COMM 250 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Heuristic, Metatheory, Social Science
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
COMM 250
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Module 1:
❏Defining Communication -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCO9Va1piIY#action=share
❏Comm scholars define comm in many different ways - somewhat
problematic for people outside of comm
❏Problematic because - we get criticised for not knowing exactly
what we are studying
❏Issues for defining comm -
❏Whether or not comm must be intentional? - some say comm is a
intentional action (so we have goals when it comes to comm and
act in a way to achieve the goals) others says intentionality is not
important (meaning that people get from comm behavior)
❏Whether or not their needs to be correspondence? - some say it
does and others take the meaning approach and say no as long
as we get meaning from a message
❏Whether or not comm needs to be successful? - some say if they
are intentional in actions than to be successful they gotta meet
goals others say comm does not need to be successful
(miscommunication) many people believe that is a form of comm
❏Whether or not comm needs to be ethical or honest? (whether or
not to only study ethical or honest or to add lying and manipulation
etc.)
❏Whether or not comm involves symbolic actions? - in comm
people use symbols (nonverbal symbols like a wave/nod) as well
as verbal symbols (language system) ALL COMM SCHOLARS
BELIEVE COMM INVOLVES SYMBOLIC ACTIONS - issues is
whether or not that things that are not symbolic or do not have
commonly understood meanings (signs/symptoms vs symbols)
❏Whether or not comm should include cognition, thought,
perception? - intrapersonal (has to do with the processing of
messages - definitely has cognition, thought, perception) issue is
whether or not cognition, thought, perception needs to be studied
in the comm field or outside comm like psych
❏Whether or not comm needs to be human to human? - (most
comm scholars not involved in human to animal comm) our
purposes have to do with comm between people
❏Why is it important to define comm - it’s the first step to define our field
(be consistent with the definition)
❏Class definition of comm - a process in which individuals use symbols to
establish and interpret meaning in their environment (likes this definition
because it defines comm as a process)
❏Models of the Communication Process -
❏Linear Model of Communication - https://youtu.be/hTMs4Cytty4
❏By - Shannon & Weaver 1949
❏Also called a one way model of comm - comm method goes in one
direction (like giving a speech to a audience)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
❏Sender of the message - person who has the pure ideas, thoughts,
feelings in their head that they wanna get out in some way (sender
encodes a message - through 5 channels)
❏Sends messages through the 5 senses - see, hear, feel, smell, taste
❏See - nodding/shrugging (nonverbal comm)
❏Hear - language system
❏Feel - hug (send/receive messages)
❏Smell - perfume industry/baking
❏Taste - cooking for someone you love
❏Receive - person who receives the message/person message was
intended for (receiver decodes the messages)
❏Noise - several types
❏External noise (physical noise) - anything that interferes with the
sending/receiving of messages that is external to comm
participants - ex. Truck drives by and you can’t hear what
someone says
❏Semantic noise - has to do with the meaning of the word - ex.
slang
❏Psychological noise - internal noise to the participant - deals with
cognitive noise that goes on inside our head
❏Physiological noise - deals with the physical inferences on comm
(internal noise because internal to us) but deals with being hungry,
tired, sick, etc - may not be able to process the message in the
same way
❏Interactional Model of Communication - https://youtu.be/fTX5rjFqJWI
❏By - Schramm 1954
❏Two way model of comm or circular model of comm process
❏Top part of model is basically same as linear model (sender who encodes
messages/ receiver receives the message and decodes message to get
meaning)
❏Now the receiver does not just receive the message but he/she is
responsible for providing feedback to the original sender that lets them
know the meaning that the receiver got from the message
❏Bottom part is that the receiver than becomes the sender - in a way
participants flip roles (going back and forth)
❏Very stop start model (idea is that the sender sends message to receiver
then stops and waits for receivers feedback)
❏Snail mail - original letter writing is ex. of interactional model
❏Email/texting - ex. of interactional model (talking on phone depends
because you do not really stop/start)
❏Adds 2 things to linear model
❏Concept of feedback
❏Represented by 2 large circles with a overlap portion of 2 large
circles (2 circles represent each individuals field of experience)
❏Overlap part - idea is that needs to have some overlap in
field of experience (sharing language system is enough)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Comm scholars define comm in many different ways - somewhat problematic for people outside of comm. Problematic because - we get criticised for not knowing exactly what we are studying. Some say comm is a intentional action (so we have goals when it comes to comm and act in a way to achieve the goals) others says intentionality is not important (meaning that people get from comm behavior) Some say it does and others take the meaning approach and say no as long as we get meaning from a message. Some say if they are intentional in actions than to be successful they gotta meet goals others say comm does not need to be successful (miscommunication) many people believe that is a form of comm. Whether or not comm needs to be ethical or honest? (whether or not to only study ethical or honest or to add lying and manipulation etc. )
