CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN COMMUNICATION
Overview
Introduction to Communications textbook.
Introduction to Human Communication
Learning Objectives |
After reading this chapter you should be able to: |
1.1 FOUNDATIONS
Many colleges and universities around the country require students to take some type of communication course in order to graduate.
Introductory Communication classes include courses on public speaking, small group communication, and Interpersonal communication. While these are some of the most common introductory Communication courses, many Communication departments are now offering an introductory course that explains what Communication is, how it is studied as an academic field, and what areas of specialization make up the field of Communication. In other words, these are survey courses similar to courses such as Introduction to Sociology or Introduction to Psychology. Your community college’s goal in this text is to introduce you to the field of Communication as an academic discipline of study. There is two ways of communicating: communication and communications. “Communication” is a broad focus on how humans interact with others and is grounded in academic study. “Communications” is more of a delivery means of communicating. This includes internet providers, television, telephones, etc.
ENGAGING IN CONVERSATION
As professors, we hear people talk about communication both on and off our campuses. We’re often surprised at how few people can actually explain what communication is, or what Communication departments are about. This resource will provide you with the basics for understanding what communication is, what Communication scholars and students study, and how you can effectively use the study of Communication in your life. By optimizing interpersonal communication skills, one can gain better insights through improved listening skills, better understanding of how nonverbal communication can provide clearer understanding, and by how word-choice, empowering vocabulary, and open communication channels can greatly increase your leadership skills.
DEFINING COMMUNICATION STUDY
WHAT IS COMMUNICATION STUDY?
When we tell others that we teach Communication, people often ask questions like, “Do you teach radio and television?” “Do you teach public speaking?” “Do you do news broadcasts?” “Do you work with computers?” “Do you study Public Relations?” “Is that Journalism or Mass Communications?” However, the most common question we get is, “What is that?”
It’s interesting that most people will tell us they know what communication is, but they do not have a clear understanding of what it is Communication scholars study and teach in our academic discipline. If you memorize the definition below, you will have a quick and simple answer to what communication study entails.
Bruce Smith, Harold Lasswell, and Ralph Casey provided a good and simple answer to the question, “What is
Communication study?” They state that communication study is an academic field whose primary focus is “who says what, through what channels (media) of communication, to whom, [and] what will be the results” (121).
Although they gave this explanation almost 70 years ago, to this day it succinctly describes the focus of Communication scholars and professionals. As professors and students of Communication, we extensively examine the various forms and outcomes of human communication. On its website, the National Communication Association (NCA), our national organization, states communication is ” the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry.” Now, if people ask you what you’re studying in a Communication class, you have an answer!
Before we go further, it is important for you to know how we define the actual term “communication.”
1.2 DEFINING COMMUNICATION
Defining Communication
For decades communication professionals have had difficulty coming to any consensus about how to define the term communication (Hovland, 1948; Lasswell, 1949; Morris, 1946;
Nilsen, 1957; Sapir, 1933 & Stevens, 1950). Even today, there is no single agreed-upon definition of communication. In 1970 and 1984, Frank Dance looked at 126 published definitions of communication in literature and said that the task of trying to develop a single definition of communication that everyone likes is like trying to nail jello to a wall. Thirty years later, defining communication still feels like nailing jello to a wall. Communication is vastly different from Communications, with an added “s” at the end, which is forms of channels, like
television, radio, and so forth.
Let’s examine two models of communication to help you further grasp this definition. Shannon and Weaver (1946) proposed a Mathematical Model of Communication (often called the Linear Model) that serves as a basic model of communication. This model suggests that communication is simply the transmission of a message from one source to another. Watching YouTube videos serves as an example of this. You act as the receiver when you watch videos, receiving messages from the source (the YouTube video). To better understand this, let’s break down each part of this model. The Linear Model suggests communication moves only in one direction. The Sender encodes a Message, then uses a certain Channel (verbal/nonverbal communication) to send it to a Receiver who decodes (interprets) the message. Noise is anything that interferes with, or changes, the original encoded message.
• A sender is someone who encodes and sends a message to a receiver through a particular channel. The sender is the initiator of the communication. For example, when you text a friend, ask a teacher a question, or wave to someone you are the sender of a message.
• A receiver is the recipient of a message. Receivers must decode (interpret) messages in ways that are meaningful for them. For example, if you see your friend make eye contact, smile, wave, and say “hello” as you pass, you are receiving a message intended for you. When this happens you must decode the verbal and nonverbal communication in ways that are meaningful to you.
