Interpersonal Communication Chapter 2

Self

A constantly evolving, processual understanding of oneself that grows out of the processes of interacting with others and society and internalizing values and views of our identity that others reflect to us.

Identity Scripts

A guide to action based on rules for living and identity. Initially communicated in families, identity scripts define our roles, how we are to play them, and basic elements in the plots of our lives. Not the same as a script, which is one of the four cognitive schemata.

Fearful attachment style

A mode of relating instilled by a caregiver in the first relationship (usually parent-child) who communicates to the child in consistently negative, rejecting, or even abusive ways. People with fearful attachment styles are inclined to feel apprehensive and insecure about relationships

Dismissive attachment style

A mode of relating instilled typically early in life by a disinterested, rejecting, or abusive caregiver, in which the individual later tends to dismiss others as unworthy and thus does not seek close relationships. Unlike people with fearful attachment styles, those with a dismissive style do not accept the caregiver's view of them as unlovable.

Secure attachment style

A mode of relating that involves confidence in oneself and in relationships. Like other attachment styles, the secure mode is instilled by a caregiver who responds in a consistently attentive, loving way to a child; the most common and most positive of the four attachment styles. People with secure attachment styles tend to be comfortable forming close bonds with others.

Anxious/ambivalent attachment style

A mode of relating/attachment style characterized by preoccupation with relationships and inconsistent behavior toward the partner. Develops in childhood when a caregiver behaves inconsistently toward a child, sometimes loving and sometimes rejecting or neglectful.

Attachment styles

A pattern of relating instilled by the way a caregiver teaches the child who he or she is, who others are, and how to approach relationships.

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Acting in a way that embodies expectations or judgments about us.

Ego boundaries

An individual's perception of where he or she stops and the rest of the world begins.

Direct definition

Communication that explicitly tells us who we are by specifically labeling us and reacting to our behaviors. Usually first occurs in families, then in interaction with peers and others.

Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves with others in order to form judgments of our own talents, abilities, qualities, and so forth.

Johari Window

Developed in 1969 by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, this is a model of the different types of knowledge that affect self-development.

Generalized other

One source of social perspectives that people use to define themselves and guide how they think, act, and feel; our perception of the views, values, and perspectives that are endorsed by society as a whole.

Particular others

One source of social perspectives that people use to define themselves and guide how they think, act, and feel; people who are especially important to the self.

Self-sabotage

Self-talk that communicates that we are no good, that we can't do something, that we can't change, and so forth. Self-sabotage undermines our belief in ourselves and our motivation to change and grow.

Self-Disclosure

The act of revealing personal information about ourselves that others are unlikely to discover in other ways.

Reflected Appraisal

The process of seeing and thinking about ourselves in terms of the appraisals of us that others reflect.