Speech

• Adapt

  • To modify one's behavior to accommodate what others are doing
• Communication

  • The process by which people use signs, symbols, and behaviors to exchange information and create meaning
• Relational Needs

  • The essential elements people seek in their relationships with others
• Humans are such social beings that when we are denied the opportunity for interaction, our mental and physical health can suffer.
• Research shows that people without strong social ties, such as close friendships and family relationships, are more likely to suffer major ailments (such as hearth disease and high blood pressure) and to die prematurely than are people who have close, satisfying relationships.
• It is clear that communication plays an important role in keeping us healthy, both physically and mentally.
• Relational needs include companionship, affection, and the ability to relax and get away from our problems.
• We need relationships in our lives, and communication is a large part of how we establish and maintain these relationships.
• Some scholars believe our need for relationships is so fundamental that we can hardly get by without them.
• Research indicates that the strongest predictor of happiness in life is the degree to which an individual has a happy marriage.
• Personal relationships clearly play an important role in our lives, and communication helps us form and maintain them.
• Instrumental needs

  • Practical, everyday needs
• Some instrumental needs have short-term objectives, such as ordering a drink in a bar, scheduling a haircut on the telephone, filling out a rebate card, and raising your hand when you want to speak in class.
• Other instrumental needs have longer-term goals, such as getting a job and earning a promotion.
• Model

  • A formal description of a process.
• The three different models that communication scholars have developed over the years: The action, interaction, and transaction models.
• The action model was developed first, then the interaction model, and finally the transaction model.
• Action model

  • A model describing communication as a one-way process
• Source

  • The originator of a thought or an idea
• Encode

  • To put an idea into language or gesture.
• Message

  • Verbal and nonverbal elements of communication to which people give meaning.
• Channel

  • A pathway through which messages are conveyed.
• Receiver

  • The party who interprets a message
• Decode

  • To interpret or give meaning to a message
• Noise

  • Anything that distracts people from listening to what they wish to listen to.
• The major types of noise are physical noise, psychological noise, and physiological noise.
• Human communication is usually more of a back-and-forth exchange than a one-way process
• Interaction model

  • A model describing communication as a process shaped by feedback and context.
• Feedback

  • Verbal and nonverbal responses to a message
• Context

  • The physical or psychological environment in which communication occurs.
• The physical context

  • Reflects where you are physically interacting with each other.
• The psychological context

  • includes factors that influence people's states of mind, such as the formality of the situation, the level of privacy, and the degree to which the situation is emotionally charged.
• Transaction model

  • A model describing communication as a process in which everyone is simultaneously a sender and a receiver.