Unit 2. Basics of Communication Flashcards
Communication
The exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages with the intent of stimulating particular meanings in the minds of others
Understanding
When we communicate successfully … that is to stimulate the meanings we intend in the minds of others
Misunderstanding
When we communicate unsucessfully … that is others do not interpret our meanings as we intend.
The Four Primary Challenges of Communication
- Effective communication requires significant intellectual and psychological resources.
- Not everyone we encounter will appreciate the value of communication.
- We may over-rely on digitally mediated communication
- We live in a diverse world where intercultural understanding can be difficult.
In order to communicate effectively:
- We must determine how to best package and deliver a message by developing the ability to understand and predict the needs and potential responses of others.
- During communication, we must be aware of and responsive to the feedback we receive from others to assess whether our approach is creating the meanings we intend in the minds of other communicators.
- After an interaction, it is also important to pause, reflect, and evaluate both the process and outcome of communication in order to determine the next steps.
Examples of baggage that communicators bring to an interaction
emotions
past experiences
relation history
fear
How many text messages a day do millennials send
25+ per day
How many text messages a day does Gen-Xers send or receive per day?
12 per day
How many text messages per day do baby boomers send/receive per day
5
technostress
A state of communication overload, where we are simply unable to process and competently respond to all of the messages we are exposed to
Intercultural communication
communication between and among people and groups across national, ethnic, and other cultural boundaries.
The Linear Model of Communicaion
- Phase 1: Deciding on the message. A sender (or source of message) selects a message to send to a receiver(s) in order to achive a desired outcome.
- Phase 2: Encoding the message. The sender of a message assigns symbols, such as words, sounds, or gestures, to his or her thoughts and feelings.
- Phase 3: Transmitting the message. A message is “sent” from sender to receiver, using a particular channel that is selected by the sender.
- Phase 4: Perceiving the message. When a receiver detects that a message has been sent, he or she attends to it and perceives it in some fashion.
- Phase 5: Decoding the message. The receiver translates the symbols (words, sounds, and gestures) perceived into thoughts and feelings.
Channel
The channel is the medium that carries the message, such as email, telephone, face-to-face communication, or a written document.
Encoding
Refers to a psychological process in which the sender of a message assigns symbols, such as words, sounds, or gestures, to his or her thoughts and feelings.
Decoding
When a receiver assigns meaning to the message that has been communicated, he or she is engaging in a psychological process known as decoding. Decoding the opposite of encoding (the activity that the sender engaged in at the beginning of the exchange).
Feedback
The verbal or nonverbal message that a receiver provides to the sender as he or she perceives and assigns meaning to the sender’s message
Transaction Model
Feedback, along with cosideration of the factors that make accurate decoding of messages diffcult, turn thelinear model into the transactional model
Context
Refers to the environment and situation in which communication occurs
Examples of Communication Context
Family
Classroom
workplace
Roles
Clearly defined and specialized functions that each member of the team possesses
Rules
Formal expectations that guide team members’ interactions with one another as well as their task performance
Communication competence
Refers to one’s ability to choose among available communicative behaviors to accomplish one’s goals during an encounter
Communication Competence is comprised of what three skills sets or dimensions
- Appropriateness
- Communication Skills
- Motivation
The three stages of perception
selection
organization
interpretation
The four principals of selection
- Selective Exposure
- Selective Attention
- Selective Perception
- Selective Recall
Selective Exposure
states that we will attend to information that reinforces existing beliefs and disregard information that is at odds with our current position.
Selective Attention
Illustrates how, once we are engaged in a particular interaction, we focus on certain information and ignore other information.
Selective Perception
An ongoing way of selecting and filtering messages further, we begin to apply our own unique experiences to the message —our inclination to see, hear, and believe what we want to see, hear, and believe.
Selective Recall
We remember things that we agree with rather than things that are contrary to our beliefs.
Organization
Organization refers to a communicator’s efforts to group information into meaningful units to make further sense out of the information. H
Figure
Refers to the foreground or point of emphasis for your attention
Ground
Represents the background of the particular stimuli that capture your focused attention.
Closure
Is our ability to fill in missing information to complete a perception.
Interpretation
assign meaning to stimuli.
