Comm 306 Chapter 1 Notes Introduction to Studying Comm

7/31/2019 Comm 306 Chapter 1 Notes Introduction to Studying Comm

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Chapter 1 Notes

I. Introduction to Studying Communication

-Communication is vital to individuals, groups, and organizations in a democratic society

-free society-market place of ideas (Cronkhite, 1976)

-people who have ideas are free to express them

-ideas that have merit, will survive completion with other ideas

-freedom of speech is highly prized and protected from any possible corrosion

-freedom of speech is crucial for allowing a wide variety of ideas to be available

-Aristotle-persuasion and communication enables discoveries of what what is good for society at any

particular time and place

-public deliberation occurs when advocates and opponents for various ideas or proposals attempt to

persuade people.

-competent advocates should represent each proposal or the best proposal may not survive

-In addition, consequences of proposals must be clearly understood if the best decision is to be made

-need competent communicators so deception and misunderstandings wont have a chance to take apart

your ideas

--people will select the best candidate, approve worthy issues by referendum, or support good changes in

the status quo-if the communication is of such quality that the significant issues are understood. (centralthinking of Aristotle and constitution

-your sex, race, religion, or national origin may affect your achievements, however, communicative

ability is an equalizer; our society rewards people who are effective communicators

-a theory is a set of related statements designed to describe, explain, and/or predict reality.

-theories useful guides for communication, not just abstract concepts; they provide a basis for practical

application

II. Issues in Understanding Communication

A. Basic Components and Concepts

--source-designates originator of a message

-sender one who transmits messages but does not have to necessary originate them

(e.g. radio announcer reading an ad for the program sponsors=sender)


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-sources could be a single person, a group of people, or even an institution

-messagestimulus that the source transmits to the receiver

-message may be verbal, nonverbal or both

-tone of voice, gestures, and facial expressions are all examples of nonverbal m

-human communication transactions-usually both verbal and nonverbal communication

-channel-menas by which the message is conveyed from source to receiver

-channels may be air waves, light waves or even laser beams

-any of the five senses of human perceptions may serve as channels in the communication process

-number of channels being used by an individual can affect the accuracy of a given message.

-using more than one channel in conveying a message increases the redundancy (repetition) and, to a

point, the accuracy of that message

-though excessive redundancy can be viewed by receiver as insulting for conflicting info over verbal and

nonverbal channels during a communication transaction can cause people to rely on the nonverbal cues

-receiver destination of a given message, receiver also decodes and interprets the message sent, whereas

the source/sender encodes a messange and transmits it

-encoding taking an already conceived idea and getting it ready for transmission

-decoding-taking received stimuli and giving them meaning through interpretation and perception

-in human communication transactions, stimuli are signs and symbols

-all individuals function as source and receiver

-humans labeled transceivers since can perform both functions of encoding and decoding

-noise-any stimulus that inhibits the receivers accurate reception of a given message

-noise often classified-physical, psychological, or semantic

Ex. Physical noise-car horns blowing, blaring of a stereo system, air plane overhead

Ex. Psychological noise occurs when an individual is preoccupied and therefore misses or misinterpretsthe external message

-semantic noise occurs when individuals have different meanings for symbols those meanings are not

mutually understood

-ex. Semantic noise-not understanding a particular word being used by another communicator or when the

particular word or symbol used has many denotative or connotative meanings.


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-feedback may be verbal or nonverbal, just like communication messages and is often positive or negative

-positive feedback-responses that are perceived as rewarding by the speaker, such as applause or

verbal/nonverbal agreement

-negative feedback responses perceived as punishing and not rewarding (frowns or whistles, lack of

responses)

-without feedback a source would have no means of assessing how a message was being decoded, and

subsequent inaccuracies might never be corrected

B. Defining Communication

-no single approach to communication so there are many definitions of communications depending on

each person

-definitons differ on matters such as whether communication has occurred if a source did not intend to

send a message, whether communication is a linear process (a source sending a message in a channel to a

receiver who then reacts), or whether a transactional perspective is more accurate (emphasizing the

relationships between people and how they constantly, mutually influence on another).

