Communication essay

12 PART I COMMUNICATION CAREERS AND FOUNDATIONS

DAVID

As an African American male, I sometimes feel as though I am a dash of pepper on top of a mountain of salt. I have attended many classes where I was the only African American out of 50 or even 100 students. In these classes, the feeling of judgment is cast down upon me for being diff erent. Usually what I learn about is not “people,” like the course says, but white people. Until I took a communication course, the only classes that included research and information on African Americans were in the African American curriculum. This bothered me because white Americans are not the entire world.

Luanne was a student in one of my courses, and David wrote to me after taking a basic communication course at a college in the western United States. Luanne’s refl ec- tion shows that she is aware of the importance of understanding the communication of people from cultures that differ from her own. David’s comment illustrates the impor-

tance of weaving diversity into the study of communication. The FYI box on this page further highlights the importance of under- standing diverse people in order to communi- cate effectively in our changing society.

Communication, then, is important for personal, relationship, professional, and civic life. Because communication is a cornerstone of human experience, your decision to study it will serve you well.

Defi ning Communication We’ve been using the word communication for many pages, but we haven’t yet defi ned it clearly. Communication is a systemic process in which people interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings. Let’s unpack this defi nition by explaining its four key terms.

Process Communication is a process, which means that it is ongoing and dynamic. It’s hard to tell when communication starts and stops, because what happens before we talk with someone may infl uence our interaction, and what occurs in a particular encounter may

U.S. Demographics in the 21st Century

The United States is home to a wide range of people with diverse ethnic, racial, cultural, and geographic backgrounds. And the proportions of diff erent groups are changing. Currently, one in three U.S. residents is a minority. By 2050 more than one in two U.S. residents will be a minority, and by 2050 non-Hispanic whites will be a minority. The following shifts in the ethnic makeup of the United States are predicted to take place between 2005 and 2050 (“Demographics,” 2009; Roberts, 2008):

2008 2050

African Americans 13% 13%

Asians 4% 8%

Caucasians 66% 46%

Hispanics (of any race) 15% 30%

Other 3% 5%

The Multicultural Pavilion provides an excellent bibliography for those who want to learn more about multiculturalism. To access this site, go to the book’s online resources for this chapter and click on WebLink 1.4.

DIVERSITY fyi

CHAPTER 1 A FIRST LOOK AT COMMUNICATION 13

affect the future. That communication is a process means it is always in motion, mov- ing forward and changing continually.

Systems Communication takes place within systems. A system consists of interrelated parts that affect one another. In family communication, for instance, each family member is part of the system (Galvin, Dickson, & Marrow, 2006). The physical environment and the time of day also are elements of the system. People interact differently in a living room and on a beach, and we may be more alert at certain times of day than at others. The history of a system also affects communication. If a workplace team has a history of listening sensitively and working out problems constructively, then when someone says, “There’s something we need to talk about,” the others are unlikely to become defensive. Conversely, if the team has a record of nasty confl icts and bickering, the same comment might arouse strong defensiveness.

Because the parts of a system are interdependent and continually interact, a change in any part of a system changes the entire system. When a new person joins a team, he or she brings new perspectives that, in turn, may alter how other team members work. The team develops new patterns of interaction, subgroups realign, and team performance changes. The interrelatedness of a system’s parts is particularly evident in intercultural communication. When a corporation moves its operations to a new country, transformations affect everything from daily interaction on the factory fl oor to corporate culture.

Systems are not collections of random parts, but organized wholes. For this rea- son, a system operates as a totality of interacting elements. A family is a system, or totality, of interacting elements that include family members, their physical loca- tions, their jobs and schools, and so forth. Before systems theory was developed, therapists who worked with disturbed members of families often tried to “fi x” the person who supposedly was causing problems for the family. Thus, alcoholics might be separated from their families and given therapy to reduce the motivation to drink or to increase the desire not to drink. Often, however, the alcoholic resumed drink- ing shortly after rejoining the family because the behavior of the “problem person” was shaped by the behaviors of other family members and other elements of the family system.

