Denotative v. Connotative

Denotative-has to do with the objective meaning of a term, the meaning you would find in a dictionary.

Connotative-is the subjective or emotional meaning that specific speakers or listeners give to a word.(ex.Snarl v. Purr words)

Degrees of Abstraction

(high v. low)

Abstraction- or general concept--the word entertainment. Note that entertainment includes all the other items on the list plus various other items--television, novels, drama, comics, and so on.

(ex. Entertainment>Film>American Film>Classic American Film>Casablanca)

Purr words- (ex. "He's a sweetie")

Snarl words- (ex. "He smells like big foots' dick")

Individual v. Institutional

(sexism, racism, heterosexism, ageism)

1a. Individual racism- takes the form of negative attitudes and beliefs that people hold about specific races.

1b. Institutional racism- takes forms such as communities' de facto school segregation, companies' reluctance to hire members of minority groups, and bank' unwillingness to extend mortgages or business loans to members of some ethnic groups.. etc.

2a. Individual heterosexism- refers to attitudes, behaviors, and language that disparage gay men and lesbians, and to the belief that all sexual behavior that is not heterosexual is unnatural and deserving of criticsm...

2b. Institutional heterosexism- is easy to identify. Ex. the ban on gay marriage in many states and the fact that at this time only one state allows gay marriage.

3a.Individual ageism- is seen in the general disrespect many have for older people and in their negative stereotypes.

3b.Institutional ageism- is seen in mandatory retirement laws and age restrictions in certain occupations.

4a.Individual sexism- involves prejudicial attitudes and beliefs about men or women based on rigid beliefs about gender roles.

4b.Institutional sexism-on the other hand, results from customs and practices that discriminate against people because of their gender.

Disconfirmation- is a communication pattern in which we ignore someone's presence as well at that person's communications.

Rejection- is not the same as disconfirmation. In rejection, you disagree with the person; you indicate your unwillingness to accept something the other person says or does.

Principle of Cooperation Maxims

(Quality, Relation, Manner, Quantity)

The principle of cooperation holds that in any communication interaction, both parties will make an effort to help each other understand each  other.

Quality-Say what you know or assume to be true, and do not say what you know to be false.

Relation-Talk about what is relevant to the conversation.

Manner-Be clear, avoid ambiguities, be relatively brief, and organize your thoughts into a meaningful pattern.

Quantity-Be as informative as necessary to communicate the information.

Functions of Non Verbal Communication

(Accent, Compliment, Contridict, Regulate, Repeat, or Substitute)

Accent- Non verbal communication often serves to highlight or emphasize some part of the verbal message. (ex. slamming your fist down on a desk... when you are angry)

Complement- Nonverbal commication may add nuances of meaning not communicated by your verbal message. (ex. you might smile when you are telling a story... to suggest that you find it humorous)

Contridict- You may deliberately contradict your verbal messages with nonverbal movements... (ex. crossing your fingers or winking to indicate that you're lying)

Regulate- Movements may serve to control, or indicate your desire to control, the flow of verbal messages. (ex. when you purse your lips, lean forward, or make hand gestures to indicate that you want to speak)

Repeat- You can nonverbally restate a verbal message. (ex. Following your verbal "Is that right?" with raised eyebrows and a questioning look)

Substitute- You may also use nonverbal communication to take the place of verbal messages. (ex. you can signal "OK" with a hand gesture)

Body Messages

(Emblems, Illustrators, Affect Displays, Regulators, or Adaptors.. there are 3 adaptors)

Emblems- are body gestures that directly translate into words or phrases. (ex. the OK sign, the thumbs up for "good job", and the V for victory)

Illustrators- enhance (literally "illustrate") the verbal messages they accompany. (ex. when referring to something to the left, you might gesture toward the left)

Affect Displays- are movements of the face that communicate emotional meaning... BUT also of the hands and general body movements. (ex. smiling, frowning, your body will tense up, your posture)

Regulators- are behaviors that monitor, control, coordinate, or maintain the speech of another individual. (ex. when you nod your head... you tell the speaker to keep on speaking; when you lean foward and open your mouth.. you tell the teacher you have something to say)

Adaptors- are gestures that satisfy some personal need, such as scratching to relieve an itch or moving your hair out of your eyes.