-lack of agreement on definitions is also due to the study of communication is not a precise science

-measurement in communication research, as well as other social sciences is inexact, for instance, we

cant be able to determine the precise impact a certain tv commercial will have on buying behavior

-since people have free choice and active minds, some theorists believe that predicting human behavior is

qualitatively different from predictions about other phenomena

-people disagree on definitions of communications because they disagree on the nature of communication

-one important question is, what makes human communication so powerful and distinctive , if theorists

can determine the answer, they can agree on what topics communication scholars should study

-stevens 1950-communication is the emphasis on the response by who receives the stimulus

Berekson and Steiner 1964-views communication as transmission of symbols

Dances 1067 and Cronkhites definitions combine receivers responses with symbols chosen by a sender

Miller includes the ideas of symbolism and receivers response, but he also emphasizes the intentional

nature of communication

-the more we learn, the more precisely we will be able to define communication

-communication occurs when humans manipulate symbols to stimulate meaning in other humans

-our definition differs from those above in that it emphasizes both sender and receiver

-it also calls attention to the symbolic and intentional nature of communication


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-communication exhibits a social, symbolic process that occurs in a context

C. Understanding the Nature of Communication

1) communication is a symbolic process-cronkhite (1986)-human symbolic activity

-sign-something that stands for another thing

-symptom; a cough ex, is a symptom that one may be sick

-another type of symbol are symbols that are deliberately created to represent something

-once people agree on what a symbol stands for, the symbol may be use by one person to cause another

person to think of the thing represented by the symbol

-ritual third type of sign, it is one that is not entirely natural (as are symptoms) and not entirely created

or arbitrary (as are symbols). Instead a ritual is a bit of each. An example would be a growl to show that

you are angry.

-stylization such as growling represents symbolic activity

-cronkhite maintains that human symbolic activity defines the very nature of communication

-he includes the gray area of ritual activities as long as a proportion of the activity is symbolic.

-communication discipline is the only one that focuses primarily on the activity of using symbols

2) Communication is a social process

-difficultuy of separating communication and cognition

-we believe that it is useful to separate the psychological processes of perception and impression

formation from the social process of communication. That is, communication includes perception and

impression formation, but perception alone is not sufficient for communication.

-communication-intentional exchange of symbols between human beings. Interpersonal communication

is something that people do together, not something that a single individual can do

-3) communication involves co-orientation

-what is required for communication, verbal or nonverbal, is co-orientation-two individuals mutual

awareness of each other

4) Communication involves individual interpretation

-each one of us has different meanings for verbal and nonverbal symbols

-meaning must be constructed anew by each individual; it cannot be transferred as a mind reader might

claim to transfer thoughts


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-our unique interpretations of symbols and gestures create both our individuality and our isolation from

each other

-5) Communications Involves Shared Meaning

--Humans do manage to communicate. We share some of the meanings of words or gestures because we

speak the same language and belong to the same culture.

-receivers and sender do understand each other because they share some basic meaning for the concept

-some overlap of meaning or sharing of ideas is necessary for communication to occur. This is a logical

extension of the idea that communication is social rather than individual.

-Interesting to note that not all communication scholars agree that meaning is shared through

communication

-coordinated management theory of meaning that sometimes people use the same words so differently

that their meanings do not overlap

-this theory emphasizes communication as coordinated behavior

6) communication occurs in a context

-a communication context is a type of situation in which communication occurs. Communication iin one

context will have different characteristics than communication in another context.

-some basic components of communication are present regardless the idea of communication and context

is that the nature of the source, message, and receiver differs according to the situation

-the meaning derived from a message in one context can be substantially different from what is

experienced in another context.

Contexts considered:

-interpersonal (communication between two people)

-small group (communication involving several people)

-organizational (communication within and between organizational0

-public ( a speaker addressing a large audience)

-mass (communication mediated by electronic or print media)

-Intercultural (communication between people of different cultures)

-family (communication between family members)

-Health-communication involving health care providers and health care receivers

-political communication involving the governing part of our society


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III. Points of Controversy About Communication

-Is communication intentional? Is communication planned? Is communication transactional?

-3 questions discussing dispute

A. Communication and Intent

-persons pupils are dilating, meaning was stimulated but not intentionally, because pupil dilation is an

involuntary response

-if you read a message into another perosns unintentional behavior, you act as both the message creator

and message consumer

-humans unknowingly stimulating meaning in other humans in interesting, yet it is not the same as

humans knowingly doing so

-perception is a process through which individuals interpret sensory information

-while perception is an essential part of communiation process since it enables us to receive and interpret

messages sent by others not all perception involves communication

-human communication requires at least two people who intend to send and to receive messagesl

communication is a social rather than an individual process.

-if the sender intends to communicate and the receiver recognizes the intention, communication has

occurred. The situation is an example of what Brant Burleson (1992) terms a paradigm case, a case in

which virtually everyone would agree that communication occurs.

-Michael Motley communication involves at least four features: 1) communication is interactive, 2)

communication involves encoding, 3) communication involves the exchange of symbols, and 4)

communication has a fidelity dimension communication behavior can range from high to low quality

-if all four are not present, a when a symptom such as a sneeze occurs, then communication has not

occurred.

