IX. Issues in Interpersonal Communication

A. Culture: a set of beliefs, attitudes, values and practices shared by a group of people. We learn culture from significant people in our lives.

B. Macro- and micro-cultures, cultural communities (Michael’s Sound Bite 1-13): The entire civilization, races and ethnicities form macrocultures. Microcultures are groups united around religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, social class, profession and other distinguishing group characteristics. There are also cultural communities, cultural entities created at separate communities: schools, workplaces, towns, clubs, etc. All of these have their own separate sets of beliefs, attitudes, values and practices, although parts of these systems intersect and are shared.

C. Gender and Sexual Orientation: Gender is a collection of social, psychological and cultural traits usually associated with one or the other biological sex. Gender is learned. Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectionate attraction to others that exists along a continuum ranging from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality and that includes various forms of bisexuality.

Although people of different genders and sexual orientations communicate in a different manner due to cultural differences, they maintain and develop their relationships mostly in the same manner.

D. Online communication: interaction by means of social-networking sites (such as Facebook), e-mail, text or instant messaging, videoconferences, chatrooms, multiuser discussions, listservs and other mailing lists, and Usenet newsgroups.

E. Communication knowledge can be used destructively. Therefore, study of communication also includes study of how to overcome destructive communication patterns.

DISCUSSION STARTER 8: Call to mind a devastating relationship event you’ve experienced. In what ways, if any, did your communication contribute to what happened? What consequences did you suffer? How have you overcome them?

X. Learning Interpersonal Communication

This textbook consists of three sections: Interpersonal Essentials (information on models and understanding of self and others); Interpersonal Skills (repeatable behaviors that enable you to improve the quality of your life; and Interpersonal Relationships (study of ways we begin, shape and end relationships).

Practice

I. Opening Story: Starting the Discussion

A. Michael’s Instructions: While not obligatory for reading, the opening story in each chapter sets the mood for the rest of the reading. Stephen chooses stories that relate to several concepts in the chapter and talks about these concepts in general terms.

B. Read the opening story and identify three concepts from the chapter that characterize the communication process in the situation.

C. Then: (a) think of similar examples in your life, (b) remember the actions that the hero of the story, you, and other people around you took when they faced the situation; (c) think of the ways these actions influenced everyone involved; (d) suggest the ways which your naïve knowledge of communication offered you as remedies for whatever did not work in communication in that particular instance; (e) discuss how your scientific knowledge of communication changes your perception, and list three things that you would do now if you faced a similar situation in the future

D. An essay on the opening story can be used as an extra credit opportunity. If you would like to get more points, write a six-paragraph essay answering the questions above in good paragraphs (1 opening sentence, 2-3 main idea sentences, 1 summary and transition sentence). Make note that although this assignment is long and fairly difficult, you will be given only 10 points for it. The reason for it is that the extra credit points must be extra hard to get.

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