Interpersonal Communication
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Vocabulary Terms
Communicative competence-
The ability to communicate in a personally effective and socially appropriate manner.
Message competence-
The ability to make message choices that others can comprehend as well as to respond to the message choice of others.
Intrapersonal comm.-
Communication that a person has with him or herself. This is often regarded as “self communication”
Interpersonal comm.-
Communication between two people, generally on face-to face interaction.
Relational competence-
The ability to process and create messages that convey the type of relationship assumed or desired by a communicator at a given moment.
Self-esteem-
A sense of ones own dignity or worth.
Dialectic approach-
Dialogues between opposing “voices”, each expressing a different and contradictory impulse.
Relationshipping-
The process of building healthy relationships.
Interdependence-
A reciprocal relation between interdependent entities.
Self-fulfilling prophecy-
Involves both perception and behavior.
Role-
The characteristic and expected social behavior of an
individual
Role rigidity-
This occurs when a role takes over ones identity.
Social comparison theory-
Is the idea that individuals learn about and assess themselves by comparison with other people.
Self-perception theory-
Maintains that one way we learn about who we are is through self-observation.
Self-concept-
Developing a sense of individuality and a personal communication style.
Liking-
Feelings which are expressed through non-verbal communication.
Accenting-
Refers to nonverbals that underline or focus attention on a specific word or phrase.
Repeating-
A nonverbal message to help the receiver process the total message.
Substituting-
Occurs when we avoid a verbal response altogether and use a non-verbal response in its place.
Contradicting-
Occurs when nonverbal messages are contrary to verbal messages.
Regulating-
Occurs when nonverbal codes regulate the flow of talk.
Proxemics-
The study of the cultural, behavioral, and sociological aspects of spatial distances between individuals
Territoriality-
legal or assumed ownership of space.
Personal space-
Used to describe an imaginary bubble extending out from our bodies, an area considered to be almost as private as the body itself.
Kinesics-
The study of body movements such as gestures, posture, and head, trunk, and limb movements.
Equilibrium theory-
Presents one explanation of how the various nonverbal codes interact.
Symbol-
Are units of meaning that are arbitrary and conventional.
Semantics-
Of or relating to meaning, especially meaning in language
Denotative meanings-
The meaning that was agreed upon when the language code was constructed.
Connotative meaning-
Private, often emotionally charged meaning.
Linguistic determinism-
Language determines the way we interpret the world.
Instrumental talk-
When we are acting instrumentally, we are attempting to achieve a specific goal, trying to get something done through talk.
Content messages-
Conveys the explicit topic of a message, it consists of the ideas or feelings the speaker is trying to share.
Relational message-
Messages about relationship themselves.
Relational culture-
When two people develop common orientations and behaviors.
Relational themes-
States that we communicate about the following issues; dominance-submission, emotional arousal, composure, similarity, formality, task-social orientation, and intimacy.
Double blind-
The relationship between two people involved must be in intense and important one; the “victim” must be presented with a contradictory