KOM4361 COMMUNICATION ETHICS

EXERCISE 7: INTERNATIONAL & PUBLIC COMMUNICATION LAWS AND ETHICS

a.) Enlisted below are three basic principles of communication when we
interpersonally interact with others. Briefly define, elaborate, and provide example
for each of them:
i.) Communication impact cannot be repeated
ii.) All interactions are equally potential to communicate something
iii.) Communication may or may not be deliberate
1.0 Communication Impact Cannot Be Repeated

Be very aware of what you say; you can’t take it back! Communication is
inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable. Once something is communicated, it
is irreversible and cannot be un-communicated. While we “may try to qualify,
reverse, or somehow reduce the effects once it has been sent and received,
the message itself cannot be reversed” (DeVito, 2014, p. 25).

Have you ever put your foot in your mouth and said something you wish
you could take back? You may have even quickly said “I take it back,” but the
impression created in the mind of the others cannot be erased. While we can
apologize, there can still be consequences of the original message. This principle
is also important to note in mediated-communication that takes place through
platforms such as email or a text message, as your interactions can also be
saved and shared with others.

Anyone who has ever posted something on social media which they
later regretted knows about this principle. Messages are continually being sent,
they cannot be uncommunicated, and they are always one-off occurrences.
Inevitability arises from the fact that in interactional situations, communication is
usually taking place even when someone does not want or intend to
communicate. Let’s take, for example, an attractive woman walking past a
construction site. Some of the workers on the roof see her and make catcalls.
How does she respond, or does she? She may smile and wave, tell them to
stop it, or merely hurry on by, not overtly responding. But even this last
behaviour is still, indirectly, communicating a response.

Communication is inevitable which means that in a situation where there

other people in the scene, even if one doesn't wish to communicate with others,
they will nonetheless be in some form of communication with them. Someone
ignoring someone else, or refusing to communicate with them is even a way of
communicating. For example, a child who is forced to go to a traditional family
dinner might be upset about going and not wanting to communicate with
anyone, but when he is at the dinner, even if he ignores others' comments, he
is still inevitable communicating his attitude through his body language. This is
why it's important to note that communication doesn't have to be necessarily
verbal; it can take nonverbal form as well. 

Communication is also irreversible. Once a word, phrase, or comment

leaves one's mouth, or once that impulsive text message or e-mail is sent,
there's no way of erasing that from others' memory. Because of communication
being inerasable, one should always be aware of things they communicate to
others. For example, during an angry moment, one might say hurtful things that
they go on to regret later, and even if an apology is given, the other person will
still remember the hurtful words, which has its effect.
Irreversibility happens the minute you click “send” on the email, drop the
letter into the mailbox, or utter the words. You can say, “I didn’t really mean
what I said”. You can – as politicians often do – try to reduce or reverse the
effects of a message, but once it has been made, it cannot be taken back.
Sometimes, efforts to “clarify” just cause us to dig ourselves in deeper! Note
that, increasingly, material from emails, social media, and other places on our
hard drives are being used in court proceedings. Managers and administrators
have been able to retrieve messages the senders thought were private or had
been erased and were not. Incredibly, only 55 percent of teenagers in a recent
survey said that they do not post content which might reflect negatively on them
in future; fully 45 percent were doing that (Lenhart et al, 2011, in Glynlyon Inc.,
2011).

Last, but not least, communication is unrepeatable. Many judge others

through their first impressions of them, and it is usually the quality of
communication being unrepeatable that some people get hired and some
people don't. Job interviews are a great example of communication being
unrepeatable. Within job interviews, it's important to use the appropriate type of
communication and set the right type of first impression because usually in
those situations second chances are hard to come by. Although communication
is unrepeatable, if possible, it's good not to judge from first impressions.
 Unrepeatability arises from the fact that an act of communication can
never be duplicated. Even if we intend to say the same thing again, the outer
world has changed by the second utterance. The listeners may be different, our
mood may be different, or our relationship might be in a different place. You
don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

 This is why the more practical explanations that lead to wisdom like
"Think before you speak," "Appear wise through your silence," and "A hasty
word cannot be recalled" come into being. It is for these same reasons that we
owe it to ourselves to be attentive to communications because some of the
most important ones are small, simple, and subtle and ... unrepeatable. If we
fail in this attentiveness, we will find crucial, though unrepeatable,
communications lost forever, sometimes with life altering effects.

