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CHAPTER 3

AS A BASIC LIFE PROCESS

In this chapter, you will learn about: • Communication is a basic life process. • There are similarities and differences between human

and animal communication. • There are four primary modes of communication. • Communication has a symbolic meaning.

BEYOND S → M → R = E: THE ADAPTATION PERSPECTIVE

COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN ANIMALS AND HUMANS

COMMUNICATION MODES • Visual Messages • Tactile Messages • Olfactory and Gustatory Messages • Auditory Messages

COMMUNICATION

48 CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

BASIC LIFE FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION • Courtship and Mating • Reproduction • Parent-Offspring Relations and Socialization • Navigation • Self-Defense • Territoriality

THE COMMUNICATION ICEBERG • The Visibility and Invisibility of Human Communication

VISIBLE ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION • People • Symbols • Permanence and Portability

INVISIBLE ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION • Meaning • Learning • Subjectivity • Negotiation • Culture • Interacting Contexts and Levels • Self-Reference • Self-Reflexivity • Ethics • Inevitability

CONCLUSION

CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE

49CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

BEYOND S → M → R = E: THE ADAPTATION PERSPECTIVE In this chapter you will learn about a view of communication that builds on and substantially extends the “transmissional” view of communication that was so important to the history of communication theory.

As you learned in the previous chapter, the traditional S → M → R = E approach viewed communication as a one-way process. Th e framework discussed in this chapter views communication more comprehensively as a process whereby humans and animals process messages in order to adapt— to shape everyday life and cope with its demands and challenges. It is the process through which living beings create, transform, and use information in order to relate to their environment and to one another.

Th e model of communication in Figure 3.1 illustrates a systems view of communication (Ruben & Kim, 1975). Rather than view communication as involving the purposeful sending of messages from a source to a receiver, a systems model characterizes the process as one in which individuals are bombarded by a large number of messages as they go about their lives. Some of these messages are sent intentionally by others through language, writing, social media, and conscious expression; some are accidental such as nervous movement, unintentional gestures, unplanned facial expressions and movements; and some of the messages that make a diff erence to people may have their source in the physical environment—a sunset, a tree, the wind, or a twinkling star. We will talk more about the nature of the dynamics involved in the perception and reception of messages in later chapters. For now, the key point to remember is that, in a systems view, communication is seen as multidimensional, multidirectional, and extremely complex.

FIGURE 3.1 A Systems Perspective on Communication. A multiplicity of factors affects even the most basic communication situation and results in a communication process that is multidimensional, multidirectional, and extremely complex—involving messages that are intentionally created and sent, and others that are accidental.

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While animal communication is clearly not the focus of this book, an appreciation of the role communication plays in activities of all living systems is very helpful as a foundation for better understanding the role of the communication process in everyday life.

COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN ANIMALS AND HUMANS All animals and people are open systems, which is to say they participate in continual give-and- take transactions with their environment. Th ese transactions are essential to life. Basically a living system takes in, uses, and transforms materials that are necessary to its functioning.

Animals and humans not only depend on chemical and physical exchanges for their survival but also on communication. Th ey create, gather, and use information to interact with and adapt to their environment and its inhabitants through communication.

Just as animal and human systems take in oxygen and food and transform them into materials necessary to their functioning, they also transform and use information.

COMMUNICATION MODES Living systems (like animals and people) use information they obtain from processing messages in their environment to guide their behaviors. Th e world in which we exist is fi lled with a vast array of messages. Some of these (such as the words or images exchanged between friends or the mating call of a bird) are purposefully created by living things. Other cues (such as a deer crossing a highway in front of an approaching car or the sound of a falling tree during a storm) are not. Both purposeful and non-purposeful cues can be sources of information that shape behavior.

Visual Messages For people, visual messages are particularly important. A wave and a smile from a friend, a blush of embarrassment, a tear, an emoji in an email, new clothes or a new car, a text, or the home page of a website are all potential sources of information that can hold great signifi cance for us when they are noticed and attended to, as illustrated in Figure 3.2.

Communication is an essential life pro- cess through which animals and humans create, acquire, transform, and use information to carry out the activities of their lives.

51CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

Some animals also make substantial use of visual cues. Th e color and calls of birds, the alluring colored wings of a butterfl y, the rhythmic light of a fi refl y, and the movement of head, ears, or tail by primates all serve as valuable information sources.

As signifi cant as sight is for people and some animals, it is generally not as crucial as other communication modes for most species. Many animals lack the visual capacities necessary to process light and depend on touch, sound, smell, or taste as primary modes to relate to their environment or to one another. See Table 3.1 for a list of some of these communication modes.