* Self- Adaptors- are self-touching movements. (ex. rubbing your nose)

* Alter-Adaptors- are movements directed at the person with whom you're speaking. ( ex. removing lint from that persons shirt)

* Object-Adaptors- are gestures focused on objects. (ex. doodling, or shredding a styrofoam coffee cup)

Proxemic Distances

(intimate, personal, social, public)

Intimate distance- ranging from actual touching to 18 inches, the presence of the other individual is unmistakable.

Personal distance- constitutes the protective "bubble" that defines your personal space, which measures 18 inches to 4 ft.

Social distance- ranging from 4-12 feet, you lose the visual detail you have at personal distance.

Public distance- measuring from 12-25 feet or more, protects you. (At this distance you could take defensive action if threatened)

Territoriality

(primary, secondary, public)

Primary territories- are areas that you might call your own; these areas are your exclusive preserve. (ex. your room, desk, or your office)

Secondary territories- are areas that don't belong to you but which you have occupied and with which you're associated with. (ex. your usual table in the lunch room, your regular seat in the classroom)

Public territories- are areas that are open to all people; they may be owned by some person or organization, but they are used by everyone. (ex. movie theaters, restaurants, and shopping malls)

Markers

(boundary, central, ear)

Central markers- are items you place in a territory to reserve it for you. (ex. your water bottle, purse, books, etc.. at your usual seat in a classroom)

Boundary markers- serve to divide your territory from that of others. (ex. while checking out of a store, placing a bar between your stuff and the persons stuff on a conveyor belt)

Ear markers- a term taken from the practice of branding animals on their ears... are identifying marks that indicate your possession of a territory or object. (ex. Trademarks, nameplates, and initials on a shirt)

Haptics- are identified meanings of touch.

*Touch often communicates playfulness, either affectionately or aggressively.

*Touch may also control or direct the behaviors, attitudes, or feelings of another person. (ex. you may touch a person to get their attention)

*Ritual touching centers on greetings and departures, as in shaking hands to say hello or goodbye or hugging, kissing, or putting your arm around another's shoulder when greeting or saying farewell.

*Task-related touching occurs while you are performing some function. (ex. removing a speck of dust from another person's face or helping someone out of a car.

Paralanguage- is the vocal but nonverbal dimension of speech. (ex. the way you express your words... the way you stress certain words in a sentence by rate, volume, and rhythum. ALSO includes the noise you make when you yawn, cry, whisper, moan, belching, and yelling)

An especially interesting aspect of cultural time is the "social clock". Your culture, and your more specific society within that culture, maintain a schedule that dictates the right times to do a variety of important things. (ex. the right times to start dating, to finish college, to buy your own home, to have a baby)

Artifactual Communication

(Clothes, body adornments, color, etc...)

Messages that are communicated through objects and their arrangements.

Steps of a Conversation

(in order)

*Opening (ex. saying hello, how are you...)

*Feedforward (ex. haven't we met before... nice day, isn't it?)

*Business (ex. interpersonal communication, exchange of listener/speaker roles)

*Feedback- you typically reflect back on the conversation. (ex. "so, you may want to send Jack a get-well car", or "wasn't that the dullest meeting you have ever been to?")

*Closing (ex. saying goodbye, "it was good talking with you", "see ya later")

Speaker cues (2 cues)- regulate the conversation through two major types of cues: (1) turn-maintaining and (2) turn-yielding cues.

Listener cues (3 cues)- regulates the conversation vy using three types of cues: (1) turn-requesting, (2) turn-denying, and (3) backchanneling cues.

Dialogue- each person is both speaker and listener, sender and receiver.

Monologue- one person speaks and the other listens---there is no real interaction between participants.

Immediacy- has to do with the joining of speaker and listener; it's the creation of a sense of togetherness, of oneness. (ex. both conveying a sense of interest and attention, a liking for and an attraction to the other person)

Stages of Relationship Development

(six stages)

*Contact- 2 kinds of contact- Perceptual (see, smell, hear), and Interactional (exchange "hellos" and basic info)

*Involvement- sense of mutuality, of being connected, develops. The stage where you "TEST" the other person.

*Intimacy- The stage where you commit yourself further to the other person and establish a relationship in which this individual becomes your best for closest friend, lover, or companion.

