Chapter 1
Communication Perspectives
Chapter Outline
I. Communication is the process of creating or sharing meaning in informal conversation, group interaction, or public speaking.
A. Participants: individuals who take turns assuming the roles of senders and receivers during an interaction
1. Sender: where the message originates
2. Receiver: where the message is received
B. Messages: verbal utterances and nonverbal behaviors to which meaning is attributed during communication.
1. Meanings: thoughts in our minds and interpretations of other’s messages.
2. Symbols: words, sounds, and actions that are generally understood to represent meaning.
3. Encoding: the process of putting our thoughts and feelings into words and nonverbal cues.
4. Decoding: process of interpreting another’s message.
5. Form or organization: how the message is arranged.
C. Contexts: settings in which communication occurs
1. Physical context: location, environmental conditions, distance, seating arrangements, and time of day.
2. Social context: the type of relationship that may already exist between the participants
3. Historical context: background provided by previous communication episodes
4. Psychological context: mood and feelings of each person
5. Cultural context: beliefs, values, attitudes, orientations and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in a society.
D. Channels: the route used to transmit messages and the means of transporting that message.
1. Face-to-face communication has verbal symbols and nonverbal cues
2. Online communication has verbal symbols and some nonverbal cues (it is missing movement, touch, and gestures)
3. Other sensory channels
E. Noise: any stimulus that interferes with shared meaning, whether physical or psychological.
1. Physical noise: includes the sights, sounds, and other stimuli in the environment that draw people’s attention away from intended meaning.
2. Psychological noise: internal distractions based on thoughts, feelings, or emotional reaction to symbols.
a. Internal noise: thoughts and feelings that compete for attention and interfere with the communication process.
b. Semantic noise: distractions aroused by certain symbols that take our attention away from the main message.
F. Feedback: a receiver’s reactions and response to a message.
G. Model of the communication process: illustrates the communication process between two people
1. Sender encodes messages based on their previous experience
2. Receiver decodes the speaker’s message from within the context of their previous experience
3. Feedback provides information on how well the receiver understood the message.
4. Context permeates process
5. Noise may occur at various points, affecting the participant’s ability to arrive at similar meanings.
6. The process becomes more complex when you include more than two people
II. Functions of communication
A. We communicate to meet social needs
B. We communicate to enhance and maintain our sense of self
C. We communicate to develop relationships
D. We communicate to exchange information
E. We communicate to influence others
III. Communication settings
A. Interpersonal: informal conversations between a small number of people who have relationships with each other.
B. Problem-solving group: participants come together for the specific purpose of solving a problem
C. Public speaking: one or more participants deliver a prepared message to a group
D. Electronically-mediated communication: participants do not share a physical context but communicate through the use of technology.
1. E-mail: electronic correspondence over a network, not in real time.
2. Instant messaging (IM): text interactions over a network in real time when they are online.
3. Text messaging: short, written text messages between mobile phones and other hand-held devices, exchanged in real-time or stored for later retrieval.
4. Listservs: electronic mailing lists through e-mail.
5. Chat rooms: web-based forums for multiple users who exchange messages in real time.
6. Weblogs or blogs: online journals housed on a website.
7. Online games: web-based sites for group real-time play.
IV. Communication principles
A. Communication has purpose
B. Communication is continuous
C. Communication messages vary in conscious thought
1. Spontaneous expression: spoken without much conscious thought
2. Scripted: phrasings we have learned from past encounters
3. Constructed messages: those messages we put together with careful thought when our known scripts are inadequate for the situation
D. Communication is relational
1. Immediacy: the degree of liking or attractiveness in a relationship
2. Control: the degree to which one person is perceived as more dominant or powerful.
E. Communication is guided by culture
1. Culture: systems of shared beliefs, values, symbols and behaviors shared by a relatively large group of people.
2. Culture has a strong affect on perception, verbal processes, and nonverbal processes.
F. Communication has ethical implications
1. Ethics is a set of moral principles and standards
2. Truthfulness and honesty: refraining from lying, cheating, stealing or deception.
3. Integrity: maintaining consistency of belief and action (keeping promises).
4. Fairness: achieving a balance between interests without showing favor to any side.
5. Respect: showing regard for others and their ideas
6. Responsibility: being accountable for one’s thoughts and actions
G. Communication is learned
V. Increasing our communication competence
A. Must be effective and appropriate
B. Depends on motivation, knowledge, and skills
C. Credibility and social ease are also important to communication competence.
VI. Developing communication skill improvement goals
A. State the problem
B. State the specific goal
C. Outline a specific procedure for reaching the goal
D. Devise a method of determining when the goal has been reached
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