In a similar manner, organizations sometimes send managers to leadership train- ing programs but do not provide training for the manager’s subordinates. When the manager returns to the offi ce and uses the new leadership techniques, subordinates are distrustful and resistant. They were accustomed to the manager’s former style, and they haven’t been taught how to deal with the new style of leadership.

Because systems are organized wholes, they are more than simple combina- tions of parts. As families, groups, organizations, and societies evolve, they discard old patterns, generate new patterns, lose some members, and gain new members. When new topics are introduced on blogs, new bloggers join, old ones leave, and patterns of communication are reconfi gured. Personal relationships grow beyond the two original parts (partners) to include trust or lack of trust, shared experiences, and private vocabularies. Systems include not only their original parts but also changes in those original elements and new elements that are created as a result of interaction.

14 PART I COMMUNICATION CAREERS AND FOUNDATIONS

Systems vary in how open they are. Openness is the extent to which a system affects and is affected by outside factors and processes. Some tribal communities are relatively closed systems that have little interaction with the world outside. Yet most cultures are fairly open to interaction with other cultures. This is increasingly true today as more and more people immigrate from one culture to another and as people travel more frequently and to more places. The more open the system, the more factors infl uence it. Mass media and communication technologies expand the openness of most societ- ies and thus the infl uences on them and their ways of life.

A fi nal point about systems is that they strive for but cannot sustain equilibrium. Systems seek a state of equilibrium, or homeostasis. That’s why families create rou- tines, organizations devise policies and procedures, individuals develop habits, groups generate norms, online communities develop conventions and abbreviations, and cul- tures generate rituals and traditions.

Yet no living system can sustain absolute balance or equilibrium. Change is inevi- table and continuous. Sometimes, it’s abrupt (a company moves all of its operations to a new country); at other times, it’s gradual (a company begins to hire people from different cultures). Sometimes, infl uences outside a system prompt change (legislation affects importing and exporting in other countries). In other cases, the system generates change internally (an organization decides to alter its marketing targets). To function and survive, members of the system must continually adjust and change.

Communication is also affected by the larger systems within which it takes place. For example, different cultures have distinct understandings of appropriate verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Many Asian cultures place a high value on saving face, so Asians try not to cause personal embarrassment to others by disagreeing overtly. It is inappropriate to perceive people from Asian cultures as passive if they don’t assert themselves in the ways that many Westerners do. Arab cultures consider it normal for people to be nearer to one another when talking than most Westerners fi nd com- fortable. And in Bulgaria, head nods mean “no” rather than “yes” (Munter, 1993). Different regions of the same country may also have different ways of communicat- ing—Steve makes this point in his commentary. Even within a single culture, there are differences based on region, ethnicity, religion, and other factors. Therefore, to interpret communication, we have to consider the systems in which it takes place. In Chapter 8, we’ll discuss different communication practices in diverse cultural contexts.

STEVE

It took me a long time to get used to Southerners. I’m from the Midwest and there we don’t chat everybody up like Southerners do. We talk if we have something to say, but we don’t talk just to talk. When I fi rst moved here, I thought most of the people I met were real busybodies because people I hardly knew would say things like “you should come to my church” or “mark your calendar for the supper to raise money for schools” like I wanted to go to those. Then I started dating a girl who was born near here and she “decoded” Southern culture for me. She explained that “you should come” is not a command, which is what it sounded like to me, but an invitation because Southerners want to be hospitable and include everyone. She also told me I was being perceived as very standoffi sh because I didn’t chat back like Southerners do.

CHAPTER 1 A FIRST LOOK AT COMMUNICATION 15

Symbols Communication is symbolic. We don’t have direct access to one another’s thoughts and feelings. Instead, we rely on symbols, which are abstract, arbitrary, and ambiguous representations of other things. We might symbolize love by giving a ring, by saying “I love you,” or by closely embracing someone. A promotion might be symbolized by a new title and a larger offi ce (and a raise!). Later in this chapter and also in Chapter 4, we’ll have more to say about symbols. For now, just remember that human communi- cation involves interaction with and through symbols.

