1. Chapter 1: First look at the communication
1.1. Focus Questions:
1.1.1. The Value (Benefit) of Studying Communication
1.1.1.1. Personal life and identity: Positive cheerful messages from friends, neighbors, or even strangers affect our happiness and promotes health.
1.1.1.2. Civic life: citizens in a democracy must be able to express ideas and evaluate the ethical and logical strength of communication by public figures
1.1.1.3. Professional Life: 75% of engineers and 71% of human resource professionals said that communication skills had consequences for their career advancement. Executives in large companies report that employees who are poor communicators are expensive: 14% of each work week is wasted because of poor communication.
1.1.2. Defining Communication
1.1.2.1. Communication is a systemic process in which people interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings.
1.1.2.2. Process: it is ongoing and dynamic.
1.1.2.3. System: interrelated parts that affect one another. A family or a school is a system. An open system affects and is affected by outside factors and processes.
1.1.2.4. Systems seek a state of equilibrium, or homeostasis. For example: Families create routines Groups generate norms Online communities develop conventions Cultures generate rituals and traditions
1.1.2.5. Meanings: The significance we bestow on phenomena, or what they signify to us.
1.1.2.6. Content level of meaning contains the literal message.
1.1.2.7. Relationship level of meaning expresses the relationship between communicators.
1.1.2.8. For example: How was your day today?
1.1.2.9. Your mother is asking
1.1.2.10. Your good friend is asking
1.1.2.11. Will your answer vary based on relationship
1.1.3. Models of Communication
1.1.3.1. Linear, or Transmission Model: one person acts on another person. “Noise” is anything that interferes with the intended meaning. Information Source>Transmitter>Receiver>Destination ~Noise~ Message> Signal> Received Signal>Message Sender>>Message>>Receiver
1.1.3.2. Interactive model: Same model but adds a feedback loop where the receiver gives the sender feedback.
1.1.3.3. Transactional Model: Adds the feature of time and depicts communication as varying, not constant. Senders and receivers are now communicators over time sharing a process within a system or context.
1.1.4. Careers in Communication
1.1.4.1. Research: How does communication work or fail to work?
1.1.4.2. Education: High school and university teaching jobs.
1.1.4.3. Nonprofit Sector: Police, social workers, nurses, doctors need to communicate with their constituency, clients, patients, etc.
1.1.4.4. Mass Communication: Journalism, Broadcasting, Public Relations, and Advertising jobs.
1.1.4.5. Training and consulting.
1.1.4.6. Human Relations and Management
1.1.4.7. Sales and Marketing functions.
1.1.5. Discussion Questions
1.1.5.1. Which model best describes and explains communication in our class?
1.2. What are the benefits of studying communication?
1.3. How is Communication defined?
1.4. What communication processes and skills are relevant in all contexts?
1.5. How do different models represent the process of human communication?
1.6. What careers are open to people with strong backgrounds in communications?
2. Chapter 2: The Communication Field from Historical and Contemporary Perspective
2.1. Discuss questions
2.1.1. History of the Communication Field
2.1.1.1. Classical Roots: Rhetoric and Democratic Life
2.1.1.2. Art of Rhetoric (born ~ mid-400 B.C.E. in Syracuse on the island of Sicily) Corax taught citizens how to develop and present persuasive arguments in court. He taught the people how to structure speeches, build arguments, and refute the arguments of others.
2.1.1.3. Plato (428-348 B.C.E.)was suspicious of rhetoric because he recognized the possibility of misusing rhetoric to manipulate and deceive.
2.1.1.4. Liberal Education: Rhetoric was viewed as a practical art for giving effective public speeches was valuable. In the 1800s and 1900s in the USA, rhetoric was taught as a practical art that prepared people for responsible participation in civic life. In the early 1900s at the University of Chicago, philosopher John Dewey realized that to have any impact on cultural life, progessive thinking must be communicated. (President Obama lectured at the University of Chicago Law School.)
2.1.1.5. National Communication Association (NCA), 7000 members from 20 countries. Quantitative research orientation.
2.1.1.6. International Communication Association (ICA), 3000 members. Qualitative research orientation.
2.1.2. The 5 Canons of Rhetoric (taught by Aristotle)
2.1.2.1. Invention: The art of discovering ideas for speaking and arguments, or proofs to support claims and increase a speaker’s credibility.
2.1.2.2. Organization: The art of arranging ideas clearly and effectively to enhance a speaker’s credibility.
2.1.2.3. Style: The art of speaking well with grace, clarity, and vitality.
2.1.2.4. Memory: The art of familiarizing oneself with the content of one’s speech so that one’s energies can be devoted to delivery and interaction with listeners.
2.1.2.5. Delivery: The art of presenting a speech effectively and credibly.
2.1.3. The 3 Pillars of Persuasion
2.1.3.1. Ethos: Is the speaker credible, trustworthy, expert, and good willed?
2.1.3.2. Pathos: Does the speaker appeal to the listeners’ emotions?
2.1.3.3. Logos: Does the speaker use correct logic and reasoning?
2.1.3.4. [Sophists took a different approach to rhetoric. They viewed truth as relative and encouraged speakers to adjust their ideas to specific contexts and listeners in order to move audiences.]
2.1.4. Communication, Power, and Empowerment
2.1.4.1. Michel Foucault, French philosopher in the 1970s, was concerned with who is and who is not allowed to speak in a society. He showed the ways in which culturally entrenched rules define who gets to speak, to whom we listen, and whose views are counted as important.
2.1.4.2. Current faculty research and teach about how new technologies affect personal relationships and reshape societies, how organizational cultures and practices affect employees’ productivity and job satisfaction, and how national trends, such as downsizing and outsourcing, affect workers on the job and in their personal lives.
2.1.5. Conducting Research in Communication
2.1.5.1. Quantitative Research
2.1.5.1.1. Numerical data are analyzed using descriptive statistics
2.1.5.1.2. Data is gathered through surveys, instruments, questionnaires, or interviews.
2.1.5.1.3. Data is generated through experiments where independent variables affect dependent variables.
2.1.5.2. Qualitative Research
2.1.5.2.1. Non-numerical data are gathered, such as meanings of experience, functions of rituals in organizational life, and user feelings of online communications.
