Journal: “The Box"

Go back in time (about 10-12 years). Did you ever make-believe with a cardboard box? What things did you pretend the box was? Details, please!

Unit 1 Theory and Context

Part 1

Communication• Communication makes us human.• What we say and do changes us (our personalities).• We don’t communicate with everyone in the same

way.

Facts• Detect with our physical senses• Everyone can agree• Easily verified

Laws• Pattern (usually mathematical)• Links set of facts together

Theory• Helps us explain why things happen• Tries to make sense, order, and meaning of the facts

Social Construction of Reality Theory• Words are just symbols, and when we communicate,

we use symbols (words)• Words can be different but have the same meaning

Example: Lift/elevator, Bonnet/hood, Flat/apartment

• Artist and the Deacon: View the statue of Mary differently—one as a structure and the other as a

religious symbol

• Words are arbitrary, abstract, ambiguous

– arbitrary: determined by will; selected at random; autocratic

– abstract: disassociated from any specific instance (word whiteness is abstract)

– ambiguous: capable of being understood in more than one way

• Though not perfect, words and language are still the best way we have to communicate.

Journal: “Relationship Continuum"

Impersonal Intimate (no emotional ties; (emotionally close; barely know) relatives and good

friends; most openand honest)

(1) Plot four people on the Relationship Continuum.

(2) How would you answer each of them if they each said, “How are you?”

(3) Which of the four would you ask to borrow $20? Why?

(4) Which of them would you lend $20 if they asked you? Why?

(5) Discuss how our relationship with a person impacts our communication with him/her.

What Makes Us Human?

On January 9, 1800 in southern France, a small boy was captured when he came out of the woods near a small village. The "creature" was human in bodily form and walked erect. Everything else about him suggested an animal. He was naked except for the tatters of a shirt and showed no modesty, no awareness of himself as a human person related in any way to the people who had captured him. He could not speak and made only weird, meaningless cries. Though very short, he appeared to be a boy of about eleven or twelve. The doctors were unable to help him–because the boy had no human sense of being in the world. He had no sense of himself as a person related to other persons.

In 1954, a young, naked boy who was starving found his way to the hospital at Balrampur, India. He showed no ability to interact with people and had heavy calluses as if he moved on all fours. In addition, there were scars on the boy’s neck as if he had been dragged by animals. The boy, named Ramu by the hospital staff, spent most of his time playing with a stuffed animal as a wild animal might in its lair. He showed no interest in

communicating; indeed, he seemed to feel no connection with other people. Only twice did Ramu seem excited. Once was when he was taken to see wolves at a zoo, and the other time was when he saw a dog.

Ramu would howl when he smelled raw meat in the hospital kitchen, over 100 yards from his room (far too great a distance for the human sense of smell to detect a scent). Ramu also didn’t eat like a human; he tore meat apart and lapped milk from a container. Most of the doctors and scientists who examined Ramu concluded he was a wolfboy who had grown up in the wild and been socialized by wolves. He had no concept of himself as a person. Instead, he saw himself as a wolf and was more interested in interacting with animals than humans, who were not "his kind." Thus, doctors referred to Ramu as Ghadya Ka Bacha, the Indian term for wolf boy.

Journal: "Wild Child"

1. Were these children human? Explain.2. What makes us human?3. What role does communication play in making us human?

Explain the following quotations. Do you agree or disagree and why?

4. Communication makes us who we are.5. There is a direct link between the quality of your life and

the quality of your communication.

Journal: “Servant of Allah or Terrorist"

1. How has Kavosh’s group socially constructed the meaning of his act compared with how our culture has?

2. What words would we use to describe his actions? Why?

3. What would Kavosh call himself and why?

4. How would the majority of Muslims around the world socially construct Kavosh’s act? Why?

“Social Construction of Reality”

Do your communication skills define you?

Journal: "Socially Constructing the Reality of September 11"

Consider the al Qaida hijackers who forced the jet liners to crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

(a) Discuss what these men call themselves compared with what we would call them. (Think about the Islamic concept of jihad, or holy war.)(b) How does this relate to the Social Construction of Reality theory?

Unit 1Theory and Context

Part 2

We communicate in more ways than one (on different levels)• Body language• Tone of voice• Facial expression

Communication Models help us visualize a concept or theory and help us see relationships between people and groups.

• Three Models(1) Linear Communication Model: One direction from sender- to-receiver. Example: School announcements

Noise is any force that interferes with communication• External/physical noise. Example: blowing nose, body

odor, talking• Physiological. Example: sick, hungry, tired• Psychological. Example: noise within ourselves

(2) Interactive Communication Model: Two way process. Person is either sending or receiving messages, not both.

• Example: Interviewing for a job• Feedback: facial expressions, eye contact, the way we sit

or move, or oral responses (uh-huh)• Environment: physical location, individual’s background

and experiencesTo achieve a shared understanding in

communication, there must be an overlap of environment between the sender and receiver.

(3) Transactual Communication Model: Simultaneously, the sender and receiver are both participating in the continuous, ongoing process of communication (in other words, communicating with someone).

• Content Dimension: the words we use in a message.Content depends on who says it.

Example: “Lacey come here!” • Relational Dimension: How two people relate to one

another.Relational influences how we respond to a

message. Example: Principal vs. little sister

• Nonverbal Communication: You don’t even need words to communicate!

Eye contact, gestures, body language, etc.

Unit 1Theory and Context

Part 3

Communication Context can be viewed in many ways:

• The setting or situation within which communication occurs or the surroundings in which communication takes place.

• The different levels of communication, including interpersonal, small group, organizational, and mass communication.

• Communication Context can occur in cultural, historical, and relational contexts.

CMM (Coordinated Management of Meaning) gives an even more complex meaning with each context consisting of communication rules.

Coordinated Management of Meaning Context Hierarchy

Cultural Pattern: Sociocultural norms to which members adhere.

Life Scripts: One’s sense of self

Speech Act: Communicating through words or actions

Episode: Situation or activity in which the communication occurs.

Interactants’ Relationship: Episodes can only be understood within the context of the relationship between the interactants.

(nesting dolls)

Constitutive Rules: We interpret communication by looking at:• what is being said• how it is being said• history between the people saying it

Regulative Rules: Specify the appropriateness of speech act in any given situation. We communicate differently depending on:

• the situation• the relationship• the place

Journal: “Car Loan”

Imagine you are going to ask your dad/mom to cosign with you on a car loan. How will you naturally use constitutive rules and regulative rules to decide how to approach this conversation with your dad/mom?

Social ContextsFamily Members:• have communication rules• share past, present, future• share living spaceFriends:• we choose our friends• have no set rules• we invest time, energy, emotion, effort• we develop closeness (girls talk, guys have activity)Work:• Employers are looking for good communicators• Communication work rules may not be written down

Communicating at work:

• Asking direct questions brings little chance of negative consequences.

• Asking indirect questions (hinting around) can work, but could also bring negative consequences.

• Observe other employees to know communication rules.• Consult someone not involved directly in the situation.

Basic Workplace Rules:

• Obey communication channels (report concerns to the right person).

• Keep customers satisfied.• Don’t withhold problems from your boss. Not

communicating usually makes things worse.• Ask questions to learn answers (reasons for policies and

procedures).• Don’t embarrass anyone by making a fool of them in front

of others.• Get approval from someone in authority before taking

action.