Preface

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One of the greatest blessings we all experience as teachers of interpersonal communication is the chance to connect with an array of interesting, complicated, and diverse people. Each term, a new window of contact opens. As we peer through it on that first day, we see the faces of those who will comprise our class. They are strangers to us at that moment—an enigmatic group distinguished only by visible differences in skin, hair, and mode of dress. But over the weeks that follow, they become individuated people. We learn the names that symbolize their now-familiar faces, as well as their unique cultural identities: the intersection of ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, age, and economic background that comprises each of them. And because it’s an interpersonal class, we also learn their stories: the tragedies that linger in sadness etched upon their brows; the aspirations that urge them to lean forward in knowledge-anticipation. Then the term ends, the window closes, and the shade is drawn. All that remains are the after-images imprinted on the retina of our memories: Alex, who came out of the closet—but only to you; Sonia, who struggled to surmount stereotypes of her Pakistani ancestry; Lourdes, who, as the first in her family to attend college, brought to your class all the hopes and dreams of multiple generations.

This seemingly limitless breadth of cultural variation should evoke a sense of unbridgeable distance. But instead, these people whom we come to call our students share a common bond that serves to connect them: they all want to improve their relationships. They bring to our classes romantic heartbreaks, battles with family members, and betrayals of friends; and they look to us to give them practical, relevant knowledge that will empower them to choose wisely in dealing with these challenges. The skills and knowledge that we provide transform their lives in powerful, constructive ways. The legacy of such impact is found in their e-mails and Facebook messages to us months, and even years, later: “I just wanted you to know that your class changed my life.”

It is this combination of cultural diversity, commonality in goals and concerns, and potential for transformative impact that compelled me to write Reflect & Relate, Fourth Edition. But to understand the fourth edition, you need to know the backstory of the editions that precede it. When I wrote the first edition of Reflect & Relate, I wanted to provide my fellow teachers and their students with a textbook that was welcoming, friendly, personal, trustworthy, and practical—a book that was rock solid in content, represented the finest of new and classic scholarship in our discipline, and provided a clear sense of the field as a domain of scientific endeavor, not just “common sense.” I also wanted a book that didn’t read like a typical textbook but was so engaging that students might read through entire chapters before they realized they had done so. And, of course, my core mission: a book that didn’t just tell students what to do but taught students how to systematically reason through interpersonal communication challenges. Students could walk away from reading it knowing how to solve their own problems and flexibly adapt to dynamic changes in contexts and relationships. I also had a very particular view of how I wanted to treat culture. Given that cultural variation permeates nearly every aspect of our interpersonal lives, I wanted to have cultural content integrated seamlessly throughout the text, rather than sequestered into a single chapter.

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As the years have gone by, however, I’ve come to realize that coverage of culture within the book should reflect our (and our students’) true experience of culture. Culture isn’t just broadly disseminated across our daily lives; culture runs deep. Our cultural backgrounds play a fundamental role in shaping our perceptions, our emotions, our communication, and our relationships. This idea of “culture broad and deep” served as the guiding metaphor for my revision: cover cultural applications across all chapters, but also have a chapter devoted to deeply exploring culture. The single biggest change returning users will find in this edition is the inclusion of a new culture chapter, where they’ll find classic and new scholarship related to the impact of cultural difference on interpersonal communication and relationships, including coverage of collectivism and individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity and femininity, prejudice, ethnocentrism, and world-mindedness.

At the same time, the fourth edition also contains a ton of new and recent research representing the very best of interpersonal scholarship, including coverage of online competence, the impact of mobile devices on intimacy and disclosure, self-concept clarity, empathy mind-sets, anxiety and emotional contagion, the neuroscience of romantic passion, and blended families. Scores of new examples—Girls, Breaking Bad, and The Babadook, to name a few—will resonate with students and illustrate key concepts for them. Meanwhile, the new Instructor’s Annotated Edition offers more instructional support than ever before.

