Trenholm: Thinking Through Communication, 6/E

Chapter 1 Summary

The study of communication is not a modern invention. We can trace many of today's ideas about communication to earlier periods, in particular ancient Greece and Rome. Although the first Western rhetoricians to be recognized as such were the Sicilian Greeks Corax and Tisias, the study of rhetoric became fully developed only after the Athenian philosophers, particularly Plato and Aristotle, turned their attention to the art of communication. Early rhetorical systems provided practical training for individuals who needed to express their thoughts clearly and eloquently in political and legal contexts.

Communication study has a rich history. Although methodologies and concerns have changed over the centuries, the fundamental importance of understanding communication remains the same.

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Chapter 2 Summary

Through the years, rhetoricians and communication scientists have not always agreed about what communication is. This chapter covers a variety of definitions, models, and perspectives that offer insights into communication.

Definitions help to explain and limit the concepts. Whereas definitions express the essence of a concept, models focus on its structure or function. A good model explains a phenomenon, allows us to predict the future, and gives us control over future events. Models are based on assumptions. The set of assumptions that we hold about a given concept is called a perspective. This chapter discusses three perspectives (psychological, social constructionist, and pragmatic).

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Chapter 3 Summary

Listening is a complex, multi step process during which we attend to, interpret, evaluate, respond to, and store messages. Listening is not the same as hearing. When we hear, we translate sound waves into electrical signals to be processed by the brain. When we listen, we engage in a social cognitive process that focuses not just on sound but on other sensory data as well.

Listening begins with attention, a process of selectively focusing on some stimuli while filtering out others. As we listen, we give incoming stimuli structure, stability, and meaning. Effective listening also involves evaluating information. Responding is an often overlooked part of listening. The final factor that affects listening is message storage and retrieval. Listening is the forgotten part of communication, yet being able to listen well is an essential skill that can improve with practice.

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Trenholm: Thinking Through Communication, 6/E Chapters 4 - 6

Chapter 4 Summary

Although we use many encoding systems, the one most natural to us is spoken language. Spoken language has four important characteristics: it is symbolic, it is a kind of knowledge, it is rule governed and productive, and it affects the way we experience the world. The first step in understanding language is to grasp the concepts of symbol and sign. A sign is any mode of expression that connects an idea (the signified) to a form (the signifier). When the signifier is an arbitrary and conventional creation of human imagination, it is a special kind of sign known as a symbol.

Although social memberships affect language usage, we do make language choices, and the way in which we make these choices affects communicative success. The chapter closes with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of four choices: the choice between ambiguity and clarity, immediacy and distance, abstraction and concreteness, and figurative and nonfigurative language.

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Chapter 5 Summary

Although language is an important source of human messages, words are not our only means of communication. Messages can be encoded nonverbally. Nonverbal communication occurs whenever a stimulus other than words creates meaning. This broad definition includes virtually all meaningful human behavior whether intentional or not. Because behavior can convey a variety of meanings, we should be careful in interpreting nonverbal communication to remain aware of context, to compare current to baseline behavior, and to ask for verbal feedback to clear up misunderstandings. With all of its complexity, the nonverbal system is a powerful source of information as well as a powerful source of misunderstanding. It is important to become more aware of our own and others' silent messages.

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Chapter 6 Summary

The most frequently encountered of all communication contexts, interpersonal communication refers to two-person, face-to-face interaction. Communication of this type is direct, personal, immediate, spontaneous, and informal. If we take a developmental view, interpersonal communication is also governed by psychological-level rules. In long-term dyads, we understand our partner at a very personal level and develop unique ways of interacting. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that our communication decisions have an impact on those around us. Yet they do, and this means we should act responsibly when we communicate. One way is to use either the public scrutiny test or the four-way test of ethical decision making to determine whether an act of communication is ethical.