Study Guide for Fundamentals of Human Communication | COMM 1310, Study notes of Communication

Download Study Guide for Fundamentals of Human Communication | COMM 1310 and more Study notes Communication in PDF only on Docsity! Binh Pham Chapter Study Guide: 1-6 Unit 1 Principles of Communication Chapter 1 Foundations of Communication 1. Communication- Process of acting on information Human Communication- Process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others by creating meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal messages. 2. To improve employability, relationships, and health 3. Process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others by creating meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal messages. 4. The message should be understood- develop a common understanding of the message from both the sender’s and the receiver’s perspectives. The message should achieve its intended effect- MS=MR The message should be ethical- a message that is understood and achieves its intended effect but that manipulates listeners, unfairly restricts their choices, or uses false information may be effective, but it is not appropriate or ethical 5. Components of the Communication Process Source: Originator of an idea or emotion Receiver: Person or group toward whom a source directs messages and who decodes the message Channel: Pathway through which messages pass between source and receiver Message: Verbal, Nonverbal Noise: Literal, Psychological Context: Physical, Historical, and Psychological Environment Feedback: Verbal and nonverbal responses to a message Encoding: Translation of ideas, feelings, and thoughts into a code Decoding: Interpretation of ideas, feelings, and thoughts that have been translated into a code 6. Three Models of Communication Communication as action- message transfer Communication as interaction- feedback Communication as Transaction- all of interaction is spontaneous 7. 5 Characteristics of Communication Communication is inescapable- opportunities to communicate are everywhere Communication is irreversible- can’t take back what was already said Communication is complicated- 6 people involved in communication with another person Communication emphasizes content and relationships- relationship dimension: cues about emotions, attitudes, and amount of power and control the speaker directs towards each other Communication is governed by rules- rules that help define appropriate and inappropriate communication in any given situation may be explicit or implicit. 8. 1: Be aware of your communication with yourself and others- intrapersonal communication (communication that occurs within yourself, including your thoughts, your emotions, and your perceptions of yourself and others.) 2: Effectively use and interpret verbal messages- Language 3: Effectively use and interpret nonverbal messages- Nonverbal communication 4: Listen and respond thoughtfully to others- other-oriented 5: Appropriately adapt messages to others- make choices about how best to formulate a message and respond to someone to achieve your communication goals 9. Interpersonal Communication- when we interact simultaneously with another person and attempt to mutually influence each other, usually for the purpose of managing relationships. Group Communication- verbal and nonverbal message transactions that occur among three to about 15 people who share a common goal, who feel a sense of belonging to the group, and who exert influence on each other. Presentational Communication- when a speaker addresses a gathering of people to inform, persuade, or entertain. Chapter 2 Self Awareness and Communication 1. Self-Concept: your interior identity or subjective description of who you think you are, which remains relatively stable despite the changing world in which you live. Self-Esteem: our assessment of our value as persons 2. Attitude- learned predisposition to respond to a person, object, or idea in a favorable or unfavorable way Beliefs- way in which you structure your understanding of reality-what is true and what is false Values- enduring concepts of good and bad, right and wrong. 3. Communication with others- we learn who we are by communicating with others, receiving their feedback, making sense out of it, and internalizing or rejecting all or part of it, such that we are altered by the experience. Association with groups- our awareness of who we are is often linked to those with whom we associate Assumed roles- cultural expectations of roles we assume in our lives Self-Labels- self-reflexiveness (the human ability to think about what we’re doing while we’re doing it) 4.. Material Self- total of all the tangible things you own: your body, your possessions, your home Social Self- part of you that interacts with others. Spiritual Self- a mixture of your beliefs and your sense of who you are in a relationship to other forces in the universe. 5. Gender- the difference in self-esteem levels seems to pertain to such factors as boys feeling better able to do things than girls Social Comparison- measuring ourselves against others Self-Expectations- goals we set for ourselves Self-Fulfilling Prophecy- idea that what you believe about yourself often comes true because you expect it to come true 6. Self-Talk: your inner dialogue has an impact on both your self-concept and self-esteem Visualize- imagining oneself behaving in a certain way. Besides telling yourself that you can achieve your goal, you can actually try to “see” yourself achieving your goal Reframe- process of redefining events and experiences, of looking at something from a different point of view. 7. Perception- The arousal of any of our senses. 8. 1: Attention and Selection- Experiencing a lot of stimuli and picking 1 thing to focus on 2: Organization- Convert the 1 thing we focus on and process it 3: Interpretation- Assign meaning to the 1 thing we focus on 9. Increase your awareness, avoid stereotypes, check your perceptions 10. Indirect perception checking- seek additional information to either confirm or refute your interpretations of someone’s behavior (FB creeping) Direct perception checking- asking straight out whether your interpretations of a perception are correct. (describe the behavior- verbal or non, offer 2 possible interpretations, request clarification) Chapter 3 Understand Verbal Messages 1. Words are symbols that trigger thoughts, concepts, or feelings 2. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis- human language and thought are so interrelated that thought is actually rooted in and controlled by language. 3. Bypassing- a speaker’s and receiver’s meanings do not correspond because the same words mean different things to different people 4. Denotative meaning- conveys content; the restrictive, or literal, meaning of the word Connotative meaning- conveys feelings; people create personal and subjective meanings for words. 5. Concrete- if we can experience what the word refers to with one of our senses; see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, or hear it Abstract- if we can’t experience what the word refers to with our senses 6. Culture-bound: the meaning of a word, just like the meaning of a symbol, can change from culture to culture and across co-cultures. : criticism- instead of listening, judges them : emotional noise- emotional arousal that hinders listening - Information Processing Barriers: how we understand information which causes problems Processing rate- we can process 600-800 words/minute. Speak less than that, gap for other information to leak in Information overload- a lot of information coming from a lot of places Receiver Apprehension- fear of misunderstanding or misinterpreting the messages spoken by others or of not being able to adjust psychologically to messages expressed by others Shifting attention- paying attention to more than one thing at one time - Context barriers: external noise related to the situation; time and place 8. 3 Step Process: - Stop: turn off competing messages and decenter (remove yourself from your thoughts and focus on other person) - Look: observe nonverbal cues. Listen between the lines, are the verbal and nonverbal contradicting? Maintain eye contact, direct body orientation, and forward lean (active listening) - Listen: Mentally summarize details of the message, work to overcome listening barriers, and engage in active listening 9. 4 Strategies of Effective Responding: -Be descriptive: being descriptive rather than evaluative encourages positive communication and has an impact on the overall quality of the relationship you have with another person. - Be timely: provide feedback just before the person might make another mistake, just in time for the feedback to have the most benefit - Be brief: don’t overwhelm you listener with details that obscure the key point of your feedback - Be useful: when providing feedback, be certain that it is useful and relevant 10&11. 4 Strategies of How to Respond With Empathy: - Understand your partner’s feelings: attempt to decenter by first projecting how you might feel and then asking appropriate questions and offering paraphrases to confirm the accuracy of your assumptions - Ask appropriate questions- ask questions to help clarify your conclusions - Paraphrase message content- check whether your interpretations are accurate by paraphrasing the content you have heard - Paraphrase emotions-”so you feel…” Chapter 6 Adapting to Others: Diversity and Communication 1. 4 Forms of Human Diversity: - Sexual Orientation: gay, lesbian, bisexual - Ethnicity: social class, nationality, religion, language; identity - Age: generation - Gender: socially constructed; masculine, feminine, androgynous 2. Androgynous Traits: communicate from high levels of both instrumental (doing, find out more info, act on info) and expressive (connecting with others and establishing relationships) 3. Culture- a learned system of knowledge, behavior, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people and shaped from one generation to the next. 4. Intercultural Communication- occurs when individuals or groups from different cultures communicate -culture shock: a sense of confusion, anxiety, stress, and loss -worldview: general cultural perspective that shapes how we perceive and respond to what happens to us 5. High-Context Cultures: Interpret nonverbal, communicators rely on the context to interpret messages Low-Context Cultures: Interpret verbal, communicators use fewer contextual cues to interpret info 6. Cultural Values: 1. Decentralized and Centralized Power: -Decentralized: collective; leadership is not vested in one person, power is distributed among people -Centralized: not collective; prefer strongly organized, centrally controlled form of government 2. Individualism and Collectivism: -Individualism: Value individuals; tend to be loosely knit society -Collectivism: Value groups 3. Uncertainty and Certainty: -Uncertainty: happy with the unknown; relaxed and informal expectations for others -Certainty: needs to know what’s going to happen; develop and enforce rigid rules for behavior; establish elaborate codes of conduct 4. Masculine and Feminine: -Masculine: values achievement, assertiveness, heroism, and traditional male and female roles -Feminine: emphasize building relationships and seeking peace and harmony with others 5. Long-Term vs. Short-Term Time Orientation: -Long: what’s going to happen in future; value perseverance and thriftiness -Short: use past to guide future; respect tradition 7. Masculine Instrumental- doing, finding out more information, act on information Feminine Expressive- connecting with others and establishing relationships 8. Women tend to engage in Rapport Talk: -Communicate to connect with others -Focus more on the quality of relationships than on information exchange -Face to face Men tend to engage in Report Talk: -Communicate to create or establish status -Focus more on information exchange than on quality of relationships -Side by side 9. Barriers to Bridging Differences and Adapting to Others: -Assuming Superiority: ethnocentrism (value our culture more than any other) -Assuming Similarity: we’re the same -Assuming Differences: we’re different -Stereotyping and Prejudice 10. Stages of Intercultural Competence 1. Denial- deny cultures exist 2. Defense- Ethnocentrism 3. Minimization- minimize differences, assume similarity 4. Acceptance- other ways of thinking/acting 5. Adaptation- Appropriately adapt to fit in with cultures 6. Integration- integrate other cultures into our own, minimizing our own culture