week 4

• Verbal communication


  Communication using words
• Nonverbal communication


  All aspects of communication other than words themselves, including how we utter words, features of environments that affect interaction, and objects that influence personal images and interaction patterns
• Principles of verbal communication

  • Interpretation creates meaning
  • Communication is rule guided
  • Punctuation affects meaning
• Enhancing effectiveness in verbal communication

  • Engage in dual perspective
  • Own your feeling and thoughts
  • Respect what others say about their feeling and ideas
  • Strive for accuracy and clarity
• Principles of nonverbal communication

  • Is similar to and different from verbal communication
  • Supplements or replaces verbal communication
  • Regulates interaction
  • Establishes relationship-level meanings
  • Reflects cultural values
• Types of nonverbal communication

  • Kinesics
  • Haptics
  • Artifacts
  • Proxemics
  • Environmental factors
  • Chronemics
  • Physical appearance
  • Paralanguage
  • Silences
• Haptics


  Physical touch, which communicates power and status (women tend to touch others to show liking and intimacy, whereas men more typically rely on touch to assert power and control)
• Artifacts


  Personal objects with which we announce our identities and personalize our environments, such as how we dress, the jewelry we wear, and the objects we carry and use (e.g. Quran in home to show that you are Muslim, photos of family members at your working desk to show it's your personal space, engagement rings to show commitment)
• Proxemics


  Space and how we use it, which signals status (greater or lesser distances are considered comfortable in different cultures)
• Environmental factors


  Elements of settings that affect how we feel and act, such as architecture, colors, room design, temperature, sounds, smells, and lighting
• Chronemics


  How we perceive and use time to define identities and interaction (important people with high status can keep others waiting, but low status people are expected to be punctual; cultural attitudes differ, e.g. South America vs Japan)
• Physical appearance


  Appearance leads us to form judgements of how attractive someone is and to make inferences about their personalities, which can affect decisions about friendships, dating, hiring, and promotion (e.g. West emphasizes thinness and softness in women and muscularity and height in men)
• Paralanguage


  Vocal communication that does not involve words, such as murmurs and gasps, and vocal qualities like volume, rhythm, pitch, and inflection (which signal how to interpret what is said, e.g. whispering signals secrecy, shouting conveys anger, a firm and confident voice to ask for a raise)