Human Communication: The Basic Course (Chapter 1)

Computer-mediated Communication (pg. 4)

(CMC) is a general term that includes all forms of communication between people that take place through some computer, electronic, or internet connection. (e-mail, texting, blogging, instant messaging, etc.)

Theory (pg. 11)

A generalization that explains how something works.

Metamessages (pg. 8)

A message that refers to another message

Code (pg. 8)

A set of symbols used to translate a message from one form to another.

Mindfulness (pg. 19)

A state of awareness in which you are conscious of your reasons for thinking or behaving.

Subjective View (pg. 20)

A view of ethics where you'd argue that absolute statements about right and wrong are too rigid and the ethics of a message depends on the culture's values and beliefs as well as on the particular circumstances.

Objective View (pg. 20)

A view of ethics where you'd argue that the rightness or wrongness of an act is absolute and exists apart from the values or beliefs of any individual or culture.

Ambiguity (pg. 14)

Ambiguous messages are message with more than one potential meaning. Occurs because we use words that can be interpreted differently.

Asynchronous (pg. 4)

CMC that does not take place at the same time

Synchronous (pg. 4)

CMC that occurs at the same time.

Metacommunication (pg. 9)

Communication about communication

Small Group Communication (pg. 2)

Communication among members of groups of about 5 to 10 people.

Public Speaking (pg. 4)

Communication between a speaker and an audience.

Interpersonal Communication (pg. 2)

Communication between two persons or a small group of persons.

Mass Communication (pg. 4)

Communication from one source to many receivers, who may be scattered throughout the world.

Interviewing (pg. 2)

Communication that proceeds by question and answer.

Organizational Communication (pg. 4)

Communication that takes place within an organization among members of the organization.

Intrapersonal Communication (pg. 2)

Communication that you have with yourself.

Content and Relationship Dimensions (pg.13)

Communications, to a certain extent at least, refer to the real world - to something external to both speaker and listener.

Unrepeatability (pg. 17)

Everyone and everything is constantly changing. As a result, you can never recapture the exact situation, frame of mind, or relationship dynamics that defined a previous communication act.

Responses (pg. 8)

Feedback? (any overt or covert behavior?)

Effect (pg. 10)

For every communication act, there is some consequence.

Inevitability (pg. 16)

In any interactional situation communication will occur. (Communication takes place even though one of the individuals does not think he or she is communicating)

Noise (pg. 9)

Is anything that interferes with your receiving a message.

Receiver (pg. 8)

Listener

Decoder (pg. 8)

Listeners or Readers

Critical Thinking (pg. 19)

Logical Thinking; Thinking that is well reasoned, unbiased, and clear.

Messages (pg. 8)

Message can be verbal (oral or written) or nonverbal. The clothes you wear, the way you walk, shake hands, tilt your head, comb your hair, sit and smile all communicate messages.

Feedback (pg. 9)

Messages sent back to the speaker reacting to what is said. Feedback tells the speaker what effect he or she is having on the listener(s).

Adjustment (pg. 12)

No two persons use identical signal systems so a process of adjustment is relevant to all forms of communication.

Intercultural Communication (pg. 13)

People from different cultures use different signals - and sometimes use the same signals to signify quite different things.

Content Message (pg. 13)

Refers to the behavioral response expected.

Source (pg. 8)

Speaker

Communication Accommodation Theory (pg. 13)

Speakers adjust to, or accommodate to, the speaking style of their listeners to gain, for example, social approval and greater communication efficiency.

Encoder (pg. 8)

Speakers or Writers

Relationship Message (pg. 13)

Tells how the communication is to be dealt with.

Media Literacy (pg. 23)

The ability to understand, analyze, and evaluate media messages, to interact with the media, and to use the available resources to create your own media messages.

Encoding (pg. 8)

The act of producing messages.

Decoding (pg. 8)

The act of receiving messages

Transactional (pg. 11)

The elements in communication are always changing, are interdependent (each influences the other), depend on the individual for their meaning and effect, and each person in the communication act is both speaker and listener.

Channel (pg. 9)

The medium through which the message passes. (Vocal, Visual, and Tactile)

Context (pg. 7)

The physical, social-psychological, social, and temporal, and cultural environment in which communication takes place.

Communication Competence is Culture Specific (pg. 20)

The principles of effective communication vary from one culture to another, and what proves effective in one culture may prove ineffective in another.

Communication (pg. 2)

The process or act of communicating; the actual message or messages sent and received; the study of the processes involved in the sending and receiving of messages

Irreversibility (pg. 17)

The process(communication) can only go in one direction. Once you have said something it cannot be unsaid.

Ethics (pg. 20)

The study of good and bad, of right and wrong, of moral and immoral.

Punctuation (pg. 15)

The tendency to divide communication transactions into sequences of stimuli and responses referred to as punctuation.

Communication Competence (pg. 17)

Your knowledge and understanding of how communication works and your ability to use communication effectively.