Page 338 - Essentials of Human Communication

Glossary 317

kinesics. The study of the communicative dimensions of fa- maintenance strategies. Specific behaviors designed to pre-
cial and bodily movements. serve an interpersonal relationship.
manic love. One of Lee’s (1976) six types of love; obsessive
love, it is marked by a need for constant attention and af-
laissez-faire leader. A group leader who allows the group to fection, which when withheld leads to depression, jeal-
develop and progress or make mistakes on its own. ousy, and self-doubt.
lateral communication. Communication among equals—for manipulation. An unproductive conflict strategy in which a
example, manager to manager, worker to worker. person avoids open conflict but attempts to divert the
leadership. The quality by which one individual directs or conflict by being especially charming and getting the
influences the thoughts and/or the behaviors of others. other person into a noncombative frame of mind.
See also laissez-faire leader, democratic leader, and manuscript speech. A speech designed to be read verbatim
authoritarian leader. from a script.
leave-taking cues. Verbal and nonverbal cues that indicate a markers. Devices that signify that a certain territory belongs
desire to terminate a conversation. to a particular person. Become sensitive to the (central,
legitimate power. Power derived from people’s belief that a boundary, and ear) markers of others, and learn to use
person has a right, by virtue of position, to influence or these markers to define your own territories and to com-
control the behavior of others. municate the desired impression. See also boundary
leveling. A process of message distortion in which a message is marker, central marker, and earmarker.
repeated but the number of details is reduced, some details mass communication. Communication that is addressed to
are omitted entirely, and some details lose their complexity. an extremely large audience, mediated by audio and/or
level of abstraction. The relative distance of a term or state- visual transmitters, and processed by gatekeepers before
ment from an actual perception; a low-order abstraction transmission.
would be a description of the perception, whereas a high- matching hypothesis. The theory that we tend to date and
order abstraction would consist of inferences about mate with people who are similar to us—who match us—
descriptions of the perception. in physical attractiveness.
listening. An active process of receiving messages sent orally; meaningfulness. As a principle of perception, our assump-
this process consists of five stages: receiving, understand- tion that people’s behavior is sensible, stems from some
ing, remembering, evaluating, and responding. logical antecedent, and is consequently meaningful rather
logic. The science of reasoning; the principles governing the than meaningless.
analysis of inference making. mentoring. Guidance and support given by an experienced
long-term memory. Memory that is (theoretically) unlimited individual to a less-experienced person.
in storage capacity and that holds information for long mere exposure hypothesis. The theory that repeated or pro-
periods of time. Contrast short-term memory. longed exposure to a stimulus may result in a change in
looking-glass self. The self-concept that results from the im- attitude toward the stimulus object, generally in the direc-
age of yourself that others reveal to you. tion of increased positiveness.
loving. An interpersonal process in which one person feels a message. Any signal or combination of signals that serves as
closeness, a caring, a warmth, and an excitement in rela- a stimulus for a receiver.
tion to another person. meta-advice. Advice about advice—for example, when asked
low-context culture. A culture in which most of the informa- for advice, suggesting that the asker seek more expert
tion in communication is explicitly stated in the verbal advice.
messages. An individualistic culture is usually a low- metacommunication. Communication about communica-
context culture. Contrast high-context culture. tion. Metacommunicate when you want to clarify the way
low-power-distance cultures. Cultures in which power is you’re talking or what you’re talking about; for example,
more evenly distributed throughout the citizenry. Con- give clear feedforward and paraphrase your own complex
trast high-power-distance cultures. messages.
ludic love. One of Lee’s (1976) six types of love; based on en- metalanguage. Language used to talk about language.
tertainment and excitement, it is love as a game, not to be metamessage. A message that makes reference to another
taken too seriously and with emotions held in check. message—for example, remarks such as “Did I make my-
lying. The act of sending messages with the intention of giv- self clear?” or “That’s a lie.”
ing another person information you believe to be false. metaskills. Skills for regulating more specific skills. For exam-
ple, skills of interpersonal communication such as open-
ness and empathy must be regulated by the metaskills of
maintenance. A stage of relationship stability at which the flexibility, mindfulness, and metacommunication.
relationship does not progress or deteriorate signifi- mindfulness and mindlessness. States of relative awareness.
cantly; a continuation as opposed to a dissolution of a In a mindful state, we are aware of the logic and rational-
relationship. ity of our behaviors and the logical connections existing