DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS (Terms) IN COMMUNICATION SKILLS

(Pearson, et al., 2017; Adler & Rodman, 2017)

TOPIC: Introduction to Human Communication

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Communication The process by which individuals convey

information to each other to generate meaning.
Process Communication is a combination of different
activities to generate meaning.
Source The initiator of a message.
Receiver The intended target of a message.
Message The verbal and nonverbal form of the idea,
thought, or feeling that the source wishes to
communicate to another person or group of
people.
Channel The means by which a message moves from the
source to the receiver of the message.
Feedback The receiver’s verbal and nonverbal response to
the source’s message.
Code A systematic arrangement of signals to create
meanings in the mind of another person or people.
Verbal codes Consists of symbols and their grammatical
arrangement.
Nonverbal codes All symbols that are not words, including bodily
movements, the use of space and time, clothing
and adornments, and sounds other than words. (Pearson,
Encoding The process of translating an idea or thought into et al.,
code. 2017)
Decoding The process of assigning meaning to an idea or
thought that has been received.
Noise The interference that occurs to disrupt or influence
the smooth flow if interchange in communication.
 Physical noise Factors outside the receiver that make it difficult to
hear.
 Physiological Biological factors in the receiver or sender that
noise interfere with accurate reception.
 Psychological Forces within a communicator that interfere with
noise the ability to express or understand a message
accurately (mental factors).
Communication Our background, experiences and life that affect
begins with self how we communicate with others.
Communication The consideration that we give when we interact
involves others with people or machines
Communication Just because people can speak for a long time
quantity does not does not mean that they are necessarily getting
increase quality
their message across.

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Communication is It cannot be avoided. Our whole cognitive
pervasive processing is designed to convey messages, even
if this is just speaking to yourself.
Communication Once message is passed it cannot be undone.
cannot be reversed The content may be forgotten over time, but
whatever is communicated consciously or
unconsciously influences the exchange of
information.
Meaning rests in Understanding of what people communicate is
people, not words subjective and dependent upon the interlocutors
perceptions, background and understanding of
language.
Context A set of circumstances or situation in which (Pearson,
exchanges of information take place. et al.,
 Intrapersonal The process of generating messages and ideas 2017)
Communication within yourself in your own mind.
 Interpersonal Communication that involves two or more persons
Communication where information is exchanged.
 Dyadic Communication between two people or parties.
communication
 Small group The process of exchanging information amongst a
Communication small number of people.
 Public The process of using messages to generate
Communication meaning in a situation in which a single speaker
transmits a message to a number of receivers.
 Mass The process of using messages to generate
Communication meanings in a mediated system, between a source
and a large number of unseen receivers.
 Digitally Any form of communication that is conducted
mediated through new communication technology.
communication
Communicative The ability to exchange information in a reliable
competence and effective way through a common system of
symbols, signs or behaviour.
 Wide Range of Able to choose the most appropriate actions from a
behaviours wide range of behaviours.
(Adler &
 Ability to choose Able to choose which of these skills will work best Rodman,
the most in a particular situation. 2017)
appropriate
behaviour
 Skill at Able to put the skill into practice effectively.
performing the
behaviour
 Empathy Able to value another’s perspective and
understand the other person’s point of view.
 Cognitive Able to construct a variety of frameworks for
complexity viewing an issue.
 Self-monitoring Able to separate a part of their consciousness and
observe their behaviour from a detached viewpoint.

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 TOPIC: Perception, Self and Communication

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Perception The process of using the senses to acquire

information about the surrounding environment or
situation
Active perception Perception in which your mind selects, organizes,
and interprets what you sense
Subjective Your uniquely constructed meaning attributed to
perception sensed stimuli
Past Experiences The idea that your past experiences lead you to
see the world in a way that it is difficult to change.
Roles The part an individual plays in a group - an
individual’s function or expected behaviour
Present feelings and How you feel at the moment affects your
circumstances perceptions and influences your communication
with others.
Culture The socially transmitted behaviour patterns,
beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular period,
class or community. (Pearson,
Selection You neglect some stimuli and focus on others et al.,
 Selective The tendency, when you expose yourself to 2017)
attention information and ideas, you focus on certain cues
and ignore others
 Selective The tendency to expose yourself to information
exposure that reinforces, rather than contradicts your beliefs
or opinions.
 Selective The tendency to see, hear and believe only what
perception you want to see, hear and believe
 Selective The tendency to remember better the things that
retention reinforce your beliefs rather than those that oppose
them.
Organisation The grouping of stimuli into meaningful units or
wholes
 Figure This is the focal point of your attention.
 Ground The background against which your focussed
attention occurs.
 Closure The tendency to fill in missing information in order
to complete an otherwise incomplete figure or
statement.
 Proximity Objects or information that are close to each other
will be perceived as a unit or group.
 Similarity Ideas and elements are grouped together because
they resemble each other / share attributes.
Interpretation The assignment of meaning to stimuli
Perceptual Errors Errors that people make when they perceive others
Stereotyping Making a hasty generalization about a group based
on a judgment about an individual from that group.

