Communication Theory - notes PDF

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note from every lecture. Jason Lind...

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Why communicate? ● ● ● ● ●

Basic needs/foundation of life. Physical/health - lack of comm. can take a toll on your body. Identity/personal - guides how you’re communicated with. Social/relationships - comm. To form relationships. Practical/professional - you need comm. To get your needs met.

Why study communication? ● ● ●

You can’t not communicate. You can communicate, but can you do it effectively? Understand life and others.

The communication process ➔ Communication - A systemic process in which people interact with and through symbols to interpret meanings.The collaborative construction and negotiation of meaning between the self and others as it occurs within cultural context. (If you’re in your partners/a stranger's face would they mind?) ➔ Human communication - a dynamic process in which people attempt to share their thoughts with other people through the use of symbols in particular settings. Initiates messages using verbal and nonverbal symbols and contextual cues to express meaning by transmitting information that similar or parallel understandings are constructed by the intended receivers. ◆ Process - interactions are ongoing and dynamic. ◆ System - various parts affect each other. Communication Basics ●

“Practical skills are built on an understanding of concepts, principles, and theories that can explain the human communication process as it takes place in a variety of contexts for many purposes”

Models of Communication ●

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Communication as an action. ○ At any given point in time one person is sending a message and the other is receiving a message. Communication as an interaction. ○ At any given point in time a person is either sending or receiving a message. Communication as a transaction.

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At any given point in time a person is sending and receiving a message. (The most accurate and complete model.) ■ Senders and receivers are encoding and decoding verbal and nonverbal messages through a channel while surrounded by physical, psychological, and physiological noise while understanding culture and context to create shared meaning.

Common Concepts ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Perception - we observe the world around us to make sense of it. Language - The study of words/codes we use. Nonverbal - How we communicate without words or language. Listening - We’re receiving information and trying to make sense of it. Climates - The tone of the relationship. (How do we feel?)

Types of Communication ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Intrapersonal - self talk Interpersonal - unique in a relationship Group - 3 to 12 people Organizational - professional context Public - audience is physically present Mass - audience is not physically present Intercultural - differences

The Communication Discipline Theory and Research ➔ Theory - provides an abstract understanding of the communication process. Abstract system of concepts and their relationship that helps us to understand a phenomena. ◆ Grand Theories - purport to explain all of communication in a manner that is universally true. ◆ Mid Range Theories - explain the behavior of a specific group of people or try to explain the behavior of all people within a specified time or concept. ◆ Narrow Theories - attempt to explain a very limited aspect of a phenomenon such as communication in specific situations. ➔ (Ex.) Everyone talks about weather. ➔ When meeting a stranger we talk about the weather. ➔ When getting a haircut we talk about weather.

Components of Theory ➔ Concepts - the words or terms for the most important elements in a theory. ◆ Nominal concepts (not observable) ◆ Real concepts (observable) ➔ Relationships - specify ways in which the concepts in a theory are combined. Goals of Theory ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Explanation - reasons for or cause of a particular phenomenon. Understanding - help to grasp the meaning intended. Prediction - seek to predict future outcomes. Social change - seek to facilitate social change through criticism of current systems.

Perception ➔ Perception - the active process of observing stimuli in the environment and making sense of it. ◆ First order realities - physically observable qualities of a thing/(objective) situation. ◆ Second order realities - involve attaching meaning to things/situations (subjective). Process ● ● ● ●

Selection - attending to a stimulus from the environment. Organization - arranging info in a meaningful way. (Punctuation) Interpretation - attaching meaning. Negotiation - attempting to find shared meaning when sensemaking.

➔ Perceptual accentuation - a process that leads one to see what one expects or wants to see. ➔ Stereotyping - (fixed generalizations) exaggerating beliefs associated with a categorizing system. ➔ Implicit personality theory - the system of rules that tells you which characteristics go with which characteristics.

➔ Superimposing - placing a familiar structure over the unfamiliar. ➔ Standpoint theory - a person’s position in society shapes his/her view of society in general. ● Influences of perception ○ Fatigue ○ Hunger ○ Senses ○ Age ○ Health ○ Culture ○ Social roles ○ Self concept ● Perception Barriers ○ You judge yourself more charitably than others (self-serving bias). ○ Influenced by what is most obvious. ○ Cling to first impressions. ○ Assume others are similar to us. ○ Focus on the negative. ○ Over-generalizing ○ See only the good or bad. ● Improving our Perceptions ○ Increasing our understanding of the perception process. ■ Develop empathy ● Empathy - the ability to recreate another person’s perspective. ■ Checking our perceptions ● Describe behavior ● Provide two possible interpretations for the behavior. ● Request feedback or clarification.