2.1.5.2.2. Analytical methods: Textual analysis, ethnography, and historical research.
2.1.6. Breadth of the Communication Field
2.1.6.1. Intrapersonal Communication: Communication with ourselves, or self-talk, or thinking, as it relies on language to name and reflect on ideas. My self-talk example: “I am never given more than I can handle.” “I choose to be a force for good in the world.”
2.1.6.2. Interpersonal Communication: A continuum that ranges from quite impersonal to highly personal interactions. Research shows that intimate partners who listen sensitively and talk openly have the greatest chance of sustaining a close relationship over time
2.1.6.3. Group and Team Communications: Decision-making committees, work teams, etc.
2.1.6.4. Public Communications: Public Speaking, speaking as part of a job: sales representative, lawyer, teacher, plumber, speech writers and givers, politicians, etc.
2.1.6.5. Organizational Communications: management, workers, and companies communicating.
2.1.6.6. Mass Communications: TV, radio, etc.
2.1.6.7. Personal and Social Media: How will new technologies change how we think and work and how we form, sustain, and end relationships? Can we learn how to evaluate the abundance of information critically and transform raw information into knowledge?
2.1.6.8. Intercultural Communication: As more immigrants arrive in Vietnam or Ho Chi Minh City, they bring their cultural values and styles of communicating that are different from long term HCMC residents. What are the communications norms in HCMC? Describe an incident with an outsider violated a norm.
2.1.7. Unifying Themes in the Communication Field
2.1.7.1. Symbolic Activities: A smile is a symbol of friendliness. “Bill Rhyne” is my name and a symbol for me.
2.1.7.2. Meaning: The human world is a world of meaning. For example, food symbolizes many things, such as an expression of love or caring. Meals can symbolize status, romance, personal struggle to lose weight, or an excuse to hang out with a friend.
2.1.7.3. Ethics: What are the moral principles or codes of conduct when communicating? Should you tell a lie or tell the truth?
2.1.8. Discussion Question
2.1.8.1. What major changes do you anticipate in Vietnam in the next 50 years?
2.1.8.2. What kinds of changes in the field of communication might be prompted by the social changes you anticipate?
2.2. In what context did the study and teaching of communication begin?
2.3. What methods do communication scholars use to conduct research?
2.4. What areas of study and teaching constitute the discipline of communications today?
2.5. What themes unify areas of study within the field of communications?
3. Chapter 3: Perceiving and Understanding
3.1. Key Questions
3.1.1. The Perception Process
3.1.1.1. Perception is the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting people, objects, events, situations, and activities.
3.1.1.2. Selection—What do you sense? Smell? Hear? See? Touch? Taste? Feel?
3.1.1.3. Organization—How do we organize our perception in meaning full ways?
3.1.1.4. Prototypes: Knowledge structures that define the clearest and ideal example of some category. How do you describe and know a “model worker”? What do you observe or sense?
3.1.1.5. Personal Constructs: A mental yardstick that allows us to measure a person or situation along a bipolar dimension of judgment. Examples: Intelligent-not intelligent, kind—not kind, trustworthy-not trustworthy, etc.
3.1.1.6. Stereotypes: Predictive generalization about a person or situation.
3.1.1.7. Scripts: A sequence of activities that spells out how we and others are expected to act in a specific situation.
3.1.2. Interpretation
3.1.2.1. Interpretation is the subjective process of creating explanations for what we observe and experience.
3.1.2.2. Attribution: The act of explaining why something happens or why a person acts a certain way.
3.1.2.3. Attribution four dimensions:1) Locus-internal vs. external, 2) Stable-stable vs. unstable, 3) Specificity- specific vs. Global, 4) Control-within personal control vs. beyond personal control.
3.1.3. Influences on Perception
3.1.3.1. Physiological Factors: Tired? Stressed? Sick? Hungry? Intoxicated?
3.1.3.2. Expectations—positive versus negative: “Life is suffering” or “Life is a bowl of cherries!” “Life is rough….if you make it.” (Rex Konno, 1995)
3.1.3.3. Cognitive Abilities and complexity: What is the number of personal constructs used? How abstract are they? How elaborately do they interact to shape perceptions?
3.1.3.4. Person Centeredness: The ability to perceive another as a unique individual. What is their perspective?
3.1.3.5. Social Roles: Teacher perception vs. student perception, for example. Also, police person vs. doctor vs. restaurant waiter each have a different perception of an event.
3.1.3.6. Membership in Cultures and Social Communities:
3.1.3.7. A culture consists of beliefs, values, understandings, practices, and ways of interpreting experience that a number of people share.
3.1.3.8. A social community is a group of people who are part of an overall society but also distinct from the overall society in that they hold values, understandings, and practices that are not shared by people outside the group.
3.1.4. Guidelines for Improving Skill in Perceiving
3.1.4.1. Avoid Mind Reading
3.1.4.2. Check Perceptions with Others
3.1.4.3. Distinguish Facts from Inferences and Judgments: A fact is based on obervation or proof. An inferences is a deduction that goes beyond what you know or assume to be a fact. A judgment is a belief or opinion that is based on observations, feelings, assumptions, or other phenomena that are not facts.
3.1.4.4. Monitor the Self-Serving Bias
3.1.5. Distinguishing Facts from Inference and Judgments
3.1.5.1. Vietnam is a country.
3.1.5.2. People from the small villages are friendly.
3.1.5.3. Students who come to class late are disrespectful.
3.1.5.4. Acid rain can destroy trees.
3.1.5.5. Bob did not study for the exam.
3.1.5.6. Bob will not do well in college.
3.1.5.7. Beer has calories.
3.1.5.8. Beer makes you smarter.
3.1.6. Discussion Question
3.1.6.1. What differences can you identify in how you communicate with people on the phone vs. face-to-face? Vs. Facebook? Vs. e-mail?