Self-Concept
Refers to the way you define yourself
Self-Esteem
The degree to which you approve of, value, and like the concept that you have of yourself
Stereotype
involves assuming a standard, generalized profile of an individual, because he or she belongs to a group
Attribution error
interpreting our own or others’ behavior, we rely on faulty explanations, reasons, or information
Two types of attribution errors:
Fudamental attribution error
Self-Serving bias
fundamental attribution error
The mistake we make when we attribute other people’s positive characteristics and successes to external, situational factors, and their negative characteristics and failures to aspects of who they are
Locus of causation
refers to whether the communicator’s behavior was motivated by an internal state (such as intelligence, compassion, or honesty) or an external factor (such as resources, luck, favoritism, or the situation).
Self-Serving Bias
When we are successful, we attribute our successes to some internal positive qualities—intelligence, charm, knowledge of current events or popular culture, persuasiveness, or competent communication. However, when we fail, we blame the situation
Self-Presentation
is the strategic development and use of verbal and nonverbal messages that result in others making conclusions about the kind of individual you are.
Impression Management
The deliberate use of verbal and nonverbal messages to create a particular impression among others (strategic presentation of self)
Culture
Complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man [sic] as a member of society.
The learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings
Culture reflects what behaviors about people
- Values and belives that they share
- Lifestyles they lead
- producs that they buy
- rules that they follow
Co-culture
Reflect the unique beliefs, wasys of thinking, communication patterns, and styles , and customs of members of particular groups that exist within the umbrella culture
Globalization
The process of our world becoming ever more connected in economic, political, organizational, and personal terms
The five primary characteristics of culture and co-cultural memberships that have an affect on human communication:
- individualism and collectivism
- high context and low context
- high power distance and low power distance
- masculinity and femininity
- polychronism and monochronism
Individualism
values people who are assertive and speak for themselves, independent, and not reliant on others to any great extent
Collectivism
value their membership in their particular in-group to such an extent that they place a greater importance on their role within the group than their role as an individual
Context
Context refers to how much the message being communicated is understood through the communicator’s awareness of the environment and nonverbal cues
Power Distance
The emphasis that a group places on status, rank, and power influences the communication patterns and styles of that group.
High Power Distance
place a great deal of value on social rank and the status associated with certain occupations or political office
Low Power Distance
People tend to communicate in ways that promote equality and diminish the barriers between people that status and rank create
Masculinity
Value competitiveness and achievement, even at the expense of interpersonal relationships. Direct, forceful communication is valued and appreciated
Feminity
Relationships, compassion, and nurturing are highly valued. Cooperation, listening, and showing empathy are important communication skills.
Monochronic
Monochronic cultures tend to like doing one thing at a time, being punctual, and concentrating fully to meet their commitments. Monochronic people rarely cancel plans, tend to be very structured in their use of time and time lines, and can be highly irritated by interruptions or delays
Polychronic
Tend to like working on multiple things at one time. Their style may seem chaotic and unfocused to a monochronic individual. Polychronic people are flexible in terms of starting times for appointments and deadline. They change plans and priorities easily, and the border between work or professional time and family or personal time is fluid for them (Clark, 2000). Thus, they are inclined to see no problem in leaving work early to attend a family function, or working on weekends or on what is typically thought of as personal time when they feel it is necessary.
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one’s own culture and lifestyle are superior to all others
technophobic
anxious or avoidant of using new media
medium
a device that moves messages over distance or through time so that people who are not face-to-face can communicate
New media
digital or networked information and communication technologies that have emerged since the latter part of the twentieth century
Digital media
Digital codes including digitized photos, videos, or written words in which a tremendous amount is stored in a very small amount of space
networking
The connections among devices and the people who use them
Role-taking
the skill that allows communicators to figuratively stand in one another’s shoes and assume one another’s social roles and perspective
Synchronous communication
involves instant replies and back-and-forth, real-time interaction
asynchronous communication
occurs outside of the constraints of time and place
Rich Media
allows for the exchange of nonverbal information, emotion, and quick feedback
Lean Media
reliant mostly on text and permit little or no exchange of affect, instanst feedback, or important nonverbal cues
The basic competencies of communication
Listening, thinking critically, and adapting
