Question | Answer |
The verbal utterances and nonverbal behaviors to which meaning is attributed during communication | Messages |
The thoughts in one person’s mind as well as interpretations one makes of another’s messages | meanings |
Are words, sounds, and actions that seek to represent specific ideas and feelings | symbols |
The process of putting our thoughts and feelings into words and nonverbal cues. | encoding |
The process of interpreting another’s message | decoding |
The setting in which communication occurs including what precedes and follows what is said | context |
The location, the environmental conditions, the distance between the communicators, seating arrangement and time of day | physical context |
The nature of the relationship that already exists between participants | social context |
The background provided by previous communication episodes between participants | historical context |
The moods and feelings that each brings to the interpersonal encounter | psychological context |
The values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in society | cultural context |
Both the route traveled by the message an the means of transportation | channels |
Any stimulus that interferes with the process of sharing meaning | noise |
Includes sights, sounds, and other stimuli that might draw away attention | physical noise |
Internal distractions based on thoughts, feelings, or emotional reactions to symbols | psychological noise |
Refers to the thoughts and feelings that compete for attention | internal noise |
Refers to the distractions aroused by certain symbols that take our attention away from the main message. The “girl’ in the office might actually refer to a 40 year old woman. | semantic noise |
The reactions and response to messages that indicate to the sender how the message was heard, seen and interpreted | feedback |
Informal interaction among a small number of people who have relationships with each other | interpersonal communication setting |
Characterized by participants who come together for the specific purpose of solving a problem or arriving at a decision | problem solving group settings |
Participants deliver a prepared message to a group or audience | public speaking settings |
Characterized by participants who do not share a physical context but communicate through the use of technology | electronically mediated communication settings |
Involves communication by way of an electronic network but does not involve real time | e-mail |
Online communication that allows two or more participants to communicate in real time | instant messaging |
Sending messages by way of mobile phone | text messaging |
Electronic mailing lists | listservs |
Web based forums designed for interactive message exchange between two or more people logged into the same room | chat rooms |
Are online journals housed on a website | weblogs or blogs |
Web based sites where a group of people can interact in real time by playing games | online games |
Spoken without much conscious thought | spontaneous expressions |
Phrasings that we have learned from past communication encounters and deem appropriate for the current situation | scripted communication |
Messages put together with careful thought | constructed messages |
Is the degree of liking or attractiveness in a relationship | immediacy |
The degree to which one participant is perceived to be more dominant or powerful | control |
Systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people | culture |
A set of moral principles that may be held by a society, a group or an individual | ethics |
Refraining from deception of any kind | truthfulness and honesty |
A choice involving unsatisfactory alternatives | moral dilemma |
Maintaining a consistency of belief and action (keeping promises) | integrity |
Achieving the right balance of interests without regard to one’s feelings and being free from bias | fairness |
Showing regard or consideration for others and their ideas | respect |
Being accountable for one’s actions and what one says | responsibility |
The impression that communicative behavior is both appropriate and effective in any given situation | communication competence |
Goal oriented actions that we can master and repeat in appropriate situations | skills |
The perception of the speaker’s knowledge, trustworthiness and warmth | credibility |
Communication without anxiety or nervousness | social ease |
The process of selectively attending to information and assigning meaning to it | perception |
A set of characteristics used to differentiate some things from others | pattern |
Assigning meaning to information | interpret |
Your self identity | self concept |
Your over all evaluation of your competence and personal worthiness | self esteem |
A pattern of learned behaviors that people use to meet the perceived demands of a particular context | role |
The internal process of observing and regulating your own behaviors based on your analysis of the situation and others’ responses to you | self monitoring |
The gap between our inaccurate self-perceptions and reality | incongruence |
Events that happen as the result of being foretold, expected or talked about | self-fulfilling prophecies |
The internal conversations we have with ourselves | self talk |
The process of monitoring the social environment to learn more about self and others | uncertainty reduction |
