to help a person who needs to talk through a concern. Helps
others process their feelings.
Critical Listening: Used to evaluate the merits of the message. Arrives at an informed
judgement regarding an idea, situation, or argument.
Appreciative Listening: Serves to obtain sensory stimulation or enjoyment through the works
and experiences of others. Actively listening to and engaging with the sound, music, words, and
the blends that the sounds produce.
Discriminative listening process; how we distinguish among stimuli orients us to what we do
next with the stimuli. The trunk of the tree reflects the Comprehensive listening: we listen to
understand across a variety of contexts. The branches reflect Appreciative, critical, and
Therapeutic listening. These “higher order” levels of listening are possible only one a solid
foundation of Comprehensive and Discriminative listening has been achieved.
Listening Styles Profile-16 (LSP-16) developed by Kittie Watson, Larry Barker, and James
Weaver.
People-oriented: You tend to have a high regard for another person’s feelings and seek to find
common ground with the speaker.
Action-oriented: Listeners like to receive concise, succinct information that is free from
mistakes. These individuals are particularly frustrated by disorganized presentations since they
get in the way of commencing action.
Content-oriented: Listening style you prefer challenging and complex messages. Someone who
is content-oriented is more drawn to evaluate facts and strengths of arguments. Unbiased
Time-Oriented: You prefer brief listening encounters. Will let others know they have limited
time to spend in an interaction and prefer interactions to move along swiftly.
40% of respondents had 2 or more listening styles, 36% of respondents had only one listening
style. And 24% has no particular listening style. Of those who had a single listening style
preference, people-oriented was more popular (11.6%), action-oriented (8.5%), Contentoriented (8.3%), and time-oriented(7.7%).
Listening styles may change depending on the situation.
Bodie and Villaume founded that:
-People with a high people listening orientation are more relationally oriented. They attend to
and affirm the other person and feel less receiver apprehension when speaking,
-People with high content and action listening orientations tend to have a precise and attentive
style of arguing the issues that leaves a strong impression on other people.
-People with high time and action listening orientation tend to feel higher receiver
apprehension and tend to be dramatic, forceful, and animated. Additionally, these individuals
tend to dominate others in conversation.
-People and content-oriented listeners are more conversationally sensitive than other listening
types.
- People oriented listeners are more extraverted; they are less psychotic, and less neurotic.
-Individuals with high time and content orientations are more psychotic and have a friendlier
communication style.
-People and content oriented listeners have slightly less communication apprehension in group,
meeting, and interpersonal settings.
-Content oriented listeners are more likely to have a higher “need for cognition,” or a greater
tendency to think and enjoy the thinking process.
- Content and action oriented listeners are more likely to question the information they hear
than the others listening types.
 Israeli students favor the content and action listening orientations
 German students favor an action listening orientation
 American students favor both people and time listening orientations
Bommelje, Houston, and Smither conducted a personality-listening styles study using different
personality measures (intellectance, adjustment, prudence, sociability, likeability, ambition, and
school success) and using a different listening inventory (the Watson-Barker Listening test).
Only “School success,” the degree to which a person values educational achievement and
academics, was a predictor of effective listening.
People-oriented listeners show a great deal of sympathetic responsiveness to others in difficult
situations but not much empathetic responsiveness.
Action and time listening styles showed the least amount of sympathetic responsiveness
toward others in difficult situations.
Content oriented individual seem to have an ability to interact with others who were
emotionally upset without become emotionally upset themselves.
Men
Specialize in vocal communication: are better
are judging and expressing information
through the voice
Perceive head nods as feedback to be
indicators of agreement
Interrupt more frequently in conversation
Emit more errors in speech
Favor the task-oriented listening styles
Rate themselves as more content-oriented
Women
Specialize in visual communication: are
better and judging and expressing
information in the face and body
Perceive head nods as feedback to be
indicators of "I’m listening”
Displays more complexity and differentiation
in how they describe emotional experiences
Use more body movements to communicate
involvement
Favor “communal” or people-oriented
listening styles, but can also favor contentoriented
Rate themselves as more people-oriented
How can you improve your own listening skills? (Receiver)
- Ask pre-questions
-Consider your interest level
-Use elaboration strategies
-As listener, take 51% of the responsibility for the communication transaction
-Choose to focus
-Be aware of logical fallacies, source credibility, and appeals.