FIGURE 3.2 Communication Sources and Modes. There are a number of potential message sources to which a living thing may attend and react, represented by S1 through S9 in this illustration. Some of these messages may be produced by inanimate sources, such as the visible fl ash of lightning or the touch of a leaf blowing past in the wind—S4 and S5. Other messages, S1, S2, and S3, taking the form of a smell, taste, sound, or sight, are produced by other living things. These messages may be unintended, like the sound created by a person walking down the street (S2), or they may be more purposeful, such as honking a car horn (S1), or spoken words (S3). At any instant, many potential messages are not taken account of at all—S6, S7, S8, and S9—and thus have no information value at that moment in time for the people involved.

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Tactile Messages For animals and people, touch, bumping, vibration, and other types of tactile messages are important. From before birth through the fi rst months and years of life, physical contact plays a critical role in the biological and social development of human infants, as well as the young of other species. Tactile messages remain crucial throughout the lives of many animals, in parent–child relations, courtship and intimate relationships, social greetings, play, and aggression and combat. Th ese cues also play a vital role in self-defense and self-preservation.

TABLE 3.1 Communication Modes

Modality Form of Message

Visual Sight Facial Displays Movement of Body Parts Distance and Spacing Position Dress Other Symbols, Adornment, and Emblems

Tactile Touch Vibration Stroking Rubbing Pressure Pain Temperature

Olfactory and Gustatory Smell and Taste (Pheromones) Body Odor Special Chemicals Food Sources, Fragrances, and Taste

Auditory Sound Incidental Sounds Vibrations Whistling Drumming Rubbing Vocalization

53CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

Olfactory and Gustatory Messages Many animals use olfactory and gustatory information to relate to their environment and to one another. Pheromones is the technical term used to refer to these chemical messages. Pheromones are carried through water or air. Vertebrates receive these messages through their noses, fish through a nose or odor-sensitive cells on their bodies, and insects by means of sensors located in their antennae. As with other modes, an animal’s brain and nervous system filter out irrelevant cues and guide the system to respond only to those signals to which the animal is attuned or to which it has learned to attend.

Auditory Messages For humans and many animals, auditory messages provide critical links to the environment and to one another. Some sounds—thunder, an earthquake, or the surf splashing against the shore— have inanimate sources. Other auditory messages are produced by living things through speaking, whistling, honking a horn, drumming, or striking a part of the body against an object, the ground, or another part of the body.

In order for auditory signals to be useful, the vibrations must be detected, received, and processed by means of a special organ that converts the data into electrical impulses that can be interpreted by the brain. Lower-order animals generally respond to sound either by approaching or moving away from the source; most higher-order animals and humans are able to act on auditory messages in a number of ways based on prior learning. Auditory messages are important in the lives of a wide range of species, including birds, insects, and primates, in addition to humans—all of which depend on these cues in caring for their young, learning, courtship and mating, and “language” acquisition and use (Baker, 2001; Slater, 2003; Stumpf, 2001).

BASIC LIFE FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION The significance of communication and the various information-processing modes is clearest when we consider some of the basic life functions they serve. See Table 3.2 for a list of basic life functions.

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Courtship and Mating Although diff erences exist in the specifi c courtship and mating practices of various species, all involve communication. People and other animals must be able to identify other individuals of their own species. Also, individuals must attract and sometimes persuade one another, and courtship and mating activities must be synchronized.

Th e songs of grasshoppers and crickets serve this purpose, as does the odor of moths and the light fl ashing of fi refl ies. With birds, mating involves the creation and reception of auditory messages ranging from a simple, repetitive, and not necessarily musical call to complex song-and-dance presentations, acrobatics, and rituals.

As with other species, human courtship involves the identifi cation and attraction of mates. Th ese processes occur primarily through visual, auditory, and tactile modes, although some studies suggest that chemical cues may also play a role. Human courtship and mating involve persuasion and negotiation.

Reproduction Off spring of any species, as they reach adulthood, bear a strong physical resemblance to their parents. A bear cub grows up to look and act like a bear, not a cat or a dog. Physiologically, structurally, in general appearance, and in a number of “wired-in” behavioral patterns, the young of any species replicate or reproduce their parents. Th is reproduction comes about through a biological communication process in which the sperm cell of a male and egg cell of a female merge to provide a blueprint for the growth and development of the off spring.

