This document discusses communication theory, including definitions of verbal and non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication includes body language, vocalizations, eye contact, touch, use of space, dance, signs, art, time perception. Verbal communication involves the use of words and paralanguage, the symbolic process of encoding and decoding messages. Barriers to effective communication include ambiguity, vagueness, failure to understand intentions, non-literal language, indirectness, and lack of shared backgrounds or experiences.

1. COMMUNICATION THEORY

2. COMMUNICATION
 Communication: Process of sending and receiving
messages
 Nonverbal - communicating without the use of words
 Kinesics: body language

3. NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
(TOTAL OF 9)
 Vocalization: sighs, groans, laughs
 Eye Contact

4. CONTINUE NON-VERBAL
 Touch
 Proxemics (management of space)
 Humans are territorial like animals
 How do you react when someone is a
Close talker?

5. CONTINUE NON-VERBAL
 Dance
 Signs
 Sign Language

6. CONTINUE NON-VERBAL
 Visual Art Forms
 Edvard Munch’s The Scream

7. CONTINUE NON-VERBAL
 Time
 In American culture, time is a commodity and is equated
with attention and worthiness
 Example: By showing up late, you are communicating,
“You are not worth my time.”

8. COMMUNICATION:
VERBAL
 Verbal: communication through the use of words and
includes paralanguage.
 Paralanguage: The way we say our own words
(volume, stress, pitch…)
 Process of Symbolic Speech
 The Process of Symbolic Speech is a bridge between
the speaker and listener where private ideas are made
public.
 Communication is successful when the listener hears
the same message the speaker sends.
 Communication breaks down if the decoded (heard)
message is different from the encoded (spoken)
message.

9. MESSAGE MODEL DIAGRAM
Sender (initiates) Receiver
-idea -message
-encoding -decoding
-message -idea
Non-verbal and verbal feedback

10. VERBAL COMMUNICATION (CONT)
 (a)The speaker is influenced by four factors:
 (1)Words known. Limited by own vocabulary
 (2)Estimation of whether or not words suit his
audience (age, background, technical expertise)
 (3)Assessment of social context (cursing around
friends or grandparents)
 (4)Types of words associated with ideas to
communicate (Shut up, Be quiet, Settle down)

11. CONTINUE PROCESS
 (b) Sending – Has an idea and chooses words to convey it.
 (c)Message
 (d)Receiving – the message faces distracters (noise,
volume)
 (e)Interpreting – no assurance symbols will be interpreted
as the speaker intended
 (f)Listener – one who reacts to message conveyed. How
listener reacts is dependent upon past experiences

12. PROBLEMS WITH THE
MESSAGE MODEL (TOP OF PAGE 4)
 Language is ambiguous – listener must determine which
of the possible meanings of an expression is the one the
speaker intended
 What the speaker is referring to is vague
 Listener fails to recognize the speaker’s intentions
 “I’ll be here tonight” (prediction? promise? threat?)
 We speak non-literally (sarcasm, euphemisms)
 We speak indirectly – we are communicating more than
what our words say
 “Did you drive today” means, “Can I get a ride home?”
 Speaker and listener do not share similar backgrounds or
experiences

13. CONTINUE PROBLEMS
(MIDDLE OF PAGE 4)
 Dialectical differences
 Regional: pop or soda; hoagie, sub, or hero.
 Pronunciation: water, aunt, Acme
 British/American: biscuit/cookie, truck/lorry,
trunk/boot
 Language – is a learned shared patterned system
of arbitrary vocal symbols through which a
society interacts and communicates in terms of
a common cultural experience