-Keep a listening journal
-Be willing to listen
How can you facilitate increased listening in the audience? (Speaker)
-Have a strong message that is relevant to your audience
-Use confident language
-Define any unfamiliar terms and use standard English
-Offer opportunities for clarification
-Assume that your audience may not have the same listening style as you
Chapter 6: Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is the process of using messages to generate meaning between
at least two people in a situation that allows mutual opportunities for both speaking and
listening.
- When we communicate with others based on some knowledge of their uniqueness as
individuals and a shared relational history, we are communicating interpersonally.
Interpersonal relationships may be defined as associations between at least two people who
are interdependent, who use some consistent patterns of interaction, and who have
interacted for an extended period of time.
-Interpersonal relationships involve people who are interdependent. Interdependence refers to
people’s being mutually dependent on each other and having an impact on each other.
According to psychologist Willian Schutz, we have three basic interpersonal needs that are
satisfied through interaction with others:
 The need for inclusion, or becoming involved with others
 The need for affection, or holding fond or tender feeling toward another person
 The need for control, or having the ability to influence others, our environment, and
ourselves.
Complementary relationships: those in which each person supplies something the other
person or persons lack
-ex. Friendship between an introvert and extrovert.
Symmetrical relationships: Those in which the participants mirror each other or are highly
similar
-ex. Relationship between 2 intelligent individuals may reflect their need for intellectual
stimulation.
“Dark side of interpersonal relationships”- Obsession, intense feelings, jealousy,
misunderstanding, gossip, conflict, codependency, relational abuse, etc.
Good side- self-disclosure, affectionate communication, mutual influence, and the development
of a unique relationship.
Self-disclosure: is the process of making intentional revelations about yourself that others
would be unlikely to know and that generally constitute private, sensitive, or confidential
information.
- Self-disclosure is voluntary, confession is forced, revelation is unintentional.
- It allows us to develop a greater understanding of ourselves
Johari Window
Known to self
Not known to self
Known to others
(I)
Open area
(II)
Blind Area
Not known to others
(III)
Hidden area
(IV)
Unknown Area
- Allows us to develop a more positive attitude about ourselves and others, as well as
more meaningful relationships.
- Self-disclosure is one way relationships grow in depth and meaning.
6 principles that guide appropriate self-disclosure:
1) Disclosure generally increases as relational intimacy increases.
2) Disclosure tends to be reciprocal
3) Negative disclosure is directly related to the intimacy of the relationship; however,
positive disclosure does not necessarily increase as the relationship becomes more
intimate.
4) Disclosure may be avoided for a variety of reasons
5) Disclosure varies across cultures. Ie. American college students disclosed significantly
more than Japanese students regardless of whether the relationship was a same- or
cross-sex friendship or an intimate relationship. In online settings, Americans tend to
use verbal disclosure more than East Asians, and Koreans tend to share more photos to
disclose aspects of themselves than Americans.
6) Relational Satisfaction and disclosure are curvilinearly related.
Rawlin provides a six-stage model of how friendships develop:
Stage 1: Role-limited interaction, includes an encounter in which individuals are polite and
careful with their disclosures.
Stage 2: Friendly relations occur when the two people determine that they have mutual
interests or other common ground.
Stage 3: Moving toward friendship allows them to introduce a personal topic or set up times to
get together.
Stage 4: In nascent friendship they think of themselves as friends and begin to establish their
own private ways of interacting
Stage 5: Friends feel established in each other’s lives, in what is termed a stabilized friendship
Stage 6: Friendships may move to a waning stage, when the relationship diminishes. Not all
friendships reach this stage.
Friendships in which both people wanted the relationship to become romantic -> Mutual
Romance
Friendships in which neither person wanted the friendship to become romantic -> Platonic
Friendships in which one person desired romance but felt the other did not -> Desiring or
rejecting romance
People in collectivist cultures tend to have more intimate but fewer friendships.
Friend with Benefits are those who are not romantically involved but who have agreed to have
a sexual relationship.
38% of the couples stopped having sex but remained friends, 28% stayed friends and remained
sexually involved, 26% claimed that they were no longer either friends or lovers, and about 10%
of the couples had a relationship that became completely romantic.
