PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

develop domains of one’s purpose and competence for communication

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE

What your choice of words says about your personality?

Language, emotion, and personality: How the words we use reflect who we are

COMMUNICATION

- a process of communicating with other people; sending out and receiving messages
- root word of “communication” in Latin is communicare – means to share or to make common
(Weekley, 1967)
- Whenever we share something, we make it common to the other person, thus, to make
something common, communication must take place in order to avoid misunderstanding
- Process of understanding and sharing meaning (Pearson and Nelson, 2000)

LANGUAGE

- is a tool, words that we use to come up with sentences or paragraphs, e.g., English, Filipino,
Bisaya, French, etc. Whatever language used reveal and pass on the culture, which also helps
to preserve the culture that is embedded in the way we communicate and the way we use
language
- collection of symbols, letters, or words with arbitrary (no relationship) meaning that are
governed by rules (grammars, syntax, morphology, etc.) and used to communicate (Pearson
et al., 2008)
- your choice of language provides information to others about how you see yourself, how you
see others, and what relationships you believe exist between yourself and others (Pearson et
al., 2008, p.75)
-

CULTURE

- Socially transmitted behaviour patterns, beliefs, attitudes, and values of a particular period,
class, community, or population (Pearson et al., 2008)
- art/drama/music, attitudes, beliefs, language, customs, rituals, behaviour, faith/religion, food
are embedded in the culture and the way we use the language
❖ How we communicate reflects our culture.
Points for reflection:
o How do I communicate with others – verbally and nonverbally in various contexts?
o How do I communicate with myself?
o What language do I use?
o What culture is reflected?
7 ADVATAGES OF STUDYING COMMUNICATION (Pearson et al., 2008)

1. Improve the way we see ourselves.

2. Improve the way others sees us.
3. Increase what we know about human relationships.
4. Teach us important life skills.
5. Help us express our ideas/protect ourselves.
6. Help us succeed professionally.
7. Help us navigate an increasingly diverse world.

Whenever we communicate, we understand our essence, we make others see the world in a way that
we see it, share our values, persuade them to accept that values so it results to an impact whether we
are aware about it or not. So, we always have to be careful on what topic or ideologies we expose
ourselves into.

ALBERT MEHRABIAN’S 7-38-55 RULE OF PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Elements of Personal Communication

• 7% spoken words
• 38% voice, tone
• 55% body language

The Universal Expression of Emotion – Are Emotional Expressions Universal?

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS USED TO CONVEY BASIC EMOTIONS ARE UNIVERSAL

The 6 Universal Emotions

1. Happiness
2. Surprise
3. Sadness
4. Anger
5. Disgust
6. Fear

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
Based on:
1. Expression/Mode
2. Flow of information
3. Purpose/Style
4. Context/Level

➢ EXPRESSION OR MODE
✓ VERBAL COMMUNICATION – communication with the use of words to generate
meaning. There is no universal verbal language. Every culture or country or place has
a variety of language or use of wards. It has nonverbal aspects (e.g., voice, tone, pitch,
accent, capitalization, font style)
English is more of a LINGUA FRANCA – spoken by the majority
1. Oral or Spoken 2. Written
 ✓ NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION– does not use words to generate meaning.
1. Facial Expressions – the only universal nonverbal communication
2. Visual – colour, height, or weight, thickness/thinness, volume
3. Chronemics – time, punctuality or technical time, e.g., 8:30, 9:30, 10,30 am or
pm, morning, night, season, winter, summer, fall
4. Paralinguistics – vocal cues, seemingly words but not really words, e.g.,
laughing, sighing, crying, hehehe, hahaha, huhuhu, sneezing, coughing
5. Proxemics – use of space, social distancing
6. Emblem – nodding, hand gestures, head movements
7. Objectics/Object Language – accessories, jewelleries, clothing, make-up,
hairstyle
8. Haptics/Tactile – touch

➢ FLOW OF INFORMATION
1. Upward – from subordinate to supervisor, e.g., faculty member to dean, student to
faculty member, student to dean
2. Downward – opposite of upward communication, e.g., dean to faculty members, faculty
members to students, dean to students
3. Horizontal – communication between people of the same level or same rank, e.g.,
students to students, between faculty members, dean of different colleges
4. Vertical – combination of the upward and downward communication, there is an
exchange of communication between the subordinates and supervisor
5. Diagonal – from up or down to a different department

