Interpersonal Communication

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 one's 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 injunction; and he or she must have no way of escaping, either by recognizing the paradoxical nature of the message or by withdrawing from the interaction.

Empathy- The ability to spontaneously identify with another on a direct emotional level.

Stimulus- Any unit of sensory input.

Response- Any unit of behavior.

Social learning theory- Emphasis direct learning, learning that involves anticipation and imagination.

Social cognition- The study of cognitive structures and processes that influence our perceptions of people and social events.

Balance theory- We feel comfortable, or balanced, when valued others agree with us on important issues.

Congruity theory- Allows us to predict the effects of these statements; it lets us know whether these statements will damage or increase the source's credibility.

Cognitive response theory- Stresses the large part played by the receiver during the influence process.

Selective exposure- Refers to placing ourselves in or avoiding situations where we will be certain to encounter only stimuli that we want or expect to encounter.

Cognitive complexity- A persons system is greater in number of personal constructs, includes more abstract psychological categories, and has more elaborate ways of relating various constructs.

Family structures- The various working orders developed by the entire family.

Family functions- The services it provides for its members and society at large.

Evolution- Refers to how the family adapts to the developmental changes and personal needs of its members as well as to the changing social and economic