Chapter 1: Communication: Essential Human Behavior

The Study of Communication

If you’ve never studied communication before, right now you might feel like you know more about messages and relationships and communication contexts than you ever thought you’d need to know! But there is still so much more to study that can profoundly affect your friendships, romantic relationships, group memberships, career, and overall success in life. You’ve seen that communicating well—effectively, appropriately, and ethically—is not an innate ability; it is a process we can all improve on throughout our lives.

So what’s behind this discipline? What do communication scholars (like the authors of this book) do? Well, in democracies from ancient Greece to the United States, scholars realized early on that communication was the key to participation in government and civic life. Rhetoric (the art of speaking) has been considered a crucial aspect of a well-rounded education from Aristotle to this day (Simonson, Peck, Craig, & Jackson, 2013). Public speaking was taught in America’s first universities, partly to reinforce the powerful effect that speaking out can have on society (Dues & Brown, 2004). A similar concern for the public’s welfare lay behind the addition of professional journalism courses to university curricula early in the twentieth century. At that time, the sensationalistic excesses of the “penny press” highlighted the need for news writers who were trained in both the technical aspects of reporting and the ethical responsibilities of journalists in a free society.

Today, communication continues to be a dynamic and multifaceted discipline focused on improving interactions and relationships, including those between two individuals, between individuals of different cultures, between speakers or media producers and audiences, within small groups, in large organizations, and among nations and international organizations. (Table 1.2 illustrates some of the major areas of specialization and the focus of each.) The research in our field draws clear connections between these assorted types of relationships (Berger, Roloff, & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2010). Furthermore, the principles of communication laid out in this chapter can be successfully applied to many different communication situations and contexts. For example, as technology advances, communication becomes more complicated, expansive, and sometimes unclear. For most of human existence, an interpersonal relationship was limited to face-to-face interactions, later enhanced by mediated communication via the written word and the telephone. But today, individuals strike up personal and business relationships through e-mail, social networking groups, and phone contact across the globe, often without ever facing each other in person.

Table :

TABLE 1.2 THE BROAD FIELD OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TODAY

Informed by: Bryant, J., & Pribanic-Smith, E. J. (2010). A historical overview of research in communication science (pp. 21–36). In C. R. Berger, M. E. Roloff, M. E., & D. R. Roskos-Ewoldsen (Eds.) (2010). The handbook of communication science (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Area of Study	Focus of Study
Argumentation and debate	Persuasion, reasoning, logic, and presentation
Communication technology and telecommunication studies	Development and application of technologies across communication contexts
Conflict management	Reducing adversarial messages in personal, organizational, and community contexts
Family communication	Communication between parents and children and between generations
Health communication	Communication messages of health care providers and patients
Instructional and developmental communication	Teaching effectiveness and life span communication
Intercultural communication	Communication rules and values across cultures and co-cultures
Interpersonal communication	Basic two-person (dyadic) processes
Intergroup communication	Effects of communication within and between groups on social relationships
Journalism	Producing and analyzing written, visual, and auditory messages for public dissemination
Language and social interaction	Word acquisition and use in communication messages
Marketing	Communicating the value of products or services to customers
Mass communication and media studies	Designing and producing media messages and identifying and evaluating media effects
New media	Digital interactivity involving user feedback and on-demand access to content
Nonverbal communication	Nonlanguage codes that communicate
Organizational communication	Communication efficiency and effectiveness in business and other organizations
Political communication	Study of politicians, voters, and audiences and their impact on one another
Public relations	Message production designed to improve the image of individuals and organizations
Relational communication	Communication in close relationships such as romances, families, and friendships
Rhetorical theory and criticism	Analyzing speeches and other public messages
Visual communication	Effectiveness of advertising and other visual media

Throughout this book, we explore how communication skills, concepts, and theories apply to various communication situations and offer scholarship from five distinct areas of the discipline:

