1. Ch. 1 – Thinking About Communication: Definitions, Models, and Ethics
Part One: Setting the Stage

2. Defining communication – p.4
Communication - social process in which individuals employ symbols to establish and interpret meaning in their environment
Communication
Social
Process
Symbols
Meaning
Environment

3. Social – people interacting
Process – ongoing, unending
Symbol – arbitrary labels given to phenomena
Meaning – what people extract from message
Environment – situations, context

4. Activities Workbook:
Gimme Five

5. Social – people interacting
Face-to-face
Online

6. Process – ongoing and unending Past Present Future

7. Symbol – arbitrary labels
Concrete – object
chair
Abstract – concept
Freedom
Concrete = Car
Abstract = Status symbol

8. Activities Workbook
Draw and color

9. Meaning – what people extract from message
Denotative
Dictionary definition
School = building where learning occurs
Connotative
What people infer
School = best friends
School = getting bullied

10. Environment – situation, context
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How

11. Activities Workbook:
At the game

12. Models of Communication – p.11
Linear Model– one-way view of communication in which source sends message to receiver through channel that may be distorted by noise
1949 – Shannon and Weaver
To explain how radio and TV works

13. Four kinds of noise
Semantic
Physical (external)
Psychological (internal)
Physiological

14. Semantic
Slang, jargon, specialized language
Unfamiliar words, another language

15. Physical (external)
Distracted by environment – sensory interference

16. Psychological (internal)
Biases, prejudices, predispositions

17. Physiological
Hearing or sight impairment, tired, hungry, bad mood

18. Interactional Model– two-way communication adding feedback and field experience
1954 – Schramm
to show that sender and receiver can switch roles

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfo BvAKItkY
Transactional – communication is simultaneous with people sending and receiving at the same time
1970 – Barnlund
to show how dynamically communication evolves
BvAKItkY

20. Activities Workbook:
Models

21. Ethics and communication – p.16
Ethics – perceived rightness or wrongness of action or behavior
Moral decision making influenced by
Society’s rules and laws
Individual’s moral codes
Both of which change over time

22. Two perspectives
Objective: black and white, no exceptions
Ex - Murder is murder, period!
Subjective: gray area, depends on circumstances
Ex. - Police officer killing in self-defense in the line of duty

23. Activities Workbook:
Ethical Decision Making

24. The value of understanding communication theory – p.23
Cultivates critical thinking skills
Helps you recognize breadth and depth of research
Helps to make sense of personal life experiences
Fosters self-awareness