Final Exam: COM 212 -- Interpersonal Communication

General Instructions. This is a take-home exam. It is due no later than 2:00pm on Tuesday, May 14. It can be completed in any of the following ways:

• Handwritten in a blue examination book. I will supply examination books for those who want them.
• Typewritten.

Handwritten and Typewritten submissions can be either put in my Communication Department mailbox in Lanigan Hall or given to me in person. I will be in my office on Tuesday from about 9AM to about 2PM.

Don't forget to put your name on the exam.

Answer ALL of the following question. No answer should require more than 100 words (about 1 page in a blue book).

1. You are having a conversation with someone. They are leading slightly forward, nodding, asking questions, making eye-contact, and making inviting comments. Describe two interpretations of such behavior. To what extent are these interpretations culturally determined? To what extent are the meanings of these behaviors abstract, arbitrary, and ambiguous.
   
   
2. Compare and contrast "constituative rules", "regulative rules", "framing rules", "feeling rules", and "relationship rules". Are these communication rules imposed on us or determined by us? How does metacommunication contribute to our socialization into and negotiation of these rules?
   
   
3. Compare the developmental course of friendships with the developmental stages of romantic relationships. How are they the same? How are they different? Do the differences reflect real variation in the development of friendships and romantic relationships? Are the differences simply varying theoretical abstractions of reality?
   
   
4. Describe the relationship of investment, commitment, self-disclosure, and trust in the development of satisfying relationships. How does investment differ from commitment? How does reciprocal self-disclosure contribute to investment, commitment, and trust? How does trust contribute to self-disclosure? What happens when self-disclosure isn't reciprocal?
   
   
5. How do we know when its our turn to talk in a conversation? How quickly do we normally start talking after a person we are talking to finishes? How might nonverbal communication, feedback, perception, and noise contribute to this "turn-taking"?
   
   
6. How is our punctuation of interaction different than our punctuation of sentences? How can different punctuations of interaction create misunderstandings and even conflict? How might "distinguishing between facts and inferences", "guarding against the fundamental attribution error" and "checking perceptions with others" resolve punctuation problems?
   
   
7. Compare the dimensions of romantic relationships to the primary styles of loving. Which dimensions of romantic relationships are most like what primary styles of loving? What dimension of relationships and what style and loving are most dissimilar?
   
   
8. Describe the difference between signals, signs, symbols, and inexpressible meanings. What is the relationship between language and meaning? How is language both static and dynamic? What is the difference between the phenomenological view of meaning and the semiotic view of meaning?
   
   
9. What is kitchen sinking? How is kitchen sinking related to cross complaining? What should we do in the course of conflict to minimize the effects of kitchen-sinking on the resolution of conflicts? How might active listening minimize the likelihood of kitchen-sinking? How might the three skills of compassion minimize the likelihood of kitchen-sinking?
   
   
10. Describe the relationship of chronemics, kinesics, and paralanguage to face-to-face interaction, telephone interaction, and instant messenger.