I. |
Course Number and Credit: |
COM 312, 3 credits |
II. |
Course Title: |
Communication Relationships and
Communities |
III. |
Course Description: |
A detailed look at the relationship of how our interpersonal communication
shapes our communities, our relationships, and ourselves. Detailed consideration
is given to a variety of representations of meaning, emotion, and thinking
as they influence and are shaped by our communication with friends, family,
significant others, culture and social institutions.
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IV, |
Prerequisites: |
COM
212 or COM 240 or permission of instructor. Junior or senior status. |
V, |
Course Justification: |
Students of interpersonal communication
need a detailed understanding of the relationship of interpersonal communication
theory to real world practice. This course explores the ways in which
communication and shared meaning emerge from our personal engagement of
a social world; the ways in which social institutions and the self emerge
from and are shaped by our communication with others. This course can
be used to partly satisfy the writing requirement in communication.
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VI. |
Course Objectives: |
The student will be able to:
- distinguish meaning, emotion, critical thinking, and describe the
relationship of each to interpersonal communication.
- apply theories and models that describe
meaning and its relationship to the process of communication
- differentiate affects, preferences,
evaluations, moods and emotions and describe the relationship of emotion
to meaning and communication.
- discuss critical thinking, the ways in which meaning, emotion, and
communication contribute to critical thinking, and techniques that enhance
critical thinking.
- explain the effects of communication
with family, friends, and others on personal identify.
- demonstrate the relationship of interpersonal communication to beliefs,
values, and atttitudes.
- recognize stages in the development of friendships and relationships
based on changes in interpersonal behavior.
- describe the role of interpersonal communication in creating, evolving,
and maintaining communities, organizations, and other social structures.
- compare differences in interpersonal communication as they relate
to culture.
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VII. |
Course Outline: |
- The relationship of interpersonal communication to meaning, emotion,
and critical thinking.
- Meaning, communication, and the inexpressible.
Examples of theories and models that describe meaning include general
semantics, phenomonology, semiotics, semantic networks, and social identity
management.
- Interpersonal communication and emotion.
Topics discussed may include misunderstanding, miscommunication, conflict
management, and the importance of emotion to interpersonal communication
and decision making.
- Interpersonal communication and critical thinking. Topics discussed
may include listening, the value of critical thinking, critical approaches
to media, and interpersonal techniques that encourage and enhance critical
thinking.
- Social image perception. Topics may
include perception, attribution, role models, the process of self-formation
as a function of interpersonal communication with family and friends,
and the role of mass media in social image perception.
- Persuasion and attitude change. The nature of beliefs, attitudes,
and values and their relationship to our interpersonal communication
and personal behavior.
- The development of friendships, relationships, and families. The relationship
of interpersonal communication to the creation, growth and maintenence
of our personal and professional relationships.
- Interpersonal communication and social structures. Examples of such
structures may include language, media, legal systems, relationships,
families, and organizations.
- Intercultural communication. Examples of cultural variations that
can be compared include nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, and history.
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VIII. |
Methods of Instruction: |
Methods of instruction
may include some combination of lecture, discussion, small group collaboration
and reports, hands on use of technologically mediated communication systems,
individual research, papers, and examinations.
|
IX. |
Course Requirements: |
Students will be required to master
material relating to the course objectives as presented in readings and
classroom activities. They will be expected to complete some combination
of the following::
- Individual
research assignments, including a term paper.
- One or more group projects.
- Examinations.
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X. |
Means of Evaluation: |
Students will be evaluated
using some combination of examinations, individual research, and group
projects as follows:
- A variety of individual research assignments will be assigned across
a subset of the course objectives. In
some cases the "evaluation" of assignments will be of timely
completion. Other assignments may entail an evaluation of the correctness
of the results. The term paper, and perhaps other assignments, will
be evaluated on a combination of organization, research quality, synthesis
of class and research materials, writing quality, and ability to present
the materials in an engaging manner. Some subset of these materials
will evaluated, consistent with writing requirements, on a write and
rewrite basis.
- Group projects will be structured,
in general, to explore two or more course objectives in combination.
So long as groups appear to function well, group projects will be evaluated
for the group as a whole based on the quality of the group research,
their synthesis of the material, and their presentation of the results.
Where groups do not appear to function well, individual participation
and contribution may also contribute to the evaluation.
- Examinations will test students on
their mastery of readings, lecture materials, and other classroom materials
that pertain to course objectives. Evaluation of examiniation results
will be consistent with normal educational practice.
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XI. |
Resources: |
No
additional resources will be needed
to offer this course beyond
keeping current with library acquisitions. |
XII. Bibliography:
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- Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M.
(1980). Understanding attitudes
and predicting social
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- Allport, G.W. (1958). The nature
of prejudice. New York: Doubleday.
- Ashcraft, M.H. (1994). Human
memory and cognition. 2nd ed. New
York: Harper Collins. College Publ
- Bell, R.A., & Daly, J.A. (1984). The affinity-seeking function of communication,
Communication Monographs, 51, 91-115.
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and retroactive attribution processes. Human Communication Research,
2, 33-50.
- Berger, C.R. (1979). Beyond initial
interaction: Uncertainty,
understanding, and the development of
interpersonal relationships. in
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and social psychology (pp. 122-144).
Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
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(1982). Language and social knowledge: Uncertainty nty
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Springer-Verlag.
-
Booth-Butterfield, M. (Ed.) (1991). Communication, cognition, and
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-
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Chicago: U. of Chicago Pr.
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N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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2nd ed.
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-
Heil, J. (1983). Perception
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-
Huston, T.L. (1974). Foundations of interpersonal attraction. New
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Hills, CA: Sage.
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theory and research .
Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Pub
-
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Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
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E.T., (Eds.) 1986). Handbook of motivation and cognition, foundations
of social behavior. New
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acquaintance. Communication Monographs, 51, 372-380.
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reduction theory. Human Communication Research, 13, (1), 3-33.
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(1968). The perception
of people and events.
New York: John Wiley & Sons.
- Weimer, W.B., & Palermo, D.S.
(Eds.) (1978). Cognition
and the
symbolic
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T.K. (Eds.) (1984). Handbook of social cognition, vol. 1-3. Hillsdale,
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