Introduction to Communication Final Exam

Listening

A complex process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to verbal and nonverbal messages, which involves five steps: selecting, attending, understading, remembering, and responding

Specific Purpose

A concise statement of what listeners should be able to do by the time the speaker finishes the presentation

Team

A coordinated group of people organized to work together to achieve a specific common goal.

Pause

A few seconds of silence during a presentation; can be used both to slow a fast pace and to signal a key idea

Emotional Noise

A form of communication noise caused by emotional arousal.

Trigger Words

A form of language that arouses strong emotions in listeners.

Group Deviate

A group member who holds an opinion, attitude, or belief that is different from that of other group members.

Groupthink

A guilty sense of agreement that occurs when members of a group fail to challenge an idea; a false consensus; conflict is minimized and group members do not express concerns or reservations about an idea or proposal.

Preview Statement

A preview of what's to come

Decoding

A process of interpreting ideas, feelings, and thoughts that have been translated into a code.

Encoding

A process of translating ideas, feelings, and thoughts into a code

Summary

A recap of what's been said

Individual Roles

A role that focuses attention on the individual rather than on the group

Task Roles

A role that helps a group achieve its goal and accomplish its work.

Clique

A smaller, cohesive group within a group

Presentational Communication

A speaker addresses a gathering of people and intends to share information, persuade, or entertain.

Appearance

A speaker's dress and grooming

Brainstorming

A technique for generating many possible solutions to a problem by withholding evaluation while group members suggest ideas; ideas are evaluated after suggestions have been offered.

Signposts

A verbal or nonverval organizational signal

Transitions

A word, phrase, or nonverbal cue that indicates movement from one idea to the next or the relationship between ideas.

Symbol

A word, sounds, gesture, or visual image that represents a thought, concept, object, or experience.

Concensus

Agreement among all members of a group or team to support an idea, proposal, or solution.

Status

An individual's importance and prestige.

Mediated Communication

Any communication that is carried out using some channel other than those used in face-to-face communication.

Presentational Aid

Any tangible item used to help communicate ideas to an audience.

Noise

Anything that interferes with your ability to listen to a message

Complexity

Arranging ideas from simple to more complex

Primacy

Arranging ideas from the strongest to least controversial to the weakest or most controversial

Paraphrasing

Checking the accuracy of your understanding by restating your partner's message in your own words.

Conclusion

Closing lines of a presentation, which leave a final presentation

Mass Communication

Communication accomplished through a mediated message that is sent to many people at the same time (Press release, mass text messages)

Dyad

Communication between only two people

Preparation Outline

Detailed outline of a presentation that includes main ideas, subpoints, and supporting material, that may also include specific purpose, introduction, bluprint, internal previews, and summaries, transitions, and conclusion

Receive Apprehension

Fear of misunderstanding or misinterpreting the messages spoken by others, or of not being able to adjust psychologically to messages expressed by others.

Arousal

Feelings of interest and excitement communicated by such nonverbal cues as vocal expression, facial expressions, and gestures.

Dominance

Feelings of power, status, and control communicated by such nonverbal cues as relaxed posture, greater personal space, and protected personal space.

Immediacy

Feels of liking, pleasure, and closeness communicated by such nonverbal cues as eye contact, forward lean, touch, and open body orientation

Sexist Language

Gender neutralizes audience. Reveals bias in favor of one sex and against another.

Norms

General standards that determine what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior in a group.

Generic Language

General terms that stand for all person or things within a given category. (ex. Making something masculine.

Homophobic Language

Language that overly denigrates personal of nonheterosexual orientations, usually arising out of a fear of being labeled gay or lesbian.

Heterosexist Language

Language that reveals an assumption that the world is heterosexual, as if homosexuality or bisexuality did not exist.

Bafflegrab

Language whose purpose is to obscure, confuse, or mislead

Concrete Language

Meaning that refers to something that can be perceived with one of the senses.

Abstract Language

Meaning that refers to something that cannot be perceived or experienced with one of the senses.