3.1.6.2. How do physiological factors affect your perceptions?
3.2. What processes are involved in perceiving?
3.3. What factors influence our perceptions?
3.4. How does the self-serving bias affect the accuracy of our perceptions?
3.5. Does mind reading help or hinder communications?
3.6. How can we use language to enhance skill in perceiving?
4. Chapter 4: Engaging in Verbal Communication
4.1. Key questions:
4.1.1. Language & Meaning
4.1.1.1. Features of language:
4.1.1.2. Arbitrary: The verbal symbols are not intrinsically related to what they represent.
4.1.1.3. Ambiguous: Language doe not have clear cut, precise meanings.
4.1.1.4. Abstraction: Words are not the concrete or tangible phenomena to which they refer.
4.1.2. Communicating Clearly
4.1.2.1. Ambiguous Language
4.1.2.1.1. You are rude.
4.1.2.1.2. We need more team spirit.
4.1.2.1.3. I want more freedom.
4.1.2.1.4. Let’s watch a good program.
4.1.2.1.5. Your work is sloppy.
4.1.2.1.6. That speaker is unprofessional.
4.1.2.2. Concrete Language
4.1.2.2.1. I don’t like it when you interrupt me.
4.1.2.2.2. ____________________
4.1.2.2.3. ____________________
4.1.2.2.4. ____________________
4.1.2.2.5. ____________________
4.1.2.2.6. ____________________
4.1.3. Principles of Communication
4.1.3.1. Interpretation creates meaning: Interpretation is an active, creative process we use to make sense of experiences.
4.1.3.2. Communication is guided by rules, which are shared understandings among members of a particular social or cultural group. There are two types of rules: regulative and constitutive rules. (see page 76)
4.1.3.3. Punctuation affects meaning: It is our perception of when interaction begins and ends.
4.1.4. Communication Rules
4.1.4.1. Regulative
4.1.4.1.1. List rules that regulate your verbal communication when
4.1.4.1.2. Talking with elders
4.1.4.1.3. Talking with professors
4.1.4.1.4. Greeting friends on campus
4.1.4.2. Constitutive
4.1.4.2.1. How do you use verbal communication to show
4.1.4.2.2. Trustworthiness
4.1.4.2.3. Ambition
4.1.4.2.4. Disrespect
4.1.4.2.5. Support
4.1.4.2.6. Anger
4.1.5. Symbolic Abilities
4.1.5.1. Symbols define phenomena. “ I am white or Caucasian.”
4.1.5.2. Symbols evaluate phenomena. “The teacher is hard (unreasonable) or rigorous (challenging).”
4.1.5.3. Symbols allow us to organize experiences. “Education is good.”
4.1.5.4. Symbols allow us to think hypothetically. (to plan or dream)
4.1.5.5. Symbols allow self-reflection. (“I” vs. social “me)
4.1.5.6. Symbols define relationships and interactions: Responsiveness, Liking, and Power.
4.1.6. I-And You-Language
4.1.6.1. You Language
4.1.6.1.1. You hurt me.
4.1.6.1.2. You are really domineering.
4.1.6.1.3. You humiliated me.
4.1.6.2. I Language
4.1.6.2.1. I feel hurt when you ignore what I say.
4.1.6.2.2. When you shout, I feel dominated.
4.1.6.2.3. I felt humiliated when you mentioned my problems in front of your friends.
4.1.7. Discussion question
4.1.7.1. People use screen names for chat rooms and online forums.
4.1.7.2. How do the names people create for themselves shape perceptions of their identity?
4.1.7.3. What screen names do you use?
4.1.7.4. Why did you choose them?
4.2. How are language and thought related?
4.3. What abilities are possible because humans use symbols?
4.4. What are the practical implications of recognizing that language is a process?
4.5. How do rules guide verbal communications?
5. Chapter 5: Engaging in Nonverbal Communication
5.1. Key questions:
5.1.1. Principles of Nonverbal Communication
5.1.1.1. Nonverbal communication includes all aspects of communication other than words. Gestures, body language, inflection and volume of words, temperature, lighting, objects, etc.
5.1.1.2. Nonverbal communication is also ambiguous, interacts with verbal communication, regulates interaction, establishes relationship-level meanings, and reflects cultural values.
5.1.2. Notice Spatial Clues to Power Relations
5.1.2.1. Observe a business setting—an office or other work context. To sharpen your insight into spatial indicators of power, answer the following questions:
5.1.2.2. Who has more space? Who has less?
5.1.2.3. Who enters the space of others? Who does not?
5.1.2.4. Who touches others?
5.1.2.5. Who uses commanding gestures? Who does not?
5.1.2.6. (For fun, watch TV program or video with the sound turned off. Can you understand what is going on? How?)
5.1.3. Types of Nonverbal Behaviors
5.1.3.1. Kinesics (face and body motion)
5.1.3.2. Haptics (touch)
5.1.3.3. Physical appearance
5.1.3.4. Olfactics (smell)
5.1.3.5. Artifacts (personal objects)
5.1.3.6. Proxemics (personal space)
5.1.3.7. Environmental Factors
5.1.3.8. Chronemics (perception and use of time)
5.1.3.9. Paralanguage (vocal qualities)
5.1.3.10. Silence
5.1.4. Increasing Awareness of Environmental Factors
5.1.4.1. Observe a restaurant in which you feel rushed and another restaurant in which you feel like taking your time. Describe the following for each restaurant:
5.1.4.2. How much space is there between tables?
5.1.4.3. What kind of lighting is used?
5.1.4.4. What sort of music and sound are in the place?
5.1.4.5. How comfortable are the chairs?
5.1.4.6. What colors and art do you see?
5.1.4.7. Can you make any generalization about environmental features that promote relaxation and those that do not?
5.1.5. Guidelines for Effective Nonverbal Communication
5.1.5.1. Monitor your nonverbal communication: Are you projecting the right kind of image? For your room or office, does it encourage interaction or not?
5.1.5.2. Interpret Others’ Nonverbal Commmunication Tentatively: Because of complexity and ambiguity, we should not assume we can interpret it with precision.