2.0 All Interactions Are Equally Potential To Communicate Something

Communication is the act of expressing or transmitting ideas,

information, knowledge, thoughts, and feelings, as well as understanding what
is expressed by others. The communication process involves both sending and
receiving messages and can take many forms.
And as humans, we are drawn to one another and communicate with
each other in a variety of capacities. All our interactions are equally potential to
communicate something. This is totally true because communication comes in
many forms. Speaking is communicating and even keeping quiet is also a form
of communication. It all depends on what form of interaction that takes place.

Verbal communication is the spoken word, while nonverbal

communication involves actions, facial expressions, body position, and
gestures. Communication can occur in one-on-one or group settings, and in
written formats (e.g., printed materials) or in visual formats (e.g., pictures,
videos, and observational learning). And it involves not only the content of a
message but also its emotional impact or the effect the message has on the
person receiving it.
 In fact, communication experts suggest that between 65% and 93% of
the meaning of a message is conveyed through tone of voice and nonverbal
behaviors (Johnson 2003). Thus, in addition to becoming aware of the words
you use, it is essential that you become aware of your tone and nonverbal
behaviors so that you understand the messages you are sending to partners.

Whether you are speaking or listening, looking into the eyes of the
person with whom you are conversing can make the interaction more
successful. Eye contact conveys interest and encourages your partner to be
interested in you in return.
Manifest constructive attitudes and beliefs. The attitudes you bring to
communication will have a huge impact on the way you compose yourself and
interact with others. Choose to be honest, patient, optimistic, sincere,
respectful, and accepting of others. Be sensitive to other people's feelings, and
believe in others' competence.

3.0 Communication May Or May Not Be Deliberate

In all communicative interactions, we are continuously sending

messages, whether they are verbal or nonverbal, and whether it is intentional
(conscious), or unintentional (unconscious). Although communication may
seem like a perceptible and deliberate process, we often send messages
without conscious thought. In fact, there are so many messages being sent at
one time that many of them may not even be received.

Nonverbal communication is both conscious and unconscious, which

means we use it both intentionally and unintentionally. Conscious
communication means that we think about our communication before we
communicate. Unconscious communication means that we do not think about
every message we communicate. For example, when something funny
happens, you probably do not think, “Okay, I’m going to smile and laugh right
now.” Instead, you react unconsciously, displaying your emotions through
nonverbal behaviors. Nonverbal communication can occur as unconscious
reactions to situations. However, at times, we certainly make conscious choices
to use or withhold nonverbal communication to share meaning. Angry drivers
use many conscious nonverbal expressions to communicate to other drivers,
and in a job interview you are making conscious decisions about your
wardrobe, posture, and eye contact.

Additionally, not all behavior is consciously encoded. For example, we

might have had a rough night with little sleep, which we yawn more often than
we normally would. We are not deliberately and consciously encoding the
yawn, rather our body does it without forethought. However, our yawn may
unintentionally communicate “boredom” to the other person in the interaction. In
contrast, we may consciously decide to communicate a particular message
(encoding) to another person if their story has gone on a very long time and we
have somewhere else to go. We may decide in our heads that we need a way
out of the conversation and consider a yawn and a glance toward the door to
be an effective way to hint that we have to leave.
REFERENCE

DeVito, J. (2017). Essentials of Human Communication (9th ed.) Pearson Education,

Inc.
Glynlyon. (2011). Part One: Foundations of human communication. In The essentials
of human communication. Glynlyon, Inc.

Helgeson, V.S. (2012). The psychology of gender, 4th Ed. United States of America:
Pearson.

Baden Ian Eunson, (2019) Non-Verbal Communication. Monash University, Australia.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275965639_Non-Verbal_Communication