COMS 201 Midterm 1

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Behaving and seeing ourselves in ways that are consistent with how others label us.

Relationship Impact

Build connections with other by revealing private identities, remembering history, etc.

Textual Analysis

Describes communications texts and interprets their meanings.

Arbitrary

Have no direct or natural relationship to what they represent. ex: Cat is not intrinsically related to furry critters.

Free Will

Humans make choices about how to act.

Significance

The conceptual or pragmatic importance of a theory.

Scene

The context in which an act is performed

Internal Validity

The degree to which the design and methods used to test a theory actually measure what they claim to measure.

Testability

The extent to which a theory's claim can be appraised. Testability is one criterion for evaluation a theory.

External Validity

The generalizability of a theory across contexts, especially those beyond the confines of experimental situations.

Organizational Culture

Understandings about identity and codes of though and action that are shared by members of an organization.

Meaning

The significance conferred on experiences and phenomena; meaning is constructed, not intrinsic to communication.

Narrative Rationality

In narrative theory, the judgement of the quality of narrative, or stories, according to their coherence and fidelity.

Communication

"A systemic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings"

Fidelity

In narrative theory,one standard for judging a story's quality according to whether or not it "rings true."

Narration

"Symbolic actions"

Survey

A quantitative method of research that relied on instruments, questionaires or interview to find out about feelings, experiences and so forth.

Hypothesis

A carefully stated, testable prediction of a theoretical relationship or outcome.

Experiment

A controlled study that systematically manipulated one thing to determine how it affects another thing.

Reliability

A criterion for evaluating theoretical research that concerns the consistency of particular behaviours, patterns or relationships.

Utility

A criterion for evaluating theories; practical merit or applied value of a theory.

Heurism

A criterion for evaluating theories; the capacity of a theory to provoke new insights, thoughts and understandings.

Validity

A criterion for evaluation of a theory

Behaviourism

A form of science that focuses on observable behaviours and that assumes human motives, meanings, feelings and other subjective phenomena either don't exist or are irrelevant to behaviour.

Rule-based Explanation

A form of theoretical explanation that articulated regularities, or patterns, in human behaviour that are routinely followed in particular types of communication situations and relationships.

Research Question

A question that specified the phenomena of interest to a scholar but does not predict relationships between phenomena. Research questions are less formal than hypotheses.

Operational Definition

A precise description that specified how to observe the phenomena of interest. Operational definitions provide clarity and precision to research hypotheses and research questions used to test theory.

Ethnography

A qualitative method of research that interprets actions so as to generate understanding consistent with the frameworks of those who perform the actions.

Social Desirability Bias

A tendency for research participants to give responses that they perceive as socially acceptable, which may not be honest.

Law-based Explanation

A theoretical explanation of the form, "Anytime x happens, y will invariably or probably follow," or " x and y always or almost always go together."

Intensional Orientation

A view of meaning and communication that is based on factors inside individuals.

Extensional Orientation

A view of meaning and communication that is based on objective particulars of phenomena.

Etc.

A way of indicating that we know we haven't said all that can be said.

Theory

An account of what something is, how it works, what it produces or causes to happen, and what can change how it operates. Theories are points of view, human construction.

Symbol

An arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract representation of other phenomena. Symbols are the basis of language, much nonverbal behaviour and human language.

Fantasy Themes

An idea that spins out in a group and captures its social and task foci.

Law

An inviolate, unalterable fact that holds true across time and space.

Brute Fact

An objective, concrete phenomenon unadorned by interpretations of meaning.

Dramatistic Pentad

And attitude

Abstract

Are not concrete or tangible. They stand for ideas/people/situations.

Indexing

Associating referents with specific dates, situations, and so forth to remind ourselves that meanings change; advocated by general semanticists as a remedy for misunderstanding.

Interpersonal Communication

Communication between people. Interpersonal communication exists on a continuum ranging from impersonal to highly personal.

Cultural Impact

Communication skills important for health of our society.

Intrapersonal Communication

Communication with oneself, including self-talk, planning and reflections.

Attitude

Dramatistic Hexad- Incipient action based on how an actor positions themself relative to others and the contexts in which she or he acts.

Quantitative Methods

Forms of research that involve gathering quantifiable data.

Qualitative Methods

Forms of research that involve probing and interpreting the subjective meanings of experience.

Personal Impact

Gain personal identity through communicating with others.

Mortification

In dramatism, a method of purging guilt by blaming ourselves, confessing failing and seeking forgiveness.

Victimage

In dramatism, a method of purging guilt by identifying an external source (a scapegoat) for some apparent failing or sin.

Hierarchy

In dramatism, a social ordering in which phenomena, including people, are classified into groups with different value, status, or rank.

