CMS 315 MIDTERM LECTURE NOTES | STUDY GUIDE
People judge us by our communication - Answers - EX: Like how you judge a doctor by
how well he can answer your questions
Low communication interaction equivalent to 3 things - Answers - alcoholic
smoking 15 cigarettes/day
twice as harmful as obesity
By age 3, poor child hears ? words fewer than child from professional family - Answers -
30 million
4 reasons why people meet and talk - Answers - proximity
appearance
utility
loneliness
2 reasons we say what we do - Answers - 1. Manage impression (dont talk about sex,
fears, etc)
2. Reduce uncertainty by making predictions (stereotypes about people)
3 levels of predictions - Answers - 1. cultural (city or town; 90% of us are from same
culture; not effective prediction)
2. sociological (group membership; college major)
3. interpersonal (1% of people we know; how they differ from groups; constant
communication)
10 propositions about communication - Answers - 1. You Cannot Not Communicate
2. Meanings Are in People
Not in words--special words are labels; multiple meanings, easy to mistranslate;
Not in behavior--everyone punctuates relationships differently; react to what someone
said; pool hall married couple example; when relationship or argument began
3. Communication is Irreversible (made mess cooking for mother; wish you would never
been born)
4. Communication is Functional (5 functions)
5. Communication is a tool (Hitler)
6. Communication is learned (baby saying dada/mama; learn to dance; penny drawing
example)
7. Communication is Intentional and Unintentional (pasta example)
8. Communication is contextual (physical like restaurant and psychological like proxy-
father)
9. Communication Has Both Content & Relational Aspects--content verbal Nonverbal is
how we communicate relationship (legal system ignores relationship aspect; create
emoticons for relationship aspect)
, 10. Communication=Relationship
5 Functions of communication - Answers - 1. Giving/Receiving Info
2. Persuading/Influencing (politics, teachers)
3. Affinity (want people to like you, esp when meeting first time)
4. Identity (you are who you communicate with and who you are is shaped by how you
communicate)
5. Entertainment (gossip)
Intentional and Unintentional Communication examples - Answers - GOOD:
Do something intentional he sees it as intentional (cook pasta)
Do something unintentional he perceives it as unintentional (eyelash in pasta)
BAD:
Do something intentional he perceives it as unintentional (clean apt)
Do something unintentional he perceives it as intentional (put sugar in pasta instead of
salt)
Communication is contextual; 2 contexts - Answers - 1. physical--environment
where he chooses to eat has meaning; bar with lights on; recess lighting on nice stores
2. psychological contexts
brain creates context--what mood you're in; find deep meaning in something bc of how
they saw context; SKIT: salesman trying to sell baby pictures becomes proxy fathers
Communication Model
Def of interpersonal communication - Answers - "IC is the process whereby one
stimulates (not transfer bc confusion exists) meaning in the mind of another through
verbal and/or nonverbal means."
To make relationship more affective, use more - Answers - channels of communication
(teacher looks for student feedback)
Two types of noises: - Answers - External (outside yourself--easy to control)
Internal (inside our head; hard to talk on phone when watching movie)
4 steps of communication model - Answers - Source, message, channel, receiver
Telephone game telling story - Answers - Less details, noise, characters
written, more gestures and image words
4 steps to ensure message quality - Answers - 1. organize message (chunk important
info into 3s)
2. use redundancy (repeat in different way; "tell show do respond"--teaching hospital or
learning to drive; learn by using all media; Lincoln reading aloud ex)
3. focus on schemas (category system for storing info)
4. ask questions (open ended, advice, empowering, you get what you expect, avoid
taking positions too soon)
People judge us by our communication - Answers - EX: Like how you judge a doctor by
how well he can answer your questions
Low communication interaction equivalent to 3 things - Answers - alcoholic
smoking 15 cigarettes/day
twice as harmful as obesity
By age 3, poor child hears ? words fewer than child from professional family - Answers -
30 million
4 reasons why people meet and talk - Answers - proximity
appearance
utility
loneliness
2 reasons we say what we do - Answers - 1. Manage impression (dont talk about sex,
fears, etc)
2. Reduce uncertainty by making predictions (stereotypes about people)
3 levels of predictions - Answers - 1. cultural (city or town; 90% of us are from same
culture; not effective prediction)
2. sociological (group membership; college major)
3. interpersonal (1% of people we know; how they differ from groups; constant
communication)
10 propositions about communication - Answers - 1. You Cannot Not Communicate
2. Meanings Are in People
Not in words--special words are labels; multiple meanings, easy to mistranslate;
Not in behavior--everyone punctuates relationships differently; react to what someone
said; pool hall married couple example; when relationship or argument began
3. Communication is Irreversible (made mess cooking for mother; wish you would never
been born)
4. Communication is Functional (5 functions)
5. Communication is a tool (Hitler)
6. Communication is learned (baby saying dada/mama; learn to dance; penny drawing
example)
7. Communication is Intentional and Unintentional (pasta example)
8. Communication is contextual (physical like restaurant and psychological like proxy-
father)
9. Communication Has Both Content & Relational Aspects--content verbal Nonverbal is
how we communicate relationship (legal system ignores relationship aspect; create
emoticons for relationship aspect)
, 10. Communication=Relationship
5 Functions of communication - Answers - 1. Giving/Receiving Info
2. Persuading/Influencing (politics, teachers)
3. Affinity (want people to like you, esp when meeting first time)
4. Identity (you are who you communicate with and who you are is shaped by how you
communicate)
5. Entertainment (gossip)
Intentional and Unintentional Communication examples - Answers - GOOD:
Do something intentional he sees it as intentional (cook pasta)
Do something unintentional he perceives it as unintentional (eyelash in pasta)
BAD:
Do something intentional he perceives it as unintentional (clean apt)
Do something unintentional he perceives it as intentional (put sugar in pasta instead of
salt)
Communication is contextual; 2 contexts - Answers - 1. physical--environment
where he chooses to eat has meaning; bar with lights on; recess lighting on nice stores
2. psychological contexts
brain creates context--what mood you're in; find deep meaning in something bc of how
they saw context; SKIT: salesman trying to sell baby pictures becomes proxy fathers
Communication Model
Def of interpersonal communication - Answers - "IC is the process whereby one
stimulates (not transfer bc confusion exists) meaning in the mind of another through
verbal and/or nonverbal means."
To make relationship more affective, use more - Answers - channels of communication
(teacher looks for student feedback)
Two types of noises: - Answers - External (outside yourself--easy to control)
Internal (inside our head; hard to talk on phone when watching movie)
4 steps of communication model - Answers - Source, message, channel, receiver
Telephone game telling story - Answers - Less details, noise, characters
written, more gestures and image words
4 steps to ensure message quality - Answers - 1. organize message (chunk important
info into 3s)
2. use redundancy (repeat in different way; "tell show do respond"--teaching hospital or
learning to drive; learn by using all media; Lincoln reading aloud ex)
3. focus on schemas (category system for storing info)
4. ask questions (open ended, advice, empowering, you get what you expect, avoid
taking positions too soon)