TABLE 3.2 Basic Life Functions of Communication

Courtship and Mating Reproduction Parent–Offspring Relations and Socialization Navigation Self-Defense Territoriality

55CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

DNA, located within cells, is the molecular basis of heredity. The general pattern of growth of living things is through division of cells. A single cell divides to produce two, each of which divides to produce two more, and so on. In some organisms, this continues until thousands, millions, or billions of cells are produced. Division, growth, and development proceed according to the blueprint, as the cells form into layers and masses that fold together and intermesh to form tissues, organs, and more complex structures.

The reproduction of human offspring by their parents begins after a sperm and egg join. The egg cell, most of which is filled with food, is about one two-hundredth of an inch across. In this space are all the instructions that represent the mother’s contribution to the inherited characteristics of the child. The sperm cell, which is only about 1/80,000 the size of the egg, carries the messages necessary to the father’s contribution to the developmental blueprint. Through the union of these two cells, all the information needed for the continuity of the species is transmitted in what is undoubtedly life’s most fundamental communication process.

Parent-Offspring Relations and Socialization Children’s survival depends on relations with adults. Human infants, in fact, are dependent on others of their species longer than are other creatures. In lower-order animals, most of the communication capabilities necessary for survival are largely assured through genetic inheritance.

With many social animals, extended contact between parent and young is required. When this contact does not occur, the important role of communication in the survival of a species is underscored. Some birds that are raised without interaction with others of their kind become totally confused about their identity. Zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) was the first to study the processes by which birds and other animals learn or imprint their identity in early social interaction. Simon (1977) recalls one of Lorenz’s most famous observations:

One of the most striking as well as pathetically comical instances [of “identity confusion”] concerned an albino peacock in an Australian zoo, the lone survivor of a brood that had succumbed to a spell of bad weather. The peafowl chick was placed in the only warm room available,…the one in which the giant tortoises were housed. Although the young peacock flourished in these surroundings, the peculiar effect of its reptilian roommates on the bird became apparent not long after it had attained sexual maturity and grown its first train: beginning then and forever after, the peacock displayed his magnificent plumes in the amorous “wheel” position only to giant tortoises, eagerly if vainly courting these reptiles while ignoring even the most handsome peahens with which the zoo supplied him. (p. 23)

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Navigation Th e term navigation refers to the purposeful movement of an animal through space, from one location to another. Goal-directed movement of this kind is necessary for nearly all of life’s activities, including mating, food location, and self-defense.

In each of these activities, sound, sight, odor, temperature, or other messages must be used. Information must also be processed to determine present location and to guide movement in a desired direction.

Many animals have highly developed navigation capabilities and can travel great distances with precision. Th e skills of cats, horses, and homing pigeons are well known in this regard, as are those of ducks and geese, who may maintain two seasonal homes several thousand miles apart. Apparently, some animals orient themselves by processing data about landmarks, the sun, or stars. Other animals use a sonar-like system of sounds and echoes for navigation. Th e echolocation skills of bats are so well developed that in total darkness they can pass between two black silk threads placed less than a foot apart without touching them. And the dolphin’s echo system has such sensitivity that the animal can distinguish between two diff erent fi sh at a distance of 15 to 18 feet (Méry, 1975).

Social bees use one of the most elaborate navigation systems to locate and secure food. Nobel Prize winner Karl von Frisch (1886–1982) found that when a worker bee locates a desirable source of food, it announces the fi nd to other bees in the hive by a dance (Lindauer, 1961; Wilson, 1971), as shown in Figure 3.3.

Navigation processes are also essential for people, although their communication forms and modalities diff er. Th ese navigation processes now can be automated using GPS systems and soft ware. In a basic sense, a person striding along a busy sidewalk at rush

FIGURE 3.3 Bee Navigation and Food Finding

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57CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

hour or driving on a crowded highway has a great deal in common with the navigation activities of an ant, bat, dolphin, or songbird. Each must analyze an immense quantity of information in order to arrive safely at the intended destination.

Self-Defense Communication plays an important role in the processes through which living systems identify and respond to potential threats to their safety and well-being. When an animal senses the presence of a danger—a predator, a falling tree, the headlights of a car, and so on—instinctively it prepares to defend itself or to fl ee, as illustrated in Figure 3.4. As a part of what has been called the stress response, hormonal and muscular systems are activated, which prepare the animal for maximum physical output (Selye, 1956; Schusterman, Reichmuth, & Kastak, 2000).

Th e outlet for this stress energy—the act of fi ghting or retreating—can be the basis for information used by other animals. For example, the alarm response of one bird evokes a reaction in others that in turn produce their own distress calls.

