The social psychology of communication
Week 1 – introduc/on to the course
® Mental image: something in your head
If you think of something, you picture it in your head. Communica9on makes you able to put
these mental images in other people’s head.
® Evolu/on equipped people to communicate: we can use our whole body to say things.
® The sounds out of the mouth lead to language. Language only works
when it is shared.
® Talking consists of different aspects:
Phonology: speech sounds
Seman/cs/vocabulary: meaning of language units
Syntax & Morphology: rules on combining words (sentence
structure)/ word structure
Language: communicate mental representa9ons, self-talk
® Meaningful sounds are decoded by other people: shared language, norms, and reality
® Communica9on causes social networks, huge tasks, complex systems (ci9es,
technologies, wars). Behavior can be coordinated through communica9on.
® Social reality: the things we shape and establish by communica9ng.
The basic communica.on model
® An overall framework of basic communica9on.
® Inferences: individuals must make leaps of understanding
regarding the social behavior of another actor (what is
expected to be understood)
Types of goals in communica.on
Influence/organize: Iden%ty: Interac%on: Rela%onal Personal Arousal
teach, persuade, being a looking posi1ve resource: resource: management:
collabora1ve ac1on good and and acceptable, preserve the avoiding avoid ge@ng
consistent role consistent rela1onship repercussions stressed
person
‘Hey, you look great.’
Possible goals of this converging (bonding) remark:
- Improving the rela1onship
- Boost the other’s self-esteem
- Present yourself as friendly
- Establish a norm of closeness ® There are oKen more levels of goals.
, ® In a conversa9on, you observe, infer, (rule out uncertainty about meanings), and then
act. There are several strategies for this.
® Ac/on assembly: how people combine goals(what does
someone want, how does he communicate this?)
® Speech events: gossip, telling jokes, geNng to know,
lectures.
® Behavioral Change Techniques (persuasion) rely on
monitoring, providing feedback, implementa9ons of
inten9ons, self-affirma9on, and fear-appeal.
Week 2 – How do we speak? / Persuasion
® The meaning conveyed in Empirical studies:
communica9on is not only in the ® What is the research design?
words. Other communica/on Cross-sec1onal, experiment,
channels are also present. manipula1ons, cohort, follow-up,
par1cipants, etc?
® What are the opera1onaliza1ons/
manipula1ons?
Ra1ng of conversa1ons, dairy, self-report
ques1onnaires, observa1ons, ect?
® What are the main findings?
Descrip1ve, inferen1al
What can you hear from the voice? ® What are the weaknesses?
Paralanguage (says something about the person who speaks) No test of causality, specific sample,
® Objec9ve acous9c aspects (measures: speed, pitch) perceptual measurements, number of
® Judgement of voice characteris9cs (percep9on: fast, slow, par1cipants.
hard)
® Inference: personal characteris/cs
® Psychological states
Taxonomy of paralanguage
o Timbre: a person is recognizable through its voice
o Resonance: the deepness of a sound
o Loudness/tempo
o Pitch: how high or how
o Intona>on/syllabic dura>on
o Rhythm
o Speech dura>on (monologue vs turn-taking)
Week 1 – introduc/on to the course
® Mental image: something in your head
If you think of something, you picture it in your head. Communica9on makes you able to put
these mental images in other people’s head.
® Evolu/on equipped people to communicate: we can use our whole body to say things.
® The sounds out of the mouth lead to language. Language only works
when it is shared.
® Talking consists of different aspects:
Phonology: speech sounds
Seman/cs/vocabulary: meaning of language units
Syntax & Morphology: rules on combining words (sentence
structure)/ word structure
Language: communicate mental representa9ons, self-talk
® Meaningful sounds are decoded by other people: shared language, norms, and reality
® Communica9on causes social networks, huge tasks, complex systems (ci9es,
technologies, wars). Behavior can be coordinated through communica9on.
® Social reality: the things we shape and establish by communica9ng.
The basic communica.on model
® An overall framework of basic communica9on.
® Inferences: individuals must make leaps of understanding
regarding the social behavior of another actor (what is
expected to be understood)
Types of goals in communica.on
Influence/organize: Iden%ty: Interac%on: Rela%onal Personal Arousal
teach, persuade, being a looking posi1ve resource: resource: management:
collabora1ve ac1on good and and acceptable, preserve the avoiding avoid ge@ng
consistent role consistent rela1onship repercussions stressed
person
‘Hey, you look great.’
Possible goals of this converging (bonding) remark:
- Improving the rela1onship
- Boost the other’s self-esteem
- Present yourself as friendly
- Establish a norm of closeness ® There are oKen more levels of goals.
, ® In a conversa9on, you observe, infer, (rule out uncertainty about meanings), and then
act. There are several strategies for this.
® Ac/on assembly: how people combine goals(what does
someone want, how does he communicate this?)
® Speech events: gossip, telling jokes, geNng to know,
lectures.
® Behavioral Change Techniques (persuasion) rely on
monitoring, providing feedback, implementa9ons of
inten9ons, self-affirma9on, and fear-appeal.
Week 2 – How do we speak? / Persuasion
® The meaning conveyed in Empirical studies:
communica9on is not only in the ® What is the research design?
words. Other communica/on Cross-sec1onal, experiment,
channels are also present. manipula1ons, cohort, follow-up,
par1cipants, etc?
® What are the opera1onaliza1ons/
manipula1ons?
Ra1ng of conversa1ons, dairy, self-report
ques1onnaires, observa1ons, ect?
® What are the main findings?
Descrip1ve, inferen1al
What can you hear from the voice? ® What are the weaknesses?
Paralanguage (says something about the person who speaks) No test of causality, specific sample,
® Objec9ve acous9c aspects (measures: speed, pitch) perceptual measurements, number of
® Judgement of voice characteris9cs (percep9on: fast, slow, par1cipants.
hard)
® Inference: personal characteris/cs
® Psychological states
Taxonomy of paralanguage
o Timbre: a person is recognizable through its voice
o Resonance: the deepness of a sound
o Loudness/tempo
o Pitch: how high or how
o Intona>on/syllabic dura>on
o Rhythm
o Speech dura>on (monologue vs turn-taking)