Also new to the fourth edition is the exciting evolution of the flagship feature of the book: Making Relationship Choices. Traditionally, this exercise has challenged students with a perplexing case study in which they must reason through to an optimal solution. For this edition of Reflect & Relate, we have added a potent and provocative twist: students read the “story” of the situation and generate a communicative solution, but then they have the opportunity to see “The Other Side” of the story, as told in a video recording by the other person in the situation. Subsequently, students can revisit their initial thought on a solution to assess whether it’s still the most competent way of dealing with the situation. This feature provides an unprecedented opportunity for students to build and refine their perspective-taking and empathy skills.

I’m thrilled about all that Reflect & Relate, Fourth Edition has to offer you and your students, and I would love to hear what you think about this new edition. Please feel free to drop me a line at smcc911@uab.edu or on Facebook so that we can chat about the book and the course, or just talk shop about teaching interpersonal communication.

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(From top to bottom) Amy Eckert/Getty Images; © Mika/Corbis; China Photos/Getty Images; © David Grossman/The Image Works

What’s New in the Fourth Edition?

The Fourth Edition of Reflect & Relate is truly modern and digital-forward, covering the most important topics in interpersonal communication and connecting them to digital media.

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Reflect & Relate offers lots of new content in areas that interest students the most.

Topics like multitasking online, the impact of mobile devices on intimacy and disclosure, social media, and supportive communication can be found in every chapter. This new content reflects issues of concern for today’s students and represents the very best scholarship within the field of interpersonal communication.

Flagship Features

Reflect & Relate Offers an Accessible, Innovative Look at the Discipline

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Reflect & Relate Helps Students Look More Deeply at Themselves—and Develop Skills for a Lifetime

Reflect & Relate Helps Students Improve Their Relationships

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A Multifaceted Digital Experience Brings It All Together

LaunchPad helps students learn, study, and apply communication concepts.

LaunchPad is a dynamic new platform that combines a collection of relevant video clips, self-assessments, e-book content, and LearningCurve adaptive quizzing in a simple design. LaunchPad can be packaged at a significant discount with Reflect & Relate, or it can be purchased separately.

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Digital and Print Formats

Whether it’s print, digital, or a value option, choose the best format for you. For more information on these resources, please visit the online catalog at macmillanhighered.com/reflectrelate4e/catalog.

LaunchPad for Reflect & Relate is a new platform that dramatically enhances teaching and learning. LaunchPad combines the full e-book, videos, quizzes and self-assessments, instructor’s resources, and LearningCurve adaptive quizzing. To get access to all multimedia resources, package LaunchPad at a significant discount with a print book or order LaunchPad on its own.

Reflect & Relate is available as a print text. To get the most out of the book, package LaunchPad at a significant discount with the text.

The Loose-leaf Edition of Reflect & Relate features the same print text in a convenient, budget-priced format, designed to fit into any three-ring binder. The loose-leaf version can be packaged at a significant discount with LaunchPad.

Reflect & Relate e-book option. The e-book for Reflect & Relate includes the same content as the print book and allows students to add their own notes and highlight important information. Instructors can customize the e-book by adding their own content and deleting or rearranging the chapters.

Resources for Students and Instructors

For more information on these resources or to learn about package options, please visit the online catalog at macmillanhighered.com/reflectrelate4e/catalog.

Resources for Students

The Essential Guide to Intercultural Communication, by Jennifer Willis-Rivera (University of Wisconsin, River Falls). This brief and useful guide offers an overview of key communication areas—including perception, verbal and nonverbal communication, interpersonal relationships, and organizations—from a uniquely intercultural perspective.

The Essential Guide to Group Communication, Second Edition, by Dan O’Hair (University of Kentucky) and Mary Wiemann (Santa Barbara City College). This concise and incisive text explains the role of group communication within organizations and other settings, and contains useful guidelines for acting as an effective leader, avoiding groupthink, and achieving optimal results.