Among humans, the natural fi ght-or-fl ight response is oft en constrained or channeled into other culturally sanctioned actions. When this occurs, communication also plays a central role in ways that will be discussed later in this chapter.

Territoriality Communication is essential to the establishment and maintenance of a home or territory. Humans and most other animals become attached to particular places, oft en to those locations where they were born, spent their youth, or mated; and many living creatures mark and even defend these territories.

FIGURE 3.4 Fight or Flight?

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58 CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

Territories also play an important role in the lives of social insects. Many species go to great lengths to construct their dwellings and to compete for prime housing sites. Often insects can determine the presence of another species and will attack if an individual violates their territory. Animals also establish and maintain what might be thought of as mobile or transitory territories, and these, too, involve communication. Some fish and birds, for example, travel or rest in groups, and a stranger that violates the boundary may well meet with considerable resistance.

Territoriality is as important to human life as it is to the lives of many other animals, although often less obviously so. In many situations, people maintain personal space—portable or transitory territories—in a manner similar to other animals. Interaction in face-to-face settings provides another example. People may become uncomfortable unless there is a customary amount of personal space between them. The comfortable personal space depends on the situation, culture, and relationship among them. A coat or backpack on an empty seat in a library, or a towel or umbrella on a beach, may also serve to mark transitory territories, in much the same way as a bird’s song claims a section of a forest.

People also use communication to mark their territories in more permanent ways. Over the years a great deal of human effort has been directed toward acquiring, dividing, and maintaining space of one kind or another—countries, states, counties, municipalities, and personal properties. The use of fences as territorial boundary markers is an interesting human invention to accomplish this goal. In addition, the phrase, “personal space” is sometimes used to refer to the informational boundaries we create and maintain in interactions with others.

THE COMMUNICATION ICEBERG As we have seen, people have a good deal in common with other animals in terms of the basics of communication, and yet human communication is also unique in many respects. In this section we examine the unique and differentiating aspects of human communication.

The Visibility and Invisibility of Human Communication The communication process seems simple and straightforward when we listen to two people engaged in a conversation, watch a group standing to salute a flag, observe a small group decision- making session, or order products online. Messages are sent, messages are received, appropriate actions or behaviors generally follow, and that’s that. Or so it seems. Actually, in the case of human communication, the aspects of the process that can be easily observed are really only the tip of the communication iceberg, as seen in Figure 3.5.

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Most of the operations and functions that are necessary to make the communication process work are invisible to the untrained eye. Consider the following situation. Jamal says: “Casey, please pass the salt.” Casey picks up a salt shaker and passes it to Jamal. In this circumstance as in others, it seems that meaning has been transferred from Jamal to Casey through a verbalized message. However, even in an elementary situation like passing salt, the communication process is far more complex than it appears. And most of that complexity is invisible.

In this simple example, a number of elements are involved in the communication process, and each aff ects the outcome. First, Jamal must decide to engage in communication. Th en, he must formulate a message that he believes will convey a desire for the salt. Next, the message must be sent. At this point, Casey has to “decide” to attend to the message, must interpret it appropriately, and must choose to act on it in accordance with Jamal’s intent.

In order for either party to be able to use language in this transaction, substantial learning is required; “pass” and “salt” are useful symbols only because their meanings have come to be standardized through a complex process of social communication. Given all this, a simple communication event that begins with a verbal request for salt and ends up with the salt being passed is no small accomplishment.

To appreciate the complexities of communication, it is necessary to have an understanding of both the “visible” and “invisible” characteristics of human communication.

FIGURE 3.5 Communication Iceberg

COMMUNICATION ICEBERG

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Visible aspects of communication include meaning, learning, subjectivity, negoti- ation, culture, interacting contexts and levels, self-reference, self-refl exivity, ethics, and inevitability.

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VISIBLE ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION When communication takes place, three important components of the communication process are readily observable: people, symbols, and media.

People In this book, when we refer to people we mean individuals functioning as message senders and/or receivers. This definition includes:

• Public speakers • Individuals speaking to another person, group, or organization • Individuals engaged in writing, electronic messaging, or other forms of message creation and

transmission • Individuals who are the recipients of messages in a communication situation either as

listeners, readers, or observers

Symbols Symbols are characters, letters, numbers, words, objects, people, or actions that stand for or represent something besides themselves. There have been many attempts to identify precisely what it is that makes people different from other living things, and the use of symbols is a defining characteristic. A number of writers have pointed to our social nature. However, many animals depend for their survival on other members of their species. Other scholars have suggested that our capacity for communication might be the distinguishing characteristic. As we know from the previous sections, however, the production, transmission, and reception of messages is essential to the social lives of many species; and communication in one form or another is necessary to the adaptation and survival of all animals. Nevertheless, humans do have a unique communication capability—we can create and use symbols and symbolic language. This capability and the consequences of it highlight the special nature of the human animal (Rapoport, 1973).