➢ PURPOSE OR STYLE
1. Formal – academic setting or professional setting, depending on the context or setting
2. Informal – between friends and family

➢ CONTEXT OR LEVEL
1. Intrapersonal – communicating with oneself, reflecting or meditating or deciding,
communicating with ourself. External intrapersonal communication is when we talk to
ourselves out loud or we write it on a journal, others could see it or sense it. Internal
intrapersonal communication means nobody can sense that we are communicating with
ourself, example assessing if my voice, my tone, volume and rate of speaking is
acceptable.
2. Interpersonal – two or more people are involved in the communication process
• Dyadic – two people are involved
• Small group – 3 to 15 people are involved
3. Public – involves more than 15 people, e.g., in a classroom setting
4. Organizational – communication within an organization that follows a certain hierarchy
or structure
5. Developmental – communication is primarily for the development or progress of a
certain community or a certain endeavour
6. Mass – audience is the general public, e.g., TV advertisement
 How people perceive interruptions in conversation:

✓ High Intensity Speakers – they are okay with interruptions

✓ Low Intensity Speakers – they find interruptions rude

NATURE OF COMMUNICATION

- it is dynamic, everchanging
- inevitable (unavoidable), irreversible (we cannot take it back), unrepeatable
- Systemic – it emphasizes interconnectedness or how each element in a certain system are
connected to each other, they are interdependent. (SYSTEMS THEORY)

COMMUNICATION

- Refers to the act, by one or more persons, of sending or receiving messages that are distorted by
noise occur within a context, have some effect and provide some opportunity for feedback
(DeVito).

8 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
1. Source-encoder
2. Receiver-decoder
3. Message
4. Feedback
5. Channel
6. Noise
7. Context
8. Effect

➢ SOURCE-ENCODER – has to be able to encode/create a message that is clear and easy to

understand
➢ RECEIVER-DECODER – does not only receive the message but tries to understand, decode
and interpret it the way the encoder wants it
➢ MESSAGE – through oral/spoken or written, or a mere nod or a wave of the hand or smile
• Verbal
• Nonverbal
➢ FEEDBACK – represented by the double headed arrow in the model
• From self (intrapersonal)
• From others (interpersonal)
➢ CHANNEL
• Senses
• Technology
➢ NOISE – could come from anywhere and could affect any of the elements of communication
process, cannot be eradicated 100%, but we should learn to lessen and manage it
• Physical – any type of distractions that we can sense, see, hear, feel, smell, taste
• Psychological – pertaining to our biases, preferences or beliefs that could be a
hindrance and interference to how we understand a message.
• Semantic – noise in meaning, could be through speaking or written, e.g.,
mispronunciation, capitalization, grammar mistakes or wrong punctuation.
 ➢ CONTEXT
• Physical – structure or what we can sense, e.g., classroom, house, your room
• Cultural – beliefs, practices, norms in a certain context or communication situation
• Socio-psychological – relationship or formality or informality of the state of the
communication context
• Temporal – pertains to time
➢ EFFECT
• Cognitive – what we learned or the new knowledge acquired in a communication
situation
• Affective – what is the emotion felt as an effect from the communication process
• Psychomotor – was there a movement learned or done in the communication
process

COMMUNICATION IS PURPOSEFUL

- You communicate for a purpose; some motivation/reason leads you to communicate

- When you speak or write you’re trying to send some message and trying to accomplish some
goal.

Different Cultures emphasize different purposes and motives.

5 GENERAL PURPOSES OF COMMNUICATION:

1. To learn/inform: to acquire knowledge of others, the world, and yourself

2. To relate: to form relationships with others, to interact with others as individuals
3. To help: to assist others by listening, offering solutions
4. To influence/persuade: to strengthen or change the attitudes or behaviors
5. To play: to enjoy the experience of the moment

GENERAL DIFFERENCES

- Generally, men seem to communicate more for information and women more for relationship
purposes (Dindia and Canary, 2006; Helgeson, 2009).
- Computer communication women chat more for relationship reasons; men chat more to play and
to relax (Leung, 2001)

MEDIA LITERACY

- As the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages

- To interact with the media and to use the available resources to create your own media
messages

COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE

- Refers both to your knowledge and understanding of how communication works and to your
ability to use communication effectively (Spitzberg & Cupach, 1989,2002, 2011).
- Understanding of communication would include a knowledge of the elements involved in
communication, how these elements interact, and how each communication situation is both
different from and similar to other situations.
- Understanding of the choices you have for communicating in any given situation
- Using communication effectively would involve your ability to select and implement the best
choices for communicating and to read and adjust to the ongoing feedback that you receive from
your own messages and that guide the choices you make in selecting future messages.
- The more you know about communication, the more choices you’ll have available for your day-
today interactions
- Throughout our communication life and in each communication interaction you’re presented with
choice points – moments when you have to make a choice as to with whom you communicate,
what you say, what you don’t say, how you phrase what you want to say, and so on.
- The competent communicator is defined as the one who makes effective choices, thinks critically
and mindfully, understands the role of power, is culturally sensitive, is ethical, is an effective
listener, and is media literate.

UNETHICAL COMMUNICATION

▪ Plagiarism
▪ Selective Misquoting
▪ Distorting Visuals
▪ Omitting Information
▪ Misrepresenting Data
▪ Abusing Privacy or Security

COMMUNICATION ETHICS

- Ethics – values and beliefs (whether enforced by law or not) that a society or group or individual
believe will most likely to create goodness.
- Concerns the creation and evaluation of goodness in all aspects and manifestations of
communicative interaction
- Both communication and ethics are tacitly (understood without explaining) or explicitly inherent
in human interactions
- Everyday life is fraught with intentional and unintentional ethical questions – from reaching for a
cup of coffee to speaking critically in a public meeting
- 3 Parameters:
• Intention,
• Means, and
• Consequences
- Communication’s powers to hurt and to heal, to repress and to inspire, to betray and to uplift,
and to oppress and to comfort, to deceive and to enlighten, to wound and to mend are among
the direct links between communication and ethics.
- Each set of circumstances is unique, and often the most ethical choice readily apparent.
- Unethical Communication has been one of the humanity’s most potential harmful weapons.
 ETHICAL COMMUNICATION

- Fundamental to responsible thinking, decision making and the development of relationships and
communities within and across contexts, cultures, channels, and media.
- Enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal
integrity, and respect for self and others
- We believe that unethical communication threatens the quality of all communication and
consequently the well-being of individuals and the society in which we live.

9 PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL COMMUNICATION (CREDO FOR ETHICAL COMMUNICATION BY NCA)

1. Advocate truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of communication
2. Endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the
informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society
3. Strive to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and responding to their
messages
4. Promote access to communication resources and opportunities as necessary to fulfil human
potential and contribute to the well-being of individuals, families, communities and society
5. Promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique
needs and characteristics of individual communicators
6. Condemn communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intimidation,
coercion, and violence, and through the expression of intolerance and hatred
7. Committed to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice
8. Advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also
respecting privacy and confidentiality
9. Accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication and
expect the same of others

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

- Exchange of information between individuals who are unalike culturally (Rogers & Steinfatt, 1999)
- Cultural sensitivity
- Cultural competence

5 CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

➢ INDIVIDUALISTIC VS COLLECTIVISTIC CULTURES

- Individualistic cultures value individual freedom, choice, uniqueness, and independence,
while collectivistic cultures value the group, family, tribe, clan, and culture over the individual.
- E.g., Dutch value the individual, Peru values the family more
➢ LOW-CONTEXT VS HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES
- Low-context communication styles emphasizes the source of communication, with intentions
stated overly. In high-context cultures much of the information about the source, intentions
and other information is understood but not explicitly stated.
➢ UNCERTAINTY-ACCEPTING CULTURES VS UNCERTAINTY-REJECTING CULTURES
- Uncertainty-accepting cultures are far more likely to tolerate ambiguity and diversity.
Uncertainty- rejecting cultures have a more difficult time accepting these things.
➢ IMPLICIT-RULE CULTURES VS EXPLICIT-RULE CULTURES
- Implicit rules are implied rules for behaviour in a culture and are “implicitly known” to all
members of the culture. Explicit cultures are more likely openly discuss procedures for action
and expectations for behaviour.
➢ MONOCHRONIC CULTURES VS POLYCHRONIC CULTURES
- Monochronic cultures view times as compartmentalized between tack, personal, and social
dimensions. Polychronic cultures view time as culturally based and relationally oriented.

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

1. Conduct personal assessment

2. Avoid stereotypes
▪ Generalization/oversimplification of cultures
3. Avoid ethnocentrism
▪ Belief that owns culture is superior
4. Manage conflicting beliefs and practices
5. Open communication channels