Page 340 - Essentials of Human Communication

Glossary 319

allness terms, verbs and adverbs; and more concrete personal attack. A fallacy of argument in which the speaker
terms and terms indicative of consciousness of projection, attacks the person instead of the person’s arguments.
such as “as I see it.” Avoid this in your own reasoning and reject these when
other-orientation. A quality of interpersonal effectiveness in- used by others.
volving attentiveness, interest, and concern for the other personal distance. The second closest proxemic distance,
person. Acknowledge the importance of the other person; ranging from 18 inches to four feet. See also proxemics.
use focused eye contact and appropriate facial expressions; personal growth group. Often referred to as support group,
smile, nod, and lean toward the other person; express this type of group aims to help members cope with par-
agreement when appropriate. ticular difficulties—such as drug addiction, not being as-
other talk. Talk about the listener or about some third party. sertive enough, or dealing with a relationship breakup.
overattribution. The tendency to attribute a great deal of personality theory. A theory or set of assumptions about
what a person does or believes to one or two obvious personality, complete with rules or systems, that each
characteristics of the person. Avoid overattribution; rarely individual maintains and through which the individual
is any one factor an accurate explanation of complex hu- perceives others. In order to subject your perceptions and
man behavior. conclusions about people to logical analysis, bring to your
mindful state your personality theory.
personal rejection. An unproductive conflict strategy in
panel. A small group format in which “experts” meet to dis- which one person withholds love and affection and seeks
cuss a topic or solve a problem; participants often speak to win the argument by getting the other person to break
without any set pattern. down under this withdrawal.
paralanguage. The vocal but nonverbal aspect of speech. persuasion. The process of influencing attitudes, beliefs, val-
Paralanguage consists of voice qualities (e.g., pitch range, ues, and/or behavior.
resonance, tempo), vocal characterizers (e.g., laughing or persuasive speech. In public speaking, a speech designed to
crying, yelling or whispering), vocal qualifiers (e.g., inten- change an audience’s attitudes or behaviors. Apply (where
sity, pitch height), and vocal segregates (e.g., “uh-uh” relevant) the principles of persuasion: selective exposure,
meaning “no” or “sh” meaning “silence”). Vary paralin- audience participation, identification, and amounts of
guistic features such as rate, pausing, pitch, and volume to change.
communicate your meanings and to add interest and color phatic communication. Communication that is primarily so-
to your messages. cial; “small talk” designed to open the channels of com-
paraphrase. A restatement of another’s message in your own munication rather than to communicate something about
words. the external world. “Hello” and “How are you?” in every-
parasocial relationship. Relationship between a person and day interaction are examples.
an imagined or fictional character; usually refers to a rela- pitch. The highness or lowness of the vocal tone.
tionship between a viewer and a fictional character in a plagiarism. The process of claiming authorship for the work
television show. of another and can apply to ideas as well as specific
pauses. Silent periods in the normally fluent stream of speech. words. Avoid even the suggestion of plagiarism.
Pauses are of two major types: filled pauses (i.e., interrup- plain folks. A persuasive strategy that identifies the speaker
tions in speech that are filled with such vocalizations as and his or her proposal with the audience.
“er” or “um”) and unfilled pauses (i.e., silences of unusu- polarization. A form of fallacious reasoning by which only
ally long duration). Use pauses to signal transitions to the two extremes are considered; also referred to as
allow listeners time to think or respond, and to signal the “black-and-white” or “either/or” thinking or as two-
approach of a significant idea. valued orientation. Avoid thinking and talking in ex-
perception. The process of becoming aware of objects and tremes by using middle terms and qualifiers. At the same
events via the senses. Increase accuracy in interpersonal time, remember that too many qualifiers may make you
perception by (1) identifying the influence of your physical appear unsure of yourself.
and emotional state; (2) making sure that you’re not draw- politeness. Civility, consideration, refinement, respect, and
ing conclusions from too little information; and (3) identi- regard for others as expressed verbally and nonverbally;
fying any perceptions that may be the result of mind reading. interaction that follows the socially accepted rules for
See also interpersonal perception. interpersonal interaction.
perception checking. The process of verifying your under- politeness strategies. Strategies that support another’s face
standing of some message or situation or feeling to reduce needs and may be used as a strategy to appear likeable.
uncertainty. polychronic time orientation. A view of time in which sev-
perceptual accentuation. A process that leads you to see eral things may be scheduled or engaged in at the same
what you expect to see and what you want to see—for time. Contrast monochronic time orientation.
example, seeing people you like as better looking and positive face. The need and desire to be viewed positively by
smarter than people you do not like. others, to be thought of favorably.