Mass Communications Exam 1

What is ethnomethodology?

The study of methods people use for understanding and producing the social order in which they live

What is the difference between digital and analogic codes?

-Digital: texting, using keyboard, physical and tangible -Analogic: radio, using waves

What is a symmetrical exchange?

Both parties are similar and exchange communication in a common way

What the difference between an emic approach & an etic approach to studying culture?

-An emic approach is interpretive and from within. It is ultimately a perspective focus on the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to the members of a given society, often considered to be an 'insider's' perspective. -An etic approach is post-positivist, and as an observer. An etic view of culture is the perspective of an outsider looking in.

What is the difference between egocentric speech & socialized speech?

-Egocentric speech is speech in which there is no attempt to exchange thoughts or take into account another person's point of view. -Socialized speech is speech in which there is a more "give-or-take" attitude, and you take in account another person's point of view.

What are the characteristics of rules?

-In general, rules are the set of instructions issued for public are known as rules. The rules which are legally accepted by the governing authority, are considered laws. -Rules are not very strict in nature, but laws are very strict in nature. -Rules are a part of law, but laws are a part of act -Individuals and organizations can set rules, but governments set laws

What are the three types of conflict?

-Interpersonal: within yourself -Intragroup: within your group -Intergroup: with the outside world

What are calibrations?

-It is when we adjust to someone or something -For example, it you are talking with someone that is outside your limits of communications, then you might have trouble understanding what they are saying -But, if you take time adjust, to calibrate, then you realize what they are saying or doing, and you adapt to the situation and understand the differences in what you are both discussing, the differences within each other's cultures.

What is it meant when we say communication involves meeting?

-Meanings are assigned, not given -We know what they relate to, but we need to keep speaking to give meaning to the conversation to others who may not be able to convey the message

What are the reasons for the rise in intercultural exchange?

-New technologies, travel & communications -Globalization of the economy -Changes in immigration patterns

What is meant when we say "communication is a process?"

-The communication process is the guide toward realizing effective communication. -It is through the communication process that the sharing of a common meaning between the sender and the receiver takes place

What is the difference between a rule and a law?

-The main difference between rules and laws is the consequences associated with breaking them. -While each is developed to invoke a sense of order, fair play, and safety, the weight of a law is much heavier than the weight of a rule -Laws are legal version of rules.

What is an ethnography?

-The systemic study of people and cultures -It's designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study

What is a complimentary exchange?

-Two different people; one is more dominant -Opposing communication styles

What are the seven characteristics of culture?

1. Culture is learning, not natural 2. Culture is created 3. Rule Governed 4. Comprised of symbol systems (nonverbal & verbal) 5. Culture is constantly changing 6. Culture is distinctive to location 7. Culture is constraining/ethnocentric

What are the cultural dichotomies?

1. Elaborated vs. Restricted Codes -if two people share a cultural experience, their conversations tend to be shorter (restricted) -if they do not share a similar culture, their interaction will last longer (elaborated) 2. Low context vs. high context 3. Individual vs. collectivist 4. Masculine vs. Feminine 5. High vs. Low Power Distance 6. High vs. Low Certainty Avoidance 7. Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation 8. Monochronic vs. Polychronic -Is time something that requires one event following another with a cause and effect relationship, or is time something that can unfold as it will, and multiple things can occur without any correlation

What are the axioms of communication?

1. You cannot not communicate 2. All messages have impact and relational levels 3. Sequences are punctuated for processing 4. Digital/analogic codes 5. Symmetrical/complementary exchanges

How does culture play a part in communication?

A historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which (humans) communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life

What is a theory? What are its functions?

An abstraction of the social world that helps us understand or explain phenomena

What is meant when we say communication is context shaped and context shaping?

We find ourselves in different contexts, and those contexts decide how we behave

What is Dr. Gareis' bias towards culture?

Culture is not a context for communication. Communication is culture

What is meant when we say "Communication creates and sustains social order"?

It refers to a particular set or system of linked social structures, institutions, relations, customs, values and practices, which conserve, maintain and enforce certain patterns of relating and behaving, in regards to how we communicate and facilitate social order

What is communication?

The transnational process process of creating & sustaining social order through symbolic action