Language/Verbal Communication ➔ Language - a collection of symbols, letters, or words with arbitrary meanings that are governed by rules and used to communicate. ➔ Verbal Communication - consists of symbols in the form of spoken or written word.

The Nature of Language Language is symbolic ➔ Semiotics - the study of verbal and nonverbal signs that can stand for something else. ➔ Symbols - representations of people and events. Arbitrary words and nonverbal signs that bear no natural connection with the things they describe. (Meanings are in people, not words) Thought > Thing > Word > Thought Language is arbitrary ➔ Arbitrary - based on random choice. Not intrinsically connected. Language is ambiguous ➔ Ambiguous - open to more than one interpretation/equivocal. Doesn’t always have clear cut, precise meanings. (denotative - literal; connotative - emotional) Language is subjective ➔ Subjective - personal bias. Language is self governed ● Phonetic, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic rules exist. ● Coordinated management of meaning in conversation, people co-create meaning. ○ Content > speech act > episode > relationship > life script > cultural patterns

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Content - what’s said? Speech act - what’s the intention? Episode - what are we doing? Relationship - what’s our connection? Life scripts - how has it been done before? Cultural patterns - how do beliefs, values, and norms play into this?

Uses and abuses of language ➔ Equivocal - more than one commonly accepted definition

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Abstraction - existing in thought. Not concrete. (High to low levels of abstraction) Relative - gains meaning through comparison. Static - unchanging Euphemism - pleasant terms substituted for blunt terms.

The Language of Responsibility ● ● ● ● ●

It statements blame responsibility on something else. But statements cancel everything before “but”. Questions are a linguistic way of declaring a sentence. You language puts responsibility on the other party. I language are clear cut statements that take responsibility for how I’m feeling.

Nonverbal Communication ➔ Nonverbal communication - all aspects of communication other than words. The message expressed other than linguistic means. Nonverbal Characteristics and Principles ● ● ● ● ●

Culturally bound Primarily relational Ambiguous Communicative value Exists

Means of communication

Vocal

Nonvocal

Verbal (7%)

Spoken word

Written word

Nonverbal (93%)

Voice (vocalis) Paralanguage (pitch, rate, tone, volume, fillers, sighs, etc.)

Appearance Physical attractiveness Clothing/artifacts Kinesics - posture, gesture (illustrators, emblems, adaptors, manipulators) Face and eyes

Touch (haptics) Proxemics (space) Territoriality (stationary) Chronemics (time) Olfactics (smell) Physical environment ➔ Expectancy violations theory - enhances our understanding of how expectations influence conversational distance. The theory uncovers what takes place in the minds of communicators and how communicators monitor nonverbal behavior during their conversation. Spatial Zones 1. Intimate 0-18’’ 2. Personal 1’½ - 4’’ 3. Social 4 - 12’’ 4. Public 12’’ - beyond Nonverbal Functions ● Nonverbal behaviors interact with verbal communication. ○ Repeating ○ Substituting ○ Complementing ○ Accenting/highlighting ○ Contradicting ○ Regulating ○ Deceiving Verbal vs. Nonverbal ● ● ● ●

Single vs. multiple channels Discrete vs. continuous Clear vs. ambiguous Deliberate vs. unconscious

Listening ➔ Listening - a complex process that consists of being mindful, hearing, selecting and organizing information, interpreting communication, responding and remembering. ● The listening Process ○ Hearing/Selecting ○ Attending ○ Understanding/Interpreting ○ Responding ○ Remembering ● Situational Obstacles ○ Message overload ○ Message complexity ○ External Noise ● Internal Obstacles ○ Hearing problems ○ Lack of training ○ Preoccupation ○ Rapid thought ○ Prejudgments ○ Lack of effort ○ Faulty assumptions ■ Effective communication is the sender’s responsibility. ■ Listening is passive. ■ Talking has more advantages than listening. ● Ineffective Listening ○ Pseudolistening ○ Monopolizing/Stage-hogging ○ Selective listening ○ Insulated listening ○ Defensive listening ○ Ambushing ○ Literal/Insensitive listening ● Informational Listening ○ Talk less ○ Get rid of distractions