Basic Communication Processes. All communication involves the basic processes of perception, verbal communication, nonverbal communication, intercultural communication, and listening. Skills that we develop in these areas inform the way we handle communication in a variety of contexts, from talking with friends to making presentations in front of a class or a large public audience. In the remainder of Part 1 of the book, you will learn how these basic processes affect every communication situation.
Interpersonal Communication. As social animals, we human beings cannot avoid forming interpersonal relationships and interacting with other individuals. Interpersonal communication is the study of communication between dyads, or pairs of individuals. Most students find this study particularly relevant to their lives as they negotiate their friendships, romantic relationships, and family relationships. We investigate the exciting, nerve-racking, fun, confusing, tumultuous, and rewarding world of relationships and conflict in Part 2 of this book. An in-depth analysis of interviewing—one of the most daunting and important types of interpersonal communication—is offered in Appendix A at the back of the book.
Group and Organizational Communication. If you’ve ever tried to run a professional meeting, manage a class or work group, or plan a day trip for a bunch of friends, you know that as the number of people involved in a conversation, activity, or project increases, communication becomes more complicated. By studying interactions in groups and organizations, communication scholars help create strategies for managing the flow of information and interactions among individuals in groups. We’ll explore this in Part 3 of the book.
Public Speaking. Don’t panic! We’re going to provide a lot of help and guidance to assist you as you become a competent public speaker. Even if you’ve never had to speak in front of a group before, in Part 4 you’ll learn not only how to research and develop a presentation but also how to connect with your audience on a personal level. We also offer tips on becoming a more critical audience member whether you are engaged with a speaker in a lecture hall, a protest rally, or a professional conference.
Mass Communication. Has your little brother tried to karate-kick the dog (or you) after watching a martial arts cartoon? Did you feel depressed after Glee aired its last episode? TV, radio, film, and much of the Internet are important parts of American culture and can be significant parts of our individual lives as well. Professional communicators in the mass media industries work hard to get and keep our attention. But audiences have the power to reject media messages too. In Appendix B, we explore the study of mass communication and new technology, including the forces that shape media messages and the effects media messages can have on the attitudes and behaviors of audiences.

We are confident that this book will provide you with an enjoyable reading experience as well as help you improve your communication. As a result, your life, your work, your relationships, and your ability to speak out will all be enhanced.

AND YOU?

Question

OkqTptU+I0bIbyQbgpNJumlCXgQrhYJDAhjeXHM0i/opbPeSSktuo38CQZSC55O6bE9GMciK5XsJV9Ns5NsWU2lVgJ+fk5XBk+p+q1ex6kZFMK95e5jmFsV+Yz2WWsgx/T8aPMXqqGa1619ylOcD/mQM46YFWbaEHcYy+/PW3zWkAWGNLEb1yeyLkhykcqRgYSgs64cTt28HHV+z1QIs/3vw+4skcoQ+zZaxlUP4YC2ZdxpyNnfSc+s9GaOISM7k2SB6RMG1LZhc+0hIVFtGc4BI6kSur7kyijb5IB7lLvhJeCQcy3eeHcFb8mmcg6d9SDWImcVVc4/spiXKQ+c4ecSGsRuLhv6JDU5Cj0qt0l1nqf8Yjj0DtPJrWCE6BMAoSB0oqEoxxGEY6HGn

BACK TO

After Hurricane Sandy

At the beginning of the chapter, we talked about how Hurricane Sandy left one area of New York City not only physically devastated but also isolated in terms of communication and services. Let’s consider the importance of different channels of communication in an emergency.

Different channels of communication are crucial in the aftermath of a hurricane. The loss of landline phones, which normally work in the event of a blackout, left the elderly and housebound particularly vulnerable. Here, face-to-face communication became vital: checking in on neighbors and door-to-door canvassing saved lives. Meanwhile, established organizations like FEMA and the Red Cross were largely overshadowed by the efforts of small, informal groups that formed and reacted quickly to provide help for those affected. Without social networking, it’s unlikely that those seeking to help would have been able to connect as effectively with one another and with those in need (Nessen, 2012).
Those outside the affected area might have seen the logic in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s initial decision to hold the marathon as planned: After all, it would bring much needed revenue to the city, which was facing a costly rebuilding effort. But the mayor failed to consider the situational context for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers still reeling from the storm. To residents of the low-lying parts of the city, it seemed not only insensitive but also impractical and dangerous to divert police and emergency services to cover the marathon when large portions of the city were still lacking power and basic necessities.
Spotty cellular service meant that people in the affected areas were more likely to see texts or Facebook posts than to have access to reliable online news coverage. Former locals who lived elsewhere began posting updates for their peninsula-bound friends and family, forming micro-communication networks that traditional media could not replicate. At the same time, residents left without electricity for months on end were forced to confront their own reliance on electronic telecommunications and gained a new appreciation for old-school news outlets like radio and newspapers.
The storm had an unexpected effect on relationships. Neighbors checked on neighbors, shared what they had, and gathered to complain, commiserate, and comfort one another. Residents noted that in the aftermath of the storm, they became friends with neighbors they’d never spoken with before (Hardt, 2012). Real-world social networks were reinforced as local clubs, charitable organizations, and fraternal organizations were formed or strengthened by residents moved to help one another and their community recover.