5.1.6. Discussion Question
5.1.6.1. Think about current gender prescriptions in Vietnam. How are men and women “supposed” to look?
5.1.6.2. How are these cultural expectations communicated?
5.1.6.3. How might you resist and alter unhealthy cultural gender prescriptions?
5.1.6.4. 10 hours of walking in NYC as a woman
5.1.6.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A
5.2. What is nonverbal communication?
5.3. What types of nonverbal behaviors have scholars identified?
5.4. How does nonverbal communication express cultural values?
5.5. How can you improve your effectiveness in using and interpreting nonverbal communication?
6. Chapter 6: Listening and Responding to Others
6.1. Key Questions:
6.1.1. The Listening Process
6.1.1.1. Listening is not the same as hearing
6.1.1.2. Listening concepts:
6.1.1.3. Being Mindful: Mindfulness is focusing on what is happening in the moment. (see page 117)
6.1.1.4. Physically Receiving Communication: (reading lips, for example)
6.1.1.5. Selecting and Organizing Communication: (listening to your teacher vs. texting on your phone, for example)
6.1.1.6. Interpreting Communication: Respectfully attempting to understand what others think and feel.
6.1.1.7. Responding: Engaging through feedback, in the form of follow-on questions, voicing one’s ideas on a topic.
6.1.1.8. Remembering: After 8 hours, people normally only remember 35% of their interpretations of a message. (Taking notes in class is good idea.)
6.1.2. Obstacles to Effective Listening
6.1.2.1. Situational Obstacles:
6.1.2.1.1. Incomprehensibility (The teacher is guilty of this)
6.1.2.1.2. Message Overload (and this)
6.1.2.1.3. Message Complexity (and this)
6.1.2.1.4. Environmental Distractions (your classmates may be guilty of this)
6.1.2.2. Internal Obstacles:
6.1.2.2.1. Preoccupation
6.1.2.2.2. Prejudgment
6.1.2.2.3. Lack of Effort
6.1.2.2.4. Reacting to Emotionally Loaded Language
6.1.2.2.5. Not Recognizing Diverse Listening Styles
6.1.3. Forms of Ineffective Listening
6.1.3.1. Pseudolistening: We pretend that we are listening but our mind is elsewhere.
6.1.3.2. Monopolizing: Conversational rerouting (“Enough about me, what do you think of me?”) and interrupting are examples.
6.1.3.3. Selective Listening: “The following items will be on the test.”
6.1.3.4. Defensive Listening: The listener does not trust the speaker so he/she listens for motive.
6.1.3.5. Ambushing: Listening for the purpose of gathering information to use in attacking the speaker.
6.1.3.6. Literal listening: Listening at the content level and ignoring the relationship level of meaning.
6.1.4. Guidelines for Effective Listening
6.1.4.1. Develop Skills for Informational and Critical Listening:
6.1.4.2. Be Mindful
6.1.4.3. Control Obstacles
6.1.4.4. Ask Questions
6.1.4.5. Use Aids in Recall (When meeting new people, I like to ask how they spell their name. If I can visualize the name, then it is easier to remember it.)
6.1.4.6. Develop Skills for Relationship Listening
6.1.4.7. Be Mindful
6.1.4.8. Suspend Judgment
6.1.4.9. Strive to Understand the Other’s Perspective (Offer minimal encouragers “I see what you say.” or paraphrasing “what you are saying is…?”)
6.1.4.10. Express Support
6.1.5. Develop Skills for Other Listening Goals
6.1.5.1. Listening for Pleasure (trying to remember a funny joke or story, or enjoy music, for example.)
6.1.5.2. Listening to Discriminate (Is the singer in tune? Is my tea water boiling? Has it started to rain?)
6.1.6. Discussion Question
6.1.6.1. Review the types of ineffective listening discussed. Do any describe ways in which you attend (or don’t attend) to others? Give us an example.
6.2. How do listening and hearing differ?
6.3. What’s involved in listening?
6.4. What obstacles interfere with effective listening?
6.5. How does effective listening differ across listening goals?
6.6. How we can improve our listening skills?
7. Chapter 7: Creating Communication Climates
7.1. Key Questions:
7.1.1. Levels of Confirmation and Disconfirmation
7.1.1.1. Recognition: Expression of the awareness of another person’s existence.
7.1.1.2. Acknowledgment: Attentiveness to what a person feels, thinks, or says.
7.1.1.3. Endorsement: Accepting a person’s feelings or thoughts as valid.
7.1.2. Defensive and Supportive Climates
7.1.2.1. Evaluation versus Description
7.1.2.2. Certainty versus Provisionalism: One example of certainty communication is “ethnocentrism” where a perspective is based on the assumption that one’s culture and its norms are the only right ones.
7.1.2.3. Strategy versus Spontaneity: Strategy is considered manipulative where Spontaneity is consider open and honest.
7.1.2.4. Control versus Problem Orientation: Having the last word versus resolving tensions or problems.
7.1.2.5. Neutrality versus Empathy: Not caring versus caring.
7.1.2.6. Superiority versus equality
7.1.3. Conflict and Communication
7.1.3.1. Conflict exists when people who depend on each other have different views, interests, values, responsibilities, or objectives and perceive their differences are incompatible.
7.1.3.2. Conflict can be overt or covert
7.1.3.3. Conflict can be managed well or poorly
7.1.3.4. Conflicts of interest: Incompatible?
7.1.3.5. Conflict Orientations: Attitudinal issues?
7.1.3.6. Conflict responses: Overt behavioral issues?
7.1.3.7. Conflict outcomes: Relationship damage?
7.1.4. Guidelines for Creating and Sustaining Healthy Communication Climates
7.1.4.1. Communicate in Ways that Confirm Others
7.1.4.2. Communicate in Ways that Confirm Yourself
7.1.4.3. Respect Diversity among People
7.1.4.4. Time Conflict Effectively
7.1.4.5. Show Grace When Appropriate
7.1.5. Discussion Question
7.1.5.1. As students, you are often working in groups on projects. Give the class an example of the communication climate. How does the communication in that situation reflect the skills and principles discussed in this chapter?