○ Don’t judge prematurely ○ Look for key ideas ○ Ask sincere questions ○ Use aids ○ Paraphrase ● Relational Listening/Listening to Help ○ Advising - offering a solution ○ Analyzing - interpreting ○ Judging - evaluating ○ Questioning - clarifying ○ Supporting - sympathy, solidarity ○ Prompting - encouraging ○ Paraphrasing - confirming

Climate and Conflict ➔ Climate - emotional tone of a relationship. ◆ Formed by verbal and nonverbal messages. ◆ To be either confirming or disconfirming. ● Confirming Messages ○ Endorsement - strongest ○ Acknowledgement - engaged ○ Recognition - most basic ● Disconfirming Messages ○ Verbal abuse - name calling ○ Interrupting - stage hogging ○ Ambiguous - multiple meanings ○ Incongruous - deny ○ Irrelevant - off topic ○ Impersonal - cliche ○ Impervious - ignore/no response ● Gibbs (1961) Categories Defensive vs. Supportive Behaviors ○ Evaluation vs. description ○ Certainty vs. provisionalism ○ Strategy vs. spontaneity ○ Control vs. problem orientation ○ Neutrality vs. empathy

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○ Superiority vs. equality Responding Non Defensively to Criticism ○ Seek more information ■ Ask for specifics ■ Guess ■ Paraphrase ■ Ask what the critic wants ○ Agree ■ Agree with the facts ■ Agree with the critics perception ■ Agree with their right Conflict - When people who depend on each other have different views, interests, values, responsibility or objectives and perceive their differences as incompatible. An expressed struggle between at least two independent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce rewards, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals. Myths about conflict ○ Conflict can always be avoided ○ Conflict always occurs because of misunderstanding. ○ Conflict is always a sign of a poor interpersonal relationships. ○ Conflict can always be resolved. Conflict Management Styles ○ Nonassertive Behavior ■ Avoidance ■ Accommodation ○ Direct Aggression ■ Competitive ● Win/lose ○ Passive Aggression ○ Indirect Communication ■ Hinting ■ Having someone else say something. ○ Assertion ■ Compromise ■ Collaboration ● Win/win

Intercultural Communication

➔ Culture - the beliefs, understandings, practices, and ways of interpreting experience that are shared by a group of people. ◆ Learned ◆ Shared interpretations ◆ Beliefs, values, norms, and social practices ◆ Behavior ◆ Large groups ➔ Beliefs - an idea about the world people assume to be true. ➔ Values - involve what a culture regards as good/bad, right/wrong, beautiful/ugly. ➔ Norms - the socially shared expectations of appropriate behaviors. (understated rules) ➔ Social Practices - the predictable behavioral patterns that members of a culture typically follow. “These clothes are the costume that I’m wearing during a performance of my culture.” Intercultural Communication ➔ Intercultural communication - occurs between individuals and entities that are culturally unalike. ➔ Ethnocentrism - assumption that one’s own culture is superior. (It is very common for individuals to think one’s culture is right/superior and its norms are the only right one’s) Individualism vs. Collectivism (unique vs. conform) ➔ Individualistic - decisions based on individual needs. ➔ Collectivism - decisions based on the group's needs. High and Low Context ● High - read between the lines. Focus on nonverbals. Relationships are more important than the task. The process is more important than the product. ● Low - literal meaning. Focus on verbal communication. The task is more important than relationships. The product is more important than the process. Power Distance (Acceptance of Power Differences)

● High - students depend on teachers. Military is government. Powerful people look powerful. Respect authority. ● Low - Teachers treat students as equals. Government is based on the majority. Powerful people don’t look as powerful. Respect individuality. Assertive vs. Nurturing (Success vs. Sympathy) ● Assertive - competitive, stress success, and vocation-oriented. ● Nurturing - focus on cooperation, awareness of those who are vulnerable. Uncertainty Avoidance (Wants Certainty) ● Change is fine, risks, tolerant, progressive. ● Change is scary, no risk, xenophobia, traditional.

Intrapersonal Communication ➔ Self - an ever changing system of perspectives that are formed and sustained in communication with others and ourselves. ● Our many selves ○ Material ○ Social/presenting/public (the self that interacts with others) ○ Spiritual/perceived/private (your inner self) ➔ Self concept - relatively stable set of perceptions we hold of ourselves at a given time. ◆ Subjective ◆ Flexible ◆ Resistant ➔ Self esteem - how we evaluate ourselves. ➔ Self fulfilling prophecy - when our expectations about an event help to influence the outcome. Can be self-imposed or other imposed. ➔ Reflected appraisal theory - We get an understanding of who we are based on how others treat us. Particular (significant) others (opinions are particularly important). (The process of seeing yourself through the eyes of others.)

