Ron Bishop, Drexel University
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Don’t really have an elegant definition of
communication.
We talk about it in utilitarian, matter-of-fact,
pragmatic terms.
It’s so much more than a tool, a skill.
More than just developing “good communication
skills.”
It impacts, defines so much human activity.
Studying it is sometimes like foraging in a
junkyard.
Studying it is to embrace the interrelatedness of
ideas – from a variety of fields (“Consilience”).
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Linear
Without purpose (Usually…unless you’re talking
in your sleep).
◦ Manifest v. latent functions of communication. (Merton)
◦ A visit to the land of polysemy.
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Perfect
Mechanistic
◦ Consider the frames of reference.
◦ Acknowledge your gatekeeping.
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Intermittent
◦ Can one not not communicate?
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Just a transaction
◦ Less un-sponsored activity these days.
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As private as before
◦ Would you accept a Jumbotron marriage proposal?
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Easy
Always the right call
◦ The importance and impact of silence.
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“….of all things communication is the most
wonderful.”
◦ Experience and Nature, 1939, p. 385.
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“Society exists not only by transmission, by
communication, but it may fairly be said to
exist in transmission, in communication.”
◦ Democracy and Education, 1916, p. 5.
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Saw the contradiction in our use of the word
“communication.”
Two dominant views of communication that
are still hanging around:
◦ Transmission view of communication
◦ Ritual view of communication
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Comes from a metaphor of transportation,
geography.
We “impart,” “send,” “transmit” messages.
At its core: the transmission of messages
over distance, often for the purpose of
control.
Still very much alive today in most ads for
smartphones.
Information as commodity, as competitive
advantage.
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Communication linked to ideas like “sharing,”
“participation,” “association,” “fellowship.”
Shares roots with “commonness,”
“communion,” “community.”
Not focused on extension of messages in
space, but toward maintenance of society in
time.
Not the act of transmitting information, but
the representation of shared beliefs.
See it in the ceremony that draws us together
in fellowship and commonality.
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Transmission view: it’s an instrument for
disseminating news and knowledge.
Ritual view: nothing new is learned, but a
particular view of the world is confirmed.
News is drama.
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Communication is a “symbolic process where
reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and
transformed.”
“Contemplate the particular miracles of social
life that have become for us just there, plain
and unproblematic for the eye to see.”
Develop a sense of awe, of wonder, about this
seemingly “commonplace activity.”
◦ James Carey, Communication as Culture
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“Reality is brought into existence, is
produced, by communication…by the
construction, apprehension, and utilization of
symbolic forms.”
◦ James Carey, Communication as Culture
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Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Group
Public
Mass
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“The transmission and reception of
information.”
“The management of messages for the
purposes of creating meaning.”
“The process of human beings responding to
the symbolic behavior of other persons…”
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“The mechanism through which human
relations exist and develop – all the symbols
of the mind, together with the means of
conveying them…through space and
preserving them through time.”
◦ Charles Cooley, sociologist
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“A process involving the selection,
production, and transmission of signs in such
a way as to help a receiver perceive a
meaning similar to that in the mind of the
communicator.”
“A systemic process in which people interact
with and through symbols to create and
interpret meanings.”
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“Communication is an ‘effort after meaning,’
a creative act initiated by man in which he
seeks to discriminate and organize cues so as
to orient himself in his environment and
satisfy his changing needs.”
◦ Dean Barnlund, 1968
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“Who says what in which channel to whom
with what effect?”
◦ Harold Lasswell, 1948
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Relationship between what we see and what
we know or learn is fluid, never settled.
We don’t just react to stimuli.
You choose to attend to something, to situate
yourself in relation to it.
We’re all making sense of the “visible world.”
We make active choices – we are gatekeepers!
What you see depends on where you are
when…
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How you see – how an artist sees, a
photographer sees, a writer sees – is all there
in the subject.
What’s the impact of figuring out that a photo
outlasts its subject?
Do you need an audience to have art?
Publicity becomes ideology; we want legacies!
Images mystify, blur the past.
