Chapter 1 - Introduction to Human Communication

Question 0

Messages

Answer 0

Building blocks if communication events.

Question 1

Human Communication

Answer 1

A process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in specific contexts, influenced by individual and social forces, and embedded in culture.

Question 2

Encoding

Answer 2

Taking ideas and conveying them in to messages.

Question 3

Decoding

Answer 3

Receiving a message and interpreting it’s meaning.

Question 4

Symbol

Answer 4

Something that represents something else and conveys meaning.

Question 5

Content Meaning

Answer 5

The concrete meaning of the message, and the meanings suggested by or associated with the message and the emotions triggered by it.

Question 6

Relationship Meaning

Answer 6

What a message conveys about the relationship between the parties.

Question 7

Setting

Answer 7

The physical surroundings of a communication event.

Question 8

Participants

Answer 8

The people interacting during communication.

Question 9

Channel

Answer 9

The means through which a channel is communicated.

Question 10

Noise

Answer 10

Any stimulus that can interfere with, or degrade, the quality of a message.

Question 11

Feedback

Answer 11

The response to a message.

Question 12

Synergetic Model of Communication

Answer 12

A transactional model based on the roles individuals and societal forces, contexts, and cultures play in the communication process.

Question 13

Field of Experience

Answer 13

The education, life events, and cultural background that a communicator possesses.

Question 14

Culture

Answer 14

Learned patterns of perceptions, values, and behaviors shared by a group of people.

Question 15

Communication Ethics

Answer 15

The standards of right and wrong that one applies to messages that are sent and received.

Question 16

Absolute

Answer 16

Pertaining to the belief that there is a single correct moral standard that holds for everyone, everywhere, every time.

Question 17

Relative

Answer 17

Pertaining to the belief that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, and cultures and across situations.

Question 18

The process of critical thinking involves what five steps?

Answer 18

1. Identify the assertion or action.
2. Ask, “what is the evidence for and against the assertion or action?”
3. Ask, “what does the evidence point to?”
4. Ask, “what other explanations or conclusions are possible?”
5. Continue to keep an open mind for new evidence and new ways of evaluating the assertion.

Question 18

How does the study of communication differ from other social science disciplines?

Answer 18

It focuses exclusively on the exchange of messages to create meaning. Scholars in communication explore what, when, where, and why humans interact.

Question 19

Why is communicating a complex activity?

Answer 19

It requires an in-depth understanding of how it works and the ability to apply one’s critical thinking skills to communication experiences to learn from and improve them.

Question 20

What are the seven basic components of the communication process?

Answer 20

1. Message Creation
2. Message Meaning
3. Setting
4. Participants
5. Channels
6. Noise
7. Feedback

Question 21

In what ways does communication create meaning?

Answer 21

Through content meaning and relationship meaning.

Question 22

How does the linear model of communication depict the communication process?

Answer 22

The transfer of information from one person to another. Communication occurred when a sender encoded a message that was sent to a receiver who decoded it. Then the process was reversed.

Question 23

What does it mean that communication is a transactional process?

Answer 23

Depicts communication as occurring when two or more people create meaning as they respond to each other and their environment.

Question 24

According to the Synergetic Model, what are the individual factors that influence the communication process?

Answer 24

1. Demographics (age, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender/sex, sexual orientation, regional identity, socioeconomic class)
2. Personality
3. Cognitive ability
4. Physical ability
5. Field of experience (education and experiences)

Question 25

Why is developing one’s own come of ethics important?

Answer 25

You will be better prepared to face difficult choices.

Question 26

What are the three definitions offered for ethics?

Answer 26

1. System of moral principles by which actions are judged as good or bad, right or wrong.
2. The rules of conduct recognized by a group, class or individual.
3. A belief system in which the determination of what is right is based on what promotes the most good or the common good.