Communication Flashcards
role of technology
- Transmits info
- Manages info
- Assists with home activities
- Helps elderly, less mobile, disabled individuals (ie. Sympathy robot)
issues with technology
- Stranger contact
- Cyberbullying
- Loss of privacy
- Image you feel you must project on Facebook
cyberbullying
- Someone spreading rumours about you online
- Someone posting an embarrassing picture of you online without your permission
- Someone sending you a threatening or aggressive email/text
- Someone forwarding a private picture or conversation without permission
benefits to families and couples
- Families felt closer today than when parents were children thanks to modern technology
- Opportunity for parent-child shared time even when apart
- Romantic couples use it to express affection when not physically together
- Adolescents: a review found positive interactions with peers they knew and associated with in real life and online
developing friendships in cyberspace (benefits and costs)
- You can be more open with people online -> learn more about them -> connect with people like yourself
- You get to know someone inside without being judged on appearance
- Age, race, etc. Don’t matter -> allows kids and adults to interact
- Might lose sense of personal conversation
developing relationships in cyberspace
- Just another way of making friendships
- Invest as much effort in maintaining relationships here as in other social spaces
- Are formed here in similar ways to in wider society
how does type of communication influence romantic relationships?
- Facebook: increased jealousy
- Internet and phone: no difference
why do youth prefer texting to face-to-face communication?
- Can talk to multiple people at once
- Leave large gaps in conversation
- Conceal truth
- Can clarify any misunderstanding quickly
what method of communication do young couples (in their 20’s-30’s) use most? What did they use it for?
- used cell phone most, then text messaging, then email
- Used least frequently: social networking site, instant messaging, blogs, webcams
- Reasons for using media: mostly for expressing affection, some for discussing serious issues, and a few for apologizing
- Things they did not use social media for: confrontational topics, topics that would hurt partner
who uses media most (age and relationship status)? Who uses media for what?
- Younger used all media sources more than older
- Married used all sources more than dating couples
- Those more satisfied with their relationship reported using media to express affection
- Those who ere less satisfied used media to begin a confrontational subject
- Key finding: text messaging had the strongest association with individuals’ positive and negative communication within their relationships
instant messaging: what do positive messages include that negative ones don’t?
- Respond more quickly
- Use more punctuation
- Agree with partner
- Use more words
- Use fewer affective terms
people who are away from their families include…
- International students
- Commuter families
- Within a country
- Across country boundaries
- Travel for work
- Military
- Arctic & Space Stations
university students’ communication with family (most to least used)
- Phone (Frequent phone conversations = more satisfying, supportive parental relationships)
- Face-to-face
- Social networking sites (the students who used these the most reported loneliness and parent-child conflict)
comparison of communication with family: military vs. astronaut
- Military
- Wanted to hear their voices
- Email best for showing intimacy and love
- Liked care packages
- Astronaut
- Wanted to see face and hear voice
- Like care packages with earth products
family communication (what does it do? what is normal communication like?)
- Promotes cohesion, adaptability, and functionality
- Normal compared to highly conflicted family:
- More harmonious
- More task oriented
- More satisfying
- Take less time to decide common activities
destructive conflict
Verbal attacks on a person’s sense of self
constructive conflict
- Focus on issue, not the other person’s deficits
- Constructive conflict resolution:
- Approach issue by determining each party’s hopes, values, beliefs, assumptions
- Determine commonalities and build from there
- Compromise and negotiate
- Remove ego
Tannen’s points about communication in small groups
- Parents should listen more to their teenage children and criticize them less
- Couples should talk about assumptions and bring hidden messages out in open
- Learn art of apology
- Win-win situations = ideal
husbands are more satisfied than wives based on…
- Shared emotions/beliefs
- Perception of how partner gives/received information
- Perception of adequacy of communicating with each other
ways to satisfy marital communication
- Agree essential points
- Feel understood
- Pleasant meal conversation
- No silent treatment
- Avoid saying irritating things
- Discuss interests/work
- Communicate affection and regard
who is likely to discuss money matters?