What exactly does it mean to say that people create and use symbolic language? A language, in the most general sense, is a set of characters, or elements, and rules for their use in relation to one another. There are many types of languages. Spoken and written languages, such as English, Spanish, or Swahili, are the most familiar. Less obvious examples are Morse code, Braille, genetic code, and various computer “languages.” See Figure 3.6 for an illustration of this concept.

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With language, we code and transmit messages from one point to another using one or more communication modes. Oral, spoken, and other acoustically coded languages use the auditory mode. Written or light-utilizing languages utilize the visual channel.

Most languages are based on arbitrary symbolization. While letters and words are the most obvious elements in our symbolic language, there are many others that are important to human life. An illuminated red light located on a pole near an intersection is a symbol, as is George Washington, the Eiff el Tower, or a rectangular piece of cloth with thirteen red and white stripes and fi ft y white stars on a blue fi eld in the upper corner.

Symbols represent things or ideas about things. Words are symbols because they represent objects, ideas, relationships, people, places, and feelings—to name just a few of the concepts or objects that are referenced by words.

Th e symbols (words) in a language that represent concepts and objects are arbitrary. In most cases, there is no direct or obvious connection between the symbol and the referent (the thing the symbol stands for). People in a society have to learn which words represent which things. For example, we learn that “window” is the appropriate word for the pane of glass that is in the middle of a wall. Th is symbol may refer to other objects, too. All windows are not the same size and shape, but we continue to use the word “window” to label them. In fact, some windows may even be opaque. Problems in communication oft en result when we forget that the symbol is not the referent and that many symbols have more than one referent.

FIGURE 3.6 The English alphabet, Morse Code, sign language, Braille, and ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) computer code are among our most used languages. Each has evolved to meet a specialized set of human needs. The languages differ from one another in their form, but have much in common in terms of the more basic functions they serve.

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Another fundamental, but easily overlooked, illustration of symbolic language is our monetary system. We think little about the communication process that occurs when we go into a store, pick out an item priced at $15, go to the cashier, hand over a ten- and a fi ve-dollar bill, and leave the store with a “thank you” and the item in a bag. Th is exchange is very much a communication event, one in which symbolic language plays a crucial role. When we give the clerk a ten- and a fi ve-dollar bill, in eff ect, we are only handing over two pieces of high-quality paper. Th ey have no inherent value, other than the expense of the paper and ink. Th ey are symbols and as such their value to us comes about as a consequence of the meanings we have learned to attach to them—but more about that later. Th e symbolic nature of money transactions is more apparent with the introduction of online payments using digital codes and deposits to bank accounts using photos taken and transmitted via mobile phones. We live, quite literally, in an environment fi lled with symbols of various kinds (see Figure 3.7 for one example of important symbols).

Permanence and Portability. For most animals, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and auditory signals are transitory in nature, and, in most cases, animals must be within sight or hearing range in order to respond to messages from another individual; even olfactory cues used to mark a territory or provide a trail are generally fl eeting.

Technology Today through technology, symbols can have permanence and signifi cance apart from the situation in which they were originally used. Information provided in a letter sent to a friend, a book, a poem, a scientifi c formula, a website post, the blueprint for a building, or signs along a highway is not transitory in nature. Th ese messages may have a virtually unending existence and use. In fact, their life is limited only by our human capacity for preserving the physical materials on which they are recorded.

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63CHAPTER 3: Communication as a Basic Life Process

Technology makes it possible for us to accumulate and transmit information from one generation to the next. This enables us to “bridge” or “bind” time—to use records of the past, as well as the present, and to create messages today that will be a part of the environment of future generations. For example, anyone who has done some research on their family history has seen technologically- preserved records such as pictures, census records, or maps.

Because of technology, human communication also has the capacity for “portability”—for bridging space. The objects or people to which particular symbols refer need not be present in order for the symbol to be useful in communication. Information coded and packaged in one geographic location can be transmitted to people in a distant location, for example. Communication technologies extend and provide an increasingly-popular alternative to face-to-face communication as a way to send and receive messages.