-Janet Beavin Bavelas agrees with Motley that all behavior is not communicatibve, although it may be

informative (1990)

-Anderson considers two categories of symptomatic behaviors to be communication. The first category

consists of incidental perceptions that are neither symbolic nor encoded. These perceptions influence the

thoughts or behaviors of another even though neither party may intend to communicate.

-body odor, posture, gait, and physical characteristics such as body shape and race are examples of such

attributes.

-the second category, which Anderson calls informative communication, is a key point of contention

among communication scholars.


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-Motley vs. Anderson

--Anderson believes that intent is so difficult to measure that it cannot be used as an appropriate criterion

to judge communication.

-He also states, the danger of excluding relevant communication behaviors outweighs the danger of

including irrelevant behavior.

-Motley responds to Andersons critique of intent by arguing that encoding is sufficient evidence for an

intention to communicate. He agrees with Anderson that symptomatic behaviors occur without other-

directed-ness, communicative intention, purposiveness, or other cognitive mediation

-we do not encode symptomatic behaviors; that is, we do not choose to indicate hunger via stomach

growls, to indicate embarrassment by blushing.

-Motley and Anderson disagree in that Motely considers many nonverbal behaviors to be symbolic

because, within a culture the purposive displays of thse behaviorsappear to be chosen, learned, and

passed on in much the same way as verbal symbols

-ex, people from the same culture use similar gestures to demonstrate how large an object is or how far

way they are from a distant location.

Motley concludes they must be chose from some repertoire of behaviors rather than merely occurring

spontaneously

-motley confirms his position that all symbolic behaviors are communicative; symptomatic behaviors are

not. For Motley, communication behavior must always be symbolic and encoded.

-motely believes that Anderson does not sufficiently distinguish human from nonhuman behavior

andersens minimum necessary condition for communication is the perception of human behavior, and theline presumably is drawn at nonhuman behavior motley criticizes this criterion as quire random argues is

no difference in processes human use to assign meaning to symptoms whether they come from humans,

animals, or inanimate objects. When a human symptom occurs and is assigned meaning, the process is no

different from when meaning is assigned to a cat purring

-perception is a necessary but not sufficient condition for communication to occur motley also believes

andrsens view devalues the source as an active part of the communication process if communication

occurs whenever an individual assigns meaning to a stimulus the importance of the producer of that

stimulus is reduced.

-when humans manipulate symbols to stimulate meaning in other provides an active role for both sourceand receiver in the communication process, including verbal and nonverbal behavior and the importance

of the reeivers perceptions it incorporates both higly conscious behavior and behavior that is encoded

below a conscious level of awareness.

B. Communication as Planned Behavior


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-viewing communication as planned behavior, in essence, makes it clear that intentions are a necessary

element of the communication process. Communication plans defines when human behavior represents

communication and when it does not.

-communication plan is a set of behaviors that the person believes will accomplish a purpose. The plans

we form are controlled by our beliefs, attitudes, and values; plan are hierarchically arranged

-there are 2 types of communication plans:verbal plans and nonverbal plants (infant, 1980). A verbal plan

is what you plan to say in a specific or general communication situation.

-a verbal plan may resemble a topical outline where only the main ideas are specified. For instance,

Generally, I think education should be funded at the state level.

-Or a verbal plan may contain specific details andprecise wording. For example, The next time John

loses his temper I will say, youre acting like a jerk again, Im leaving.

-Verbal plans very in terms of how frequently they are used. Some are used only once or a few times.

Others are used in recurring situations. Once we determine a verbal plan, execute it, and decide itaccomplishes the desired purpose, we reuse it in the future situations with slight modifications when

necessary.

-Nonverbal plans precede or follows the execution of verbal plan sometimes, but they are usually formed

along with our verbal plans. Example a nonverbal plan preceding verbal behavior might be, Ill get that

person to come over and meet me by looking interested.

-Nonverbal plans can be general or specific, formed well in advance or formed at the moment, used once

or habitually, revised or unrevised,

-how consequences are perceived by individuals allows you to predict what the person will say.

-human communication represents the execution of the individuals most recently adopted

communication plan (Infate, 1980)

-the idea of communication plans provides a way to address the issue if communication has occurred if

one person is unaware that his or her behavior is stimulating a response in another person. Under the

communication plans framework, we would say communication has occurred if we can trace the

individuals behavior to a plan. If not, communication did not occur even though meaning may have been

stimulated in another persons mind.

-messages molded and energized by communication plans are symbolic behaviors. This emphasizes the

intentional versus the accidental nature of symbols. Messages are expressed with verbal and nonverbalsyombols. Plans, of course, are also composed of symbols. However, the symbols in a plan are not

necessarily the same ones that will appear in a message.

