CHAPTER 1: A First Look at Interpersonal Communication
Speech communications:
• Rhetoric: public speaking, preaching, law, philosophy
• Oral History: Story-telling, anthology (culture communication), performance test
• Interpersonal: group family, organizational communication, perception, intimacy cognition, nonverbal, gender, conflict, relational development.
Communication Axioms (11 principles):
1. We communicate with others.
2. You cannot not communicate.
3. Can be intentional or unintentional.
4. Communication is irreversible (cannot take it back).
5. Communication is unrepeatable.
6. Meaning is not only in words (other elements such as tone of voice, face expression, etc.) (also in understanding them).
7. No single person or event causes another’s prediction (responses are complex).
8. More communication is not always better.
9. Communication will not solve all problems.
10. Communication is learned.
11. Communication is transactional.
Nature of Interpersonal Communication:
• Our connections to each other and how we communicate.
• Interactions fall somewhere along the spectrum of impersonal to personal.
• Our course will examine personal communication as INTERPERSONAL.
• Interpersonal is not better,
• Nor is it always the goal - desirable.
• Most relationships are not either interpersonal or impersonal, but are made up of multiple transactions of both types.
Characteristics of Interpersonal Communication:
1. Unique - no two are alike.
2. Irreplaceable - it will never be the same.
3. Interdependent - fate is shared.
4. Involves self-disclosure - *leads to intimacy *is incremental
5. Have intrinsic rewards. (it feels good to do it.)
6. Scarce - there’s only so much time in a day.
Communication Competence: the ability to accomplish your goals in a manner that maintains the relationship on terms that are acceptable (and healthy) to all parties involved.
• There’s no ideal way to