7.2. What kinds of communication foster defensive and supportive communication climates?
7.3. In what ways can conflict enrich relationships?
7.4. How can we confirm both ourselves and others?
7.5. When is it appropriate to show grace toward others?
8. Chapter 8: Adapting Communication to Cultures and Social Communities
8.1. Key Questions:
8.1.1. Relationships between Culture and Communication
8.1.1.1. Culture: A way of life, a system of ideas, values, beliefs, customs, and language that is passed from one generation to the next and that sustains a particular way of life.
8.1.1.2. We learn culture in the process of communicating, consequently language is the carrier and transmitter of cultural values.
8.1.1.3. Communication is a Primary Indicator of Culture (Individualistic-low context vs. Collectivistic-high context, for example)
8.1.1.4. Multiple Social Communities May Coexist in a Single Culture: For example, student culture versus non-student culture; then within the student group, ITEC students versus non-ITEC students. What are the different cultural values, behaviors, norms, or language?
8.1.1.5. Communication Expresses and Sustains Cultures: For example, proverbs, songs, dances, dress, language, etc. Japanese saying “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” Chinese saying: “The crab trying to escape the boiling pot gets pulled back by the other crabs in the pot.”
8.1.1.6. Communication is a Source of Cultural Change: Having the language to express an idea allows change to occur.
8.1.2. Guidelines for Adapting Communication to Diverse Cultures and Social Communities
8.1.2.1. Engage in Person-Centered Communication
8.1.2.2. Respect Others’ Feelings and Ideas
8.1.2.3. Resist Ethnocentric Bias: Cultural relativism accepts the differences in others without making a moral judgment as to whether the difference is right or wrong. It is just different.
8.1.2.4. Recognize That Adapting to Cultural Diversity is a Process: Responses include resistance vs. assimilation, tolerance, understanding, respect, and participation.
8.1.3. Discussion Question
8.1.3.1. What are the common sayings and proverbs in Vietnam? What do they reflect about cultural values in Vietnam?
8.2. How do cultures and social communities shape communication?
8.3. How does communication shape cultures and social communities?
8.4. What is ethnocentric bias?
8.5. How do people respond to cultural differences in communication?
9. Chapter 9: Communication & Self-Concept
9.1. Key Questions:
9.1.1. Communication and Personal Identity
9.1.1.1. The Self Arises in Communication with Others
9.1.1.2. How others see us affects how we see ourselves.
9.1.1.3. Particular others: parents, siblings, peers, etc.
9.1.1.4. General others: the collection of rules, roles, and attitudes, endorsed by the overall society and social communities to which we belong.
9.1.1.5. When Dr. Rhyne was in college in his 20s, his younger sister asked him what he was going to be when he graduated. He replied, “I am going to be me, but hopefully much better at it.” She, in turn, wanted to be a nurse, which she is to this day. She is also my sister, a mother, grandmother, a wife, a daughter, an American citizen, and a good friend.
9.1.2. Communication with Family Members says who we are and what what we are worth through direct definition, life scripts, and attachment styles.
9.1.2.1. Direct Definition: Communication that tells us who we are by labeling us and our behaviors.
9.1.2.2. Life Scripts: Rules for living and identity. They define our roles, how we are to play them, and the basic elements of what our families see as the right plot of our lives.
9.1.2.3. Attachment Styles:
9.1.2.3.1. Secure: Positive view of others and self.
9.1.2.3.2. Fearful: Negative view of others and self.
9.1.2.3.3. Dismissive: Negative view of others and positive view of self.
9.1.2.3.4. Anxious/Ambivalent: Positive view of others and negative view of self.
9.1.3. Communication with Peers
9.1.3.1. Reflected Appraisals
9.1.3.2. Direct Definitions
9.1.3.3. Social Comparisons
9.1.3.4. Self-Disclosure: The Johari Window
9.1.3.4.1. Open Area: information that is known both to ourselves and to others.
9.1.3.4.2. Blind Area: Perceptions of us that others have but we don’t have.
9.1.3.4.3. Hidden Area: Information and perceptions known to us but not know to others.
9.1.3.4.4. Unknown Area: Information that is not known to us and others.
9.1.3.4.5. Self-Disclosure is another way to reduce uncertainty early in relationships.
9.1.4. Communication with Society
9.1.4.1. Race
9.1.4.2. Gender
9.1.4.3. Sexual Orientation
9.1.4.4. Socioeconomic Level
9.1.4.5. Others?
9.1.5. Guidelines for Communicating with Ourselves
9.1.5.1. Reflect Critically on Social Perspectives
9.1.5.2. Exercise: Select four popular magazines and read the articles and advertisements in them.
9.1.5.2.1. What do the articles and ads convey about what and who is valued in Vietnam?
9.1.5.2.2. What do articles convey about how women or men are regarded and what they are expected to be and do?
9.1.5.2.3. How many ads aimed at women focus on beauty, looking young, losing weight, taking care of others, and attracting men?
9.1.5.2.4. How many ads aimed at men emphasize strength, virility, success, and independence?
9.1.5.3. Commit to Personal Growth
9.1.5.3.1. Set Realistic Goals
9.1.5.3.2. Assess Yourself Fairly
9.1.5.3.3. Self-Disclose Appropriately
9.1.5.4. Create a Supportive Context for the Change You Seek: Hang out with people who communicate positively about you and who reflect positive appraisals of our self-worth. Don’t hang out with downers or vultures.
9.1.6. Discussion Question
9.1.6.1. In Vietnam societal view of women and men, what are current social expectations for each sex? What behaviors, appearances, and attitudes violate social prescriptions for gender? Do you agree or disagree with these social expectations?
