Human Communication

A HYBRID

... teaches ...
PRINCIPLES & SKILLS

Communication HYBRID

• Interpersonal Communication
• Small-group Communication
• Public Communication
• Organisational Communication
• Mediated Communication
• Mediated Communication

TERMINOLOGY

• Student-Centred Approach
• Cooperative and Collaborative Learning
• Critical Thinking
• Finding and Evaluating Information
• Coomunicating Ethically
• Undestanding Diversity
• Using Technology
• Using Visualisation

INTRO TO HUMAN COMN

Why Study Communication?

• essential
• central
• solve problem
• improve relationship
• consequential
• ubiquitous

7 Reasons

• Reason # 1- help improve the way we see ourselves
• "vital to the development of the whole person"
• Morealle, Osborn, & Pearson, 2000, p.4
• Ford & Wolving, 1993 - 344 respondents - perceived their communication competence to be better in the class, at work and social settings - feeling confidence; feeling comfortable with others perception of them; reasoning better with people; using language appropriately

7 Reasons

• Reason # 2 - Help improve the way others see you
• People like communicating with others who can communicate well.

7 Reasons

• Reason # 3 - Learn more about human relations
• Trust, Intimacy & Reciprocity
• Rubin, Perse, & Barbato, 1988 - Baby thrives when they are touched and when hear sounds; similarly in adult - human in isolation vs in social contact.
• Egeci & Genco, 2006 - People who have communication skills expereince greater relational satisfaction
• Ireland, Sanders, & Markie-Dodds, 2003 - Training in communication skills reported greater relationship satisfaction - the link is strong
• The link hold true in heath context (Dutta-Bergman, 2005) including where family members experiencing life-threatening illness (Manne et.al., 2006

7 Reasons

• Reason # 4 - Learn important life skills
• Critical Thinking
• Problem solving
• decision making
• conflict resolutiuon
• team nuilding
• media literacy
• public speaking
• You'll be using some of these skills in the future - Allen, Berkowitz, Hunt, and Louden (1999)

7 reasons

• Reason # 5 - help you exercise freedom of speech

7 Reasons

• Reason # 6 - help you succeed professionally

7 Reasons

• Reason # 7 - help navigate an increasingly diverse world

DEFINITION

COMMUNICATION: The Process of Using Messages to Generate Meaning

PROCESS?

COMPONENT of COMMUNICATION

1. PEOPLE

• 2 Roles
• Source & Receiver
• A SOURCE initiates the message
• The RECEIVER is the intended target of the message
• Simultaneously & Continually

2. THE MESSAGE

• Verbal & Nonverbal
• thought, Idea & Feeling
• The CONTENT of the interaction
• include SYMBOLS - words & phrases
• facial expression; bodily movements; gestures; physical contacts; tone of voice; other nonverbal codes
• Intentional OR Unintentional
• REAL COMMUNICATION

3. THE CHANNEL

• the MEAN by which a message move from the source to the receiver
• MEDIUM or CHANNEL
• airwaves; sound waves; twisted copper wires; glass fibers; cables
• computer images via light waves

4. FEEDBACK

• verbal & nonverbal
• response to the source's message
• no response or silence is a feedback

5. CODE

• A computer carries messages via binary code on cable, wire, or fiber
• Similarly, we converse with others using a code called "language"
• A CODE is a systematic arrangement of symbols used to create meanings in the mind of another person or persons
• Words, phrases, sentences, become 'symbols' that are used to evoke images, thoughts, and ideas, in the mind of others
• Verbal Codes - symbols & grammatical arrangement
• Nonverbal Codes - symbols that are not words
• Don't confuse nonoral codes with nonverbal codes

6. ENCODING & DECODING

6. Encoding & Decoding

• Encoding - the process of traslating the idea or thought into a code

7. NOISE

7. NOISE

• Noise can be physical; loud sound, distracting sights, i.e. a piece of food in front of someone's front teeth; unusual behaviour - when someone stand too close for comfort
• Noise can be mental, psychological, semantic; daydream about loved ones, worry about the bills, pain from a tooth, or uncertainty about what the other person's word mean
• Anything that INTERFERES with receiving, interpreting or providing feedback about a message

COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES

1. Begins with the Self

How do you see yourself?

• How you see yourself can make a great difference in how you communicate.

HOW DO WE TREAT OTHERS?

• "Every individual exists in a continually changing world of experience of which he (she) is the center" - Carl Rogers, p. 483
• When people are treated as though they are inferior, or intelligent, or gifted, or unattractive; they will often begin to acting accordingly
• Many communication scholars and social scientists believe that people are products of how others treat them and of the messages others send them.