Meanings Finally, our defi nition focuses on meanings, which are at the heart of communication. Refl ecting on the evolution of the communication discipline, distinguished scholar Bruce Gronbeck (1999) notes that the fi eld has moved increasingly toward a meaning- centered view of human communication. Meanings are the signifi cance we bestow on phenomena, or what they signify to us. We do not fi nd meanings in experience itself. Instead, we use symbols to create meanings. We ask others to be sounding boards so we can clarify our thinking, fi gure out what things mean, enlarge our perspectives, check our perceptions, and label feelings to give them reality. In all these ways, we actively construct meaning by interacting with symbols.

Communication has two levels of meaning (Pinker, 2008; Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967). The content level of meaning contains the literal message. If a per- son knocks on your door and asks, “May I come in?” the content-level meaning is that the person is asking your permission to enter. The relationship level of meaning expresses the relationship between communicators. In our example, if the person who asks, “May I come in?” is your friend and is smiling, you would probably conclude that the person is seeking friendly interaction. But if the person is your supervisor and speaks in an angry tone, you might interpret the relationship-level meaning as a sig- nal that your supervisor is not satisfi ed with your work and is going to call you on the carpet. The content-level meaning is the same in both examples, but the relationship- level meaning differs.

In many cases, the relationship level of meaning is more important than the con- tent level. The relationship level of meaning often expresses a desire to connect with another person (Gottman & DeClaire, 2001). For example, this morning Robbie said to me, “I’ve got a late meeting today, so I won’t be home until 6 or so.” The content-level meaning is obvious— Robbie is informing me of his sched- ule. The relationship-level meaning, however, is the more important mes- sage that Robbie wants to stay con- nected with me and is aware that we usually have catch-up conversation around 5 p.m. each day. The content level of meaning of instant messages (IMs) is often mundane, even trivial: <waz up?> <not much here. U?> On

Noticing Levels of Meaning in Communication

The next time you talk with a close friend, notice both levels of meaning.

What is the content-level meaning? %

To what extent are liking, responsiveness, and power expressed on % the relationship level of meaning?

f Meaning in Communication

SHARPE N YOUR SKILL

16 PART I COMMUNICATION CAREERS AND FOUNDATIONS

the relationship level of meaning, however, this exchange express interest and a desire to stay in touch (Carl, 2006). The Sharpen Your Skill box on the previous page invites you to pay attention to both levels of communication in your interactions.

Models of Communication To complement the defi nition of communication we have just discussed, we’ll now con- sider models of the human communication process. Over the years, scholars in com- munication have developed a number of models that refl ect increasingly sophisticated understandings of the communication process.

Linear Models Harold Laswell (1948) advanced an early model that described communication as a linear, or one-way, process in which one person acts on another person. This is also called a transmission model because it assumes that communication is transmitted in a straightforward manner from a sender to a receiver. His was a verbal model consisting of fi ve questions that described early views of how communication works:

Who?

Says what?

In what channel?

To whom?

With what effect?

Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949) refi ned Laswell’s model by adding the concept of noise. Noise is anything that interferes with the intended meaning of communication. Noises may distort understanding. Figure 1.1 shows Shannon and Weaver’s model. Although linear, or transmission, models such as these were useful starting points, they are too simplistic to capture the complexity of human communication.

Interactive Models The major shortcoming of the early models was that they portrayed communication as fl owing in only one direction, from a sender to a receiver (Gronbeck, 1999). The lin-

ear model suggests that a person is only a sender or a receiver and that receivers passively absorb senders’ messages. Clearly, this isn’t how communication occurs.

When communication theorists realized that listeners respond to senders, they added feedback to their models. Feedback is a response to a message. It may be verbal or nonverbal, and it

Information source

Sender Message Receiver

Message Message

ReceiverTransmitter

Signal Receivedsignal

Destination

Noise source

Figure 1.1 THE LINEAR MODEL OF COMMUNICATION Source: Adapted from Shannon & Weaver, 1949.