Guilt

In dramatism, any tension, discomfort, sense of shame or other unpleasant feeling that humans experience; the motive for all human action.

Scapegoatting

In dramatism, displacing sins into a sacrificial vessel whose destruction serves to cleanse an individual or group of its sins.

Consubstantiality

In dramatism, identifying with another or becoming common in substance.

Perfection

In dramatism, our imagined ideal or perfect form of things and ourselves. The inability to achieve perfection is a source of guilt.

The Negative

In dramatism, the capacity to say no; the basis or moral conduct and thought.

Substance

In dramatism, the general nature or essence of some thing or person.

Ratio

In dramatism, the proportion of different elements in the dramatistic pentad.

Feedforward

In general semantics theory, the process of anticipating the effects of communication and adapting it in advance of actually engaging in communication.

Coherence

In narrative theory, a standard for judging the quality of a story according to whether it is internally consistent, complete and believable.

Particular Other

In symbolic interaction theory, an individual who is significant to another person.

Role Taking

In symbolic interaction theory, an individual's internalization and perception of experiences from the perspective of another person or persons.

Self

In symbolic interaction theory, the ability to reflect on oneself from the perspective of others. Self is not present at birth but is acquired through symbolic interaction with others.

Mind

In symbolic interaction theory, the ability to use significant symbols. Mind is acquired through symbolic interaction with others.

Looking Glass Self

In symbolic interaction theory, the image of oneself that one gains by seeing the self mirrored in others' eyes.

Generalized Other

In symbolic interaction theory, the organized perspectives of a social group, community or society.

I

In symbolic interaction theory, the phase or part of self that is impulsive, creative and unconstrained by social norms and knowledge.

Me

In symbolic interaction theory, the phase or part of self that is socially aware, analytical, and evaluative.

Ambiguous

Meanings are unclear or variable.

Unobstructive Methods

Means of gathering data that intrude minimally on naturally occurring interaction.

Descriptive Statistics

Numerical representations of human behaviour that describe populations, proportions, and frequencies.

Monitoring

Observing and managing our own thoughts, feelings and actions. Monitoring is possible because humans are symbol users.

Parsimony

One criterion for evaluation theories; the appropriate simplicity of a theory.

Scope

One criterion for evaluation theories; the range of phenomena a theory describes and explains.

Explanation

One goal of theorizing; an effort to account for why and/or how something works.

Understanding

One goal of theorizing; gaining insight into a process, situation or phenomenon, not necessarily with the goal of predicting or controlling it.

Reform

One goal of theorizing; the use of theory to instigate change in pragmatic life. Also called "producing positive social change."

Description

One goal of theory; the use of symbols to represent something and to identify it's parts.

Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication

One of the earliest models of the communication process. The person who is a source creates a message and transmits it by voice. The message is then received and interpreted by the person who is a destination. Feedback was later added on by Norbert Weiner.

Systemic

Related to systems, which are organized and interacting wholes in which all parts interrelate. Communication is systemic.

Critical Analysis

Research that goes beyond description and explanation to argue for changes in communicative practices that are judged to be oppressive, wrong and otherwise undesirable.

Correlational Claim

Says only that two things go together but doesn't assert one causes the other

Professional Impact

Success in most professions requires communication skills.

Act

That which is done

Throwness

The arbitrary conditions of the particular time and place of an individuals life.

Determinism

The belief that human behaviour is governed by forces beyond individual control, usually biology, environment, or a combination of the two.

Objectivism

The belief that reality is material, external to the human mind, and the same for everyone.

Intercultural Communication

The branch of communication field that studies communication among people from different cultures, including distinct cultures within a single country.

Ontology

The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of humans.

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of knowledge, or how we know what we know.

Institutional Fact

The meaning of an act, event or other phenomenon; interpretations of brute facts.

Agency

The means or channel through which an act is performed

Agent

The one who performs an act

Symbolic Interactionism

The point of view that claims society predates individuals, who acquire minds and selves in the process of interacting symbolically with other members of a culture. Symbols are also necessary to the functioning and continuation of collective life.

Narrative Paradigm

The point of view that humans are natural storytellers and that most, if not all, communication is storytelling.

Dramatism

The point of view that life is a drama that can be understood in dramatic terms such as act, agent, scene, agency and purpose. Identification is viewed as the primary goal of symbolic interaction, and guilt is viewed as the ultimate motive for communication.

Process

The quality of being ongoing, in flux, ever changing. Communication is a process.

Objectivity

The quality of being uninfluenced by values, biases, personal feelings and other subjective factors.

Purpose

The reason for an act

Control

The use of explanations and prediction to govern what a phenomenon actually does.

Standpoint Theory

The view that the material, social and symbolic circumstances of a social group shape what members of that group experience, as well as how they think, act and feel.

Controversy

Whether or not humans will have free will.