Term
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Definition
| - Humans act toward people, things, and events on the basis of the meanings they assign to them. Once people define a situation as real, it has very real consequences. Without language there would be no thought, no sense of self, and no socializing presence of society within the individual |
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Term
| Coordinated Management of Meaning |
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Definition
| - Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create. They can achieve coherence through common interpretation of their stories told. They can achieve coordination by meshing their stories lived. Dialogic communication which is learnable, teachable, and contagious improves the quality of life for everyone. |
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Term
| Expectancy Violation Theory |
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Definition
| Violating another person's interpersonal expectations can be a superior strategy to conformity. When the meaning of violation becomes ambiguous, communicators with a high reward valence can enhance their attractiveness, credibility and persuasiveness by doing the unexpected. When the violation valence or reward valence is negative, they should act in a socially appropriate way. |
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Term
| Social Penetration Theory |
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Definition
| - Interpersonal closeness proceeds in a gradual and orderly fashion from superficial to intimate levels of exchange as a function of anticipated present and future outcomes. Lasting intimacy requires continual and mutual vulnerability through breadth and depth of self-disclosure. |
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Term
| Uncertainty Reduction Theory |
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Definition
| - When people meet their primary concern is to reduce uncertainty about each other and their relationship. As verbal output, nonverbal warmth, self-disclosure, similarity, and shared communication networks increase, uncertainty decreases – and vice versa. Information seeking and reciprocity are positively correlated with uncertainty. |
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Term
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Definition
| - Social life is a dynamic knot of contradictions, a ceaseless interplay between contradictory or opposing tendencies such as integration-separation, stability-change, and expression-nonexpression. Quality relationships are constituted through dialogue, which is an aesthetic accomplishment that produces fleeting moments of unity through a profound respect for the disparate voices |
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Term
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Definition
| - The larger the discrepancy between a speaker’s position and listener’s point of view, the greater the change in attitude – as long as the message is within the hearer’s latitude of acceptance. High ego involvement usually indicates a wide latitude of rejection. Messages that fall there may have a boomerang effect. |
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Term
| Elaboration Likelihood Model |
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Definition
| - Message elaboration is the central route of persuasion that produces major positive change. It occurs when unbiased listeners are motivated and able to scrutinize arguments that they consider strong. Message-irrelevant factors hold sway on the peripheral path, a more common route that produces fragile shifts in attitude |
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Term
| Cognitive Dissonance Theory |
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Definition
| - Cognitive dissonance is an aversive drive that causes people to (1), avoid opposing viewpoints, (2) seek assurance after making a tough decision, and (3) change private beliefs to match public behavior when there is minimal justification for an action. Self-consistency, a sense of personal responsibility, or self-affirmation can explain dissonance reduction. |
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Term
| Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making |
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Definition
| - Groups make high quality decision when group members fulfill four requisite functions: (1) problem analysis, (2) goal setting, (3) identification of alternatives, and (4) evaluation of positive and negative consequences. Most group communication disrupts progress toward accomplishing these functional tasks, but counteractive communication can bring people back to rational inquiry. |
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Term
| Adaptive Structuration Theory |
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Definition
| - Structuration is the production and reproduction of social systems by people’s use of rules and resources in interaction. Communication matters when groups make decisions. The duality of structures means that the rules and resources members use will affect decisions, and in turn those structures will also be affected by those decisions. |
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Term
| Culture Approach to Organizations |
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Definition
| - Humans are animals suspended in webs of significance that they themselves have spun. An organization doesn’t have a culture, it is a culture – a unique system of shared meanings. A nonintrusive ethnographic approach interprets stories, rites, and other symbolism to make sense of corporate culture. |
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Term
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Definition
| - Individuals who are more cognitively complex in their perceptions of others have the mental capacity to construct sophisticated message plans that pursue multiple goals. They then have the ability to deliver person-centered messages that achieve the outcomes they desire |
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