➔ Social comparison theory - We get an understanding of who we are based on how we compare ourselves with others. We look to our reference groups to answer two major questions. Similar or different? Superior or inferior? ● Changing your self concept ○ Have realistic expectations. ○ Have realistic perceptions. ○ Have the will to change. ○ Have the skill to change.

Interpersonal Communication ➔ Interpersonal communication - communication between people, usually in close relationships such as friendship and romance. ➔ Dyadic communication - takes place whenever two individuals, sharing roles of sender and receiver, become connected through the mutual activity of creating meaning. ◆ Quantitative - communication between two individuals. ◆ Qualitative - communication in which the parties consider one another as unique individuals rather than objects. Relationships of Circumstance vs. Relationships of Choice ● Elements of attraction ○ Similarity (matching hypothesis) ○ Complementary needs (“opposites attract”) ○ Reciprocation of liking ○ Competent (people like skills) ○ Credible (honest) ○ Charismatic (charm or appeal; get them to share their world with you.) ○ Disclosure (social penetration; revealing info about yourself) ○ Proximity ( #1 element) ○ Appearance ➔ Intimacy - state of closeness. ● Dimensions of intimacy ○ Physical - closeness through touch. ○ Intellectual - connecting through sharing thoughts.

○ Emotional - close through sharing feelings. ○ Shared activities - close because you do stuff together. Rewards ● Tangible/Intangible ● Social exchange theory ➔ Seek out/stay in relationships where we perceive the rewards to be equal or greater than the costs incurred. ◆ Rewards > costs = positive relationships ◆ Costs > rewards = negative relationships ● Equity theory ➔ People are satisfied in equitable relationships (investments). ● Delayed gratification ➔ Wait for a later reward.

Relational Initiation ● Initiating (Hi, hey, hello) ● Experimenting ● Intensifying ○ Gather info ○ Adopt other-oriented perspective ○ Look for approachability cues ○ Conversation starters ○ Provide info about yourself ○ Ask questions ○ Don’t expect too much

Relational Maintenance ● Integrating ● Bonding ○ Be open ○ Express emotions ○ Engage in relationship talk ○ Listen and respond ○ Be tolerant ○ Manage conflict ○ Seek compliance ➔ Relational dialect theory autonomy vs. connection; openness vs. privacy; predictability vs. novelty.

➔ Self disclosure - deliberately revealing significant and personal info about yourself that otherwise wouldn't be known. ➔ Social penetration theory - the information disclosed will vary in depth and breadth on the relationship. ● Relational termination ○ Differentiating

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Circumscribing Stagnating Avoiding Terminating ■ Indirect ● Withdrawn ● Pseudo de-escalation (“lets take a break”) ● Cost escalation ■ Direct ● Negative identity management ● Jusitification ● Positive tone

Group Communication ➔ Intimate groups - include family and peer groups of close friends. Often called primary groups because they play a critical role in the socialization process. ➔ Task oriented groups - we participate in these types of groups to get things done. ➔ Group - three or more people who interact over time, depend on one another, and follow shared rules of conduct to reach a common goal. ➔ Team - a special kind of group characterized by different and complementing resources of members and by a strong sense of members and by a strong sense of collective identity. ➔ Small group - a group of at least three people that is small enough for individual members to perceive one another as individuals during interaction. ➔ Small group communication - the verbal and nonverbal interaction among group members of a small group. Using Systems Theory to Study Small Groups ● Input variables (time, place, resources, money, etc.) ● Throughput (process) variables (leadership, conflict,climate, etc.) ● Output variables Many Types of Groups Exist ● Project teams ● Focus groups ● Brainstorming groups

● Quality improvement teams ● Decision making groups Why Work in Teams? ● Groups tend to accomplish both quantity and quality, than the output of people that are separate. 1. Division of labor 2. Increases individual labor 3. Increases individual creativity ➔ Group hate - hating or dreading working in groups. Group Process ➔ Group goals - understand goals of the group and individuals. ➔ Group roles - the different types of behavior performed by individual group members. ◆ Formal - assigned general responsibilities. ◆ Informal - unstated, based on individual strengths. Group Nor...