To function effectively in today’s society people must communicate with one another. Yet for some individuals communication experiences are so unrewarding that they either consciously or unconsciously avoid situations where communication is required. (McCroskey & Richmond, 1979) The term ‘communication apprehension’ was coined by James McCroskey (1976a) and is defined as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons” (McCroskey, 1984). In the last two decades communication apprehension and related constructs, such as reticence and unwillingness to communicate, have received extensive research and theoretical attention by scholars in communication and …show more content…
This construct was an attempt to look beyond the concepts of CA and reticence (as it was perceived at the time) and along with fear and anxiety, considers low self esteem, introversion, anomia and alienation. “Thus this construct can be viewed as intermediary between CA and the contemporary view of reticence. More simply, reticence is concerned with people who do not communicate effectively; unwillingness-to-communicate is concerned with one of the reasons that people may not do so (i.e., they do not want to); and, [although it is highly associated with ineffective communication], CA is concerned with one of the reasons that people may be unwilling-to-communicate.” (McCroskey, 1982, p.4)
Types of Communication Apprehension A person may be apprehensive in one situation but not in another. Additionally, as communication does not confine itself to just talk, a person may, for example, be apprehensive about communicating by engaging in talk but feel quite comfortable about writing. McCroskey & Richmond (1987) identify four types of communication apprehension: traitlike, context based, receiver based, and situational. Traitlike CA concerns mainly oral communication and refers to a relatively stable and enduring predisposition of an individual towards experiencing fear and/or anxiety across a wide range of communication contexts. Context based
Communication is defined as ‘a transactional process involving participants who occupy different but overlapping environments and create relationships through the exchange of messages, many of which are affected by external, psychological and physiological noise’ (Adler, R and Proctor, R. 2010). Communication doesn’t just mean verbal communication, as non-verbal communication is just as, if not, more important as verbal communication. According to Albert Mehrabian, only 7% of a message is communicated through verbal communication, 38% is communicated through your tone of
As previously discussed, we will concentrate our findings based on three communication concepts; empathy and empathic communication, self-disclosure, emotions and social influences of emotion.
The context I experience the least amount of communication apprehension is dyad (15). Dyad is the general one-on-one conversations. I have the least amount of anxiety when it comes to two people conversations. The context I experience the most amount of communication apprehension is
In this essay, I intend to reflect on a situation I encountered during my first community placement I had the opportunity to develop my communication skills not just theoretically but also practically, facing a real life environment. My placement made me aware of the importance of interpersonal and communication skills which are very important in the delivery of care. Throughout my nursing career, I will be encouraged to develop reflective practice skills and become a reflective practitioner. Reflection refers to a series of steps that you may take to question and explore an experience with the aim of learning from it. I will discuss the importance of communication in order to maintain a therapeutic relationship.
communication for fear of being emotionally or physically punished for deviating from the rigidity by
“Communication competence is an important interpersonal skill, and it requires awareness of our individual communication patterns” (Bevan & Sole, 2014).
Psychodynamic theorists believe that selective mutism is a choice made by the child to have power over a certain part of their life. This could be a way for the child to assert control in response to a fight with a parent. These theorists believe that children with selective mutism chose not to speak in public to maintain their power, despite having the ability to speak. Researches emphasize the idea that children often continue this relationship with new individuals who can remove this power, such as a new teacher. Differing from psychodynamic theorists, behaviorists believe that children have been taught to use silence to help control the anxiety that they might feel. For example, if a child is uncomfortable in a certain situation, chooses not to speak, and has reduced anxiety, they have learned that silence is an effective tool (Busse & Downey, 2011). .
This section aims to give a platform in understanding the human communication that occurs in the workplace. As we discuss, people with high apprehension would likely to have a tendency to avoid communication with others. Therefore, when a person communicates with another person, sometimes it may involve some uncomfortable feelings between them. This situation might be related or could be examined by using communication theories, in particularly, Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Expectancy Violations Theory.
Do how well communicators know each other affect the way they communicate negatively? How? Ch6. P 186.
