C OMMUNICATION T HEORY

C OMMUNICATION

Communication: Process of sending and receiving

messages

Nonverbal - communicating without the use of words

Kinesics: body language

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Vocalization: sighs, groans, laughs

Eye Contact

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Touch

Proxemics (management of space)

Humans are territorial like animals

How do you react when someone is a

Close talker?

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Dance

Signs

Sign Language

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Visual Art Forms

Edvard Munchs The Scream

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Time

In American culture, time is a commodity and is equated

with attention and worthiness

Example: By showing up late, you are communicating,

You are not worth my time.

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Verbal: communication through the use of words and
includes paralanguage.
Paralanguage: The way we say our own words
(volume, stress, pitch)
Process of Symbolic Speech
The Process of Symbolic Speech is a bridge between
the speaker and listener where private ideas are made
public.
Communication is successful when the listener hears
the same message the speaker sends.
Communication breaks down if the decoded (heard)
message is different from the encoded (spoken)
message.

M ESSAGE M ODEL D IAGRAM

Sender (initiates)

Receiver

-idea

-message

-encoding

-decoding

-message

-idea

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(a)The speaker is influenced by four factors:

(1)Words known. Limited by own vocabulary

(2)Estimation of whether or not words suit his

audience (age, background, technical expertise)

(3)Assessment of social context (cursing around

friends or grandparents)

(4)Types of words associated with ideas to

communicate (Shut up, Be quiet, Settle down)

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(b) Sending Has an idea and chooses words to convey it.

(c)Message

(d)Receiving the message faces distracters (noise,

volume)

(e)Interpreting no assurance symbols will be interpreted

as the speaker intended

(f)Listener one who reacts to message conveyed. How

listener reacts is dependent upon past experiences

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M ESSAGE M ODEL (TOP OF PAGE 4)

Language is ambiguous listener must determine which

of the possible meanings of an expression is the one the
speaker intended
What the speaker is referring to is vague
Listener fails to recognize the speakers intentions
Ill be here tonight (prediction? promise? threat?)
We speak non-literally (sarcasm, euphemisms)
We speak indirectly we are communicating more than
what our words say

Did you drive today means, Can I get a ride home?

Speaker and listener do not share similar backgrounds or

experiences

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Dialectical differences

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Regional: pop or soda; hoagie, sub, or hero.

Pronunciation: water, aunt, Acme
British/American: biscuit/cookie, truck/lorry,
trunk/boot

Language is a learned shared patterned system

of arbitrary vocal symbols through which a
society interacts and communicates in terms of a
common cultural experience