Deprived of history; left to navel-gaze.
Reclaim the history! Ditch the experts! And
overuse of exclamation points!
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Reproduction destroys the uniqueness of the
subject.
It comes to us, rather than us going to it.
You experience art – communication of all
types – differently than anyone else.
Don’t force your perceptions into the boxes
provided by experts.
Does damage to uniqueness.
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We don’t observe, we take pictures.
The original preserves its authority.
Reproductions more independent of the
original.
The aura of the work withers, detached from
tradition.
We reactivate the product, but at the same
time chip away at its traditional value.
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Everything comes to seem equal, universal.
Nothing’s special, nothing’s an event.
The importance of formula…the illusion of
audience…the importance of technique.
Copies become more valuable than originals
to us.
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Something “which can be taken as
significantly substituting for something else”
(Eco).
The “something else” doesn’t have to exist.
“Something which stands to somebody for
something in some respect or capacity”
(Peirce).
Relationship is arbitrary, caused by social
convention; no logical connection.
We, the interpreters, bring the meaning.
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Signifier = the word “open”
Signified = the concept/idea that the store is
open for business.
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Representamen: the form the sign takes.
Object: what the sign refers to.
Interpretant: the sense we make of the sign.
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The word “dog” isn’t a dog, of course.
But…it’s a sign that represents a dog.
So…
◦ Representamen: the word “dog”
◦ Object: the actual dog
◦ Interpretant: the fact we understand the sign as
meaning “dog.”
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Representamen: the light facing the traffic.
Object: the stopped vehicles.
Interpretant: the indication that you
understand that you have to stop.
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Likeness: it resembles the object, but there’s
no connection.
Index: a physical connection with the object.
It exists, then we talk about it.
Symbol: “connected with its object by virtue
of the symbol-using mind” (Peirce).
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Something that stands for something else
that is often hidden.
Used to represent things, processes, ideas,
wishes, events.
We create our own interpretations.
We create our own “core images” – symbols
that represent how we understand our lives.
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Ambivalent; interpretation depends on one’s
experience.
Three types: conventional, accidental, and
universal.
Enable us to unlock the doors shielding our
unconscious feelings from scrutiny.
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Symbols grow out of signs.
Symbols spread.
As we use them, the meaning grows,
changes, evolves.
Can mean different things to different
generations.
Never entirely arbitrary, says de Saussure.
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With symbols, there seems to be a “natural
bond” between the signifier and signified.
Couldn’t just replace the symbol of justice
with another symbol.
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How does a signifier take on its meaning?
How do we come to learn the meanings?
Where do we find the instructions to learn?
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Set of principles or expectations that guide
the actions of a group.
A practice or procedure a group follows to
make interaction easier.
They agree that the convention works for
them.
Would you be brave enough to violate one?
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“Every work is the work of many things
besides an author…”
What seems “natural” to us.
It makes what we think and do seem “right.”
Shared beliefs and values held
unquestioningly.
Structure of beliefs, principles, practices that
define, organize, and help us interpret reality.
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Always consider the dominant and
oppositional ideologies when looking at
messages.
We experience mix of dominant, residual,
emergent forms of consciousness.
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System of assumptions, meanings, and value.
A web of ideologies that shapes the way
things look, what they mean, and what reality
is for the majority of people within a given
culture.
We’re not just “the doped glazed telly
viewers,” though.
Consider dominant and oppositional
ideologies.
Experience mix of dominant, residual,
emergent forms of consciousness.
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Comprehension/understanding of a media
text is enhanced by your knowledge of
others.
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The tendency of message creators to talk
about themselves, to inject that into their
texts.
When you hear “media feeding frenzy,” for
example.
Or when you hear a song by someone about
writing a song.
Or a work of fiction about a writer who writes
fiction.
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The enemy of communication.
Anything that interrupts or prevents or
damages communication.
◦ Physical (mechanical)
◦ Semantic
◦ Psychological
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Every message provokes a reaction.
We can either accept it or disregard it.
It would be best if we would learn from it.
