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Human Communication
A process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages.
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Messages
The building blocks of communication
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Symbol
Something that represents something else and conveys meaning
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Iconic Signs
Signs that represent a thing itself and always bear some resemblance to the object to which they refer.
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Indexical Signs
Signs that reveal something beyond the thing itself
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Content Meaning
Denotative meaning: the concrete meaning of the message, and Connotative meaning: the meanings suggested by or associated with the message and the emotions triggered by it.
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Relationship Meaning
What a message conveys about the relationship between the parties.
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Setting
The physical surroundings of a communication event
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Participants
The people interacting during communication
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Message Creation
Transmitting ideas and emotions via signs and symbols.
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Encoding
Taking ideas and converting them into messages
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Decoding
Receiving messages and interpreting its meaning
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Channels
The means through which a message is transmitted
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Noise
Any stimulus that can interfere with, or degrade, the quality of a message
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Feedback
The response to a message
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Field of Experience
The education, life events, and cultural background that a communicator possesses
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Ethics
Standards of what is right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral
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Communication Ethics
The standards of right and wrong that one applies to messages that are sent and received
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Expectancy Violation Theory
Theory explaining how individuals respond to and interpret communication behavior when it violates their expectations.
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Theories
Sets of statements that explain a particular phenomenon.
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Rhetoric
The art of persuasion.
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Sophists
The people who taught persuasive speaking skills in the Greek city-states.
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Renaissance
An era of tremendous intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievements in Europe spanning the 14th to 17th centuries.
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Humanism
The belief that science and reason were the pathways to human enlightenment and human nature and its potential were to be celebrated.
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Enlightenment
18th century belief in human rationality as the answer to human problems.
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Behaviorism
The belief that actual behavior is the only event worthy of study.
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Elocution
The mechanics of public speaking, including proper pronunciation, posture, and grammar
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Methodology
An accepted set of methods for developing new knowledge about a subject.
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Social Science Approach
Contemporary term for the behaviorist approach.
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Interpretive Approach
Contemporary term for humanistic (rhetorical) study.
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Paradigm
Belief system that represents a particular worldview.
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Methods
The specific ways that scholars collect and analyze data, which they then use to prove or disprove their theories.
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Naturalistic
Relating to everyday, real-life situations, such as a classroom, cafe, or shopping mall.
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Quantitative Methods
Methods that convert data to numerical indicators, and then analyze these numbers using statistics to establish relationships among the concepts
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Qualitative Methods
Methods in which researchers study naturally occurring communication rather than assembling data and converting it to numbers
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Ethnographic
Relating to research in which researchers actively engage with participants.
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Rhetorical analysis
Used by researchers to examine texts or public speeches as they occur in society with the aim of interpreting textual meaning.
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Critical approach
An approach used not only to understand human behavior but ultimately to change society.
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Textual analysis
Similar to rhetorical analysis; used to analyze cultural products, such as media and public speeches
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Postmodernism
A broad intellectual and social movement of the late 20th century
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Modernism
The belief that through rational thinking, humans can advance and discover universal truth
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Postmodern approach
An approach in which reality is subjective, and power is an important issue.
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7 Function of language
- 1. Instrumental
- 2. Regulatory
- 3. Informative
- 4. Heuristic
- 5. Interactional
- 6. Personal
- 7. Imaginative
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Instrumental
Use of language to obtain what you need or desire
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Regulatory
Use of language to control or regulate the behavior of others
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Informative
Use of language to communicate information or report facts
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Heuristic
Use of language to acquire knowledge and understanding
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Interactional
Use of language to establish and define social relationships
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Personal language
Use of language to express individuality and personality
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Imaginative
Use of language to express individuality and personality
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Components of language
- Phonology
- Syntax
- Semantics
- Pragmatics
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Phonology
The study of sounds that compose individual languages and how those sounds communicate meaning
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Syntax
The rules that govern word order (grammar)
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Semantics
The study of meaning (Denotative and Connotative)
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Denotative meaning
The dictionary, or literal meaning of a word
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Connotative meaning
The affective or interpretive meanings attached to a word
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Pragmatics
Field of study that emphasizes how language is used in specific situations to accomplish goals.
- Speech Act Theory
- Locutionary
- Illocutionary
- Perlocutionary
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Speech Act Theory
Branch of pragmatics that suggests that when people communicate, they do not just say things, they also do things with their words
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Locutionary
Describes what is said, or the act of saying something.
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Illocutionary
Describes what one does with one's utterance; what the utterance accomplishes.
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Perlocutionary
Describes the effect an utterance has.
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Dialect
A variation of a language distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation
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Lexical choice
Vocabulary
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Cohort Effect
The influence of shared characteristics of a group that was born and reared in the same general period
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Ebonics
A version of English that has its root in West Africa, Caribbean, and US slave language
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Jargon
The specialized terms that develops in many professions
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Nominalists
Those who argue that any idea can be expressed in any language and that the structure and vocabulary of the language do not influence the speaker's perception of the world
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Relativists
Those who argue that language serves not only as a way for us to voice our ideas but is itself the shaper of ideas, the guide for the individual's mental activity.