CHAPTER 1 A FIRST LOOK AT COMMUNICATION 17

may be intentional or unintentional. Wilbur Schramm (1955) depicted feedback as a second kind of mes- sage. In addition, Schramm pointed out that communicators create and interpret messages within personal fi elds of experience. The more com- municators’ fi elds of experience over- lap, the better they understand each other.

Adding fi elds of experience to mod- els clarifi es why misunderstandings sometimes occur. You jokingly put down a friend, and he takes it seriously and is hurt. You offer to help someone, and she feels patronized. Adding fi elds of experience and feedback allowed Schramm and other communication scholars to develop models that portray communication as an interactive process in which both senders and receivers participate actively (Figure 1.2).

Transactional Models Although an interactive model was an improvement over the linear one, it still didn’t capture the dynamism of human communication. The interactive model portrays com- munication as a sequential process in which one person communicates to another, who then sends feedback to the fi rst person. Yet people may communicate simultaneously instead of taking turns. Also, the interactive model designates one person as a sender and another person as a receiver. In reality, communicators both send and receive messages. While handing out a press release, a public relations representative watches reporters to gauge their interest. The “speaker” is listening; the “listeners” are sending messages.

A fi nal shortcoming of the interactive model is that it doesn’t portray communica- tion as changing over time as a result of what happens between people. For example, new employees are more reserved in conversations with co-workers than they are after months on the job, getting to know others and organizational norms. What they talk about and how they interact change over time. To be accurate, a model should include the feature of time and should depict communication as varying, not constant. Figure 1.3 is a transactional model that highlights the features we have discussed.

Consistent with what we’ve covered in this chapter, our model includes noise that can distort communication. Noise includes sounds, such as a lawn mower or background chatter, as well as interferences within communica- tors, such as biases and preoccupa- tion, that hinder effective listening. In addition, our model emphasizes that communication is a continually

Message

Encoder Source

Decoder

Decoder Receiver Encoder

Field of experience Field of experience

Feedback

Figure 1.2 THE INTERACTIVE MODEL OF COMMUNICATION Source: Adapted from Schramm, 1955.

Contexts

Communicator A’s field of experience

Communicator A

Communicator B

Communicator B’s field of experience

Shared field of

experience

Symbolic interactions Time ...Time1 n

Contexts

Time Time

Figure 1.3 A TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF COMMUNICATION Source: Adapted from Wood, 1997, p. 21.

18 PART I COMMUNICATION CAREERS AND FOUNDATIONS

changing process. How people communicate varies over time and in response to their history of relating.

The outer lines on our model emphasize that communication occurs within systems that affect what and how people communicate and what meanings they create. Those systems, or contexts, include the shared systems of the communicators (campus, town, culture) and the personal systems of each communicator (family, religious associations, friends). Also note that our model, unlike previous ones, por- trays each person’s fi eld of experience and his or her shared fi elds of experience as changing over time. As we encounter new people and grow personally, we alter how we interact with others.

Finally, our model doesn’t label one person a sender and the other a receiver. Instead, both are defi ned as communicators who participate

equally, and often simultaneously, in the communication process. This means that at a given moment in communication, you may be sending a message (speaking or wrin- kling your brow), listening to a message, or doing both at the same time (interpreting what someone says while nodding to show you are interested). To understand com- munication as a transactional process is to recognize that self and others are involved in a shared process: Communication is we-oriented (How can we understand each other? How can we work through this confl ict?) rather than me-oriented (This is what I mean. This is what I want.) (Lafasto & Larson, 2001).

In summary, the most accurate model of communication represents it as a transac- tional process in which people interact with and through symbols over time to create meaning.

Careers in Communication Now that you understand what communication is, you may be wondering what kinds of careers are open to people with strong backgrounds in the discipline. As we’ve seen, communication skills are essential to success in most fi elds. In addition, people who major in communication are particularly equipped for certain careers.

Research Communication research is a vital and growing fi eld of work. Many faculty mem- bers combine teaching and research. In this book, you’ll encounter a good deal of academic research that helps us understand how communication works—or fails to work.

In addition to academic research, communication specialists help organizations by studying processes such as message production and marketing (Morreale & Vogl,

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