--human judgement and volition transform plans into action ex. Drinking procedure for refusal with

religious (drinking sinful) and fitness enthusiast (drinking is unhealthy), differ,


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-if we do not have a plan for a situation, then substantial thinking is involved. Much of our

communication behavior is habitual in the sense that we prefer to place ourselves in familiar situations

cause we have communiation plans that are very dependable

--it is easier to talk if we have reliable plans.

-Ellen langers 1978-mindlessness. The idea is that people prefer to avoid cognitive activity because a

restful state is more desirable than expending effort. Thus, people prefer familiar situations because they

have already developed plans that have worked in the past. According to this analysis, much human

behavior is neither unique nor novel; it is repetitive and therefore predictable. If langer is correct, theories

of human behavior and awareness that depict people as always alert, forever thinking thinking, and

cognitively active rather than passive are suspect. This conception challenges one of the most accepted

ideas in the communication field-Berlos (1960) notion ofcommunication as process. Berlos idea is that

communication is a continual stream of unique behavior that is unrepeatable. The concepts of plans and

mindlessness suggest that such a dynamic depiction of communication may be misleading. According to

Berlos model, predicting communication seems nearly impossible. However, framework and

communiation wise may be highly predictable because it is based on places that people use and reuse,even if each situation itself is unique.

C. Transactional Nature of Communication

-communication is planned helps us recognize its a transactional process-communication involves people

sending each other messages that reflect the motivations of the participants.

-when we communicate we attempt to affect our environment. We anticipate a give and talkie in

communication an interaction of human motivations. A simple linear process ( a one-thing leads to

another description) does not adequately explain the communication situation.

-communication is a process of mutual influence in which participants motivations ineract. Often, a lineardescription does not even identify the most important menaing in a communication situation.

-the thinking of the people involved in a communication situation, their characteristic traits, the factors in

the physical and social environments, and how all these things interact are necessary for a more complete

understanding of communication in the particular situation.

-the transactional nature of communication means each communication situation is unique, to a degree. A

communication situation occurs with particular people, in particular physical and social circumstances,

and during a particular period of time.

-communication involves both the content and relationship dimensions (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson,

1967). When we communicate, we present information and points of view, and we also tell the other

person about our perceptions about the relationship. Sometimes we verbally describe the relationship

dimension; often, however, we use our tone of voice, gestures, posture, or the physical situation to carry

the relationship message. Ex: relationship message in please sleep the floor, with a job you do it cause

your boss says so, with spouses its were equals and its your turn to do the job


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-relationship messages are different depending on whom you are addressing. Sometimes there is conflict

between people not because of the content of a message but because of disagreement on the relationship

dimension. Ex: not sleeping the floor beyond authority of ur job position

D. The functions of communication

- most scholars agree on uses or functions of communication

-Roman orator Cicero to entertain, inform , and persuade ( to stimulate) is the purpose of communication

-stimulating is different than persuading for it involves changing listener from accepting to rejecting the

speakers proposal (or the reverse), while stimulating means making an approved person more supportive

of it

Clark and Delia (1979) believe there are 3 basic objectives in any communication situation.

1) Instrumental objectives-communicators goal ex: getting someone to sign a petition

2) Interpersonal objectives-forming and maintaining relationships with other people

3) Identity objectives-desired image the person want s to communicate ex: concerned citizen portray so

help less fortunate

-three objectives are not equally present in all situations

-Dance and Larsson (1976) suggest that human communication has 3 functions that are realized without

conscious effort these functions are: inherent, operating automatically for the individual. The linking

function establishes relationships between the individual and the environment.

2) Mentation functionstimulates the development higher mental processes, mental health is enhanced by

communication ex: using symbols encourage displacement, the ability to move mentally from the present

moment and cinrcumstances to the future, to the past, or to solve problemsn I nthe immediate situation by

going to a high level of abstraction.

-Selecting symbols appropriate for a given receiver causes the source to consider the perspective of the

toher, an activity which is decidedly non-egocentric. The regulatory function develops as the individual is

influenced by persons and other things in the environment.

E. The Interdisciplinary Approach to Communication

-1960s one of the most far reaching was the emergence of the behavioral science method to study

communication.

-first year comm. Was declared interdisciplinary by scholars , the borrowing of theories and treating them

as though they originated in the communication field greatly hindered theory building. Theories from

other disciplines such as psychology haven been extremely influential in the communication field.

-past 3 decades gave rise to most of the theories within this book, due to individualism in the field has

awakened

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Comm 306 Chapter 1 Notes Introduction to Studying Comm