Intercultural Communication: Martin's Communication Basics

Communication = A collaborative process through which we create shared meaning, the way we make group action possible.

Communication Models

Action: @----------------->

Transaction: @------------------>
<------------------@

Interaction: <------------@------------>

Each model includes: Sender (encoder), Receiver (decoder), Channel (medium), Message (content), Feedback, & Noise (context)

You are ALWAYS communicating.

Non-verbal communication (incorrectly referred to as body language) is more credible than verbal communication.

All families are dysfunctional Why?

All culture is Communication & All Communication is culture

This includes writings, music, art, architecture, radio, television, internet sites, podcasts, human communications.

--Enculturation = the process of acquiring your own specific culture and co-culture from your immediate family

--Acculturation = the dynamic process of becoming accustomed to a new culture

Proxemics (the use of space) is unique to each culture and individual.

Intimate space 0-1.5 feet
Personal space 1.5 – 4 feet
Social space 4-12 feet
Public space 12 feet or more.

Each concept of proxemics communicates something. If you live in the suburbs and visit a friend in your neighborhood, where you park your car may indicate how close your relationship to this friend is. How might this be so? If someone is a casual acquaintance, would you park on the street, at the bottom of the driveway, or in the garage?

Chronemics (the use of time) is unique to each culture and most individuals.

M-time monochronic cultures see time as linear. Events happen one after another.
P-time polychronic cultures see time as circular. Many events happen at one time.

Evanescence=the instantaneous and transient nature of communication. It occurs in one moment and is gone in the next. All that remain are artifacts.

Communication Theory relies on paradigms (prevailing schools of thought) which are put forth by theorists, take hold, and eventually subside.

The Metaphoric paradigm argues that most human communication consists of describing one thing, situation, or phenomenon in terms of another, i.e. America’s bread basket, the heart of town, head of the class. We often use metaphors to describe huge concepts in human-scale terms. Think of religions which use agrarian metaphors to call God the "Good Shepherd" or a Pastor as leading his "flock." Politics and political speech are rife with metaphors, founding fathers, trickle down economics, or the war on poverty, to name an immediate few.

The Narrative paradigm argues that a majority of human communication consists of stories, i.e. mythologies, historical tales.

Types of mythologies include:

Origin myths “how we got here.”
Identity myths “who we are.”
Master myths “how we live our lives as individuals or groups, nations.”
Eschatological myths “what happens at the end of the world.”

Communication Theory takes cues from Philosophy

Socrates—Father of western philosophy, and thus communication theory.

Epistemology-theory of knowledge, the way we gain knowledge

Socrates’ Socratic Method was to learn, or gain knowledge, through discussion and questioning. We know of Socrates through…

Plato – Plato documented many of Socrates’ conversations, called dialogues,
some performed as plays. The Allegory of the Cave (from Plato’s Repub
lic) —is often used as a way to portray the way humans may experience the world, and acquire knowledge.

Aristotle--The Rhetoric includes artistic “proofs” by which rhetorical efforts are evaluated.

Logos, meaning the words and structure of a communication effort
Pathos, meaning the use of emotional appeals
Ethos, meaning the credibility in the effort and also in the presenter

All rhetorical efforts include some degree of each of these concepts. Some may rely heavily on emotions, pathos. Others may depend on the speaker’s own ethos, or believability to make their point. All use logos, too, as they have a text of some kind, although this need not feature words.