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The Essential Guide to Rhetoric, by William M. Keith (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) and Christian O. Lundberg (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill). Written by two leaders in the communication field, this concise guide combines concrete, relevant examples with jargon-free language to provide an accessible and balanced overview of key historical and contemporary rhetorical theories.

Media Career Guide: Preparing for Jobs in the 21st Century, Tenth Edition, by Sherri Hope Culver (Temple University). Practical, student friendly, and revised to include the most recent statistics on the job market, this guide includes a comprehensive directory of media jobs, practical tips, and career guidance for students considering a major in the media industry.

Resources for Instructors

For more information or to order or download the instructor’s resources, please visit the online catalog. The Instructor’s Resource Manual, Test Bank, and lecture slides are also available on LaunchPad: macmillanhighered.com/reflectrelate4e.

Instructor’s Annotated Edition for Reflect & Relate, Fourth Edition, edited by Alicia Alexander (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville). A valuable resource for instructors with any level of experience, the comprehensive Instructor’s Annotated Edition provides more than 120 suggestions for activities and assignments, recommendations for videos and Web sites that illustrate course concepts, and tips for starting in-class discussions. In addition, a special introduction from author Steven McCornack at the front of the Instructor’s Annotated Edition provides insight into how the book works, while the Activity Guide—a collection of classroom activities submitted by interpersonal communication instructors around the country—is sure to spark ideas for innovative activities in your classroom.

Online Instructor’s Resource Manual for Reflect & Relate, Fourth Edition, by Curt VanGeison (St. Charles Community College), Joseph Ortiz (Scottsdale Community College), and Marion Boyer (Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Emeritus). The comprehensive Instructor’s Resource Manual is downloadable from LaunchPad. To access the resources for each chapter, click on the Resources tab, “Content by type,” “Instructor’s Resource Manual.” It includes teaching notes on managing an interpersonal communication course, organization, and assessment; sample syllabi; advice on addressing ESL and intercultural issues; and tips for using the pedagogical features of Reflect & Relate. In addition, a teaching guide provides suggestions for implementing the book’s thorough coverage of cultural issues. Every chapter also includes lecture outlines and class discussion starters, class and group exercises, assignment suggestions, video and music recommendations, and Web site links.

Computerized Test Bank for Reflect & Relate, Fourth Edition, by Charles J. Korn (Northern Virginia Community College). The Test Bank is one of the largest for the introductory interpersonal communication course, with more than 100 multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer, and essay questions for every chapter. To access the Test Bank questions in LaunchPad, click on the Resources tab, “Questions by Chapter,” “Test Bank.” From here, the instructor can assign individual questions or create customized quizzes using the Test Bank questions. This easy-to-use Test Bank also identifies the level of difficulty for each question, includes the number of the page on which the answer is found, and connects every question to a learning objective.

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Teaching Interpersonal Communication, Second Edition, by Elizabeth J. Natalle (University of North Carolina–Greensboro) and Alicia Alexander (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville). Written by award-winning instructors, this essential resource provides all the tools instructors need to develop, teach, and manage a successful interpersonal communication course. New and seasoned instructors alike will benefit from the practical advice, scholarly insight, suggestions for integrating research and practice into the classroom—as well as the new chapter dedicated to teaching online.

Coordinating the Communication Course: A Guidebook, by Deanna Fassett and John Warren. This guidebook offers the most practical advice on every topic central to the coordinator/director role. Starting with setting a strong foundation, this professional resource continues on with thoughtful guidance, tips, and best practices on such crucial topics as creating community across multiple sections, orchestrating meaningful assessment, and hiring and training instructors. Model course materials, recommended readings, and insights from successful coordinators make this resource a must-have for anyone directing a course in communication.

Lecture slides for Reflect & Relate provide support for important concepts addressed in each chapter, including graphics of key figures and questions for class discussion. The slides are available for download on LaunchPad and from the Instructor Resources tab at macmillanhighered.com/reflectrelate/catalog.