A message is the particular meaning or content the sender wishes the receiver to understand. The message can be intentional or unintentional, written or spoken, verbal or nonverbal, or any combination of these. For example, as you walk across campus you may see a friend walking toward you. When you make eye contact, wave, smile, and say “hello,” you are offering a message that is intentional, spoken, verbal and nonverbal.
Linear Model of Communication, By Andy Schmitz, CC-BY-SA 3.0
A major criticism of the Linear Model of Communication is that it suggests communication only occurs in one direction. It also does not show how context, or our personal experiences, impact communication. Television serves as a good example of the linear model. Have you ever talked back to your television while you were watching it? Maybe you were watching a sporting event or a dramatic show and you talked at the people on the television. Did they respond to you? We’re sure they did not. Television works in one direction. No matter how much you talk to the television it will not respond to you. Now apply this idea to the communication in your relationships. It seems primative to think that this is how we would communicate with each other on a regular basis. This example shows the limits of the linear model for understanding communication, particularly human to human communication.Given the limitations of the Linear Model, Barnlund (1970) adapted the model to more fully represent what occurs in most human communication exchanges.
The Transactional Model demonstrates that communication participants act as senders and receivers simultaneously, creating reality through their interactions. Communication is not a simple one-way transmission of a message: The personal filters and experiences of the participants impact each communication exchange. The Transactional Model demonstrates that we are simultaneously senders and receivers and that noise and personal filters always influence the outcomes of every communication exchange.
Transactional Model of Communication, by Andy Schmitz, CC-BY-SA 3.0
The ability for both parties to provide a response or return in the process is known as feedback or verbal or nonverbal messages
sent during the communication process of decoding. Additionally, it suggests that meaning is co-constructed between all parties involved in any given communication interaction. This notion of co-constructed meaning is drawn from the relational, social, and cultural contexts that make up our communication environments. Personal and professional relationships, for example, have a history of prior interaction that informs present and future interactions. Social norms, or rules for behavior and interaction, greatly influence how we relate to one another. For example, if your professor taught the class while sitting down rather than standing up, you and your colleagues would feel awkward because that is not an expected norm for behavior in a classroom setting. How we negotiate cultural values, beliefs, attitudes, and traditions also impact our communication interactions. We may both be from Chicago, but our attitudes may differ greatly depending upon the neighborhood we grew up in.
While these models are overly simplistic representations of communication, they illustrate some of the complexities of defining and studying communication. Going back to Smith, Lasswell, and Casey, as Communication scholars we may choose to focus on one, all, or a combination of the following: senders of communication, receivers of communication, channels of communication, messages, noise, context, and/or the outcome of communication. Hopefully, you recognize that studying communication is simultaneously detail-oriented (looking at small parts of human communication), and far reaching (examining a broad range of communication exchanges).
Perception and Identity
Have you ever considered the role that perception plays in how we communicate? Indeed, perception affects how we encode and decode messages and it may even impact how we act 14
toward others. You may think of perception happening instantaneously. However, consider instead that perception is a three step process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting stimuli.
Think of stimuli as everything we might notice (see, hear, touch, taste, smell) in our environment, as well as others’ messages to us and our own feelings and thoughts. We simply cannot attend to everything (all the stimuli) in our environments and interactions. We, therefore, select certain stimuli, but not all. What factors impact how we select stimuli? Why do we watch one commercial, but ignore the others? If you close your eyes, can you recall the color shirt your instructor is wearing, whether your classroom has carpet or tiles, how many students are present, or advertisements tacked onto the classroom’s billboard? One reason we notice certain stimuli and not others is selective attention, the capacity for or process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously. Clearly, it is less important what color the walls are painted in your classroom than the information your instructor wants you to hear and retain. What other reasons do we select certain stimuli and not others?
After selecting stimuli from our environment, we engage in organization. Perceptual organization is grouping visual stimuli into a pattern that is familiar to us, placing things, even people, into categories. You differentiate between friends, family, and work colleagues. However, you may also have friends you consider “family,” or colleagues who become friends. What criteria for a friend, family, or colleague do we have that allows for these shifts from one category to another? Additionally, we often compare new experiences with prior ones, or a new dating partner with an ideal archetype we have for the “perfect” romantic partner. What do we look for in a romantic partner, and from where do we inherit this criterion? It is important that we reflect upon how we organize experience and categorize others.
