Interpersonal Comm ch1-4
How to improve Interpersonal Perception skills
Link details to make a big picture, become aware of other's perception of you, check your perceptions directly and indirectly, and become other-oriented
Noise
anything that interferes with a message and keeps it from being understood and achieving its intended effect (can be literal or psychological - thoughts running through your head)
Impersonal Communication
Process that occurs when we treat others as objects or respond to their roles rather than to who they are as unique persons. (ex: ordering food from a waiter)
Emotional Contagion
The process whereby people mimic emotions of others after watching and hearing their emotional expressions
Co-culture
a distinct culture within a larger culture (such as African American community), also called microculture, develop own rules and norms
Communibiological Approach
approach to communication that suggests that some people inherit certain traits or characteristics that affect the way they communicate with others (there may be a genetic basis for why people communicate as they do)
Halo Effect
attributing a variety of positive qualities to those you like
Construct
bipolar quality used to classify people
Material Self
concept of self as reflected in a total of all the tangible things you own
Corrective Facework
efforts to correct what one perceives as a negative perception of oneself on the part of others
Preventative Facework
efforts to maintain and enhance one's positive self-perceptions
Value
enduring concept of good and bad, right and wrong
Decode
to interpret ideas, feelings, and thoughts that have been translated into a code
Encode
to translate ideas, feelings and thoughts into code
Facework
using communication to maintain your own positive self perception or to support, reinforce, or challenge someone else's self-perception
Metacommunication
verbal or nonverbal communication about communication
Belief
way in which you structure your understanding of reality-- what is true and what is false for you
Barriers to Interpersonal Perception
Ignoring information, stereotyping, imposing consistency, focusing on the negative, blaming others by assuming they have control, avoiding responsibility
Why is communication important to your life?
Improves relationships with family, friends, lovers, colleagues and improves physical and emotional health
What 5 things develop self-concept?
Interactions with other individuals, association with groups, roles you assume, self-labels, personality
According to systems theory, what are the key aspects of any system?
Key aspects of any system include inputs (all of the variables that go into the system), throughputs (which are all of the things that make communication a process), and outputs (what the system produces)
Communication Myths
- More words make the meaning clearer - Meanings are in words - Information equals communication - Interpersonal relationship problems are always communication problems
Stages of Interpersonal Perception
- Stage 1: Selecting, stage 2: organizing, stage 3: interpreting - We select information, make judgments, organize, and create categories to help us make sense of what we observe and interpret what we see, hear and experience
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 - learn about the world by listening, observing, tasting, touching and smelling; then share our conclusions with others - Encompasses many media
Media Richness Theory
suggests that richness of a communication channel is based on four criteria 1. amount of feedback the communicator can receive 2. number of cues the channel can convey and be interpreted by the receiver 3. variety of language that communicator uses 4. potential for expressing emotions and feelings
Social Information-Processing Theory
suggests that we can communicate relational and emotional messages via the internet, but it may take longer to express messages that are typically communicated with facial expressions and tone of voice (nonverbal cues)
Self
sum total of who a person is; a person's central inner force, common to all human beings, yet unique to each
Visualization
technique of imagining that you are performing a particular task in a certain way; if positive it can enhance self-esteem
Responsiveness
tendency to be sensitive to the needs of others , including being sympathetic to others' feelings and placing the feelings of others above one's own feelings
Assertiveness
tendency to make requests, ask for information, and pursue one's own rights and best interests
Self-serving Bias
tendency to perceive our own behavior as more positive than other's behavior
Mindfulness
the ability to consciously think about what you are doing and experiencing
Source
the originator of thought or emotion, who puts it into a code that can be understood by a receiver
Interpersonal Perception
the process by which you decide what people are like and give meaning to their actions
Communication
the process of acting on information; someone does or says something, and others think or do something in response to the action or the words as they understand them
Perception
the process of experiencing your world and then making sense out of what you experience (through your five senses)
Selective Attention
the process of focusing on a specific stimuli; we selectively lock on to some things in our environment and ignore others
Punctuation
the process of making sense out of stimuli by grouping, dividing, organizing, separating, and further categorizing information
Feedback
the response to the message (listening and responding to what someone says or does)
Primacy Effect
the tendency to attend to the first pieces of information that we observe about another person in order to form an impression
Recency Effect
the tendency to attend to the most recent information observed about another person in order to form or modify an impression
Attribution Theory
theory that explains how we ascribe specific motives and causes to the behaviors of others (how you generate explanations for people's behavior) - helps us interpret what people do
Electronically Meditated Communication (EMC)
communication that is not face to face, but rather is sent via a medium such as a cellphone or the internet
Intrapersonal Communication
communication with yourself; thinking
Social Self
concept of self as reflected in social interactions with others
Spiritual Self
concept of self based on thoughts and introspections about personal values, moral standards, and beliefs
Looking-glass Self
concept that suggests you learn who you are based on your interactions with others, who reflect your self back to you
Mindful
conscious of what you are doing, thinking, and sensing at any given moment
Communication Apprehension
fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with other people
Life Position
feelings of regard for self and others, as reflected in one's sense of worth and self-esteem
Rule
followable prescription that indicates what behavior is obligated, preferred, or prohibited in certain contexts
Worldview
general cultural perspective on such key issues as death, God, and the meaning of life that shapes how you perceive and respond to what happens to you, every one has it and it influences every aspect of your life
Selective Exposure
our tendency to put ourselves in situations that reinforce our attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors.