Relational Development: The initial stage in a relationship that moves a couple from meeting to
mating
Relational Maintenance: The stage in a relationship after a couple has bonded and in which
they engage in the process of keeping the relationship together.
Dialectic TheoryDialectic refers to the tension that exists between two conflicting or interacting forced,
elements, or ideas. When Dialectic theory is applied to interpersonal relationships, we
acknowledge that relationships often incorporate contradictions or contrasts within them and
that relationships are always in process.
Contradictions- each person might have two opposing desires for maintaining the relationship.
Ex. Integration/Separation, Stability/change, expression/privacy
Social networking sites can influence relationships in 3 ways
- Increase the amount of information we have on our partners
- Provide acceptable ways for couples of monitor their partners without committing severe
violations of trust
- Information that is important to the couple if on display for the public
Relational deterioration: the stage in a relationship in which the prior bond disintegrates.
Motivations for initiating relationships:
1) Proximity- Location, distance, or range between persons and things
2) Attractiveness
3) Responsiveness- Tend to select our friends and loved one from people who demonstrate
positive interest in us
4) Similarity- Who have like and dislike the same things we do
5) Complementarity- Bond with people whose strengths are our weaknesses
Motivations for terminating relationships:
1) Hurtful messages and events
2) Deceptive communication- Practice of deliberately making somebody believe things that are
not true
3)Aggressiveness- the assertion of one’s rights at the expense of others and and caring about
one’s own needs but no one else’s.
4) Defensiveness- Response that occurs when a person feels attacked.
5) Argumentativeness- the quality or sate of being argumentative; synonymous with
contentiousness or combativeness
Promote Defensive behaviors:
1) Evaluation- occurs when an individual makes a judgement about another person or that
person’s behavior
2) Control- Suggests that he speaker does not allow the second person to join in the discussion
of how a problem should be solved.
3) Neutrality- he originator of the message does not show concern for the 2nd person
4)Superiority- When the first person treats the 2nd as a person of lower status
5) Certainty- denotes a lack of openness to alternative ideas
6) Strategy- Refers to the employment of manipulative and premeditative behavior.
Reduce Defensiveness:
1) People who use description report their observations rather than offering evaluative
comments.
2) People with a Problem Orientation do not act as though they have the solution but are eager
to discuss multiple ideas.
3) Empathy implies concern for others, as shown through careful listening for both the content
and the intent of the other’s message
4) Equality means the communicator demonstrates feeling neither superior nor inferior to the
2nd person
5) Provisionalism suggests that the communicator does not communicate certainty or a total
conviction but is open to other ideas
6) Spontaneity implies naturalness and a lack of premeditation
Compliance-gaining- attempts made by a source of messages to influence a target “to perform
some desired behavior that the target otherwise might not perform.”
Compliance-resisting- the refusal of targets to influence messages to comply with requests.
Personal idioms- unique forms of expression and language understood only by individual
couples.
Rituals- Formalized patterns of actions or words followed regularly.
1) Couple-time rituals- exercising together, having dinner every Saturday night
2) Idiosyncratic/Symbolic Rituals- Calling each other by a special name or celebrating the
anniversary of their first date.
3) Daily routines and tasks- One partner always preparing the evening meal and the other
always cleaning up after.
4) Intimacy Rituals- Giving each other a massage or talking on the phone before going to bed
5) Communication Ritual- always saying I love you before going to sleep
6) Patterns, habits, and mannerisms- meeting one partner’s need to be complimented when
going out for a fancy evening
7) Spiritual rituals- Attending services together or doing yoga together in the evening
Bargaining- the process in which two or more parties attempt to reach an agreement on what
each should five and receive in a transaction between them.
1) All parties perceive the possibility of reaching an agreement in which each party would be
better off, or no worse off, than if no agreement were reached.
2) All parties perceive more than one such agreement that could be reached.
3) Each party perceives the others as having conflicting preferences or opposing interests.
Behavioral Flexibility- The ability to alter behavior to adapt to new situations and to relate in
new ways when necessary.
Chapter 7: Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication: The study of how cultural characteristics affect communication
between people.
First, intercultural communication will become an increasingly common aspect of our lives.
Second, to study intercultural communication is economic.
