Interpersonal Communication
Test 2
Study Guide
Harris-Jenkinson
The test is worth 100 points composed of True/False, Multiple Choice, Fill-in-the-Blank, and
Short Answer questions. Points vary for each question.
This test covers the following textbook readings and lectures:
 Chapters 6 (Verbal Communication), 7 (Non-Verbal Communication), 8 (Conflict), 9
(Understanding Relationships), 10 (Developing Relationships), 11 (Relationships), from
Interpersonal Communication (Beebe & Beebe)
 Lectures: Language (Verbal Communication), Communication Climates, Connection
Bids, Empathic Responses, Nonverbal Communication, Conflict, Love & Intimacy,
Interpersonal Attraction & Interpersonal Power, Relationships
Materials needed:
 One scantron (green, #886E, half sheet with Mini Essay Book)
 One piece of binder paper (if you come across a question on the multiple choice or
true/false questions where you believe you need to justify your answer)
 One or two sharpened #2 pencils
 Your bright, cheerful, awake and READY smiling face
Please note: Some questions are very straight forward and involve rote memory (e.g., definitions,
lists), while others are application-based (you may be given an example and asked to identify a
concept). Other questions are based upon synthesis (you may not be able to find the exact
answer from lecture or in the textbook, but you should be able to figure out the answer if you
understand the material). Occasionally I use comic strips as the basis for questions. Items noted
below with an asterisk (*) are those requiring short answers.
You should know:
 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic determinism / linguistic relativity)
 Difference between denotative & connotative meanings of words
 Language barriers (e.g., allness, polarization, bafflegab, bypassing)
 Supportive ways of expressing yourself (using “I” language)*
 How words are symbols, and the relationship between the symbols (words) and their
meanings (e.g., arbitrary, conventional, culturally bound)
 “Connection bids” (John Gottman), types of bids (e.g., “turning toward,” “turning away”)
 Gibb’s Communication climates (defensive vs. supportive, and the techniques for each)
 Types of confirming and disconfirming responses (e.g., impersonal response, irrelevant
response, clarifying response)
 Challenges/difficulties in interpreting nonverbal behavior (e.g., culture based, ambiguity,
multi-channel)
 Nonverbal codes/”icks” (e.g, chronemics, haptics, proxemics)
 How verbal and nonverbal messages interact (e.g., repeat & emphasize, contradict)
 Types of conflict (e.g., intrapersonal, pseudo, ego, simple)
 Conflict myths (e.g., always bad, always be avoided)
 Stages of conflict (prior conditions, frustration awareness)
 Strategies for avoiding pseudo conflict
 Conflict styles; know both the descriptive terms (e.g., competitive) AND the win/lose terms
AND be able to plot them on the matrix*
 When each conflict style is appropriate
 Triangular theory of love (dimensions and various “blends”)
Harris-Jenkinson
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Test 1 Study Guide: Interpersonal Communication
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Lee’s types of love (e.g., pragma, eros, ludis, storge)
Factors in interpersonal attraction (both short- and long-term)*
Types of relationships (circumstance, choice)
Types of power relationships (complementary, symmetrical, parallel)
How relationships develop (in general) and both Beebe & Beebe and Knapp’s relational
models (elevator and staircase)
Steve Duck’s phases of relationship dissolution
Relationship talk
Types of deception (e.g., commission, omission)
Definitions or descriptions of:
 Predicted Outcome theory
 Social Exchange Theory*
Harris-Jenkinson
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Test 1 Study Guide: Interpersonal Communication