- If both members of a couple are knowledgeable about finances, creates even discussion
- Younger people more open to discussing
- Educated
- Larger households
- High monthly debts
couples who communicate about money are more likely to…
- use recommended financial practices
- Have greater quality of life (indirect effect through money management practices)
gender differences in communication
- Men talk more than women in public, but women say more words in a day than men
- Women think marriage is working if they talk about it, men are the opposite
- Women result men offering solutions, men think women don’t take action
- Women seek advice, men solve problems and move on
- Girls say “we, let’s” (cooperation); boys order (Leader)
listening problems
- View topic as uninteresting and turn off speaker
- Look at speaker’s features more than the message
- Not agreeing with or liking the sender’s message
- Pretending to listen when really thinking of other things
dialogue vs. monologue
- dialogue: 2-way communication, genuine interaction, express concern for other people and their views to be supportive or empathetic
- monologue: opposite of a dialogue -> 1 person speaks and the other listens
communication
- the process of transmitting a message from sender to receiver
- Communication is only effective when the receiver interprets the sender’s message in the same way the speaker intended it (no interference)
- made up of channel + setting + noise
- step 6 (feedback) in Goldsmith’s management model
interference
anything that distorts or disrupts messages
effective communication is
- Clear
- Concise
- Consistent
- Creative
- Sensitive to audience
- Persuasive (explains rather than demands)
- Open to differing opinions
pace
speed with which you speak or communicate (quick pace = happiness, excitement; slow pace = boredom, talking down to someone)
channel vs. setting vs. noise
- Channel: the method by which communication travels from sender to receiver (direct or indirect, social or expert)
- Setting: the physical surroundings where messages are communicated, can influence communication (ex. Quiet settings allow people to concentrate on each other, communication must be appropriate for the setting - ie. office vs. home)
- Noise: unwanted sound that interferes or distracts; barrier to communication; prevents message from being heard correctly (internal and external)
direct vs. indirect channel
- direct channel: face to face (less miscommunication)
- indirect channel: radio, tv, magazines, signs
internal vs. external noise
- Internal noise: occurs in the sender and receiver’s minds - thinking about something else during the conversation (Ex. daydreaming, thinking about your weekend instead of focusing on lecture)
- External noise: comes from the environment, and can include more than just sounds (Ex. airplane overhead, hot blinding sun, wind, etc.)
sending vs. receiving
- Sending: saying what one means to say, with agreement between verbal and nonverbal messages
- Receiving: listening to the verbal messages and observing the nonverbal messages
source vs. destination
- Source: the sender/communicator
- Destination: receiver/audience
4 communication functions used by senders and receivers
- Encoding: putting thoughts, ideas, or information into symbolic form
- Decoding: receiver assigning meaning to the symbols
- Responses: individual reactions that follow a message
- Feedback: total response pattern between sender and receiver
ways parents can communicate better with their kids
- Talking about problems and how they were overcome (not just talking about successes)
- Finding good guys and bad guys in stories
- Picking situations that kids and parents care about
- Including details about human nature
ways listeners can communicate interest
- Learn forward (not back)
- Nod occasionally to show comprehension
- Smile
- Look at speaker and maintain eye contact
- Make comments like “I see”, “go on”, oh, “mmm”
- Taking notes/recording responses (if appropriate)
types of listening
- Critical listening
- Reflective/empathetic listening
- Informational listening
- Pleasurable listening
critical listening
listener evaluates and challenges what is heard (ie. Listening to a political debate – is the message accurate and reliable?)
reflective/empathetic listening
listening for speaker’s feelings; listening for details of the story, paraphrasing speaker’s comments etc.