Third R to study intercultural communication is to combat Xenophobia (The fear or hatred or
strangers of foreigners), which is the fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners.
Fourth Reason to study intercultural communication is the convergence of technologies.
Culture: the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular
period, class, community, or population.
Dominant Culture: A culture determined by who has the power and influence in traditional
social structures like politics, religious institutions, schools, and businesses in the United States
the dominant culture is white, male, able-bodied, straight, married, and employed.
Nondominant Culture: A group that exists within a larger, dominant culture and differs from
the dominant culture in one or more significant characteristics.
Assimilation goal: The marginalized group attempts to fit in with the dominant group.
Accommodation goal: The marginalized group manages to keep its identity while driving for
positive relationships with the dominant culture.
Separation goal: The marginalized group relates as exclusively as possible with its own group
and as little as possible with the dominant group. Ex. Hasidic jews and the Amish
Intercultural communication problems
Ethnocentrism: The belief that your own group or culture is superior to other groups or
cultures. Ex. Everyone should speak English
Cultural relativism: The belief that another culture should be judged by its own context rather
than measured against your culture.
Stereotype: A generalization about some group of people that oversimplifies their culture.
Prejudice: An unfavorable predisposition about an individual because of that person’s
membership in a stereotyped group.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
High-power distance vs. Low-power distance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
The degree to which a culture seeks to
maintain rigid hierarchical roles (high-power
distance) or seeks to equalize the distribution
of power (low-power distance).
The cultural preference for a loose social
network (individualism) or a tightly bonded
social network (collectivism).
The preference toward typically male
behaviors such as ambition and assertiveness
Uncertainty avoidance
Long-term orientation vs. short-term
orientation
Indulgence vs. restraint
versus typically feminine behaviors such as
cooperation, modesty, and caring for others .
The preference for rigid codes of behavior
and intolerance for unorthodox behaviors, as
opposed to a relaxed attitude about how
people behave.
The preference for time-honored traditions
and norms where social change is
discouraged (long-term orientation) versus a
preference for pragmatic activities such as
education, to meet immediate needs (shortterm orientation).
Preferences for free gratification for basic
human drives (indulgence) versus
preferences for strict social norms that
suppress instant gratification (restraint).
Schwartz’s Value perspective
Intellectual autonomy: Values independent thought
Affective Autonomy: Values individual happiness
Mastery: Values meritocracy and earning what you get
Hierarchy: Values clear roles and predictable behavior
Embeddedness: Values agreement and order
Harmony: Values respect for the natural world
Egalitarianism: Values equality and social justice.
Schwartz states that all cultures align within three cultural dimensions: embeddedness versus
autonomy (both intellectual and affective), hierarchy versus egalitarianism, and mastery versus
harmony.
Cultural tightness: The degree to which a culture is consistent within a national boundary. Ex.
Malaysia, India, and South Korea have very distinct cultures that are tied to their national
boundaries. Countries such as Israel, Estonia, and Ukraine have cultures that conform only
loosely to their national boundaries.
Code Sensitivity: The ability to use the verbal and nonverbal language appropriate to the
cultural norms of the individual with whom you are communicating.
Reflexivity: Being self-aware and learning from interactions with the intent of improving future
interactions.
Chapter 8: Small group communication
Small groups are important for four reasons:
1)Humans have needs for:
Inclusion: The state of being involved with others; a human need.
Affection: The emotion of caring for others and/or being cared for.
Control: The ability to influence our environment.
2) Group work is the norm in business and industry, knowing how groups function and having
the ability to operate effectively in the will be highly valued skills.
3) Group members need training to understand the dynamics of small-group interaction.
4) Groups can be an important way for Americans to participate in the democratic process and
understanding how and why we differ on various issues.
Cliques- groups of twitter handles that frequently mentions each other or were mentioned
together
Degree- The number of connections to other Twitter handles by means of retweets or
mentions.
Betweenness- the extent to which a Twitter handle serves as a connection between other
handles in the network. A Twitter handle with a high level of betweenness has influence over
what flows and does not flow through the social network.
Authority- the extent to which a Twitter handle is a definitive source of information. A Twitter
handle with a large amount of authority is frequently retweeted or mentioned by other Twitter
handles or groups of Twitter handles.