Assumptions people have developed about which physical characteristics and personality traits or behaviors are associated with another | implicit personality theories |
To generalize and perceive that a person has a whole set of characteristics when you have actually observed only one characteristic, trait, or behavior | halo effect |
Attributions that cover up individual differences and ascribe certain characteristics to an entire group of people | stereotypes |
A rigid attitude that is based on group membership and predisposes an individual to feel, think or act in a negative way toward another person or group. | prejudice |
A negative action toward a social group or its members on account of group membership | discrimination |
Reasons we give for others’ behaviors | attributions |
A message that reflects your understanding of the meaning of another person’s nonverbal behavior | perception check |
A body of symbols and the systems for their use in messages that are common to the people of the same speech community | language |
A group of people who speak the same language | speech community |
Symbols used by a speech community to represent objects, ideas and feelings | words |
A theory claiming that language influences perception | sapir-whorf hypothesis |
The direct, explicit meaning a speech community formally gives a word. | denotation |
The feelings or evaluations we associate with a word | connotation |
The position of a word in a sentence and the words around it | syntactic context |
Cultures in which messages are direct, specific and detailed | low context culture |
Cultures in which messages are indirect, general and ambiguous | high context culture |
Use words of empathy and support, emphasize concrete and personal language, and show politeness and tentativeness in speaking | feminine styles of language |
Use words of status and problem solving, emphasize abstract and general language, and show assertiveness and control in speaking | masculine styles of language |
Words that clarify meaning by narrowing what is understood from a general category to a particular item or group within that category | specific words |
Words that appeal to the senses and help us see, hear, smell, taste or touch | concrete words |
Words that narrow a larger category | precise words |
Wording that is full of life, vigorous, bright and intense | vivid wording |
A direct comparison of dissimilar things | simile |
A comparison that establishes a figurative identity between objects being compared | metaphor |
The weight or importance given to certain words or ideas | emphasis |
Specifying the time or time period that a fact was true or known to be true | dating information |
The mental and verbal practice of acknowledging the presence of individual differences when voicing generalizations | indexing generalizations |
Choosing language and symbols that are adapted to the needs, interests, knowledge, and attitudes of the listeners and avoiding language that alienates | speaking appropriately |
Technical terms understood only by select groups | jargon |
Informal vocabulary used by particular groups in society | slang |
Using words that may apply to only one sex, race or other group as though they represent everyone | generic language |
Terms are changed because of the sex, race or other characteristic of the individual | nonparallel language |
The addition of sex, race, age, or other designations to a description | marking |
Bodily actions and vocal qualities that typically accompany a verbal message | nonverbal behaviors |
The interpretation of body motions used in communication | kinesics |
Movements of our hands, arms, and fingers that we use to describe or emphasize | gestures |
Gestures that augment a verbal message | illustrators |
Gestures that substitute for words | emblems |
Gestures that respond to a physical need | adaptors |
How and how much we look at people with whom we are communicating | eye contact or gaze |
The arrangement of facial muscles to communicate emotional states or reactions to messages | facial expressions |
Typed symbols that convey emotional aspects of an online message | emoticons |
The position and movement of the body | posture |
Posture in relation to another person | body orientation |
The interpretation of touch | haptics |
The interpretation of the message based on the paralinguistic features | vocalics |
The voiced but not verbal part of a spoken message | paralanguage |
The highness or lowness of the vocal tone | pitch |
The loudness or softness of the tone | volume |
The speed at which a person speaks | rate |
The sound of a person’s voice | quality |
The variety, melody or inflection in one’s voice | intonation |
Extraneous sounds or words that interrupt the fluent speech | vocalized pauses |
The interpretation of a person’s use of space | proxemics |
The distance you try to maintain when you interact with other people | personal space |
The physical environment over which you exert control | physical space |
Objects and possessions we use to decorate the physical space we control | artifacts |
Round and heavy body type | endomorph |
Muscular and athletic body type | mesomorph |
Lean and little muscle development | ectomorph |
The interpretation of a person’s use of time | chronemics |
A time orientation that emphasizes doing one thing at a time | monochronic time orientation |
A time orientation that emphasizes doing multiple things at once | polychronic time orientation |