The final step in the process of perception is an interpretation or the assigning of meaning to what we have selected and organized. When we think of perception as something that “just happens” we are likely thinking of the interpreting step. However, as you can see, this is merely one step in a much more complex process. It is important that as communicators we be more intentional in the selection of stimuli and more reflective in how we organize experience. How might societal values, personal attitudes, cultural heritage, or beliefs affect the way we assign meaning in this context? Have you ever adjusted your opinion of someone or an experience after the initial impression? If so, what role did perception play in that adjustment? Being more aware of perception as a process is one way we can improve our communication skills.
“Doors of Perception” by dvanzuijlekom is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
No discussion of perception is complete without considering how personal identity affects the communication process. Indeed, how we see ourselves is often the starting point for how we relate to others. Identity, or our sense of self, includes both self-concept and self-esteem. Our self-concept is the sum total of who we think we are, or how we define ourselves.
How many different categories or aspects of your self can you determine – familial (mother, daughter, sister), physical, emotional, romantic, civic, etc.? Comparatively, our self esteem is the degree to which we value or devalue who we think we are. Consider those same categories that you determined for understanding your self-concept. Likely, you are more or less confident in some ways than others. Additionally, our self esteem may change over time. Athletes spend decades training and competing in peak condition. However, as athletes age, they can no longer compete on the same level. This physical change may negatively impact their self-esteem. It is important to understand the power we have in how we choose to define and value ourselves, even over time as our lives evolve.
“Identity Theft Protection is Essential for Every International Real Estate Investor” by International Real Estate Listings is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Personal identity is also characterized by how we manage our own communication behaviors and actions. We engage in identity management or managing others impressions by using communication strategies to influence how others see us. We will alter and adapt our behavior and/ or appearance accordingly to present the image or person we want to be seen as. Part of this is engaging in facework, strategies used to shape one’s image. If you think about your daily interactions and the different types of ways you strategize your communication flexibility in different communication contexts, you are thinking about facework.
Competence in identity management involves the ability to competently apply facework. The different “faces” that you present best meet the relational, social, and cultural contexts of the situation. For example, your “face” that you present at work is more professional than that that you present to friends. In the workplace, you may attend to your dress, your posture, and even your tone of voice. You are also managing your impression and engaging in facework when you are presenting an online presence and determining how to present on different social media sites.
The following list includes additional factors that influence how we assign meaning to ourselves and others. Can you think of how one or more of these has impacted you or your relationship with others?
1. Self-fulfilling Prophecy: When our behavior serves to fulfill someone else’s expectations for us.
2. Attribution: The tendency to either take ownership of our behavior or performance or to blame others or outside
forces.
3. Stereotypes: Broad generalizations.
4. Reflective Appraisal: Evaluating ourselves based upon how we see others seeing us.
With a clearer definition of communication and how it works, you are ready to learn about the history of communication and use your new perception skills to think about how communication has affected the landscape of communication discourse, education, and culture.
Communication Study Then: Aristotle the Communication Researcher
Image: Bust of Aristotle, Marble, Roman Copy after a Greek Bronze by Lysippos, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Aristotle said, “Rhetoric falls into three divisions, determined by the three classes of listeners to speeches. Of the three elements in speech-making — speaker, subject, and person addressed — it is the last one, the hearer, that determines the speech’s end and object.” For Aristotle, it was the “to whom” that determined if communication occurred and how effective it was. Aristotle, in his study of “who says what, through what channels, to whom, and what will be the results” focused on persuasion and its effect on the audience. Aristotle thought it was extremely important to focus on the audience in communication exchanges.
What is interesting is that when we think of communication we are often, "more concerned about ourselves as the communication’s source, about our message, and even the channel we are going to use. Too often, the listener, viewer, reader fails to get any consideration at all” (Lee, 2008). Aristotle’s statement above demonstrates that humans who have been studying communication have had solid ideas about how to communicate effectively for a very long time. Even though people have been formally studying communication for a long time, it is still necessary to continue studying communication in order to improve.
He recognized that there are countless good definitions of communication, but we feel it’s important to provide you with our definition so that you understand how we approach each chapter in this book. We are not arguing that this definition of communication is the only one you should consider viable, but you will understand the content of this text better if you understand how we have come to define communication. For the purpose of this text, we define communication as the process of using symbols to exchange meaning.
1.3 Communication Study and You
If you think about Smith, Lasswell, and Casey’s statement that those of us who study communication investigate, “who says what, through what channels (media) of communication, to whom, [and] what will be the results” you should realize how truly complex a task we perform. While we’ll explore many examples later in the book, we want to briefly highlight a few examples of what you might study if you are interested in Communication as a field of study.