*Deterioration- is characterized by a weakening of the bonds between friends or lovers. Catagorized in 2 phases, which are:

*Intrapersonal dissatisfaction: you begin to experience person dissatisfaction with everday interactions and bgein to view the future with your partner more negatively.

*Interpersonal dissatisfaction: you withdraw and grow further and further apart. You share less of your free time. When you're together, there are awkward silences, etc...

*Repair- some relational partners may pause during deterioration and try to repair their relationship. Others, however, may progress--without stopping, without thinking---to dissolution. Catagorized in 2 phases, which are:

*Intrapersonal repair- you (alone) analyze what went wrong and consider ways of solving your relational difficulties.

*Interpersonal repair- you might discuss with your partner the problems in the relationship, the changes you want to see, and perhaps what you'd be willing to do and what you'd want your partner to do.

*Dissolution- The last stage in the relationship model, involves cutting the bonds that tie you together. TWO PHASES:

*Interpersonal separation: you move into your own apartments and begin to lead separate lives. If it works well then you move to social or public separation.

*Social/Public separation: Avoidance of each other and a return to a "single" status are among the primary characteristics of the dissolution of a relationship.

*Eros- seeks beauty and sensuality and focuses on physical attractiveness, and sometimes to the exclusion of qualities we might consider more important and more lasting.

*Pragma- is practical and traditional and seeks compatibility and a relationship in which important needs and desires will be satisfied.

*Ludus- seeks entertainment and excitement and sees love as fun, as game.

*Agapa- is compassionate and selfless.

*Storge- is a peaceful and tranquil love.

*Mania- is an obsessive love that needs to give and recieve constant attention and affection.

Social Penetration Theory

(2 details)

Social penetration theory- is a theory not of why relationships develop but of what happens when they do develop; it describes the relationships in terms of the number of topics that people talk about and their degree of "personalness".

Breadth- a relationship that has to do with the number of topics you and your partner talk about.

Depth- a relationship that involves the degree to which you penetrate the inner personality---the core---of the other individual.

Friendship- identifies three major types: friendships of reciprocity, receptivity, and association.

Reciprocity- the ideal type, is characterized by loyalty, self-sacrifice: mutual affection, and generosity.

Receptivity- in contrast, there is an imbalance in giving and recieving; one person is the primary giver and the other the primary receiver. This is a positive imbalance, however, because each person gains something from the relationship.

Association- is transitory; it might be described as a friendly relationship rather than a true friendship. (ex. Classmates, neighbors, coworkers)

Intrapersonal v. Interpersonal

Repair

*Intrapersonal Repair- consider ways of solving your relational difficulties with yourself

*Interpersonal Repair- consider ways of solving your relational difficulties with another person

Workplace relationships, especially workplace romances, provide a unique perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of relationships.

*Competing- I WIN, you lose

*Avoiding- i lose, you lose

*Collaborating- i lose, YOU WIN

*Accommodating- I WIN, YOU WIN

*Compromising- I WIN and lose, YOU WIN and lose

Verbal aggressiveness- is a method of winning an argument by inflicting psychological pain, by attacking the other person's self-concept.

Argumentativeness- refers to your willingness to argue for a point of view, you tendency to speak your mind on significant issues. Preferred alternative to verbal aggressiveness.

Content- Disagreement that addresses issues external to the relationship and that does not challenge the agreed-upon interpersonal relationship between the conflicting partners.(ex. fighting about a movie, what to watch on t.v., the fairness of the last examination, or job promotion)

Relationship- Here the conflicts are concerned not so much with external objects as with the relationship between individuals---with issues like who is in charge, how equal are the members in a primary relationship, or who has the right to set down rules of behavior.

Defensiveness

(clue: the "actions")

The type of talk that generally proves destructive and sets up defensive reactions in the listener is talk that is: 

*Evaluation- when you evaluate or judge another person or what that person has done. Evaluative YOU-messages v. Descriptive I-messages

*Control- When you try to control the behavior of the other person, when you order the other person to do this or that, or when you make decisions without mutual discussion and agreement, defensiveness is a likely response. 

*Strategy- when you use strategy and try to get around other people or situations through manipulation---especially when you conceal your true purposes---others are likely to resent it and to respond defensively. But when you act openly and with spontaneity, you create an atmosphere that is equal and honest.

