FOCS Verbal Comm Flashcards
Verbal Communication: Channel
Channel is a medium through which messages are exchanged between people
Symbols = Non Verbal Symbols
Language is a subset of Symbols
3 Characteristics of language being made up of symbols
Arbitrary, Ambiguous, Abstract
Symbols -> Arbitrary
- Symbols are arbitrary representations of something else
- No intrinsic connection between the symbols and referent
- Language changes as we invent new words or imbue existing words with new meanings
Symbols -> Ambiguous
- Language does not have a clear-cut, precise meaning
- Depends on cultural context
- Differences in context can lead to misunderstandings
- Good friend could mean
- To hang out with
- To confide in someone
Symbols -> Abstract
- Words are not the phenomena - ideas, people, events - to which they refer
- Stand for things but not what they represent
- By using words, we move further and further away from the external objective phenomena
- “He is a student” but we call him a “Young WKW boy”
- Ladder of mushroom
- As language becomes increasingly abstract, the potential for confusion mushroom
- Through
overgeneralisation
- Through
- “He is a student” but we call him a “Young WKW boy”
- By using words, we move further and further away from the external objective phenomena
Symbols -> Abstract ladder
- Through
overgeneralisation- Most Concrete
- Concrete Phenomena
- Perceived Behaviour
- Label Applied
- Judgement
- Action
- Most Abstract
Why we need to interpret communication?
We interpret communication because language is abstract, ambiguous and arbitrary, so we interpret it to determine what it means
Brute vs Institutional Facts
- Brute Facts
- Objective, concrete phenomena and activities
- Institutional Facts
- Meanings of brute facts based on human interpretation
Language creates meaning by…
Defining and evaluating phenomena: Labels, Values, Totalising, Loaded language, Reappropriation of language
Organising Experiences
Invites Higher Level Thinking
Invites Higher Level Reflection
Defining Relationships
Defining and evaluating phenomena: Labels and Values
- Labels “a car”, “my car”
- Values “disabled”, “physically challenged”
Defining and evaluating phenomena: Totalising Definition
Responding to a person as if one label totally represents that person
Defining and evaluating phenomena: Loaded Language
Words that slant perceptions, thus meanings, exceedingly
Defining and evaluating phenomena: Reappropriation of language
- Use a negative term others’ use to label a group as a positive self description
- Queer as an insult but now it is good
Language creates meaning by… Organising Experiences
- Classifying things into categories
- Often part of the perceptual process
- Can distort thinking → Especially when we stereotype
Language creates meaning by… Inviting higher level thinking
- Why we think about the concept of time, future and dreams?
- Can enrich personal relationships by allowing intimates to remember a share moment
- Imagine places we never visit before
- Improve who we are
Language creates meaning by… Invites higher-level reflection
- “i” vs “me”
- I → spontaneous and creative self
- Me → Socially conscious part of self that monitors and moderates I’s impulses
- Self reflections empowers us to monitor ourselves
- Self reflections allows us to manage the image we present to others
Language creates meaning by defining relationships
- Send signals about the relationship
- Relationship level meaning
- Responsiveness
Showing attentiveness to others’ communicationLiking
Sharing what we enjoy and do not enjoyPower
Define dominance and negotiate status and influence
- Responsiveness
Guidelines for effective communication
Engage in person-centred communication
Be aware of levels of abstraction
Guidelines for effective communication
Engage in person-centred communication
Be aware of levels of abstraction
Qualify language
Own you feelings and thoughts
Guidelines for effective Communication: Engage in person-centred communication
- Adapted to specific individuals
- Use specialised and incomprehensible language
- Knowledge and attitudes of listeners
Guidelines for effective Communication: Be aware of levels of abstraction
- Reduce levels of misunderstanding
- Use when you have similar knowledge about what is being discussed
Guidelines for effective Communication: Qualify Language
- Qualify generalisations to avoid misleading others
- Avoid
static evaluationby making extreme statements but make it more dynamic