9.2. What role does communication play in developing personal identity?
9.3. What is the generalized other, and how does it shape personal identity?
9.4. What are the values and risks of self-disclosing communication?
9.5. How can you create a supportive context for your personal growth?
10. Chapter 10: Communication in Personal Relationships
10.1. Key Questions:
10.1.1. Understanding Personal Relationships
10.1.1.1. A Personal Relationship is a voluntary commitment between irreplaceable individuals who are influenced by rules, relationship opinions, and surrounding contexts.
10.1.2. Features of Personal Relationships
10.1.2.1. Uniqueness
10.1.2.2. Commitment
10.1.2.3. Relationships Rules
10.1.2.4. Affected by Context
10.1.2.5. Relationship Dialectics: Dialectics are oposing and continuous tensions that are normal in all close relationships. Three prominent dialectics:
10.1.2.5.1. Openness/closedness
10.1.2.5.2. Novelty/prediction
10.1.2.5.3. Autonomy/connection
10.1.2.6. Four ways in which friends and romantic partners deal with dialectical tensions
10.1.2.6.1. Neutralization: Friends negotiate a compromise where both needs are met to an extent but neither full satisfied.
10.1.2.6.2. Separation: One need is met where another is ignored. (least satisfying response)
10.1.2.6.3. Segmentation: Issues, activities, and times are segmented by context.
10.1.2.6.4. Reframing: A complex strategy that redefines apparently contradictory needs as not really in opposition. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.
10.1.3. The Evolutionary Course of Personal Relationships
10.1.3.1. Role-limited interacton
10.1.3.2. Friendly relations
10.1.3.3. Moving toward friendship
10.1.3.4. Nascent friendship
10.1.3.5. Stabilized friendship
10.1.3.6. Waning friendship
10.1.3.7. Are you friends of the heart (soulmates and part of each others’ lives)? Or friends of the road(wherever you are and for the time)?
10.1.4. Styles of Loving
10.1.4.1. Eros: Passionate, intense, and fast moving in sexual, spiritual, intellectual, or emotional ways.
10.1.4.2. Storge: Comfortable, “best friends”, stable.
10.1.4.3. Ludus: Playful, sometimes manipulative; like a puzzle or game.
10.1.4.4. Mania: Unsettling style marked by emotional extremes and insecurity.
10.1.4.5. Agape: Selfless, generous, devoted.
10.1.4.6. Pragma: Pragmatic, goal-oriented; relying on reason and practical considerations.
10.1.5. Guidelines for Communicating in Personal Relationships
10.1.5.1. Adapt Communicate to Manage Distance: Use Skype or Facetime or e-mail or phone calls to keep in communication. (see p.220 for full list of suggestions)
10.1.5.2. Insure Equity in Family Relationships: Be fair.
10.1.5.3. Avoid Intimate Partner Violence
10.1.5.4. Insist on Safer Sex (See p. 224 for details)
10.1.6. Discussion Question
10.1.6.1. Think about differences in the goals and rules for friendships and romantic relationships.
10.1.6.2. Does comparing the two kinds of relationships give you any insight into the difficulties that commonly arise when two people who have been friends become romantically involved?
10.1.6.3. What are the difficulties of trying to be friends with someone with whom you’ve been romantically involved?
10.2. What is the typical process of friendship development?
10.3. How do romantic relationships typically escalate and deteriorate?
10.4. What kinds of communication help sustain long-distance romances?
10.5. To what extent are long-term romantic relationships equitable for men and women?
10.6. What is the cycle of intimate partner abuse?
11. Chapter 11, Communication in Groups and Teams
11.1. Key Questions:
11.1.1. Understanding Communication in Groups and Teams
11.1.1.1. Defining Groups and Teams:
11.1.1.2. A group is 3 or more people who interact over time, depend on one another, and follow shared rules of conduct to reach a common goal.
11.1.1.3. A team is a group with special characteristics. First, team members bring different and specialized resources to a common project. Secondly, team members have a stronger sense of team identity than groups.
11.1.2. The Rise of Groups and Teams
11.1.2.1. Project Teams
11.1.2.2. Focus Groups
11.1.2.3. Brainstorming Groups
11.1.2.4. Advisory Groups
11.1.2.5. Quality Improvement Teams
11.1.2.6. Decision-making groups
11.1.3. Standard Agenda for Problem Solving
11.1.3.1. Define the problem.
11.1.3.2. Analyze information relevant to the problem.
11.1.3.3. Generate criteria to assess the solutions.
11.1.3.4. Identify potential solutions.
11.1.3.5. Select the best solution.
11.1.3.6. Implement the solution (or recommend it.)
11.1.3.7. Develop an action plan to monitor the effectiveness of the solution.
11.1.4. Potential Limitations and Strengths of Groups
11.1.4.1. Limitations
11.1.4.1.1. Time needed for the group process
11.1.4.1.2. Potential for group conformity pressures to interfere with high quality decision-making
11.1.4.2. Strengths
11.1.4.2.1. Greater resources
11.1.4.2.2. More thorough thought
11.1.4.2.3. Heightened creativity
11.1.4.2.4. Enhanced commitment to decisions
11.1.5. Features of Small Groups
11.1.5.1. Cohesion: the degree of closeness among members and the sense of group spirit.
11.1.5.2. Group size: Most researchers agree that five to seven members is the optimal size for a group. (For music purposes, Dr. Rhyne prefers trios or quartets.)
11.1.5.3. Power Structure: “Power over” is the ability to help or harm others. “ “Power to” is the ability to empower others to reach their goals. Members with high power tend to be the centers of group communication.
