An Overview of

Communication
Chapter 1
What is Communication?
• “The process of creating or sharing meaning in
informal conversation, group interaction, or public
speaking”

• #1 skill employers seek from college graduates

(both oral and written)

• Other skills you’ll learn/practice in COMM 108:

teamwork, analytical, interpersonal, problem-
solving
 Key Terms
• Participants (senders/receivers)

• Messages (meanings, symbols, encoding, decoding,

and form)

• Context (physical, social, historical, psychological, and

cultural)

• Channels

• Interference/Noise (physical, psychological, internal,

and semantic)

• Feedback
 Contexts
• Physical (location, environmental conditions, distance
between communicators, time of day)

• Social (nature of relationships between participants)

• Historical (background provided by previous comm.

episodes between participants)

• Psychological (includes moods/feelings)

• Cultural (values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and

underlying assumptions prevalent among ppl in society)
 Interference/Noise
• Physical (includes sights, sounds, and other stimuli that
draws ppl’s attention away from intended meaning

• Psychological (internal distractions based on

thoughts, feelings, or emotional reactions to symbols)
-Internal noise (thoughts and feelings that
compete for your attention, thus interfering w/
comm.)
-Semantic interference (distractions aroused by
certain symbols that divert attention from
message)
 The Communication
Process
Context

http://www.project-management-skills.com/definition-of-communication.html
Communication Settings
• Intrapersonal communication (comm. w/ self)

• Interpersonal communication (informal interaction

between 2 ppl who have identifiable relationship)

• Small group communication (3-20 ppl who come

together to communicate w/ one another)

• Public communication (delivered to audiences of

more than 20 ppl)
 Communication
Principles
• Purposeful

• Continuous

• Messages vary in conscious thought (spontaneous, scripted, or

constructed)

• Relational (through immediacy and control)

• Guided by culture

• Has ethical implications (truthfulness, honesty, integrity,

fairness, respect, responsibility)

• Learned
 Why Communicate?
• To develop and maintain our sense of self

• To meet our social needs

• To develop and maintain relationships

• To exchange information

• To influence others
 Increasing Communication
Competence
• “The impression that communicative behavior is
both appropriate and effective in a given situation”

• Effective when goals are achieved

• Appropriate when comm. conforms to what is

expected in a situation
 Comm. Competence
Components
• Motivation

• Knowledge

• Skill

• Credibility (perception of speaker’s knowledge,

trustworthiness, and warmth)

• Social ease (managing comm. apprehension so as

not to appear nervous or anxious)
 Comm. Apprehension
• “The fear or anxiety associated with real or anticipated
comm. w/ others”

• Four (4) specific types:

1. Traitlike CA (feel anxious in most speaking situations)
2. Audience-based CA (anxious about speaking w/ a
certain person or group of ppl)
3. Situation CA (short-lived during specific encounter)
4. Context-based CA (only in a particular situation)