Channel
pathway through which messages are sent
Active Perception
perception that occurs because you seek out specific information through intentional observation and questioning - doesn't just happen
Passive Perception
perception that occurs simply because we are alive and our senses are operating - occurs without conscious effort, simply in response to one's surroundings
Receiver
person who decodes a message and attempts to make sense of what the source has encoded
Symbolic Interaction Theory
theory that people make sense of the world based on their interpretation of words or symbols used by others
Cues-filtered-out Theory
theory that suggests that emotional expression is severely restricted when we communicate using only text messages; non-verbal cues such as facial expression, gestures, and tone of voice are filtered out.
Context
physical and psychological environment- people present, relationships, communication goal- for communication ("everyone has to be somewhere")
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
prediction about future actions that is likely to become true because the person believes that it will come true
Social Comparison
process of comparing yourself to others who are similar to you, to measure you worth and value
Reframing
process of redefining events and experiences from a different point of view
Selective Perception
process of seeing, hearing, or making sense of the world around us based on such factors as our personality, beliefs, attitudes, hopes, fears, and cultures, as well as what we like and don't like
Small Group Communication
process that occurs when a group of from three to fifteen people meet to interact with a common purpose and mutually influence one another
Public Communication
process that occurs when a speaker addresses an audience in person
Mass Communication
process that occurs when one person issues the same message to many people at once; the creator of the message is usually not physically present, and there is virtually no opportunity for listeners to respond immediately to the speaker (ex. messages communicated via radio and TV)
Self-disclosure
purposefully providing information about yourself to others that they would not learn if you did not tell them
Systems Theory
says that a system is a set of interconnected elements in which a change in one element affects all of the other elements (ex. your body)
Indirect Perception Checking
seeking through passive perception, such as observing and listening to additional information to confirm or refute interpretations you are making
Episode
sequence of interactions between individuals, during which the message of one person influences the message of another; only the sender and receiver of those messages can determine where one episode ends and another begins
Message transfer
source→message→channel→message→receiver (with noise) (Human communication is linear, with meaning sent or transferred from source to receiver)
Message exchange
source→message→channel→message→receiver...Then feedback (context make up the physical and psychological environment for communication) (with noise)
Uncertainty Reduction Theory
suggest that one of the primary reasons we communicate at all is to reduce our uncertainty about what we see and experience
Social Learning Theory
suggest that we can learn how to adapt and adjust our behavior toward others; how we behave is not solely dependent on our genetic or biological makeup
Impression Formation Theory
we form impressions based on our perceptions of physical qualities (What people look like), behavior (what people do), what people tell us, and what others tell us about them
Symbol
word, sound, or visual image that represents something such as a thought, concept or object; it can have various meanings and interpretations (ex: language)
Message
written, spoken and unspoken elements of communication to which people assign meaning
Self-worth/Self-esteem
your evaluation of your worth or value based on your perception of such things as your skills, abilities, talents, and appearance
Relationship
A connection established with another person through communication (the people influence one another)
Interpersonal Communication
A distinctive, transactional form of human communication involving mutual influence, usually for the purpose of managing relationships.
Asynchronous Message
a message that is not read, heard, or seen exactly when it is sent; there is a time delay between the sending of the message and when someone else receives it
Face
a person's positive perception of himself or herself in interactions with others
Standpoint Theory
a person's social position, power, or cultural background influences how the person perceives the behavior of others (we each see the world differently because we're each viewing it from a different position)
Self-concept
a person's subjective description of who he or she is; filtered through own perceptions and different from the way others see you
Direct Perception Checking
asking for confirmation from the observed person of an interpretation or a perception about him or her
Horn Effect
attributing a variety of negative qualities to those you dislike
Causal Attribution Theory
identifies three potential causes for any person's action: circumstance (that you believe a person acts a certain way because the situation leaves no choice), stimulus (another person), or the person themselves
Explicit rules
interpersonal communications class rules are spelled out in your syllabus
Need for Control
interpersonal need for some degree of influence in our relationships, as well as the need to be controlled
Need for Inclusion
interpersonal need to be included and to include others in social activities
Need for Affection
interpersonal need to give and receive love, support, warmth, and intimacy
Attitude
learned predisposition to respond to a person, object or idea in a favorable or unfavorable way
Culture
learned system of knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people- influences how we process information
Synchronous Message
messages that are sent and received instantly and simultaneously (ex: face-face conversations)
Implicit rules
not written or verbalized because you learned them a long time ago - raise your hand and wait to be called on, no texting
Thin Slicing
observing a small sample of someone's behavior and then making a generalization about what the person is like, based on the sample
Fundamental Attribution Error
occurs when a person blames a problem on something that is personally controllable rather than something uncontrollable (we are likely to think that a person's behavior is influenced by his or her actions and choices rather than by external causes)
Selective Recall
occurs when we remember things we want to remember and forget or repress things that are unpleasant, uncomfortable, or unimportant to us
Implicit Personality Theory
our personal set of assumptions and expectations or a pattern of associated qualities that we attribute to people, which allows us to understand them - whether we met them 10 minutes ago or 10 years ago