INVISIBLE ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION Ten other aspects of communication are critical but invisible to the untrained eye. These include: meaning, learning, subjectivity, negotiation, culture, interacting contexts and levels, self-reference, self-reflexivity, ethics, and inevitability.

Meaning We invent symbols. In order to use them in communication, we also have to invent their meanings and the responses we make to them. To illustrate the point, consider the word bird. Bird has no inherent, intrinsic meaning or significance. It is simply a particular pattern of auditory vibrations that comes about by the manipulation of the vocal cords, lips, tongue, and mouth, or a configuration of ink on paper in the case of written language. The characteristics of the word and sounds of its spoken pronunciation comprise a symbolic code that is useful only to those who are able to decipher it. The word is arbitrary in that it has no relation to the animal to which it refers, other than that which we have invented and accepted. Any word could have been chosen in its place.

As another illustration, let’s return to the example of a red light at an intersection. In casual conversation, we say that the light “means” stop. Actually, however, the light means nothing in and of itself. It is a symbol. Its meaning was invented. Through custom and habitual use—and, in this case, legislation—people have come to interpret the symbol as a guide to behavior: to stop. Similarly, the red, white, and blue cloth that we know as the American flag has no intrinsic meaning other than that which we have created and accepted.

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As humans, we create the significance and meaning those events in our environment have for us. Even basic decisions like what and how to eat are not solely matters of biology and genetic programming. While some people, for example, look forward with enthusiasm to celebrating a summer holiday with a juicy barbecued steak, a vegan would find that thought revolting. In a similar sense, decisions as to whether to eat with fingers, fork and knife, or chopsticks, and whether to use one’s left hand to eat (as would be acceptable in some cultures) or only one’s right hand, as is customary in many Muslim cultures, depend on the meanings we have invented and attached to life’s circumstances.

Learning A bird is born knowing how to build a nest necessary for its survival; the instructions are inscribed on the chromosomes of the fertilized egg cell from which it developed. Lightning bugs inherit the knowledge needed to emit and respond to luminescent messages of a potential mate, and bees are born programmed with the information needed to create and interpret the waggle dance. People, however, have to actively learn much of the physical and communication skill that is natural for many other animals. As Vickers (1967) has noted, “Insofar as I can be regarded as human, it is because I was claimed at birth as a member of a communication network, which programmed me for participation in itself ” (p. 272).

Remember the underlying complexity of human communication. Whether we consider interactions between scientists using mathematical equations, the value of the money we carry around in our pockets, the significance we attach to a flag, the meaning we associate with a statue of a historical figure, a spoken exchange between acquaintances, or facial expressions and gestures between colleagues at work, the symbols and their meanings have to be created, agreed upon through use, and learned to be used for communication. Their significance is created by us, and they are useful for communication only to the extent that we learn and are able to use them appropriately.

Subjectivity The symbols we use in human communication will not necessarily mean the same things to all of us. We relate to messages in a particular way based on our previous experiences. No two of us have precisely the same experiences, and, therefore, no two of us attach precisely the same meaning to the messages around us. To put it differently, we do not all encode and decode messages in the same way. (See Chapter 5 for a more extensive discussion of these concepts.) Furthermore, one person may not attach exactly the same meaning to a particular message at different points in time or in different circumstances.

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FIGURE 3.8 What does this symbol mean to you?

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Th e subjective aspect of human communication extends to all types of symbols—words, art, money, fl ags, statues, and so on. When two people look at a work of art, for instance, the meanings it will have for them are in part personal, refl ecting their own experience. Consider the illustration in Figure 3.8. Some may see an attractive fl ag hanging in front of a building and not attach any meaning to it beyond admiring its colors. Others may see it as a symbol of gay pride, while others may believe that it signals something about the feelings of the owners of the business in the building. Th e meanings one attaches to this picture as a whole provide a further illustration of the subjectivity of communication.

Monetary symbols also illustrate the personal nature of human communication. Th e value of money is subjective. While a child walking in a crowd may bend down to pick up a shiny coin, many adults will not. To some people, a birthday gift of twenty dollars is regarded as generous; for others it may be seen as insignifi cant.

Since so much of communication is subjective and personal, the amazing thing about human communication is not that it sometimes seems to fail but, rather, that it ever seems to succeed. Is it any wonder that two relationship partners, colleagues at work, or countries come away with very diff erent interpretations of who is to blame in a confl ict?