Studying communication is exciting because there are so many possibilities on which to focus. For example, you might study elements of the history and use of YouTube (Soukup, 2014); the use of deception in texting (Wise & Rodriguez, 2013); college students’ “guilty pleasure” media use (Panek, 2014); how sons and daughters communicate disappointment (Miller-Day & Lee, 2001); an examination of motherhood in lesbian-headed households (Koenig Kellas & Suter, 2012); or daughters’ perceptions of communication with their fathers (Dunleavy, Wanzer, Krezmien, Ruppel, 2011).
The above examples demonstrate just a small taste of what we can examine through the lens of communication. In reality, studying communication has almost limitless possibilities. That’s what makes this field so dynamic and exciting! When you think about the infinite number of variables we can study, as well as the infinite number of communication contexts, the task of studying “who says what, through what channels (media) of communication, to whom, [and] what will be the results?” is open to countless possibilities. The study of communication has proven helpful to us as social beings as we work to better understand the complexities of our interactions and relationships.
Communication Helps with Diplomacy
As a community college student taking an introductory Communication course, you might be thinking, “Why does this matter to me?” One reason it is important for you to study and know communication is that these skills will help you succeed in personal, social, and professional situations. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that “College students who wish to separate themselves from the competition during their job search would be wise to develop proficiencies most sought by employers, such as communication, interpersonal, and teamwork skills.” The more you understand communication, the greater potential you have to succeed in all aspects of your life.
Ambassador of the State of Israel Dorit Golender presents her letter of credence, by www.kremlin.ru. CC-BY 4.0
Discussion Que
Communication Study Now: Organizational Leadership: 73 Tips from Aristotle
Does Aristotle’s work still apply today outside of college classrooms? Of course, it does. In his book “Organizational Leadership: 73 Tips from Aristotle,” Tyme takes Aristotle’s work and applies it to leadership in organizational contexts. The book description on Amazon.com reads:”… is the third in a series of three short and effective Kindle books written for the next generation of leaders (and reminders for current ones) in business and organizations on this important topic. Some advice and quotes are timeless and provide a refreshing spin from a legendary figure. At a very young age of 7, Aristotle started a 20-year journey as a student of Plato the Philosopher. Aristotle learned and contributed to all disciplines within sciences and the arts. Similar to his philosophical lineage, he believed education was valuable and should be sought out to improve one’s life. When Aristotle was not crowned as the successor to lead Plato’s Academy upon Plato’s death, Aristotle did not reject and refute the decision. He reflected on the decision and chose a road to make his mark on society. Aristotle opened his own school and continued to impart the basis of generational and organizational leadership similar to Socrates and Plato with his own great student who went by the name of Alexander the Great. This third book should provide the following benefits:
• 73 philosophical quotes and interpretations related to business and organizational leadership
• The role that communication plays in achieving the organization’s objective
• When to speak up and provide feedback to the
organization and HOW to do it
• How veteran team members provide solid wisdom to the 20 HUMAN COMMUNICATION: AN OPEN
next generation
• Methods for subordinates to interact with upper
management
• The benefits of recruiting talent to continually advance the organization
• Explains why leaders don’t need to know everything but need to perform one function really well”
CAREERS WITH A COMMUNICATION DEGREE
The kind of skills developed by Communication majors is highly valued by all kinds of employers. Courses and activities in Communication departments both teach and make use of the skills ranked consistently high by employers. Students with a degree in Communication are ready to excel in a wide variety of careers. Forbes listed “The 10 Skills Employers Want in 20-Something Employees.” Look to see how many relate directly to what you would learn as a Communication major.
1. Ability to work in a team
2. Ability to make decisions and solve problems
3. Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work
4. Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization
5. Ability to obtain and process information
6. Ability to analyze quantitative data
7. Technical knowledge related to the job
8. Proficiency with computer software programs 9. Ability to create and/or edit written reports 10. Ability to sell and influence others
Excerpt from: Adams, S. (2013, October 11). The 10 skills employers most want in 20-something employees. Forbes
1.4 SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, REFERENCES
In this chapter, you learned an academic approach to understanding communication and communication study. Smith, Laswell, and Casey offer a simple definition of communication study: “who says what, through what channels (media) of communication, to whom, [and] what will be the results” (1946). Now you can provide an answer to those who ask you what Communication study is about. Our definition of communication, the process of using symbols to exchange meaning, allows you to understand how we use this term throughout the book. The linear and transactional models of communication act as visual representations of both communication study and communication. Our history tells us that men and women from all cultures have been interested in observing and theorizing about the role of communication in multiple contexts. The Old School of communication study consisted of four major periods of intellectual development, including the Classical Period that gave birth to seminal figures who set the foundation for communication study. Finally, you are now aware of the importance of studying communication: that it impacts your personal, social, and professional life.