LIMITED BY OUR EXPERIENCE

• As a person, our understanding of the world is limited by our experiences with it.
• "We cannot understand communication through external, abstract, and systematic process" - Shotter, 2000
• 'Communication as a "ceaseless flow of speech-entwined, dialogically structured, social activity" - p.119
• Communication is PARTICIPATORY; we are actively involved and relationally responsive in our use of communication

2. Involves Others

THE ORIGIN OF SELF

• The self originates in communication - George Herbert Mead (1967)
• A child learns to accept roles in response to the expectation of others - through Verbal & Nonverbal symbols.
• We establish 'self-image' the sort of person we believe we are, by ways others categorise us
• Positive, negative, and neutral messages we received from others, all play a role in determining who we are.
• Communication is a dialogic process.

Communication is a dialogic process.

• A DIALOGUE is simply the act of taking part in a conversation, discussion, or negotiation.
• When we describe, explain our communicative exchanges with others, we are doing so from a perspective of self and from a perspective derived from interacting with others

FOR FUTHER READING:

• see Czubaroff, 2000
• Our understanding of communication occur not in vacuum but in light of our interactions with other people

3. CONTENT & RELATIONAL

DIMENSIONS OF A MESSAGE

• ALL messages has a CONTENT and a RELATIONAL DIMENSION
• ... provide SUBSTANCE
• ... suggest a RELATIONSHIP among communicators
• The content of the message describes the behaviour that is expected.

IN ANOTHER WORDS...

• The content of the message describes the behaviour that is expected.
• The relational message suggests how it should be interpreted
• "Sit down!" VS "Would you care to be seated"
• A Request + Authority VS the same message - a request + a far relational difference
• The content of a message is LESS AMBIGUOUS than the relational message

4. COMPLICATED

MORE THAN A SIMPLE INFORMATION TRANSMISSION

• the material may be far more complex; in a language we don't understand
• a message can be repeated without understanding the intent, or content of the message
• involves choice of multiple aspects of a message; verbal, nonverbal, surrounding the transmission channels used, characteristics of the speaker; the relationship between the speaker and the audience; the characteristics of the audience; the situation in which the communication occurs;
• A change in any one of these variables affects the entire communication process

5. QUANTITY does not relate to QUALITY

What we need is more communication?

• more harmony?
• more shared meaning?
• more conflict?
• Poor listening?
• Poor empathy?
• More misunderstanding?
• Communication, defined simply as verbiage, does not necessarily lead to positive outcomes.

6. INEVITABLE, IRREVERSIBLE & UNREPEATABLE

We are in constant communication

• with ourselves
• thinking
• planning
• reacting to the world around us
• observing others
• drawing inferences from their behaviours
• draw specific conclusions
• Yawn - the person is bored or sleepy or tired
• the person looked away - Oh! he's not interested in what I have to say...
• We are constantly behaving in ways that have communicative values...

7. CANNOT BE REVERSED

IRREVERSIBLE

• accidently insulted someone
• say sorry
• try to explain or make a joke
• NONETHELESS; the words lingers in your mind and the mind of the person who got insulted
• IRREVERSIBLE: Be more careful in our communication in the future
• Take more time to prepare
• We cannot go back in time and erase our words / messages to others

8. CANNOT BE REPEATED

UNREPEATABLE

• cannot "Let's do it again!"
• Cannot relive the moment
• Cannot re-create the ambiance, the conversation the setting
• ALL bring different result
• CANNOT REPEAT THE COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION CONTEXT

• Intrapersonal Communication
• Interpersonal Communication
• Public Communication
• Mass Communication
• Computer-Mediated Communication

1. Intrapersonal

• the process of using messages to generate meaning within the self
• within our own mind

2. Interpersonal

• Communication that involves two or more persons
• allows both speaking and listening
• mutual opprtunties
• Dyadic & small-group communication are two subsets of interpersonal communication
• Dyadic communication is simply two-person communication
• Small-group communication is the process of using messages to generate meaning in a small group of people (Brilhart & Galanes, 1998)

3. Public Communication

• the process of using messages to generate meanings in a situation in which a single source transmits a message to a number of receivers, who give nonverbal and sometimes questions-and-answer feedback
• Public communication, or public speaking, is recognised by its formality, structure, and planning.
• Public speaking most often informs, persuades, but it can also entertain, introduce, announce, welcome, or pay tribute

5. Mass Communication

• the process of using messages to generate meanings in a mediated system, between a source and a large number of unseen receivers - always has some transmission system (mediator) between the sender and the receiver

6. CMC

• Computer-Mediated Communication
• includes human communication and information shared through communication networks.
• requires digital literacy - the ability to find, evaluate, and use information that is available via computer

THE END