Negotiation As unique as we and our meanings may be, communication between people generally seems to work well. How can this be? If we want to relate eff ectively to others based on our symbols, our meanings must mesh with the meanings of others. One reason communication works as well as it

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does is because as we engage in communication, we take part in a process of negotiation through which we reconcile our meanings with those of others.

Unlike efforts by management and representatives of a labor union to arrive at terms for a contract, this negotiation process is essentially invisible. It involves individuals adjusting and readjusting the messages they send and the interpretations they attach to the messages of others, in an effort to make sense of, cope with, and adapt to the demands and opportunities that arise.

Culture The fact that many of meanings often seem to mesh reasonably well with others’ meanings is no accident, nor is it simply the result of the negotiation that takes place within a given interaction. Rather, we are influenced through our participation in groups, organizations, and as members of society. Through this participation, we establish a commonness of cultural experience with other people through social communication. Our symbols and their meanings become shared and standardized (or intersubjectified) and take on an objective quality; that is to say, our symbols come to seem real. Thus, we seldom question whether our money has value or if our words have meaning. With continued use, symbols and their meanings become part of the cultural environment we take for granted.

Through human communication, we create a common culture and a shared view of reality and come to be able to understand one another—to coordinate the meanings for the symbols we use. The more we develop common meanings for symbols with another person, the better the communication process will work. Store owners who trade pieces of high-quality green paper for goods or services do so because they have learned to attach a similar meaning to the pieces of paper as customers do. Merchants also operate in the belief that the bank and creditors will attach a similar significance to them. When those pieces of paper are “checks” or electronic records of checks, the effectiveness of the communication may be equally effective, or may be challenging, as problems of subjective meaning and authenticity arise.

Artist Ben Shahn (1972) makes this point eloquently:

It is the images we hold in common, the characteristics of novels and plays, the great buildings, the complex pictorial images and their meanings, and the symbolized concepts, principles, and great ideas of philosophy and religion that have created the human community. The incidental items of reality remain without value or common recognition until they are symbolized, recreated, and imbued with value. (pp. 130-131)

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Interacting Contexts and Levels Human communication operates in various contexts and at various levels. It is the lifeblood of individuals, relationships, groups, organizations, and societies. Intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational, public, mass, and societal communication do not operate in isolation. Th ere is interplay among all levels. Our individual communication activities are infl uenced by:

• the relationships in which we are involved, • the groups of which we are members, • the organizations we work for, • the society and world community in which we live.

In turn, intrapersonal communication and the ways we feel and think about ourselves infl uence our interactions in:

• relationships, • groups, • organizations, • and society, • as well as public and mediated communication.

Human communication is the web that unites and gives mutuality to the various forms and levels of human activity.

Self-Reference Th e meanings we learn to attach to the symbols we use—and the symbols others use—always refl ect our own experiences. As a result, the things we say and do and the way we interpret others’ words and actions are a refl ection of—and a statement about—our meanings, experiences, needs, and expectations. When people say, “It certainly is cold outside today,” “Kimchi is spicy,” “Th at movie was too violent,” or “Th at teacher is excellent,” they are talking as much about their own feelings, meanings, and experiences as about the temperature, Korean food, a movie, or a teacher.

It is in this sense that human com- munication is self-referencing and autobiographical: What we perceive and say about other people, messages, and events in the environment says as much about us as it does about them.

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Self-Reflexivity Another related characteristic of human communication is our capacity for self-reflexiveness or self-consciousness. This human capacity which allows individuals to view themselves as “self,” as a part of and apart from their environment, is the core of the communication process (Budd & Ruben, 2003). Because of self-reflexiveness, we are able to think about our encounters and our existence, about communication and human behavior. This capability enables us to set goals and measure our progress toward them, to have expectations of ourselves, and to recognize when we have met them. On the other hand, it is also through self-reflexiveness that we recognize our failures, expectations we do not meet, and qualities we admire but do not possess.

It is our capacity for self-reflexiveness that allows us to theorize about ourselves and our experiences. In effect, we enter into a relationship with ourselves that is similar in many ways to the relationships we have with others. We talk to ourselves, think about ourselves in particular ways, and “act” in particular ways toward ourselves. Our patterns of self-reflexive communication have great implications for how we talk to, think about, and act toward others. These behaviors, in turn, have consequences for how we relate to ourselves.