Small-group communication: Is the interaction among three to nine people who are working
together to achieve an interdependent goal.
--Group must be small enough that members are mutually aware that the group is a collective
entity. Groups typically contain between three to nine people but may be larger if members
perceive the group as an entity. Research does show that groups of three or four people are
more productive than are larger groups of five or more people.
--The substance that creates and holds the group together is the interaction between members.
--Group members are interdependent- they cannot achieve their goals without the help of
other group members.
Assigned groups: Occur when individuals are appointed to be members of the group. A student
union advisory board is an example of an assigned group.
Emergent groups: Occur when a group of individuals decide to form a cohesive group out of
personal need or desire, but they are not appointed to be part of the group. A group of friends
who meet at college are an emergent group.
Task-oriented groups: are formed for the purpose of completing tasks, such as solving
problems or making decisions.
Relationship-oriented groups: groups that are usually long term and exist to meet our needs
for inclusion and affection.
Norms: informal rules for group interaction created and sustained through communication.
Role: The part you play in various social contexts.
Formal role: Also called positional role; an assigned role based on an individual’s position or
title within a group.
Informal role: Also called behavioral role; a role that is developed spontaneously within a
group.
Task functions: are behaviors that are directly relevant to the group’s purpose and that affect
the group’s productivity; their purpose is to focus group members productivity on their
assignment.
Maintenance functions: are behaviors that focus on the interpersonal relationships among
group members; they are aimed at supporting cooperative and harmonious relationships.
Self-Centered functions: are behaviors that serve the needs of the individual at the expense of
the group.
Group climate: the emotional tone or atmosphere members create within the group.
Trust: means that members believe that can rely on each other. Task trust develops when you
have confidence that others will get their jobs done in support of the group’s goals.
Interpersonal trust emerges when you perceive that other are working in support of the group
rather than trying to achieve personal gain or to accomplish hidden agendas.
Supportiveness: refers to an atmosphere of openness in which members care about each other
and create cohesiveness.
Cohesiveness: is the attachment members feel toward each other and the group. Highly
cohesive groups are more open, handle disagreement more effectively, and typically perform
better than less cohesive groups.
Defensive behaviors
Sample Statement
Evaluation- judging another person
That’s a completely ridiculous idea
Control- Dominating or insisting on your own Ice decided what we need to do
way
Manipulation- Trying to verbally push
Don’t you think you should try it my way?
compliance
Neutrality- Not caring about how others feel It doesn’t matter to me what you decide
Superiority- Pulling rank, maximizing status
As group leader, I think we should
differences
Certainty- Being a know it all
You guys are completely off base. I know
exactly how to handle this
Supportive behaviors
Sample Statement
Description- Describing your own feelings
I prefer the first option because
without making those of others wrong
Problem orientation- Searching for the best
We want to produce the best results, and
solution without predetermining what that
that may means some extra time from all of
should do
us
Spontaneity- Reacting honestly and openly
Empathy- Showing you care about the other
members
Equality- Minimizing status differences by
treating members as equals
Provisionalism- Expressing opinions
tentatively and being open to others’
suggestions.
Wow, that sounds like a great idea
Jan, originally you were skeptical. How
comfortable will you be if the group favors
that option?
I don’t have all the answers. What do the rest
of you think?
Maybe we should try a different approach…
Groupthink: an unintended outcome of cohesion in which the desire for cohesion and
agreement takes precedence over critical analysis and discussion.
Signs:
-An illusion of invulnerability by the group
-An unquestioned belief in the morality of the group
-Collective efforts by group members to rationalize faulty decisions.
-Stereotyping views of enemy leaders as evil, weak, or ineffective
-Self-censorship of alternative viewpoints.
-A shared illusion that all group members expressing divergent opinions
-The emergence of mind guards to screen the group from information contradictory to the
prevailing opinion.
Prevent groupthink:
-Seek all pertinent information
-carefully assess the credibility of information relevant to the decision at hand
-Assign members to present counterargument
-Maintain a commitment to finding the best possible outcome as supported by the available
evidence.
Group culture: the socially negotiated system of rules that guide group behavior.
Within-group diversity: The presence of observable and implicit differences among group
members
Observable- Within-group diversity based on Visible aspects of able and non-ablephysical characteristics that can be seen
bodiedness, perceived gender, height, eye
color.