Discussion Questions
1. According to our definition, what is communication? What do we not consider to be communication?
2. Using our definition of communication study, explain how Communication is different from other majors such as Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, etc?
3. Why is knowing our history valuable forunderstanding the discipline?
4. Name three people who you feel used communication effectively in their jobs? In what ways do they communicate effectively using verbal and nonverbal communication?
Vocabulary
• attribution
• Aristotle
• Augustine
• Bacon, Francis
• Blair, Hugh
• Campbell, George
• Cereta, Laura
• channel
• Cicero
• communication
• De Pisan, Christine
• dialectic
• face work
• feedback
• Five Canons of Rhetoric
• identity management
• interpretation
• Isocrates
• Linear Model
• message
• noise
• perception
• perceptual organization
• Plato
• Ramus, Petrus
• receiver
• reflective appraisal
• rhetoric
• selective attention
• self-concept
• self-esteem
• self-fulfilling prophecy
• sender
• Socrates
• sophist
• stereotypes
• stimuli
• Transactional Model
References
Aristotle. (2004). Rhetoric (W. Rhys Roberts Trans. ). Minoula, NY: Dover Publications.
Baldwin, C. S. (2008). St. Augustine on preaching in the HUMAN COMMUNICATION: AN OPEN TEXT 27
rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: De Doctrine Christiana & the search for a distinctly Christian rhetoric. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.
Barnlund, D. (1970). A transactional model of communication. Foundations of Communication Theory. NY: Harper & Row.
Cereta, L. (1997). Collected letters of a renaissance feminist (D. Robin ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Covino, W. A. (1994). Magic, rhetoric, and literacy: An eccentric history of the composing imagination. NY: SUNY Press. Dance, F. E. (1970). The ‘concept’ of communication. Journal of Communication, 20(2), 201–210.
Dunleavy, K. N., Wanzer, M. B., Krezmien, E., & Ruppel, K. (2011). Daughters’ perceptions of communication with their fathers: The role of skill similarity and co-orientation in relationship satisfaction. Communication Studies, 62(5), 581-596.
Golden, J. L. (2000). The rhetoric of Western thought. IA: Kendall Hunt Press.
Golden, J. L. & Corbett, E. J. (1968). The rhetoric of Blair, Campbell, and Whately. Southern Illinois University Press. Hovland, C. I. (1948). Social communication. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 92(5), 371–375. Retrieved from
Kennedy, G. A. (1999). Classical rhetoric & its Christian & secular tradition from ancient to modern times.
Koenig K., & Suter, E. (2012). Accounting for lesbian-headed families: lesbian mothers’ responses to discursive challenges. Communication Monographs, 79(4), 475–498.
Lee, D. Developing effective communications. The University of Missouri Extension.
Miller-Day, M., and Lee, J. (2001). Communicating disappointment: The viewpoint of sons and daughters. Journal of Family Communication, 1(2), 111–131.
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Nilsen, T. R. (1957). On defining communication. The Speech Teacher, 6(1), 10–17.
Panek, E. (2014). Left to their own devices: College student’s guilty pleasure media use and time management. Communication Research,41(4), 561–577.
Rabil, A. (1981). Laura Cereta, Quattrocento Humanist. New York: Cornell University Press.
Redfern, J. R. (1995). Christine de Pisan and the Treasure of the City of Ladies: A Medieval Rhetorician and Her Rhetoric. Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Sapir, E. (1933). Communication. Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Macmillan Company. New York, NY
Shannon, C., and Weaver, W. (1949). A mathematical model of communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Now available through Literary Licensing, LLC.
Smith, B. L., Lasswell, H. D. & Casey, R. D. (1946). Propaganda, communication, and public opinion: A comprehensive reference guide. Soukup, P.A. (2014). Looking at, with, and through
YouTube. Communication Research Trends, 33(3), 3–34. Stevens, S. (1950). Introduction: A Definition of Communication. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 22(6), 689–690.
Tyme, J. (2012). Organizational Leadership: 73 Tips from Aristotle. Amazon.
Wise, M. & Rodriguez, D. (2013). Detecting deceptive communication through computer-mediated technology: Applying interpersonal deception theory to texting behavior. Communication Research Reports,30(4), 342–346.