empathy
ability to recognize and identify another’s feelings by putting yourself in someone else’s place
informational listening
listening to acquire knowledge or instruction (ie. Listening to a college lecture… this also involves critical listening too)
pleasurable listening
provides enjoyment, relaxation, or amusement (ie. Listening to music, watching TV, listening to child say first word)
message
total communication that is sent, listened to, and received
ostrich effect
burying one’s head in the sand; not wanting to know the content of an unwanted message or communication
I-messages vs. you-messages
- I-message: statements or facts about how an individual feels or thinks (ex. “I feel stupid when you shout at me”)
- You-message: statements that often ascribe blame or judge others (ex. “You need to stop yelling at me”) -> Often lead to arguments because of their accusatory tone
message construction vs. message content
- Message construction: appropriate placement of info in a message to have maximum impact
- Message content: strategies or information that may be used to communicate an idea or policy to receivers; best way to get message across
symbols
- things that suggest something else through association
- Visible symbols, abstract symbol, verbal symbols, words, nonverbal symbols
visible symbols
can be seen (ie. Engagement ring)
abstract symbols
ideas (ie. My apartment is “awesome” -> awesome symbolizes something different for everyone)
verbal symbols
words
non-verbal symbols
- anything other than words
- ex. Train whistles, sirens, tone and volume of voice, eye contact, demeanor, personal appearance, gestures, facial expressions, posture, and yawns, time, silence, and smell (make up around 90% of communication)
social vs. advocate/expert channels
- Social channels: include friends, neighbours, and family members
- Most likely to involve face-to-face contact due to proximity
- Advocate/expert channels: include experts in a field, salespeople, etc.
- More likely to contact people through letters, speeches, or less direct forms of communication
conflict
- state of disagreement or disharmony
- Poor communication can create conflict between sender and receiver, and this conflict tends to be amplified in families
conflict resolution (and what affects it)
- negotiations to remedy the conflict
- Affected by:
- Goals (long and short-term)
- Emotional state (ex. Angry, sorry)
- Cognitive assessment of situation (ex. Who is the cause of the conflict?)
- Personality and communication (ex. Shy, extroverted, aggressive)
- Family history (repeating patterns your family modeled)
common forms of ineffective communication
- Ordering someone to do something
- Threatening
- Moralizing (making someone feel guilty)
- Providing solutions in a condescending way
- Lecturing
- Criticizing
- Ridiculing
- Analyzing
- Interrogating
- Withdrawing
interpersonal conflict
- actions by one person that interfere in some way with the actions of another
- destructive vs. constructive
social exchange theory
individuals seek to develop relationships that will maximize their benefits or profits and minimize the cost of defecits
culture and communication
- Culture affects communication
- Both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication may be different cross-culturally
- ex. Correct social space
3 purposes of communication in small groups
- Cement relationships
- Complete tasks and problem-solve
- Aid personal growth
3 steps in group discussion
- Step 1: brainstorming (group members suggest and examine ideas)
- Step 2: move towards solutions and develop a plan
- Step 3: evaluate plan
factors affecting group cohesion
- Size of group (smaller group = better cohesion)
- Goal-achievement orientation
- Status and resources of group
- Degree members depend on group for need satisfaction
- Demands or pressures group faces
social networks vs. social networking sites
- social networks: communication connections among individuals and groups
- social network sites: LinkedIn, Facebook, etc -> web-based services that allow people to construct a profile, create lists of users they share a connection with, view their list and the list of others
passively vs. actively acquired info
- Passively acquired: consumer doesn’t seek out information (ie. Billboards, loudspeakers at stores)
- Actively acquired: consumer looks for it or engages in it (ie. Social networking, reading advertisements in magazines or signs at stores)
low involvement
not thinking much about it; this is the typical way consumers react to info like store displays and advertisements
habitual decision-making
choices are made out of habit without any additional information search
information overload vs. information anxiety
- Information overload: individuals are exposed to so much information in a short time that they can’t process it
- Information anxiety: gap between what individuals think they understand and what they actually understand; offshoot of info overload – people feel like they have to know everything about everything
cocooning
desire to remain at home as a place of coziness, control, peace, insulation, and protection; facilitated by technology