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Prejudice An unfavourable prejudgment that we make about
an individual because of his/her membership in a
stereotyped group.
First impression An initial opinion about people upon meeting them
Clinging onto When the labels we attach are inaccurate, because (Adler &
inaccurate first after we form an opinion of someone, we tend to Rodman,
impression 2017)
hang on to it and make any conflicting information
fit our image.
Self-serving bias We often judge ourselves more charitably than we
judge others in which the outcome is always
favourable to our situation
Focus more on Favour / focus more on negative impressions
negative impressions instead of positive ones
instead of positive
ones
Influenced by what is The most glaring attributes (loud music, bright
most obvious: colours)
Intense factor
Influenced by what is Happens a few times (dripping faucets, persistent
most obvious: people)
Repetitious factor
Influenced by what is Acting differently than they always do (a normally
most obvious: (Pearson,
happy person who acts grumpy or vice versa). et al.,
Contrastive factor
Influenced by what is The factors that determine what information we 2017)
most obvious: select from our environment. ( the motives drives
Motive
the action and interpretation)
Assume that others People commonly imagine that others possess the
are similar to us. same attitudes and motives that they do.
Perception Checking A process of describing, interpreting, and verifying
that helps us understand another person and his or
her message more accurately.
 Step 1: Description of observed behaviour
 Step 2: Suggest TWO possible
interpretations
 Step 3: Seek Clarification
Perspective taking to take on the viewpoint of another person

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 TOPIC: Verbal Communication (Language and Meaning)

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Language A system of symbols, letters, or words with

arbitrary meanings that are governed by rules and
used to communicate.
Culture The socially transmitted behaviour patterns,
beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular period,
class or community.
Denotative meaning The meaning of a word, which is usually found in a
dictionary.
Connotative meaning An individual or personal meaning that may be
emotionally laden. (Pearson
Slang Is a specialised language of a group of people who , et al.,
2017)
share a common interest or belong to a similar
culture.
Euphemisms A more polite, pleasant expression used in place of
a socially unacceptable form.
Jargon The technical language developed by a
professional group such as medics, engineers,
accountants etc.
Sexist/Gender-biased This is language that excludes individuals on the
language basis of gender.
Language that privileges a certain gender over
another.
Equivocal words Words that have more than one correct dictionary (Adler &
definition. Rodman,
2017)
Relative words Words that gain their meaning by comparison.
Descriptiveness The practice of describing observed behaviour or
phenomena instead of offering personal reactions
or judgments. (Pearson
Paraphrasing Restating another person’s message by rephrasing , et a.l,
the content or intent of the message. 2017)
Concrete language Words or statements that are specific rather than
abstract or vague.
Dating This is specifying when you made an observation,
which is necessary because everything changes
over time.
Indexing Identifying the uniqueness of objects, events and
people.

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 TOPIC: Nonverbal Communication

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Nonverbal The process of using wordless messages to

communication generate meaning.
Repeating Sending the same message both verbally and
nonverbally
Emphasizing The use of nonverbal cues to strengthen the
message
Contradiction Sending verbal and nonverbal messages that
conflict
Substituting When nonverbal codes are used instead of the
verbal.
Regulating Nonverbal codes are used to monitor and control
interactions with others.
Nonverbal codes Codes of communication consisting of symbols that
are not words and can include non-word
vocalisations.
Bodily movement The use of bodily gestures to communicate with
others which is not verbal communication.
Facial expression Any nonverbal cues expressed by the speaker's (Pearson,
face. Provides information on how a person feels. et al.,
2017)
(e.g. emotions like happiness, sadness, anger )
Kinesics The study of body movement, including posture ,
gestures, and facial expressions.
 Emblems Nonverbal movements that substitute for words
and phrases.
 Illustrators Nonverbal movements that accompany or reinforce
verbal messages.
 Affect displays Nonverbal movements of the face and body used
to show emotion.
 Regulators Nonverbal movements that control the flow or pace
of communication
 Adaptors Nonverbal movements that are performed
unconsciously and usually show the real emotion.
(use of) Space People use space as a form of non-verbal
communication which is altered according to
various determiners such as relationship with
others, gender, and cultural background.
Proxemics The study of the human use of space and distance.
(use of) Time / Refers to the way that people organise and use
Chronemics time differently to compose their messages.
(use of) Touch / The use of touch in communication.
Tactile
communication
Paralinguistic The non-word sounds and non-word
features characteristics of language such as pitch, volume,
rate and quality.