Ethics Up to this point, we have discussed various approaches to the communication process without acknowledging that there are some very personal choices embedded within this process. Models of communication deal with an idealized process. In real life, however, people often have to make some very difficult choices when communicating with others. For example, most societies value honesty as a fundamental principle, but it is not always a guide adhered to in various realms and by various individuals—politics being one area where critiques related to an absence of truthfulness are common. Health is sometimes another. If, for example, a friend who has been seriously ill asks “How do I look?”, what is an appropriate response? Truthfully, the friend may look very weak, but if we care about our friend’s well-being, is it right to be totally honest and say “You look terrible?” In this instance, many well-meaning people might try to cheer up the friend by telling them they look good, even though this response is a lie. In such instances, the nature of the question and the relationship between the parties is frequently a factor in decision-making. Informal guidelines for providing health information are different, for example, if the exchange is between a doctor and a patient, as opposed to one involving two friends.

Deciding when or if it is acceptable to deceive others and what type of deception is acceptable is only one instance of the ethical choices we make every day as communicators. Ethical issues arise in all types of communication situations including interpersonal communication, organizational communication, political communication, advertising, and the news media (Johannesen, 1996).

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Key ethical considerations in various communication settings include:

• fostering dialogue, • maintaining integrity, • valuing diversity, • tolerating disagreements.

Inevitability “We cannot not communicate” is a phrase coined by Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967) to emphasize the point that we are inevitably engaged in the process of creating and processing messages. Our verbal and nonverbal behaviors are ongoing sources of information for others, and, in turn, we continually process messages created by the people, circumstances, and objects in our environment, and about ourselves.

From this perspective, we can see the technical inaccuracy of concepts such as “communication breakdown” or “failure to communicate.” Communication is always taking place. Messages are inevitably being created and processed. Most often, what are termed communication “breakdowns” and “failures” result from differing interpretations of messages, expectations, intentions, or outcomes rather than lack of message sending and receiving.

CONCLUSION In this chapter we have examined visible and invisible characteristics that are fundamental to human communication. Visible characteristics include people, symbols, and media. We create and use symbols and symbolic language. A language, in the most general sense, is a set of characters or elements, and rules for their use in relation to one another. Symbols are characters, letters, numbers, words, objects, people, or actions that stand for or represent something besides themselves. Through the use of technology, symbols have the potential for permanence and portability. For most animals, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and auditory signals are transitory in nature. Human symbols have significance apart from the situation in which they were originally used and may have a virtually unending existence.

Invisible characteristics include meaning, learning, subjectivity, culture, interacting levels and contexts, negotiation, self-reference, self-reflexivity, ethics, and inevitability. Human communication involves meaning. In order to use symbols in communication, their significance and the responses to them must be created. Learning is another characteristic. Animals are born with the knowledge of the meanings to attach to the signals necessary for their survival; people must learn communication

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patterns and meanings. The characteristics of words and the sounds of their spoken pronunciation comprise a symbolic code that is useful only to those who have learned to decipher them.

Human communication is subjective. The symbols used in human communication will not necessarily mean the same things to those who create and send messages as they do to those who receive them. People relate to messages in a particular way as a product of their experiences. No two people have precisely the same experiences, and no two people attach precisely the same meaning to the messages in the environment.

Negotiation is another characteristic of human communication. When we engage in communication with others, we define and also negotiate a shared culture. Generally, our meanings mesh reasonably well with others’ meanings, because others’ meanings are learned through social interaction. In this social communication process, symbols and their meanings become shared and standardized— intersubjectified.

Human communication operates in various contexts and at various levels. It is the lifeblood of individuals, relationships, groups, organizations, and societies, and there is interplay between contexts and levels.

Self-reference is another characteristic of human communication. The meanings we learn to attach to the symbols we use reflect our own experiences. As a result, things that we see in other people, messages, and events in the environment are always autobiographical—they say as much about the person offering the description as they do about the objects being described.

Another related characteristic of human communication is our capacity for self-reflexiveness. Because of our symbol-using capacity, we are able to reflect on ourselves and our actions, to set goals and priorities, and to have expectations.

Ethical choices are a very fundamental aspect of everyday communication dynamics. Key ethical considerations include fostering dialogue, maintaining integrity, valuing diversity, and tolerating disagreements.

Finally, human communication is inevitable. “We cannot not communicate.” Our verbal and nonverbal behaviors are ongoing sources of information for others; and, in turn, we are continually and unavoidably processing information about the people, circumstances, and objects in our environment, and about ourselves.

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CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE Aft er reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Highlight diff erences and similarities between human communication and communication in other species.

• Analyze the signifi cance of symbols in your daily interaction • Explain the invisible nature of communication and how it diff ers from commonly observable

aspects • Identify the multiple modes of communication and their role in human communication • Describe the main characteristics of the communication process.

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