Implicit- Within-group diversity based on
Religious orientation, educational
individual’s worldviews, perspectives, and
background, political affiliation.
other personality characteristics.
Leadership: a process of using communication to influence the behaviors and attitudes of
others to meet group goals.
Designated leader: someone who has been appointed or elected to a leadership position.
Emergent leader: Someone who becomes an informal leader by exerting influence toward
achievement of a group’s goal but does not hold the formal position or role of leader.
Power: interpersonal influence that forms the basis of group leadership
distributive power, whereby the leader exerts influence over others.
integrative power, which highlights interdependence with another person or persons to achieve
mutually agreed-upon goals.
designated power- which reflects the importance of relationships between people. Marriages,
families, and groups often hold such power for us.
Reward power is the ability to give followers what they want and need
Punishment power is the ability to withhold from followers what they want and need.
Referent power is power based on other’s admiration and respect.
Expert power is the power that arises when the other members value a person’s knowledge or
expertise.
Legitimate power is power given to a person because of a title, position, or role.
Leader centered vs. group centered
Listening vs. talking
Task vs. nontask emphasis
Process vs. outcome focus
Does the leader maintain complete control
over the group, or are aspects of group
control given to members of the group?
Does the group leader spend more time
talking or listening?
Does the group focus primarily on taskrelated behaviors or primarily on nontask
behaviors? One focus could get the job done
quicker; the other could build cohesiveness.
Does the group focus only on outcomes, or
does it also focus on getting tasks done “the
right way”?
Democratic leaders: leaders who encourage members to participate in group decisions.
Laissez-faire leaders: Leaders who take almost no initiative in structuring a group discussion.
Autocratic leaders: Leaders who maintain strict control over their group.
Criteria: The standards by which a group must judge potential solutions.
Absolute criteria- must be met
Important criteria- should be met
Stakeholders: groups of people who have an interest in the actions of an organization
Content curation: the collection and storage of documents and other multimedia from the
web, covering a specific topic.
Ethical group member:
1) Free speech
2) Honest and truthful
3) thorough and unbiased
4) Integrity
5) manage group conflict
Chapter 9: Workplace Communication
Organizations: social collectives, or groups of people in which activities are coordinated to
achieve both individual and collective goals.
Organizational communication: the ways in which groups of people both maintain structure
and order through their symbolic interactions and allow individual actors the freedom to
accomplish their goals.
Types of Organizations:
Economic orientation: Organizations that manufacture products and/or offer services for
consumers
Political orientation: Organizations that generate and distribute power and control within
society.
Integration orientation: Organizations that help mediate and resolve discord among members
of society.
Pattern-maintenance orientation: Organizations that promote cultural and educational
regularity and development within society.
Communication networks: Patterns of relationships through which information flows in an
organization.
Formal communication: messages that follow prescribed channels of communication
throughout the organization.
Downward communication: messages flowing from superiors to subordinates.
Upward Communication: messages flowing from subordinates to superiors.
Horizontal communication: Messages between members of an organization who have equal
power.
Informal communication: Interactions that do not follow the formal upward and downward
structures of the organization but emerge out of less formal interactions among organizational
members.
Organizational communities: Groups of similar businesses or clubs that have common interests
and become networked together to provide mutual support and resources.
Boundary spanner: An individual who shares information between groups and establishes a
strategic vision for collaboration.
Personal Brand: Your personal attributes and values that can be consistently communicated to
others.
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Personal Network: A web of contacts and relationships that can help you gain job leads and can
provide job referrals.
Cover letter: A short letter introducing you and your resume to an interviewer.
Objective statement: An articulation of your goals.
Summary statement: A statement on your resume that highlights your skills, experiences, and
accomplishments.
Chronological resume: A document that organizes your credentials over time.
Functional resume: A documents that organizes your credentials by type of function
performed.
Preparing for an interview
-Understand the job
-Understand the Org
-Understand the field.
Title VII Of the Civil rights act of 1964 prevents employment discrimination based on race, color,
sex, religion, or national origin. Bona Fide
The Equal pay Act of 1963 aims to end the practice of unequal pay for men and women for
equal work.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 makes it illegal to discriminate, either through hiring
or promotion, based on pregnancy or relayed medical issues.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 makes it illegal for employers to refuse to
hire applicants who are 40 years of age or older because of age alone.