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Vocal cues All of the oral aspects of sound, except the words
themselves.
 Pitch The highness or lowness of your voice.
 Rate How rapidly or slowly you speak.
 Inflection The variety or changes in pitch.
 Volume The loudness and softness of the voice
 Quality The unique resonance of the voice, such as
huskiness, nasality, raspiness or whininess (Pearson,
 Nonword sounds Sound like “mmh”, “huh” and “ahh”, as well as the et al.,
/ fillers pauses of the absence of sounds used for effect. 2017)
 Pronunciation Saying a word correctly
 Articulation Coordinating one’s mouth, tongue and teeth to
make words understandable to others
 Enunciation Combining pronunciation and articulation to
produce a word with clarity and distinction.
 Silence The lack of sound
Clothing The clothes that you wear to cover your body
which has both direct/indirect communicative
value.
Artifacts Ornaments or adornments you display that hold
communicative potential (e.g. jewellery, bags,
glasses etc.).
Objectics The study of the human use of clothing and other
artifacts as nonverbal codes.

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 TOPIC: Listening and critical Thinking

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Hearing The act of receiving sound

Listening The active process of receiving, constructing
meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or
nonverbal messages.
Critical Thinking Involves analysing the speaker, the situation, and
the speaker’s ideas to make critical judgements
about the message being presented.
Active Listening Listening with a purpose.
 Empathic Listening with a purpose and attempting to
listening understand the other person’s perspective.
 Critical listening Listening in which you carefully analyse the
accuracy, meaningfulness, and utility of a
speaker’s message.
Process of Listening Listening involves a process beginning from
attention, working memory, short-term memory,
and long-term memory.
 Selective What we choose to pay attention to
Attention
 Automatic What we react to instinctively
Attention (Pearson,
 Working Memory How we work through interpreting life one second et al.,
2017)
to the next. The ability to remember and use
relevant information while in the middle of an
activity.
 Short-Term Temporary storage place for information
Memory
 Long-Term Permanent storage place for information
Memory
 Schemas The brain’s organization filing system for thoughts
held in long-term memory.
Barriers to Listening Factors that prevents us from being an effective
listener
Barriers to Listening The interference that occurs to disrupt or influence
due to Noise the smooth flow if interchange in communication.
 Physical Environmental stimuli that keep you from focusing
Distractions on the message.
 Mental The mind wanders when it is supposed to be
Distractions focusing on something.
 Multitasking Trying to do two or more tasks simultaneously.
 Factual Focus so intently on details that you miss the main
Distractions point.
 Semantic Over responding to an emotion-laden word or
Distractions concept.
Barriers to Listening How we perceive other people effects the way we
due to Perceptions of listen to others.
Others

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 Status Devote attention based on social standing, rank, or
perceived value of another.
 Stereotypes Treating individuals as if they were the same as
others in a certain category
 Sights and Appearances and voice qualities affect your
Sounds listening.
Barriers to Listening Each person has an individualized trait that effects
due to Yourself the way he/she listens to others.
 Egocentrism Excessive self-focus. See yourself as the central
concern in every conversation.
 Defensiveness Act threatened and feel like you must defend what
you have said or done.
 Experiential Looking down on others as if their experience with
Superiority life were not as good as yours.
 Personal Bias Letting your own predispositions or strong beliefs
interfere with your ability to interpret information
correctly.
 Pseudolistening Pretending to listen (nod the head, smile) but
letting your mind or attention wander to something
else.
Faulty Listening possessing one or more habits that keep them
Behaviour from understanding truly important messages
 Selective Selecting desired parts and rejecting others
Listening
 Ambushing Listening carefully to gather information to be used (Adler &
against the other party Rodman,
 Insulated Do not listen to certain topics to avoid dealing with 2017)
Listening the issue.
 Insensitive Failure to look beyond the words (or behaviour)
Listening and to look for hidden meanings (takes remarks at
face value).