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We argue about highbrow vs. lowbrow forms
of communication.
Do we celebrate the “vulgar?”
Should we hope that the classy will eclipse
the vulgar?
Doesn’t anyone have taste anymore?
Or just accept that predictability in a message
can be a strength.
Repetition and copying are signs of success.
It’s sort of our common language.
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“Alternative to what,” as my brother-in-law
asked once.
We want to be dazzled, entertained.
Give us more “big grid” stuff…make Vegas
even glitzier!
Makes it risky for an artist to try something
new, innovative – “little grid.”
We want “intimacy and massiveness” at the
same time!
Nirvana gave it to us!
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We expect to experience life as “an immense
accumulation of spectacles.”
We used to just live – now we represent!
Challenges how we used to see reality.
They’re all we want to see.
Is human life “mere appearance?”
Even our down time is meant to be spent
sustaining our love of spectacle.
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Can language shape thought? Control
thought as it happens?
Does language suggest how you think,
interpret the world, explain things?
Can’t think a thought that can’t be expressed
in language.
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Erving Goffman: we’re constantly managing
the impression we show to the public.
We hide anything we think might tarnish that
image.
We show a little more of the “dirty work” that
goes into sustaining the image.
Front stage: the “right place” for the
performance.
Back stage: where all the image repair takes
place.
Do we live in a “confessional culture?”
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We strive for cohesion in setting, appearance,
manner.
We try to avoid mishaps.
Is there a danger in being so back stagehappy?
Is shame a lost art?
We seem to be in a constant state of fixing –
the perpetual makeover.
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We act and communicate based on how we
think others see us.
Reflected appraisal and social comparison –
it’s what we do.
We’re sense-makers!
Frame of reference provides the “templates.”
We can be self-directed and other-directed.
We are both object and subject…I and me.
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By staying:
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Unique
Integrated
Consistent
Active
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Despite all the sameness, we remain unique.
Despite living in a “confessional culture,” we
don’t share everything.
A lot of the meaning we make stays internal.
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Feel the need to organize the thoughts, the
sensations, the responses.
The stuff has to go somewhere.
We incorporate new stuff into larger patterns
of thought.
Not just a matter of how much we can
process.
We love us the structure, the balance, the
order.
All done on the way to…cue Maslow!
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We integrate in the name of consistency.
When change occurs, we actually push back.
We want, need, seek, long for consistency.
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Cognitive Dissonance
Selective Exposure
Selective Retention (or Forgetting)
Inoculation
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Always a risk when you communicate.
The results shape the self.
We keep at it, despite the unpredictability.
We don’t just react.
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We’ve become credibility hounds, always
worried about image.
Comes at expense of real ideas.
We research, focus group, test drive
everything.
Always a gap between real and perceived
credibility.
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“The interaction between source-related
attributes and the perceived attributes of a
source held by the receiver.”
Or try this…
◦ “The degree to which the receiver regards a source
as trustworthy and a message as truthful.”
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Or this…
◦ “A perceived characteristic of a source based on a
combination of beliefs about the source’s
competence, trustworthiness, extroversion,
composure, and sociability.”
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Competence
Trustworthiness
Extroversion
Composure
Sociability
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Confidence is shared and tied to social
processes.
Status conferral: boosting the standing of
ideas, institutions, and people that we see in
media content.
Before we became so media-saturated, we
looked to wealth, education, legacy,
occupation to gain confidence in someone.
Being recognized is enough today, some say.
Visibility = Status?
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The media giveth confidence, and the media
taketh away confidence.
The “taketh away” happens through status
degradation – public shaming or
marginalization of a person.
But is that just the media blowing their own
horn – or horns?
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Let’s try a definition: non-verbal
communication is/are messages expressed
by other than linguistic means.
By the deliberate or intentional use of objects,
sounds, actions, time, space…
With the intent of arousing meaning in
others.
You can stop talking, but you can’t stop
behaving non-verbally.
Or in short: one cannot not communicate.