The topic of communication apprehension is extremely broad, and the topic of social change is just as broad, if not more so. When the two topics are combined, it is a chance to twist the elements and take a deeper look into how they coincide. It is evident through research, as well as a commonly shared idea, that communication apprehension has decreased and decreases authentic self-expression in most cases. Communication researchers, as well as psychology researchers, have put in long, hard hours to get to the bottom of communication apprehension. This study will take one step further to identify how this phenomenon affects the cue of partaking in social change. Several studies conclude there is a clear correlation to social phobia when it comes to communication apprehension (Amsbary & McCroskey, 2009; Sunwolf & Leets, 2003). On the contrary, researchers do not have to provide the level of importance of social change in order to know that it is important, but they do touch base on the components of the master narrative of social change (May, 2011), and the attitudes and beliefs that are associated in order to properly communicate and undergo the shared reality of social change (Haslam, Reicher & Reynolds 2012; Servaes, Polk, Shi, Reilly, & Yahupitijage, 2012).
MacIntyre, P., Clement, R., Dornyei, Z., & Noels, K. (1998).Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language
Communication has a plethora of concepts and standards that have changed and evolved throughout the decades. Without these thoroughly defined concepts and theories we wouldn’t have a framework or guidelines that explain and rationalize some of the social phenomena that appears throughout conversations we have today. Out of the many theories in communication there is one that is crucial for understanding the invisible social barriers we all place around us. This theory is known as Expectancy Violation Theory. Expectancy Violation Theory is important in understanding and predicting the unprepared responses people have in the face of an unpredictable situation.
I, am a very private person, as well as a student. As students we are faced with the ever present threat of teachers who call on us even when our heads are down taking notes and our hands are not raised. As a student and a very private person I have come to detest these occurrences. However while doing some research I came across an article written by Dr. Travis L. Russ professor of Communications and Media Management at Fordham University in New York about communication apprehension and learning styles. In this article Dr. Russ says that there is a coloration between people with high communication apprehension and learning better from reflective work and thinking, while people with a lower amount of communication apprehension prefer to do direct experiments (Russ, 2012). When I share things that I am thinking there is usually a long pause in between the questions asked and my answer, which is caused by me making sure that what I say is not especially revealing towards my inner thoughts. When I was in Advanced Public Speaking the hardest presentation for me to give was the speech of introduction. I hate doing those even if I am just sitting down at a desk posting a recording of it I still get extremely anxious over what I have said, “what if I offend someone?” “did that sound too harsh?” “I hope they don’t think I’m weird.” These things are a constant when I am preparing to talk about myself. I believe that by looking at Social Penetration Theory we can better
The Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory of Effective Communication is to explain how managing uncertainty and anxiety help achieve effective communication with “strangers”. The theory argues that most of our communication involves both interpersonal and intergroup processes, but communication with outgroup members has more intergroup than interpersonal factors, which causes higher uncertainty and anxiety. Managing uncertainty and anxiety is a main contribution to effective communication (e.g., measured by mutual understanding) given that they mediate other superficial factors that influence effective communication. Effective communication requires that both uncertainty and anxiety be between our minimum and maximum thresholds, and we should have mindfulness which involves creating new categories, being open to new information and aware of different perspectives. Uncertainty is our cognitive phenomenon which prevents us from predicting strangers’ attitudes, behaviors and thoughts. Where our uncertainty is above maximum, we do not have confidence in predicting strangers’ behaviors. Where our uncertainty is below minimum, we do not pay attention to cues to potential misunderstanding. Anxiety is an affective phenomenon which prevents effective communication with strangers. Where our anxiety is above maximum, we do not feel comfortable and process information based on our negative stereotypes in intergroup interactions. Where our anxiety is below minimum, we do not have any
In interpersonal communication there are many theories that are similar yet different in many ways. The theories can be combined to describe people and how those people interact and communicate with each other. Many of these theories help explain how people in society form impressions of others, how they maintain these impressions, why people interact with certain people in society, and how people will use these impressions that they have formed later on in life. These theories also help people to better understand themselves, to better understand interpersonal communication, and to better understand people in general. There are two theories in interpersonal communication that, despite their differences, can go hand in hand. The first is