The Americans with Disabilities act of 1990 prevents discrimination against qualified applicants
because of a disability and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to help
them apply for and perform work.
Immediacy: Communication behaviors intended to create perceptions of psychological
closeness with others.
Supportive Communication: Listening with empathy, acknowledging others’ feelings, and
engaging in dialogue to help others maintain a sense of personal control.
Strategic ambiguity: The purposeful use of symbols to allow multiple interpretations of
messages.
Interaction management: Establishing a smooth pattern of interaction that allows a clear flow
between topics and ideas.
Customer service encounter: The moment of interaction between the customer and the firm.
Compliance-Gaining Strategies Used by
Customer Service Representatives
Promise: Promising a reward for compliance “If you purchase this car, I’ll give you tickets
to a football game.”
Threat: Threatening to punish for
“If you don’t buy the car before the end of
noncompliance
the week, I cannot guarantee the 1 percept
interest rate.”
Pre-giving: rewarding the customer before
requesting compliance.
Moral Appeal: Implying that it is immoral not
to comply
Liking: Being friendly and helpful to get the
customer in a good frame of mind to ensure
compliance.
“I will give you $50 just for test-driving the
new car.”
“Since you have small children, you should be
looking at our crossover utility model with
more safety features.”
“Good afternoon. Thank you for taking time
to come into our store today. How can I help
you?”
Emotional labor: Jobs in which employees are expected to display certain feelings in order to
satisfy organizational role expectations.
Abusive supervision occurs when a supervisor engages in sustained behaviors via hostile verbal
and nonverbal messages but does not rise to the level of physical aggression.
Bullying occurs when one person is subjected to ridicule, offensive statements, teasing, social
isolation, or other abuse by one or more individuals over an extended period of time.
Incivility is frequent rude behavior thar may or may not have the intent of being harmful.
Uncivil people may or may not know they are being rude.
Social undermining is action meant to socially isolate another person from a larger group.
Whereas incivility can occur unwittingly, social undermining is intentional and often planned.
Sexual harassment: unwelcomed, unsolicited, repeated behavior of a sexual nature.
quid pro quo sexual harassment: a situation in which an employee is offered a reward or is
threatened with punishment based on his or her participation in a sexual activity.
Hostile work environment sexual harassment: Conditions in the workplace that are sexually
offensive, intimidating, or hostile and that affecting an individual’s ability to perform his or her
job.
Title IX officer: the person designated by a college or university to promote compliance with
the U.S. Department of Education Title IX Requirements, including the investigation of alleged
sexual discrimination.
Chapter 10 Understanding communication apprehension.
Communication apprehension: fear and avoidance of communication with other people.
About 16% of the American population experiences anxiety based on high levels of
communication apprehension.
Generalized anxiety: Feelings of anxiety with communication in nearly all situations.
Communibology: the study of the biological bases for human communication
Genetic contributors: Combinations of inherited tendencies that may exert influence on our
behavioral preferences.
Environmental reinforcers: Factors within our environment that contribute to our fear of
speaking.
Learned helplessness: A person feelings unable to predict whether a behavior will result in a
reward or punishment, therefore he or she avoids the behavior all together if possible.
Collectivistic cultures: Cultures that discourage individual assertiveness and stress group
harmony.
Individualistic cultures: Societies that stress individual assertiveness over group harmony.
Effects of communication apprehension:
Scores on standardized tests such as the ACT tend to be significantly lower for high Cas then for
their low CA counterparts.
Some studies have found that high CAs have lower mean grade point averages than low CAs.
This is particularly true in courses that require oral participation.
Low CAs prefer small classes with lots of participation while high CAs prefer large classes with
little participation.
Graduation rates for high CAs are lower than those for low CAs. 50% of the high apprehensives
they studied failed to graduate, and incoming freshmen with high CA were more likely to drop
out of school than those with low CA.
Reduce the effects of communication apprehension
Self-talk: Silent communication with oneself that influence our perception of reality.
Negative self-talk: destructive self-talk.
Proactive imagination
Kinesics: The study of body movement and facial expressions.