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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Idea that the language people speak determines the way they see the world (a relativist perspective)
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Co-Cultural theory
Explores the role of power in daily interactions
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Disconfirming Communication
Comments that reject or invalidate a positive or negative self-image of our conversational partners.
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Confirming Communication
Comments that validate positive self-image of others
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Four Stages of listening
- 1. Sensing
- 2. Understanding
- 3. Evaluating
- 4. Responding
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Sensing
The stage of listening most people refer to as hearing; when listeners pick up the sound waves directed towards them.
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Understanding
Interpreting the messages associated with sounds or what the sounds mean.
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Evaluating
Assessing your reaction to a message
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Responding
Showing others how you regard their message
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Nonverbal behavior
All the nonverbal actions people perform
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Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal behavior that has symbolic meaning
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Nonverbal codes
Distinct organized means of expression that consist of symbols and rules for their use
- 1. Kinesics
- 2. Paralinguistics
- 3. Time & Space
- 4. Haptics
- 5. Appearance & Artifacts
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Kinesics
Nonverbal communication sent by the body, including gestures, posture, movement, facial expressions and eye behavior
- 1. Gestures
- 2. Illustrators
- 3. Adaptors
- 4. Regulators
- 5. Immediacy
- 6. Relaxation
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Gestures
Nonverbal communication made with part of the body, including actions such as pointing, waving, or holding up a hand to direct people's attention
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Illustrator
Signals that accompany speech to clarify or emphasize the verbal message
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Adaptors
Gestures used to manage emotions
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Regulators
Gestures used to control conversation
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Immediacy
How close or involved people appear to be with each other
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Relaxation
The degree of tension displayed by one's body
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Paralinguistics
All aspects of spoken language except the words themselves; includes rate, volume, pitch, and stress. (Voice qualities; vocalization)
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Voice qualities
Qualities such as speed, pitch, rhythm, vocal range, and articulation that make up the music of the human voice
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Vocalization
Uttered sounds that do not have the structure of language
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Time and Space
Chronemics, and Proximics
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Chronemics
The study of the way people use time as message (monochronically and polychronically)
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Monochronically
Engaging in one task or behavior at a time
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Polychronically
Engaging in multiple activities simultaneously
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Proxemics
- The study of how people use special cues, including interpersonal distance, territoriality, and other space relationships, to communicate.
- Intimate distance (0-18 inches); Personal distance (18 inches to 4 feet); Social distance (4-12 feet); Public distance (12-25 feet).
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Haptics
- The study of the communicative function of touch
- Professional touch; Social-polite touch; Friendship touch; Love-intimate touch; Demand touching
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Appearance and Artifacts
Artifacts: clothing and other accessories
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Functions of Nonverbal Communication
- Communicating information
- Regulating interaction
- Expressing and managing intimacy
- Establishing social control
- Service-task function.
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Communicating information
Using nonverbal behaviors to help clarify verbal messages and reveal attitudes and moods
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Regulating interaction
Using nonverbal behaviors to help manage turn-taking during conversations
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Expressing and managing intimacy
Using nonverbal behaviors to help convey attraction and closeness
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Establishing social control
Using nonverbal behavior to exercise influence over other people
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Service-task Function
Using nonverbal behavior to signal close involvement between people in impersonal relationships and contexts
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Congruent
Verbal and nonverbal messages that express the same thing
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Contradicting
Verbal and nonverbal messages the send conflicting messages
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Symbolic Interaction
Communication through symbols; people talking to each other
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Minding
An inner dialogue used to test alternatives, rehearse action, and anticipate reactions before responding; self-talk
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Taking the role of the other
The process of mentally imagining that you are someone else who is viewing you
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The Looking-Glass Self
The mental self-image that results from taking the role of the other; the objective self; me
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"I"
The spontaneous driving force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable, and unorganized in the self.
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"Me"
The objective self; the image of self seen when one takes the role of the other
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Generalized Other
The composite mental image a person has of his or her self based on community expectations and responses
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Participant Observation
A method of adopting the stance of an ignorant yet interested visitor who carefully notes what people say and do in order to discover how they interpret the world.
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Self-fulfilling prophecy
The tendency for our expectations to evoke responses that confirm what we originally anticipated.
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Personal Space
The invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that defines that individual's preferred distance from others.
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Threat threshold
The hypothetical outer boundary of intimate space; a breach by an uninvited other occasions fight or flight?
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Arousal, relational
A heightened state of awareness, orienting response, or mental alertness that stimulates a review of the relationship
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3 Components of EVT
- 1. Expectancy
- 2. Violation Valence
- 3. Communicator Reward Valence
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Expectancy
What people predict will happen, rather than what they desire
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Violation Valence
The perceived positive or negative value assigned to a breach of expectation, regardless of who the violator is
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Communicator reward valence
The sum of positive and negative attributes brought to the encounter plus the potential to reward or punish in the future
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Interaction adaptation theory
A systematic analysis of how people adjust their approach when another's behavior doesn't mesh with what's needed, anticipated, or preferred.
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Interaction position
A person's initial stance toward an interaction as determined by a blend of personal requirements, expectations, and desires (RED)
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Reciprocity
A strong human tendency to respond to another's action with similar behavior
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Categorical Imperative
Duty without exception; act only on that maxim which you can will to become a universal law.
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