Comm 1302 Ch. 1-4

Front 1

Marshall McLuhan

Back 1

shortest definition of communication, "information transportation". Can be applied to anything, aside from humans

Front 2

Aristotle

Back 2

saw communication as rhetoric

Front 3

Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson

Back 3

"a person cannot not communicate"

Front 4

transactional communication

Back 4

when encoding and decoding occur simultaneously for both the encoder and decoder

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liner communication

Back 5

a public speech, news broadcast

Front 6

feedback

Back 6

the response of the receiver to the sender

Front 7

channel

Back 7

the means through which the message is transmitted or conveyed. this involves any, possibly all, of the five human senses and includes broadcast media and print journalism as well as the vocal mechanism

Front 8

source

Back 8

the person or entity that generates the message, the sender

Front 9

receiver

Back 9

the person who perceives and assigns meaning to the message. the destination

Front 10

message

Back 10

the signs and/or symbols (verbal and nonverbal) transmitted either intentionally or unintentionally that evoke meaning for the receiver

Front 11

encoding

Back 11

the formulation and transmission of the language

Front 12

decoding

Back 12

the reception, perception, interpretation and usually evaluation of the message. meaning is created in the mind of the receiver.

Front 13

noise

Back 13

anything that interferes with the communication process. it may be physical (usually external) or psychological (internal such as daydreaming) or semantic (confusion about word meanings, or a foreign language).

Front 14

context

Back 14

the specific communication situation, scene or setting within a broader social milieu or environment

Front 15

environment

Back 15

the broader communication situation or background within which the context is located.

Front 16

abraham kaplan

Back 16

wrote the conduct of inquiry. views theories as roadmaps

Front 17

scientific attitude

Back 17

an approach to inquiry that poises itself for implementation of scientific method. consists of the statement of the problem, observations, classification of data, and generalizations

Front 18

generality

Back 18

how widely applicable a theory is

Front 19

nomic necessity

Back 19

casual relationships

Front 20

logical necessity

Back 20

internally consistent system of relationships in the theory

Front 21

practical necessity

Back 21

the amount of force to act

Front 22

laws perspective

Back 22

"all a's are b's under conditions 1, 2, and 3". ex: law of gravity, attribution theory

Front 23

systems perspective

Back 23

a then b then c then d then e then a etc. ex: ecological food chain, public speaking example

Front 24

rules perspective

Back 24

"a does b in order to bring about c". interpersonal comm has many rules perspective theories.

Front 25

functions of theories

Back 25

organize information, provides focus, summarizes, enables others to observe, provide explanation and are capable of making predictions. enable people to discover things for themselves. can challenge cultural assumptions

Front 26

systems theory

Back 26

ludwig von bertalanffy. a system is a set of parts or objects that are structured and interrelated, forming a unique whole in an environment; set apart by boundry; ususally open, not closed.

Front 27

open system

Back 27

something that has exchange with the environment. ex: humans

Front 28

closed system

Back 28

something that does not have exchange with the environment. ex: battery-operated watch

Front 29

wholeness

Back 29

the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. ex: car is better as a whole than scattered parts.

Front 30

interdependence

Back 30

each part affects another part.

Front 31

equilibrium

Back 31

systems adapt and change to achieve balance/homeostasis. the long range goal of every system is survival

Front 32

equifinality

Back 32

goal-seeking behavior of a system. maslow's hierarchy of needs provides a taxonomy ranging from basic survival skills to self-actualization. we often change our paths/behaviors in order to achieve goals. this is the notion of equifinality.

Front 33

hierarchy

Back 33

the lines of power and control as in superior/subordinate relationships. In any system, some parts are more important, more essential, than other parts.

Front 34

change/adaptability

Back 34

the system adjustments in order to survive; influenced by feedback

Front 35

exchange with the environment

Back 35

the system transforms input into output

Front 36

static structure

Back 36

closed system. "universe"

Front 37

simple dynamic

Back 37

closed system. "clock"

Front 38

cybernetic control

Back 38

closed system. "thermostat"

Front 39

self-maintenance

Back 39

open system. "the cell"

Front 40

biological

Back 40

open system. "plants"

Front 41

biological

Back 41

open system. "animals"

Front 42

human

Back 42

open system. "individual"

Front 43

social

Back 43

open system. "human organization"

Front 44

transcendental

Back 44

open system. "metaphysical"

Front 45

cybernetics

Back 45

special case of systems theory. cybernetics involves control and self-regulation via communication with an emphasis on feedback. it is distinctive from other systems because of its ability to communicate with itself, and to control and self-regulate through the effective use of feedback. ex: computerized security system, central air condiditoning.

Front 46

cybernetic mechanisms have:

Back 46

goal parameters
a control center: sensor, comparator, activator
feedback (maintain deviation)
corrective action capability

Front 47

information theory

Back 47

shannon and weaver. an early model of communication. several concepts are useful in describing the communication process: information, entropy, piece, bit, turbulence, information load

Front 48

information

Back 48

reduces uncertainty. it may involve data, process, channel, and/or outcomes/uses

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entropy

Back 49

this refers to the amount of chaos, randomness, turbulence, the degree of uncertainty

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piece

Back 50

a unit of information

Front 51

bit

Back 51

a unit of information that reduces the alternatives by half; a decision between two alternatives (binary decision)

Front 52

turbulence

Back 52

the degree of stability/instability in the environment; affects entropy

Front 53

information load

Back 53

quantity of information combined with relative difficulty in transmission; burnout may result from under load or overload

Front 54

uncertainty reduction

Back 54

people seek information to reduce uncertainty; they may also create uncertainty by the information they transmit. every situation has some degree of uncertainty

Front 55

sign

Back 55

a sign is a stimulus that has meaning for people; it may be verbal or nonverbal. represent objects, events, and conditions other than themselves.

Front 56

messages

Back 56

signs and groups of signs shaped through the human thought process

Front 57

signs have many different functions?

Back 57

2. signal and symbol

Front 58

signal

Back 58

indicates the presence of some object other than itself. it is time and context bound. ex: thunder signals lighting

Front 59

symbol

Back 59

a symbol arouses in a person a conception of an event, object, or condition; it is time and context free. ex: hieroglyphics

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coding

Back 60

process of relating signs

Front 61

semantics

Back 61

how signs relate to things-to meaning

Front 62

pragmatics

Back 62

how signs affect human behavior

Front 63

syntactics

Back 63

signs relating to other signs

Front 64

language

Back 64

language is a structured sequence of speech sounds organized through rules or syntax.

Front 65

syntactics

Back 65

words that are combined according to rules to form grammatical phrases that are combined to form sentences

Front 66

lexical level

Back 66

meaning of words and word combinations. the vocabulary of the language.

Front 67

B.F. Skinner

Back 67

language use is in accordance with the frequency with which it is reinforced.