*Neutrality- in the sense of indifference or a lack of caring for the other person---it's likely to create defensivness. Shows a lack of empathy.

*Superiority- when you present youself as superior to the other person, you're in effect putting the other person in an inferior position, and this is likely to be resented.

Relationship groups- socialogists call these primary groups. These are groups in which you participate early in life. (ex. your immediate family, your group of friends at school, and perhaps your neighbors)

Task groups- socialogists call these secondary groups. They are groups formed to accomplish something. Some groups are put together to solve a specific problem. (ex. a committee member, select a textbook, or serve on a graduate student's dissertation committee)

Small Group Formats

(includes 5 groups)

*Round Table- group members arrange themselves in a circular or semicircular pattern. They share information or solve a problem with out any set pattern of who speaks when.

*Panel- is similar to the roundtable; however, panel participants are "experts".

*Symposium- consists of a series of prepared presentations much like public speeches. All speeches address aspects of a single topic. 

*Symposium-Forum- consists of prepared speeches and a forum consisting largely of questions and comments from the audience and responses from the speakers.

*Forum- A forum consists of Q & A. Back and forth from speaker to listener

Focus Groups

(primarily used for research)

a kind of in-depth interview of a small group. The aim here is to discover what people think about an issue or product. (ex. what do mean between 18 and 25 think of the new aftershave lotion and its packaging? What do young executives earning more that $70,000 think of buying foreign luxury cars?)

1. Define and Analyze the Problem

2. Establish Criteria for Evaluating Solution

3. Identify Possible Solution

4. Evaluate Solutions

5. Select best solution(s)

6. Test selected solution(s)---->Try again, or OUT

*Nominal Group- a technique that is a method of problem solving that uses limited discussion and confidential voting to obtain a group decision (ex. In the show Biggest Loser... voting to eliminate a person that fell below the yellow line)

*Delphi- utilizes a group of experts, but there is no interaction among them; instead, they communicate by repeatedly responding to questionnaires.

*Quality Circles- are groups of 6 to 12 workers (usually) whose task it is to investigate and make recommendations for improving the quality of some organizational function.

Member Roles- divide members' roles into three general classes.

*Group Task Roles- help the group focus on achieving its goals. Effective group members serve several roles.

-The information seeker or giver or the opinion seeker or giver

-The evaluator-critic

*Group Building & Maintenance Roles- No group can be task oriented at all times. Group members have varied interpersonal relationships, and these need to be nourished if the group is to function effectively.

-The encourager or harmonizer

-The compromiser

-The follower

*Individual Roles- COUNTERproductive. They hinder the group from achieving its goal and are individual rather than group oriented.

-The aggressor or blocker

-The recognition seeker and the self-confessor

-The dominator

*Be group oriented

*Center conflict on issues

*Be critically open minded

*Ensure understanding

*Beware of groupthink

*Traits- views the leader as the one who possesses those characteristics or skills that contribute to leadership.

*Functional- focuses on what the leader should do in a given situation and setting up group goals, giving members direction.

*Transformational- a "transformational" leader also called visionary/charismatic, who evaluates the group's members, enabling them not only to accomplush the group task but also to emerge as more empowered individuals.

*Situational- holds that the effective leader adjusts his or her emphasis between task accomplishment and member satisfaction on the basis of the specific group situation.

*Telling- most appropriate for the group lacking both task and relationship maturity, is highly directive; the leader, who is significantly more knowledgeable or more powerful than the members.

*Selling- is both directive and supportive. The leader using this style sometimes called coaching, tries to sell the members on the task to be accomplished, much as a coach would energize and motivate a team before a big game.

*Delegating- often used with mature and knowledgable groups, is low in both direction and support.

*Participating- is nondirective and highly supportive; the leader's focus is almost entirely on member satisfaction and member relationships.

• Leaders Prepare Members and Start Interaction
• Leaders Maintain Effective Interaction
• Leaders Guide Members through the Agreed-on Agenda
• Leaders Ensure Member Satisfaction
• Leaders Empower Group Members
  

Provides an especially useful perspective on thinking critically in the small group situation. In groupthink agreement among members becomes extremely important---so important that it tends to shut out realistic and logical analysis of a problem or of possible alternatives.

The term groupthink itself is meant to signal a "deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures"