Prof Comm

• Why do we communicate

  Physical Needs:  essential for our well-being

  Identity Needs: only way we learn who we are

  Social Needs: principle way relationships are created

  Practical Goals: Instrumental in getting others to

  behave in ways we want
• Lack of social relationships jeopardizes health

  • Socially isolated people are 4 x more susceptible to illness (higher cancer rates, suicide, liver & heart disease)
  • Socially isolated people are 2 - 3 x more likely to die prematurely
• Maslows human needs

  Communication is necessary to satisfy these 5 Basic Needs

  • Safety
  • Social
  • Physical
  • Self-Actualization
  • Self-Esteem
• Basic physical needs

  • Sufficient air
  • Sufficient water
  • Sufficient food
  • Sufficient rest
  • Ability to reproduce
  • *Most basic needs must be fulfilled first before moving on to higher level needs
• Safety needs

  • protection from threats to our well being
• Social needs

  • Provides a vital link with others
  • Defines who we are
  • Provides pleasure, affection, fun, inclusion, relaxation
  • Creates relationships
• Communication and culture

  • Culture: complex system of learned values, norms, traditions, languages and symbols shared by a group of people
  • Co culture: multiple components of culture that shape our individual identities
  • Intercultural communication: when members from two or more cultures/ co-cultures interact in a away that is influenced by their different verbal and non verbal symbol systems and cultural perceptions
• Process of communication - Interference (noise)

  • External: Physical noise
  • Physiological: Biological factors
  • Psychological: Forces within.  Most important communication problem
• Process of communication

  A Linear View/ Linear Communication Model:

  • One way event
  • Message flows from sender to receiver (back and forth)
  • Sender encodes message, sends it to receiver to be decoded
  • What about interference? (Noise)

  
• Process of communication

  Transactional view

  • Recognizes it is difficult to isolate a single communication from the events that precede & follow the message (simultaneously send and receive messages)
  • Simultaneous, complex and reciprocal nature of communication
  • Communicator = sender/ receiver
  • Environments = noise
  • Example: two friends having a conversation/ simultaneous communication
• Environment

  • The field of experience that leads a person to make sense of another’s behavior
  • Personal experiences/ cultural backgrounds

  Examples

  • Person A = rich, Person B = poor
  • Person A = older / more life experience, Person B = younger / inexperienced
  • Boss vs. Employee
  • Parent vs. child

  
• Communication channels

  How do you communicate?

  • In person
  • By text
  • On a billboard
  • Facebook or Instagram

  Types of communication

  • Computers
  • Interpersonal
  • Content messages Vs. Relational messages
  • Meta- communication
• Types of communication - computers

  • Emails, texting
  • Tone
  • Interpretation
  • Organization
  • Timely responses
  • Between sender and receiver or multiple
  • Good or bad?
• Types of communication - interpersonal communications

  • Quantitative:  focuses on the number of people involved. Any interaction between two people. Usually face-to-face
  • * Dyad - two people interacting
  • Dyadic Communication = Quantitative Interpersonal Communication
• Types of communication - interpersonal communication

  • * Qualitative:  when people treat one another as unique individuals, regardless of context or number of people involved. (worth, value and uniqueness)
  • Uniqueness - development of unique rules and roles
  • Irreplaceability – can’t be replaced
  • Interdependence – the other person’s experience affects you
  • Disclosure of personal information – private thoughts/feelings
  • Intrinsic reward – enjoyable, personally rewarding
• Types of communication - impersonal communication

  • Opposite of interpersonal communication
  • Detached, disinterested
  • Most relationship are between impersonal and interpersonal
• Content vs relational messages

  • Content Messages: Directions and statements – the content itself
  • Relational messages: Expresses how the party feels towards one another. Reflects the social needs such as:
  • Affinity: degree to which people like or appreciate one another, can be positive or negative
  • Respect: people can respect each other without actually liking one another
  • Control: degree to which parties have power or influence over one another
  • almost all conversations have a content and relational message
• Meta communication

  • Communication about communication
  • Important tool for solving conflict
  • Reinforces satisfactory aspects of relationships (compliments)
• Effective communication

  • Awareness
  • Integration
  • Cognitive Complexity
  • Appropriate Behavior
  • Self-monitoring
  • Commitment
  • * Awareness -> Awkwardness -> Skillfulness -> Integration
• Effective communication - awareness

  • Point at which one learns there is a new or better way of behaving
  • The “aha” moment!
  • Aware how to act
  • The awkwardness
  • The consciously skilled
• Effective communication - integration

  • Applying skills learned without having to consciously think about it
  • When behavior becomes automatic
• Effective communication - cognitive complexity

  • Understanding the other person’s point of view
  • Ability to construct a variety of different frameworks for viewing an issue
  • Having empathy = feeling and experiencing another persons situation
  • Increases chance of satisfying communication in couples
  • Increased chance of career advancement
  • Employing those observations to shape one’s behavior
  • Being objective of oneself
• Effective communication - commitment

  • Enhances communication abilities
  • Care more about the message when one cares about the person with whom you are communicating
  • Appear sincere
• Terminology

  Characteristic ways you think and behave

  personality
• *Identity and communication are related in that we gain an idea of who we are from the way others communicate with us
• Influences on identity

  • Diversity (Language)
  • Culture (belonging to a group)
  • Individualistic vs. Collective cultures
  • Gender
  • Different pronouns used
• Gender differences

  • Emotions
  • Size
  • Strength
  • Appearance
  • Competitiveness
  • Social skills
• Communicating your identity

  Multiple Identities:

  • Demonstrates communication competence in different situations

  Identity Management:

  • Collaborative (theatre)
  • Deliberate or unconscious
  • Varies with situation
• More management styles

  • Manner: words & non-verbal actions
  • Appearance: personal items a person uses to shape their image (clothing, tattoos, hairstyle) Are you trustworthy? Moral? Educated?
  • Setting: physical items used to influence how others view us (car, home, art, music)
• Nature of language

  language is symbolic

  • the connection between word and ideas is arbitrary
  • this can lead to miscommunication
  • if everyone used symbols the same way, language would be easier
• Symbolism

  • signs which have a direct relation to what they respresentt
  • signs and symbols (used in language) which can be interpreted in various ways and therefore can cause miscommunication
• language: precision and vagueness

  Equivocation:

  • words, phrases or expressions with more than one meaning
  • can cause trivial and serious misunderstandings

  Abstraction

  • convenient ways to generalize similarities
  • abstraction ladder demonstrates descriptions at various levels of abstraction (verbal shorthand)
• language: precision and vagueness

  Euphemisms:

  • Pleasant terms substituted for blunt ones (can obscure the message)

  Relative Language:

  • Using comparisons, without explanation, can lead to communication issues
  • IE. Large or small compared to what

  Static Evaluation:

  • Leads to mistaken assumptions about a person or situation, need to provide more information
  • It implies consistent/unchanging Ie. Jamie is nervous
• Language is subjective

  • words can be interpreted in many ways
  • assuming gets us into a lot of trouble
  • we need to clarify what we say to be sure that the message sent is the one recieved
• Impact of language

  • shapes our perception
  • reflects our attitudes
  • affects the way we view others
• Affiliation, attraction and interest

  Linguistic Solidarity

  • Language can be adapted to gain approval
  • Choice of vocabulary, rate of talking, level of politeness, pauses

  Convergence

  • Language can emphasize differences
  • Speech style to say the “right thing” or “fit in”

  Divergence

  • Is to speak in a way that sets themselves apart
  • Solidarity in an ethnic group
• Power of language

  Deferential Language

  • Or called ingratiating, powerless

  Speaker defers to the listener

  • Hedges
  • Hesitations
  • Intensifiers
  • Polite
  • Tag questions
  • Disclaimers
  • Rising inflections

  
• Language of responsibility

  • Reflects speaker’s willingness to take responsibility for her or his belief and feelings
  • Can shape the tone of a relationship

  “ It ” Statement:

  • Used to avoid ownership of message

  “ But ” Statement:

  • Wraps real, unpleasant message in more palatable version, psychological sandwich

  Questions:

  • Sincere requests for information, linguistic way to avoid a declaration
• Language of responsibility

  ” I ” Language:

  • Takes responsibility for statement, more accurate way to express complaint, has 4 parts:
  • Other person’s behaviour
  • Your interpretation
  • Your feelings
  • The consequences of the other’s behavior●

  * “ You ” Language:

  • Arouses defensiveness, is judgmental
• Advantages of " I " Languages

  Defense Reduction:

  • More acceptable to others, describes feelings

  Honestly:

  • Lets one speak their mind

  Completeness:

  • More information than “you” messages, more descriptive