COM 134 *Test One*
Terms
undefined, object
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- communication
- A systemic process in which people interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings.
- content level of meaning
- One of two levels of meaning; the literal information in a message.
- feedback
- Verbal or NV response to a message. The concept of feedback appeared first in interactive models of communication.
- meaning
- The significance we attribute to a phenomenon; what it signifies to us.
- noise
- Anything that interferes with the intended meaning of communication; includes sounds (e.g., traffic) as well as psychological interferences (e.g., preoccupation).
- process
- An ongoing continuity, the beginning and end of which is difficult to identify; for example, communication.
- relationship level of meaning
- One of two levels of meaning in communication; expresses the relationship between communicators.
- symbol
- An arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract representation of a phenomenon. Symbols are the basis of language, much nonverbal behavior, and human thought.
- system
- A group of interrelated elements that affect one another. Communication is systemic.
- critical research methods
- Data analysis that aims to identify, critique, or change communication practices that oppress, marginalize, or otherwise harm people.
- ethics
- The branch of philosophy that deals with the goodness or rightness of particular actions. Ethical issues infuse all areas of the communication field.
- interpersonal communication
- Communication between people, usually in close relationships such as friendship and romance.
- intrapersonal communication
- Communication with ourselves, or self-talk.
- organizational culture
- Understandings about identity and codes of thought and action shared by members of an organization.
- qualtitative research methods
- Interpretive techniques, including textual analysis and ethnography, used to understand the character of experience, particularly how people perceive and make sense of communication.
- quantitative research methods
- Techniques such as descriptive statistics, surveys, and experiments, used to gather quantifiable data.
- triangulation
- Studying phenomena from multiple points of view by relying on multiple sources of data, theories, researchers, and/or methodological approaches.
- cognitive complexity
- the # of constructs used, how abstract they are, and how elaborate they interact to shape perceptions
- cognitive schemata
- The number of mental constructs an individual uses, how abstract they are, and how elaborately they interact to create perceptions.
- constructivism
- Mental structures people use to organize and interpret experience. Four schemata have been identified: prototypes, personal constructs, stereotypes, and scripts.
- culture
- beliefs, values, understandings, practices, and ways of interpreting experience that many ppl share
- empathy
- to feel WITH another person
- expectancy violation theory
- when our expectations are violated
- individualism
- A predominant Western value that regards each person as unique and important and to be recognized for her or his individual activities.
- inference
- a deduction that goes beyond what you know or assume to be a fact
- interpretation
- putting together all that we have selected & organized to make sense of communication
- judgment
- A belief or opinion based on observations, feelings, assumptions, or other nonfactual phenomena.
- mind reading
- we understand what another person thinks or feels
- monitoring
- calling behaviors or other phenomena to our attention so that we can observe & regulate them
- perception
- An active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting people, objects, events, situations, and activities.
- Personal constructs
- Mental yarsticks that allow us to measure people & situations along bipolar dimensions of judgement
- stereotypes
- generalizations about people & situations
- script
- a guide to action
- attributions
- explanations of why things happen and why people act as they do
- self-serving bias
- we tend to construct attributions that serve our personal interests
- + visualization
- a technique used to enhance success in a variety of situations by teaching people to think of themselves positively
- social community
- a group of ppl that are both part of an overall society AND distinct from the overall society
- judgement
- a belief or opinion that is based on observations, feelings, assumptions, or other phenomena that are NOT facts
- symbols
- representations of ppl, events, & all that happens in & around us
- NVC
- symbols that aren't words, such as facial expressions, dress, & tone of voice
- VC
- words as symbols
- arbitrary
- verbal symbols are not closely attracted to what they represent
- ambiguous
- NOT clear-cut, precise meanings
- abstract
- not concrete or tangible phenomena
- brute facts
- objective, concrete
- institutional facts
- the meanings of brute facts based on human interpretation
- communication rules
- shared understandings among members of a certain group about what comm. means & what behaviors are appropiate in various situations
- regulative rules
- reg. interaction by specifying when, how, where, & with whom to communicate about certain things
- totalizing
- responding to a person as if one label totally reps that person
- loaded language
- words that slant perceptions and because of that, meanings
- reappropiation
- when a group of ppl reclaims terms others use to degrade its members and treats those terms as positive self-descriptions
- the "I"
- the spontaneous, creative SELF
- the "ME"
- the part of you that is VERY aware of social conventions; censors certain bad impulses
- static evaluation
- an assesment that suggests something is unchanging
- indexing
- a technique to remind us that our evals apply only to specific times & circumstances
- NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR
- a MAJOR dimension of human communication~ includes all aspects of comm. other than words, also HOW we utter words
- kinesics
- refers to body position/motions, including those of the face
- haptics
- NVC involving physical touch
- physical appearance
- the first obvious qualities we notice, such as sex, color, & size
- artifacts
- Personal objects we use to announce our identities and to personalize our environments
- proxemics
- refers to space & how we use it
- environmental factors
- elements of settings that affect how we feel, think, & act
- chronemics
- refers to how we perceive & use time to define indentities & interaction
- ParaLanguage
- comm. that is vocal but not actual words; it includes sounds such as murmurs, gasps, vocal qualities, rhythms, pitch, and inflection
- listening
- a complex process that consists of being mindful, hearing, selecting, & organizing info, interpreting comm, responding & remembering
- hearing
- physiological activity that occurs when sound waves hit functioning eardrums
- mindfulness
- focusing on what is happening in the moment
- responding
- expressing interest, asking questions, and otherwise showing that we are attentive
- remembering
- the final aspect of the listening process
- message overload
- occurs when receive more messages than we can effectively process
- message complexity
- exsists when a message we are trying to understand is very complex
- environmental distractions
- occurences in the comm. setting that interfere with effective listening
- preoccupation
- this is what happens when we are absorbed in our thoughts & concerns and when we can't focus on what someone else is saying
- pseudolistening
- pretending to listen
- monopolization
- hogging the stage by continually focusing on comm. on ourselves instead of the person who is talking
- selective listening
- focusing on only particular parts of comm.
- defensive listening
- perceiving a personal attack criticism, or hostile undertone in comm. when none is intended
- minimal encouragers
-
repsponses that gently invite another person to elaborate
examples: "tell me more" and "really?" and "i see", etc. - paraphrasing
- a second way to gain insight into others' perspectives by reflecting our interpretations of others' comm. back to them