50 terms for interpersonal communication

Closed-mindedness

Tendency not to listen to anything with which you disagree.

Emoticons

Textual representations of facial expressions.

Self-disclosure

The act of giving others information about oneself that one believes they do not already have.

Listening

The active process of making meaning out of another person's spoken message.

Facework

The behaviors we use to maintain our desired public image to others.

Personal distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with friends and relatives; ranges from 1½ to 4 feet.

Intimate distance

The distance most people in Western cultures maintain with intimate partners; ranges from 0 to 1½ feet.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The idea that language influences the ways that members of a culture see and think about the world

Competence face

The need to be respected and viewed as competent and intelligent.

Fellowship face

The need to have others like and accept you. See also Need for inclusion

Self-concept

The set of perceptions a person has about who he or she is; also known as identity.

Halo effect

The tendency to attribute positive qualities to physically attractive people.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek information that supports our values and beliefs, while discounting or ignoring information that doesn't.

Chronemics

Use of time.

Competitive interrupting

Using interruptions to take control of a conversation.

Polychronic

A concept that treats time as an infinite resource rather than a finite commodity.

Low-power-distance culture:

A culture in which power is not highly concentrated in specific groups of people.

Low-context culture

A culture in which verbal communication is expected to be explicit and is often interpreted literally.

High-context culture

A culture in which verbal communication is often ambiguous and meaning is drawn from contextual cues, such as facial expressions and tone of voice.

High-power-distance culture

A culture in which verbal communication is often ambiguous and meaning is drawn from contextual cues, such as facial expressions and tone of voice.

Slander

A defamatory statement made aloud.

Libel

A defamatory statement made in print or some other fixed medium.

Hate speech

A form of profanity meant to degrade, intimidate, or dehumanize groups of people.

Information overload

Being overwhelmed by the amount of information one takes in.

Interpersonal communication

Communication that occurs between two people within the context of their relationship and that, as it evolves, helps them to negotiate and define their relationship.

Face needs

Components of one's desired public image.

Ambiguous

Having more than one possible meaning.

High-contact culture

Culture in which people frequently touch and maintain little personal distance with one another.

Low-contact culture

Culture in which people touch infrequently and maintain relatively high levels of personal distance with one another.

Stigma

A characteristic that discredits a person, making him or her be seen as abnormal or undesirable

Glazing over

Daydreaming with the time not spent listening.

Monochronic

A concept that treats time as a finite commodity that can be earned, saved, spent, and wasted.

HURIER model

A model of effective listening that involves hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding.

Dyad

A pair of people.

Face

A person's desired public image.

Symbol

A representation of an idea.

Egocentric

A state of inability to take another person's perspective.

Language

A structured system of symbols used for communicating meaning.

Euphemism

A vague, mild expression that symbolizes something more blunt or harsh.

Johari window

A visual representation of components of the self that are known or unknown to the self and to others.

Onomatopoeia

A word formed by imitating the sound associated with its meaning

Connotative meaning

A word's implied or secondary meaning, in addition to its literal meaning.

Denotative meaning

A word's literal meaning or dictionary definition.

Self-fulfilling prophecy:

An expectation that gives rise to behaviors that cause the expectation to come true.

Face-threatening act

Any behavior that threatens one or more face needs.

Defamation

Language that harms a person's reputation or image.

Empathic listening

Listening in order to experience what another person is thinking or feeling.

Informational listening

Listening in order to learn something.

Critical listening

Listening with the goal of evaluating or analyzing what we hear.

Self-esteem

One's subjective evaluation of one's value and worth as a person.