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NV interaction is reciprocal – one person’s
posture, gesture, or touch causes the other to
react, perhaps in the same way.
To detect the meaning of a NV cue, you have
to know the sender’s frame of reference,
situation (of the non-Jersey Shore variety),
and cultural background.
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Culture operates on three levels, as Hall
indicates:
◦ Technical: where we all know the rules.
◦ Formal: we know the rules, not the reasons for the
rules.
◦ Informal: We’ve learned the rules by imitation, and
now the behavior is pretty much a reflex.
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Emblems: gestures with direct verbal
translations.
Illustrators: movements that demonstrate and
reinforce verbal messages.
Adapters: unintentional movements done to
relieve tension.
Regulators: Manage the flow of an
interaction.
Labels: Something outside the body created
and placed or affixed or displayed to
communicate status
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Affective Displays: of emotion, feeling.
Offensive Displays: Balling up your fists,
flipping the bird.
Markers: Deployed to mark one’s turf.
Tenure: Hey – I was here first! The land of
chronemics.
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Intent
Awareness
Shared Meaning
Meaningful Unit of Analysis
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Kinesics
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No body movement is without meaning.
Communication is a multichannel thing.
Posture, movement, expression are patterned.
A function of our social system.
Movement can influence behavior of others.
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Proxemics
◦ Study of how space is used in communication.
◦ A culturally determined thing.
◦ Different senses assume importance depending on
where you find yourself.
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Where does your personal space end?
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Intimate (touching to 18 inches)
Casual (18 inches to 4 feet)
Social-Consultative (4 to 12 feet)
Public (12 feet +)
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We react to our physical environment with
either approach or avoidance.
If you’re in a bad or ugly space, monotony
and fatigue set in.
Attractive spaces? Comfort, energy
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We are more often communication receivers
than we are producers.
We get more information by listening than by
reading.
Listening is a reputation-shaper.
And we generally stink at it.
We think technology can fill the gap – “she
can just leave me a voice mail.”
A critical communication skill – and it’s just
nice.
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What’s the status of your relationship?
Do you have working knowledge of the topic?
Where are you trying to communicate?
What is the speaker trying to convey? Why?
Remember to always offer feedback.
Let the whole message wash over you…
Wait your damned turn!
Have a reason to listen – a purpose.
It’s a two-sided thing, this listening.
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1. I keep an open mind while listening even if
I don’t agree with someone.
2. I use my extra thought time while listening
– I think ahead about where the speaker is
going.
3. I ignore distractions while listening.
4. I practice listening by trying to listen to
new material or to a difficult talk.
5. I adjust my note-taking style to suit the
speaker’s style.
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6. I work at listening; I make the effort.
7. I don’t judge the speaker’s verbal and
non-verbal communication styles until I’ve
heard what he or she has to say.
8. I don’t jump to conclusions until I grasp
the speaker’s point of view.
9. I listen for ideas, not details.
10. I hold out for interesting ideas, even if the
material is dry.
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A process, actually…
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Motivation
Reception
Attention
Interpretation
Response
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Three levels to listening…
◦ Nonhearing
◦ Hearing
◦ Thinking
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What are your favorite blocks?
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Comparing
Mind-reading
Rehearsing
Filtering
Judging
Dreaming
Identifying
Advising
Sparring
Self-Effacement
Being Right
Derailing
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We listen (600 words/minute) faster than most
folks can talk (100-200 words/minute).
Our minds wander; attention spans are shorter.
We might bring a negative self-concept to the
party.
You may have heard that you’re a bad listener.
We do love our buzzwords – that’s for sure.
Pretty fond of inciting words, too.
It’s too noisy.
I’ve heard it all before (the “jaded” listener).
What’s in it for me?
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Discriminative
Comprehensive
◦ Comprehension is the goal…
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Therapeutic
◦ Non-directive (No judgments! No solutions!)
◦ Directive (Solutions offered; active involvement)
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“The greatest danger to liberty lurk in
insidious encroachment by men of zeal, wellmeaning but without understanding.”
 - Olmsted v. U.S. (1928).