11.1.5.4. Interaction Patterns: Centralized or Decentralized?
11.1.5.5. Group Norms: Guidelines that regulate how members act as well as how they interact with each other.
11.1.6. Five Bases of Power
11.1.6.1. Reward Power: attention, approval, public praise, promotions, raises.
11.1.6.2. Coercive Power: demotions, firing, undesirable assignments.
11.1.6.3. Legitimate Power: Manager, boss, CEO
11.1.6.4. Expert Power: Expert knowledge or experience.
11.1.6.5. Referent Power: Personal charisma or personality.
11.1.7. Guidelines for Communicating in Groups and Teams
11.1.7.1. Participate Constructively- Types of Communication
11.1.7.2. Task: Initiate ideas, seeks information, etc.
11.1.7.3. Procedural: Establishes agenda, guides participation, records group progress, etc.
11.1.7.4. Climate: Energizes group process, reconciles conflicts, harmonizes ideas, etc.
11.1.7.5. Egocentric: Is aggressive toward others, blocks ideas, disrupts task, devalues others. (not constructive)
11.1.7.6. Provide Leadership: a set of communication behaviors that moves groups along and makes groups more effective.
11.1.7.7. Manage Conflict Constructively: Disagreements are natural and can help groups achieve their shared goals. Be respectful to diverse opinions. Emphasize shared interests and goals. Be willing to alter opinions when good reasons exist.
11.1.8. Movie time: 12 Angry Men
11.1.8.1. If you have time, watch “Twelve Angry Men” and observe the group dynamics in a decision-making groups, in this case a jury.
11.1.8.2. Click on this link to watch:
11.1.8.3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzPll63y2b0
11.2. What are the differences between groups and teams?
11.3. Why are groups and teams becoming increasingly popular?
11.4. What are the potential strengths of group discussion?
11.5. What are the potential limitations of group discussion?
11.6. To what extent should leadership be assigned to a single group member?
12. Chapter 12: Communication in Organizations
12.1. Key Features of Organizational Communication
12.1.1. Structure
12.1.2. Communication Networks: In the past, the company directory for phone numbers was simple way to quickly analyze an organization’s structure. Now, one might review the company website, Linked In, or SEC filings.
12.1.3. Links to External Environments
12.2. Organizational Culture
12.2.1. Vocabulary: Hierarchical versus flattened Language? Masculine versus feminine language?
12.2.2. Stories, Myths, Legends: Corporate stories, Personal stories, Collegial stories.
12.2.3. Rites: Dramatic planned sets of activities that bring together aspects of cultural ideology in a single event. (Graduation ceremonies)
12.2.4. Rituals: Communication forms that occur regularly and that members perceive as routine part of organizational life.
12.2.5. Structures: Roles, Rules, Policies, Communication Networks
12.3. Guidelines for Communicating in Organizations
12.3.1. Adapt to Diverse Needs, Situations, and People
12.3.2. Expect to Move In and Out of Teams
12.3.3. Manage Personal Relationships on the Job
12.4. Discussion Question
12.4.1. Think a student group that you have been in the past or are currently a member of. Describe some common rites and rituals in your group. What do these rites and rituals communicate about the group’s culture?
13. Chapter 13: Public Communication
13.1. Key Questions:
13.1.1. Public Speaking as Enlarged Conversation
13.1.1.1. Distinctive Features of Public Communication: Greater responsibility to plan and prepare, less obviously interactive.
13.1.1.2. The Purposes of Public Speeches: to entertain, to inform, and to persuade.
13.1.1.3. Example: Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a dream speech”.
13.1.1.4. Youtube link:
13.1.1.5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
13.1.2. Planning and Presenting Public Speeches
13.1.2.1. Earning Credibility: Initial, Derived, and Terminal
13.1.2.2. Planning Public Speeches: Select a topic, define the speaking purpose, develop the thesis
13.1.2.3. Organizing Speeches: The introduction, the body, The Conclusion, Transitions
13.1.2.4. Researching and Supporting Public Speeches: statistics, examples, comparisons, quotations
13.1.3. Types of Evidence and their uses, page 281
13.1.3.1. Examples provide concrete descriptions of situations, individuals, problems, etc.
13.1.3.2. Comparisons (analogies) compare two ideas, processes, people, situations, etc.
13.1.3.3. Statistics summarize quantitative information
13.1.3.4. Quotations (testimony) restate or paraphrase the words of others, giving appropriate credit to the source of the words.
13.1.3.5. Visual aids reinforce verbal communication and provide visual information and appeals.
13.1.4. Developing Effective Delivery
13.1.4.1. Personal oral style
13.1.4.2. Impromptu delivery: little or no preparation
13.1.4.3. Extemporaneous delivery: substantial preparation and practice but not memorized.
13.1.4.4. Manuscript delivery: Speaker relies on written document or teleprompter to deliver speech.
13.1.4.5. Memorized delivery: Manuscript of the speech is memorized.
13.1.5. Guidelines for Public Speaking
13.1.5.1. Understand and Manage Speaking Anxiety: Rehearse and be prepared, gather your thoughts and focus, take a deep breath, then start. Focus on someone in the audience and look at their forehead when speaking. Then look at another person.
13.1.5.2. Adapt Speeches to Audiences
13.1.5.3. Listen Critically to other speeches in order to learn from their successes or failures.
13.1.6. Class Activity
13.1.6.1. Go to American Rhetoric.com and watch a speech that looks interesting to you. Describe the speaker’s attempt to establish that he/she was informed, dynamic, and trustworthy. Did the speaker use stories, statistics, examples, or other interesting or effective techniques?
13.1.6.2. Here is the link:
13.1.6.3. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/
13.2. To what extent is public speaking similar to conversation?
13.3. How can speakers enhance their credibility?
13.4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of different styles of delivery?
13.5. How can speakers manage speaking anxiety?
13.6. How can you listen critically to others’ public speeches?
14. Chapter 14: Mass Communication
14.1. Key Questions:
14.1.1. The Evolution of Mass Communication
14.1.1.1. The Tribal Epoch: Oral traditions, talking and hearing. Synchronous communication.
14.1.1.2. Literate Epoch: Reading and writing supplanted hearing as the major sense. The continuous sequential order of print cultivated linear thinking. Asynchronous communication possible.
14.1.1.3. The Print Epoch: The printing press made possible the printing of moderately priced books.
14.1.1.4. The Electronic Epoch: Telegraph, Telephone, Radio, Television, Internet
14.1.2. Theories of Mass Communication
14.1.2.1. Hypodermic Needle Model: Media are powerful forces that are injected directly into the vulnerable, passive audiences.
14.1.2.2. Uses and Gratification Theory: The audience selects media that will give them some that is valued or wanted, such as pleasure, excitement, amusement, mood changing, etc.