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 TOPIC: Interpersonal Communication

CONCEPT DEFINITION SOURCE

Interpersonal Associations between at least two people who are

Relationships interdependent, who use some consistent patterns
of interaction, and who have interacted for an
extended period of time.
Motivations for Motivations for people to cultivate/initiate/develop
initiating interpersonal relationships.
relationships
 Proximity We are more likely to find others who we spend
most of our time with.
Location, distance, or range between people and
things
 Attractiveness A concept that includes physical attractiveness,
how desirable a person is to work with, and how
much “social value” the person has for others
 Responsiveness The idea that we tend to select our friends and
others who demonstrate positive interest in us.
 Similarity The idea that our friends and loved ones are
usually people who like or dislike the same
things we do.
 Complementarity The idea that we sometimes bond with people
whose strengths are our weaknesses.
Motivations for Motivations for people to continue to relate to the
maintaining person(s) with whom he/she has initiated a
relationships
relationship with (for a more satisfying
interpersonal relationship).
Motivations for Motivations for people to end an interpersonal
terminating relationship (as the goal of maintaining the (Pearson,
relationships et al.,
relationship is no longer possible).
2017)
 Hurtful Messages Messages that create emotional pain or upset.
 Deceptive The practice of deliberately making somebody
Communication believe things that are not true.
 Aggressiveness The assertion of one’s rights at the expense of
others and care about one’s own needs but no
one else’s.
 Argumentativene The quality or state of being argumentative;
ss synonymous with contentiousness or
combativeness.
 Defensiveness The response that occurs when a person feels
attacked.
Gibb’s Categories A category that creates a more positive and
supportive communication climate by
distinguishing behaviours that encourage
defensiveness and those that reduce
defensiveness.
Create Promoting defensive behaviours in others.
Defensiveness
(Gibb’s, 1971)
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 Evaluation When a person makes a judgement about another
person or behavior
 Control The speaker does not allow the second person to
join in the discussion of how a problem should be
solved.
 Neutrality The originator of the message does not show
concern for the second person.
 Superiority The first person treats the second person as lower
in status
 Certainty When a person denotes a lack of openness to
alternative ideas
 Strategy Refers to the employment of manipulative &
premeditative behaviour.
Reduce Reducing defensive behaviours in others.
Defensiveness
(Gibb’s, 1971)
 Description Report the behavior rather than offering
evaluative comments
 Problem Do not act as though they have the solution but are
Orientation eager to discuss multiple ideas
 Empathy Implies concern for others shown through careful
listening for both content and intent of message
 Equality Demonstrates that he/she is neither superior nor
inferior to the second person
 Provisionalism Does not communicate certainty or a total
conviction but is open to other ideas
 Spontaneity Implies naturalness and lack of premeditation
Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two
interdependent parties who perceive incompatible
goals, scarce rewards, and interference from the
other parties in achieving their goals.
Styles of Expressing a wide range of ways communicators handle
Conflicts conflicts
Nonassertion The inability or unwillingness to express thoughts
or feelings in a conflict.
 Avoidance Nonassertion through avoidance can be done
either physically (steering clear of a friend after
having an argument) or conversationally (changing
the topic, joking, or denying that a problem exists). (Adler &
 Accommodation A non-assertive response that deals with conflict Rodman,
by giving in or putting the other’s needs ahead of 2017)
their own.
Direct Aggression Confronts the other person through direct
aggressive verbal messages and/or non-verbal
communication in a way that attacks his or her
position—and even the dignity of the receiver.
Passive Aggression It occurs when a communicator expresses hostility
in an obscure way – “crazymaking” behaviours.
 Pseudo- Pretend to agree with you but do not comply with
Accommodators your request for change
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 Guilt Makers Try to gain control by making you feel responsible
for changing to suit them
 Jokers Use humour as a weapon and then hide behind the
complaint when you object
 Trivial Do small things to drive you crazy instead of
Tyrannizers confronting you with their complaints
 Withholders Punish their partners by keeping back something
valuable, such as courtesy, affection, or humour
Indirect The communicator conveys a message in a
Communication roundabout manner to save face of the recipient.
Assertion Handling conflicts by expressing needs, thoughts,
and feelings, clearly and directly without judging or
dictating others.
Self-disclosure The process of making intentional revelations
about yourself that others would be unlikely to
know and that generally constitute private,
sensitive, or confidential information.
 The Open Area Information known to you and others (e.g. height,
(Pearson,
date of birth, ethnicity) et al.,
 The Blind Area Information known to others BUT unknown to 2017)
you (e.g. Personality characteristics others
perceived but not recognised by you)
 The Hidden Area Information that you know about yourself BUT
others do not (e.g. relationship problems, dark
secrets)
 The Unknown Information unknown to you AND others (e.g.
Area future sickness, death)

REFERENCES
Adler, R.B. & Rodman, G. (2017). Understanding Human Communication. (13th ed.).
New York: Oxford University Press.
Pearson, J. C., Nelson, P. E., Titsworth, S., & Hosek, A.M. (2017). Human
Communication. (6th ed.). Singapore: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

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