Intrapersonal Communication

Only takes place within your head (within you) includes your thoughts, emotions, and perceptions of yourself and others.

Cause & Effect Organization

Organizaion by discussing a situation and its causes or a situation and its effects

Spatial Organization

Organization according to location position, or direction

Problem/Solution

Organization by discussng first a problem and then various solutions

Topical Organization

Organization determined by the speaker's discretion or by recency, primacy, or complexity.

Channel

Pathway through which messages are sent.

Receiver

Person who decodes a message and attempts to make sense out of what the source has encoded.

Connotative Meaning

Personal and subjective meaning of a word.

Contect/Environment

Physical, historical, and psychological communication environment.

Legitimate power

Power that stems from being elected or appointed to a position of authority.

Feedback

Response to a message

Volume

Shoud be loud enough that you can easily be heard, and should be purposeflly varie

Rate

Should be neither too fast nor too slow, and can be varied to add interest and emphasize key ides

Criteria

Standards for an acceptable solution.

Power

The ability to influenceThe ability to influence other people's behavior other people's behavior

Empathy

The ability to understand and feel what another person is feeling

Ethics

The beliefs, values, and moral principles by which we determine what is right or wrong. Being honest plays a large role.

General Purpose

The broad reason for giving a presentation: to inform, to persuade or to entertain an audience

Role

The consistent way a person communicates with others in a small group.

Cohesiveness

The degree of attraction members feel toward one another and toward their group.

Source

The originator of a though or emotion, who puts it into a code that can be understood by a receiver.

Hearing

The physiological process of decoding sounds.

Recency

The principle that audiences remember best what they hear last, which guides the arrangement of ideas from the least to the most important

Human Communication

The 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.

Rhetoric

The process of using symbols to influence or persuade others.

Articulation

The production of clear and distinct speech sounds

Closure

The sense that a presentation "sounds finished"

Content-Oriented Listeners

Those who prefer that messages communicated by others contain complex and detailed information.

Action-Oriented Listeners

Those who prefer that the messages communicated by others contain information that is functional, well organized, brief, and accurate

People-Oriented Listeners

Those who prefer to focus on the emotions and feelings communicated by others verbally and nonverbally.

Adapt

To adjust both what is communicated and how a message is communicated; to make choices about how best to formulate a message and responds to others to achieve your communication goals.

Message

Written, spoken, and unspoken elements of communication to which people assign meaning.

Physical Delivery

a person's gestures, movement, and posture, which influence how a message is interpreted

Memorized Speaking

a style of speaking in which the speaker delivers the speech word for word having memorized all parts of the speech

Impromptu Speaking

delivering a presentation without advance preparation

Denotative Meaning

dictionary definition

Chronological Organization

organization by time or sequence

Manuscript Speaking

reading a presentation from a written text

Eye Contact

should be established before you say anything and sustained as much as possible throughout your presentation

Movement

should be purposeful

Gestures

should be relaxed, definite, varied, and appropriate to your audience and the speaking situation

Posture

should feel natural and be appropriate to your topic, your audience, and the occasion

Extemporaneous Speaking

speaking from a written or memorized outline without having memorized the exact wording of the presentation

Coercion

the act of compelling by force of authority

Pronunciation

the way a word or a language is customarily spoken

Time-Oriented Listeners

who prefer that messages communicated by others be brief.

Interpersonal Communication

Communication that occurs simultaneously between two people who attempt to mutually influence each other, usually for the purpose of managing relationships.

Impersonal Communication

Communication that treats people as objects, or that responds only to their roles, rather than to who they are as unique people.

Delivery Outline

Condensed and abbreviated outline of a presentation, from which speaking notes are developed

Language

Consists of symbols and grammar that make it possible for people to understand one another.

Small Group Communication

Creating meaning among 3 to 15 people who share a common purpose, feel a sense of belonging to the group, and exert influence on one another.

Rate

How fast or slowly a speaker speaks.

Pitch

How high or low a speaker's voice is

Defensive Communication

Language that creates a climate of hostility and mistrust.

Supportive Communication

Language that creates a climate of trust, caring, and acceptance.