14.1.2.3. Agenda Setting: Media’s ability to select and call to the public’s attention ideas, events, and people, and to offer frames, or ways of seeing, the phenomena it selects.
14.1.2.4. Cultivation Theory: Television cultivates, or promotes, a worldview that is inaccurate but that viewers nonetheless may assume reflects real life.
14.1.2.5. Mainstreaming and resonance explain the cultivation process.
14.1.2.6. Mainstreaming is the stabilizing and homogenizing of views within a society.
14.1.2.7. Resonance is the extent to which media representations are congruent with personal experience. (Consequently, watching TV may be a way to learn about a society’s culture.)
14.1.2.8. Cultural Studies Theories: Focus on connections between mass communication popular culture, including history, politics, and economics.
14.1.2.9. Scholars conduct textual analysis, audience studies, and political economy studies.
14.1.2.10. Guidelines for Engaging Mass Comunication
14.1.2.10.1. Develop Media Literacy
14.1.2.10.2. Stages of the Development of Media Literacy
14.1.2.10.3. Expose Yourself to a Range of Media Sources
14.1.2.10.4. Focus on Your Motivations for Engaging Media
14.1.2.10.5. Respond Actively (Letters to the Editor, for example)
14.1.3. Discussion Questions
14.1.3.1. Make a list of all of the TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, and Websites available to you in Ho Chi Minh City. Which ones do you read daily? Weekly? Monthly? Sporadically? Why?
14.1.3.2. For myself, I read the local morning newspaper, listen to the radio in car, occasionally watch the evening news, read magazines weekly, and scan websites for information.
14.2. How do media shape our thinking?
14.3. To what extent is news constructed or created?
14.4. What is the mean world syndrome?
14.5. To what extent is the content of media controlled by powerful corporations?
14.6. How can you develop media literacy?
15. Chapter 15: Personal and Social Media
15.1. Key Questions:
15.1.1. Vietnam Internet Statistics
15.1.1.1. VIETNAM (Viet Nam)
15.1.1.2. VN - 93,421,835 population (2014) - Country Area: 332,378 sq km
15.1.1.3. Capital City: Hanoi - population 6,500,000 (2009)
15.1.1.4. 41,012,186 Internet users as of Dec 31, 2013, 43.9% penetration, per ITU
15.1.1.5. 10,669,880 Facebook subscribers on Dec 31/12, 11.4% penetration
15.1.1.6. 16.32 Mbps Broadband download speed on August, 2014, per Net Index
15.1.1.7. (Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm#vn)
15.1.2. A History of Communication Technologies
15.1.2.1. Telephonic Communication: 1875-Telephone
15.1.2.2. 1940-Television
15.1.2.3. Computer Mediated Communication:
15.1.2.4. Email—1975; WWW 1995; WiFi ~2003
15.1.2.5. Electronic Conferencing (Teleconferencing): Video Conferencing (Polycom, GoToMeeting, Skype, etc.)
15.1.2.6. Interconnected Communication Technologies: Interconnectivity is the key word for the future of communication Technologies.
15.1.2.7. The Internet of “Things”
15.1.3. Controversies about Personal and Social Media
15.1.3.1. How Do Computer Technologies Affect Thinking?
15.1.3.2. They encourage multitasking (shorter attention spans)
15.1.3.3. They encourage response to visual stimuli (users may experience difficulty with analytic, reflective thinking)
15.1.3.4. They discourage independent, critical thinking (Spell and grammar check, external authorities, etc.)
15.1.4. How do online comunities affect social relations?
15.1.4.1. Online communities have the potential to promote narrow-mindedness.
15.1.4.2. On-screen identities can be created to show different sides of a person, but can also be used to mislead people.
15.1.5. Do Newer Technologies Increase Productivity? 20 Social Media statistics
15.1.5.1. These figures reveal the huge black hole that our time disappears into when we visit Facebook, Twitter or YouTube or other social media sites.
15.1.5.2. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook ( This number is calculated by dividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users)
15.1.5.3. People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
15.1.5.4. Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
15.1.5.5. More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices
15.1.5.6. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook
15.1.5.7. 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month
15.1.5.8. 300,000 users helped translate Facebook into 70 languages
15.1.5.9. People on Facebook install 20 million “Apps” every day
15.1.5.10. YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (as of February 2011)
15.1.5.11. YouTube generates 92 billion page views per month (These YouTube stats don’t include videos viewed on phones and embedded in websites)
15.1.5.12. Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month (326,294 years)
15.1.5.13. Wikipedia hosts 17 million articles
15.1.5.14. Wikipedia authors total over 91,000 contributors
15.1.5.15. People upload 3,000 images to Flickr (the photo sharing social media site) every minute
15.1.5.16. Flickr hosts over 5 billion images
15.1.5.17. 190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter (May 2011)
15.1.5.18. Twitter is handling 1.6 billion queries per day
15.1.5.19. Twitter is adding nearly 500,000 users a day
15.1.5.20. Google+ has more than 25 million users
15.1.5.21. Google+ was the fastest social network to reach 10 million users at 16 days (Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days)
15.1.5.22. Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-stunning-social-media-statistics/#lbu3sAsJEcjBhRKD.99
15.1.6. Productivity and the Internet
15.1.6.1. http://www.theonion.com/articles/48hour-internet-outage-plunges-nation-into-product,779/
15.1.6.2. Sizing the Internet Economy
15.1.6.3. http://www.mckinsey.com/features/sizing_the_internet_economy
15.1.7. Guidelines for Living with Personal and Social Media
15.1.7.1. Consciously Manage Information Flow
15.1.7.2. Participate in Deciding How to Regulate Communication Technologies
15.1.7.2.1. Spyware
15.1.7.2.2. Privacy: Cookies
15.1.7.2.3. Advertising
15.1.8. Discussion Questions
15.1.8.1. How do relationships between people who never meet face to face differ from relationships between people who can see each other? What are the advantages and limitations of forming and sustaining relationships each way?