INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN COMMUNICATION
(IHS)
Communication in everyday life
Chapter 1. An Overview of Communication
Definitions
Communication: the transactional use of symbols, influenced, guided
and understood in the context of relationships
The discriminatory response of an organism to stimulus (behaviorism)
The transmission of information, ideas, emotions, and skills, by the use of
symbols: words, pictures, figures, graphs
Definitions are tools: help you to grasp what is going on
- Scientific research: definitions construct reality, we take it for
granted
Communication is... / requires... / involves...
Symbolic
Symbol: arbitrary representation of something else
- no direct causal connection with that which they represent
- Verbal (involves language) and nonverbal (involves all other
symbols)
- Could be iconic
Sign: consequence or indicator of something specific, which cannot
be changed by arbitrary actions or labels, indexical sign
- direct causal connection, cause and effect
Meaning: what a symbol represents
Through the social and relational use of symbols, meanings become
associated and assigned (process happens continuously)
Social construction: the way in which symbols take on meaning in
a social context or society as they are used over time
- Affected by the physical, relational and situational context
- Affected by verbal and nonverbal symbols
- Affected by medium: means through which a message is
conveyed
Cultural
, Culture influences communication (by following cultural
expectations) and communication creates and reinforces these
cultural influences
- First level of communication
Relational
Communications affects relationships and relationships affect
communication
Every message indicates how the sender of a message and the
receiver are socially and personally related
- Second level of communication (interpersonal): to communicate
= to relate
Frames: basic forms of knowledge that provide a definition of a
scenario, either because both people agree on the nature of the
situation or because the cultural assumptions built into the
interaction and the previous relational context of talk give them a
clue (‘guidelines’)
- Based partly on a person’s perspectives of situations and
relationships
Communication frame: a boundary around a conversation that
pulls one’s
attention toward certain things and away from others
- Enables people to make sense of what is taking place to
coordinate their symbolic activities
- Enables people to make decisions about what symbols are used
and how these symbols should be interpreted
Both presentational and representational: never neutral
Representational: describes facts or conveys information, facts,
objective
(common sense idea of communication, tricky concept in media
research)
Presentational: one’s particular version of/take on the facts or
events, spin, subjective
Transaction
- Action: the act of sending messages – whether or not they are
received
- Interaction: an exchange of information between two (or more)
individuals
- Transaction: the construction of shared meanings or understanding
between two (or more) individuals, implies a relation/mutual trust
, Constitutive approach: communication creates or brings intro
existence something that has not been there before
Chapter 2. Histories and Contexts of Communication
Historiography: the study of the persuasive effect of writing history in
particular ways and the reasons why particular reports and analyses are
offered by specific authors
Historical sequence of systematic study of communication
1. Rhetoric and rhetorical criticism:
ancient Greece, key concept: persuasion, Aristotle’s heritage
- Communication associations: developed student learning beyond the
actual creation and delivery of a speech: enabled students to
describe, interpret and evaluate the spoken word (public address)
- Now: focus on all influences of communication (political, media,
technology, architecture)
2. Interpersonal communication:
1950s – now, also in psychology, key concept: social relation, links
with Rhetoric
- Emerging interest in interactions between people, creation of an
academic home/discipline
- Now: focus on social and personal relationships
3. Mass communication / mass society
end 19th century: mass press, key concepts: information,
distribution, entertainment, mass media (1870s – now)
- Now: media as a major area in the discipline of communication
Mediated relation (not from person to person), links with
rethoric
Limited effects of media is the rule, direct effects of media is
the exception:
Little attention, selective in using media platforms and media
content
(IHS)
Communication in everyday life
Chapter 1. An Overview of Communication
Definitions
Communication: the transactional use of symbols, influenced, guided
and understood in the context of relationships
The discriminatory response of an organism to stimulus (behaviorism)
The transmission of information, ideas, emotions, and skills, by the use of
symbols: words, pictures, figures, graphs
Definitions are tools: help you to grasp what is going on
- Scientific research: definitions construct reality, we take it for
granted
Communication is... / requires... / involves...
Symbolic
Symbol: arbitrary representation of something else
- no direct causal connection with that which they represent
- Verbal (involves language) and nonverbal (involves all other
symbols)
- Could be iconic
Sign: consequence or indicator of something specific, which cannot
be changed by arbitrary actions or labels, indexical sign
- direct causal connection, cause and effect
Meaning: what a symbol represents
Through the social and relational use of symbols, meanings become
associated and assigned (process happens continuously)
Social construction: the way in which symbols take on meaning in
a social context or society as they are used over time
- Affected by the physical, relational and situational context
- Affected by verbal and nonverbal symbols
- Affected by medium: means through which a message is
conveyed
Cultural
, Culture influences communication (by following cultural
expectations) and communication creates and reinforces these
cultural influences
- First level of communication
Relational
Communications affects relationships and relationships affect
communication
Every message indicates how the sender of a message and the
receiver are socially and personally related
- Second level of communication (interpersonal): to communicate
= to relate
Frames: basic forms of knowledge that provide a definition of a
scenario, either because both people agree on the nature of the
situation or because the cultural assumptions built into the
interaction and the previous relational context of talk give them a
clue (‘guidelines’)
- Based partly on a person’s perspectives of situations and
relationships
Communication frame: a boundary around a conversation that
pulls one’s
attention toward certain things and away from others
- Enables people to make sense of what is taking place to
coordinate their symbolic activities
- Enables people to make decisions about what symbols are used
and how these symbols should be interpreted
Both presentational and representational: never neutral
Representational: describes facts or conveys information, facts,
objective
(common sense idea of communication, tricky concept in media
research)
Presentational: one’s particular version of/take on the facts or
events, spin, subjective
Transaction
- Action: the act of sending messages – whether or not they are
received
- Interaction: an exchange of information between two (or more)
individuals
- Transaction: the construction of shared meanings or understanding
between two (or more) individuals, implies a relation/mutual trust
, Constitutive approach: communication creates or brings intro
existence something that has not been there before
Chapter 2. Histories and Contexts of Communication
Historiography: the study of the persuasive effect of writing history in
particular ways and the reasons why particular reports and analyses are
offered by specific authors
Historical sequence of systematic study of communication
1. Rhetoric and rhetorical criticism:
ancient Greece, key concept: persuasion, Aristotle’s heritage
- Communication associations: developed student learning beyond the
actual creation and delivery of a speech: enabled students to
describe, interpret and evaluate the spoken word (public address)
- Now: focus on all influences of communication (political, media,
technology, architecture)
2. Interpersonal communication:
1950s – now, also in psychology, key concept: social relation, links
with Rhetoric
- Emerging interest in interactions between people, creation of an
academic home/discipline
- Now: focus on social and personal relationships
3. Mass communication / mass society
end 19th century: mass press, key concepts: information,
distribution, entertainment, mass media (1870s – now)
- Now: media as a major area in the discipline of communication
Mediated relation (not from person to person), links with
rethoric
Limited effects of media is the rule, direct effects of media is
the exception:
Little attention, selective in using media platforms and media
content
