Mark Harris

COMM 120

M4A3

Explain what is meant by the phrase “meanings are in people, not in words.”

According to Wrench, McCroskey and Richmond, “The idea that meanings are in words is perhaps the most common misconception about communication.” [Wrench, 2008]. It means that any phrase or sentence is open for interpretation. That is, one person could hear a statement and interpret it one way while another could hear the exact statement and have an entirely different interpretation. Words by themselves have particular meaning, until the person sending the message actually conveys the meaning of the word during communication.

References

Wrench, J., McCroskey, J. and Richmond, P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications. Boston: Pearson Education.

Use the five parts of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence to create a speech outline for a speech on why nontraditional students should go to college.

Monroe's Motivated Sequence according to Wrench, McCroskey and Richmond, consists of 5 steps: Attention, Need, Satisfaction, Visualization and Action. Creating a speech outline using the 5 steps would look something along these lines:

Title of Speech
Topic (Why Non students should go to college)
Date of Presentation

Introduction (Attention Phase)
Used to get the audience in the mood to hear what the speaker is trying to convey

Main Point (Need Phase)
The first step in the body of the speech, addresses what is wrong, or what the problem is. Identifies causes and effects, explains them to the audience. (Specifically addresses why do non students need to go to college).

Second Main Point (Satisfaction Phase)
The solution to the problem outlined in the need step. The solution itself is explained and then it is related to the problem so that the audience is sees how it would satisfy the need for a change. (this is where you address solutions to help non students go to college, such as easier financing or more long distance classes.

Transition Point (Visualization Phase)
Where the main bodies of the speech transition to the conclusion. Helps the audience see what things should be like if the solution is implemented, using wither positive or negative visualization. (such as increased income, better standards of living, increased knowledge for these non-traditional students.)

Conclusion (Action Step)
Here we let the audience know exactly what is expected of them, when and how. We alos include an appeal to have them behave in certain ways. (Ties the Need, Satisfaction and Visualization Phases together).

References

Wrench, J., McCroskey, J. and Richmond, P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications. Boston: Pearson Education.

Explain the differences among shyness, communication apprehension, and willingness to communicate.

Shyness is the behavior of not talking. Communication Apprehension (CA) is an individual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons. Willingness to communicate is an individual's predisposition to initiate communication with others. [Wrench, 2008]
A person who is shy, why being reserved, may or may not be apprehensive or may not even see themselves less communicatively competent. In addition, a person's willingness to communicate is negatively correlated with CA, that doesn't mean that a person who is willing to communicate is apprehensive about communication nor communicatively competent. [Wrench, 2008] And a person's CA makes them highly likely to avoid conversations with others, and and they most likely behave in a shy manner.[Wrench, 2008]

References

Wrench, J., McCroskey, J. and Richmond, P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications. Boston: Pearson Education.

Using information on the process of selectivity, explain why some people pick specific media outlets over other media outlets.

People will pick specific media outlets based on the processes of selectivity: Selective Attention (Does this media seem interesting to me at the time); Selective Perception (I found the message interesting, but do I find any meaning in the message it's conveying?); Selective Retention (The message is interesting and has meaning, will I retain any of the information I was given? This is the most frustrating of the selective process for media outlets); Selective Recall (The message was interesting, has meaning to me, and I've retained the message, now call I recall the information I retained.

References

Wrench, J., McCroskey, J. and Richmond, P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications. Boston: Pearson Education.

Why do you think that research has found that physicians with good communication skills had fewer patient complaints and lawsuits?
What are the ramifications of teacher misbehaviors on education?
Which management communication style would be most useful in the fast food industry? Why?
What was the relationship between Einstein’s and Darwin’s letter writing techniques and modern e-mail usage?