Michelle A. Seidman

There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.
--Dale Carnegie

For those of you who don’t know, Dale Carnegie was an American writer who developed many courses in self-improvement, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. One of his core ideas was to change other people’s behavior by changing one’s reaction to them. He wrote a book, which I read and loved called How to Win Friends and Influence People. This book was one of the most influential business books of the twentieth century. Many businesses requested that all employees read this book, and that is how I got my hands on it.

First off, “There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it” (Dale Carnegie). This quote was one of Carnegie’s principles that he proposed that people learn to live by. I believe that this man was brilliant. He basically took what people were afraid to ever say or do, but knew it was right and put it in a book. For example he has many techniques that he has published and labeled his fundamental techniques in handling people. First, don't criticize, condemn or complain. Second, give honest and sincere appreciation, and third, arouse in the other person an eager want.

Overall, I feel that Dale Carnegie was a wonderful teacher and everyone should read his book. Especially if you want to work in the corporate world and have people like you. This quote is extremely important because it is true. Even in Graduate School, I see firsthand how people are evaluated on what they do, how they look, what they say, and how they say it; especially when it comes to interview time!

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Extended Theory of Human Communication

I begin my analysis and research of my theory of human communication by first understanding how my colleagues view human communication. The key attributes of communication discussed in Dr. Gillette’s class on Monday, August 20th, were based around comprehension and understanding messages. Sending and receiving messages by either using verbal or non-verbal cues is also part of what human communication is all about. Verbal cues are the same as oral communication which emphasizes the tone of a person’s voice or the language that they choose to use. Sound is the major factor in oral communication. Non-verbal cues rely on symbolic representation. This means that facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movement are added into the communication process. Language needs to be understood on both ends of the spectrum so that the message that is being passed through the channel can be decoded. All of these attributes contribute to my theory of human communication immensely.

This physical need is an extremely important part of my theory. I believe that people need to communicate with either themselves or others daily. When there happens to be an interaction between people, it involves the encoding and decoding of messages. This means that both people engaged in a conversation need to speak the same language. However, I have also realized that non verbal cues also play a huge part in human communication. Reading people’s facial expressions and hand gestures help out when there is a language barrier.
Littlejohn explains that, “a theory focuses our attention on certain things- patterns, relationships, variables- and ignores others. This truism is important because it reveals the basic inadequacy of any one theory. No single theory will ever reveal the whole “truth” or be able to totally address the subject of investigation. Theories function as guidebooks that help us understand, explain, interpret, judge, and communicate” (Littlejohn, 2007).

As I look back at other theories that have been developed, I have come to realize that my own personal theory resembles that of the Shannon-Weaver model of communication.
“The source (transmitting side of communications) signaling systems/needs to encode the information to be transmitted to fit onto the medium or channel being used to convey the information. The medium can be a range of possibilities: air, copper wires, or even fiber-optics. When we speak to another human, we determine whether or not the person understands the language and put it on the medium (air) to be delivered to the other person. The receiving end will need to decode the language into one that he or she is able to understand. The return signal from the receiving end may ask the transmitting source, “Is this what you are trying to tell me? If it is, then we can discuss this topic further.”This type of transmit/receive/confirm format is the basis of human communication and is also employed in data networking transmissions” (Jones, 2003).
The Shannon-Weaver model basically consists of a source, encoder, channel (noise), encoder, and a sink. Then the sink will send the message back by a decoder, channel (noise), decoder, and back to the source. Personally, I did not use the same exact words as Shannon and Weaver, but it is the same form of communication.

In today’s society communicating has advanced tremendously. Computers are used daily to communicate, as well as telephones, cell phones and text messaging. The world is making communicating with others so easy that basically anyone and everyone can participate. Tom Peters explains that you need to “listen constantly, congregate, or share ideas/information, and recognize achievement” when you engage in a listening situation. (Peters, 1987). Overall though, human communication is anything that gets a point across while maintaining a relationship. In Conclusion, as language changes and evolves so does Human Communication.

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Posted by Michelle Seidman at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continuation of my Theory of Human Communication

Human communication could be explained as verbal or non-verbal interaction between humans, but as described in the book, Theories of Human Communication, it is much more complicated. “Frank Dance took a major step toward clarifying this muddy concept by outlining a number of elements used to distinguish communication” (Littlejohn, 2008, p. 3). He created three key points that distinguished communication as a whole. The first was observation or abstractness, second was intentionality, and third was judgment (Littlejohn, 2008, p. 3). These three points allows one to have a more structured view on what human communication is.

The key attributes of communication discussed in Dr. Gillette’s class on Monday, August 20th, were based around comprehension and understanding messages. Sending and receiving messages by either using verbal or non-verbal cues is also part of what human communication is all about. Verbal cues are the same as oral communication which emphasizes the tone of a person’s voice or the language that they choose to use. Sound is the major factor in oral communication. Non-verbal cues rely on symbolic representation. This means that facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movement are added into the communication process. Language needs to be understood on both ends of the spectrum so that the message that is being passed through the channel can be decoded. Human Communication is therefore an act of communicating in any form with another human being.

Posted by Michelle Seidman at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Beginning of my theory of Human Communication

In my view, I believe human communication is the physical need to communicate with others and interact on a day to day basis. It deals with encoding and decoding messages. There needs to be a source, message, channel, and a receiver in every type of communication. This means that a person must initiate and think of a message, either verbally or non verbally, say or show that message, send that message through a channel, which could be noise for instance, and the person on the other end must receive the message. This model then turns itself around and the receiver will then answer the message and sent it back through the channel to the source.

It is also a discussion, a relationship between others either verbally, or non-verbally. In today’s society communicating has advanced tremendously. Computers are used daily to communicate, as well as telephones, cell phones and text messaging. The world is making communicating with others so easy that basically anyone and everyone can participate. Overall though, human communication is anything that gets a point across while maintaining a relationship. In Conclusion, as language changes and evolves so does Human Communication.

Other Theories of Human Communication

Posted by Michelle Seidman at 09:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)