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What is Communication? - YouTube
Channel: Communication Coach Alex Lyon
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what is communication we're going to
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give our best effort to answer that so
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we have to admit that defining
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communication in a way that everybody
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agrees with is almost impossible why
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well one reason is because the word is
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so common in 1970 in the Journal of
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communication Frank
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dance said that communication is one of
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the most overworked terms in the English
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language then you wrote that decades ago
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but the situation is really the same
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today it's a word like culture or
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community if you asked a hundred
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different people what those words mean
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you'd get a hundred different
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definitions but we have to try to define
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it I'm no quitter
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so here's what we're going to do this
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video has three parts first I'm going to
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give you a basic definition next we'll
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look at three popular models of
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communication over time and finally I'll
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touch on how different researchers study
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communication from different angles
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taken together that will give you a
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well-rounded answer to this question the
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word communication in Latin comes from
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communique which means to share to make
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something common and I love that my
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plain language basic working definition
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of communication from all I've read is
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the process by which people transmit
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information share verbal and nonverbal
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messages and create meaning with each
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other so let's look at three popular
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communication models that align with
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those three key words transmit share and
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create first some people think
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communication is about how we transmit
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information years ago in 1948 Claude
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Shannon and Warren Weaver developed a
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foundational model of communication that
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you'll see in most textbooks from their
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view communication happens when an
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information source a sender has a
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message and transmits that message in
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the form of a signal through a channel
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let's say that little box in the middle
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represents the channel then that signal
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is received by the receiver at its final
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destination
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along the way there might be some noise
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in the communication system that could
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negatively influence the process some
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people call this the container model
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because according to the model meaning
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is contained in the words themselves
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when the message has then reached its
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final destination communication has been
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accomplished because the message has
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been sent and received now I'd like to
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point out that the concept of feedback
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is not part of Shannon and Weaver's
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original model even though some
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textbooks add that the word feedback
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does not appear in the diagram and
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nowhere in the text of the original
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article that concept came later Shannon
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and Weaver were diagramming and were
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interested in communication systems like
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the Telegraph the telephone and radio
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and their model reflects that 1948 way
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of looking at communication so it's a
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linear one-way model that describes how
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information is transmitted their model
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is very limited and not designed to
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explain face-to-face communication and
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that's why most textbooks call this the
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information transfer model so that's our
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first key word transmitted to some
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people the answer to the question what
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is communication is that it is simply
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the transmitting of information our next
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key word is share some people think
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communication is about sharing
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meaning fast-forward several decades and
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a couple of models to 1962 Dean barn
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lund articulated the transactional model
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of communication to barn LAN
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communication wasn't a one-way process
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to him it had a different nature
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communication was dynamic continuous and
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circular in other words communication
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between people is an ongoing
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back-and-forth simultaneous exchange we
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are senders and receivers at the same
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time and the point is we exchange
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messages because we want to share
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meaning with other people barn Lunz
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model include
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both verbal and nonverbal cues and
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feedback and importantly to barn lon
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meaning existed within the person not
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the words so like Shannon and Weaver's
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1948 model they sender has a meaning
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that he or she wants to communicate and
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encodes it in specific words and then
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sends it at that point according to
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Shannon and Weaver's model meaning
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exists in the words but for barn lund
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that wasn't quite right
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his transactional model says that the
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receiver interprets or decodes what
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those words mean for him or herself then
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that really highlights that meaning is
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not in the words but meaning is in us
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it's in our minds we supply the meaning
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we are superimposing our understanding
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or interpretation onto the process and
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that's why two people can hear the same
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exact message but interpret it
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differently so two barn lund he looked
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so closely at the way communication
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happens face-to-face and he looked at
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some of these subtle processes that were
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happening to explain this process more
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thoroughly
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so while Shannon and Weaver's model is
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about transmitting messages the
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transactional model describes the
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complex and layered process we follow to
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pursue and achieve shared meaning with
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each other
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tibarn lund it's all about the way
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individuals collaboratively work toward
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shared meaning through communication so
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barn Long's answer to the question about
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what is communication is it's the
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process through which we achieve shared
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meaning our next key word is create so
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let's leap forward a couple of more
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decades and talk about how communication
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is the generative process that creates
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our social world and to me this is where
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it gets really interesting according to
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this approach the word communication
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describes the way we create meaning in
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the first place Robert Craig says
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communication constitutes our social
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reality constitute means create he said
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in his 1999 article communication is not
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a secondary phenomenon communication
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doesn't happen
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after those views are already in our
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head after a culture has taught us norms
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after socio-economic factors have shaped
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us Craig says that communication is the
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primary constitutive social process that
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explains all these other factors so I'll
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put that in my own words compared to the
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previous mentioned models pre-existing
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meaning is not in the words meaning is
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not even in our minds that we then
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communicate we're not simply sharing
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already existing ideas when we
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communicate with each other according to
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this view in our conversations we are
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generating those ideas together we
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create meaning through our interactions
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with others over time we create our
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social world together that we could have
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not created on our own the creation of
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shared meaning is a collective
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accomplishment our whole social reality
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is the product the outcome of
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communication so communication is that
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driving creative force at the center of
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our sense of self our relationships our
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families our culture through
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interactions we make or break agreements
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we create or dissolve relationships we
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form the tone or nature of those
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relationships we establish societal
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norms or violate them through the
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process of communication so it might
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seem on the surface that meaning exists
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in words or even in our heads but to
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Robert Craig and others who follow this
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constitutive approach we have to
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remember that we are not dealing with
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already existing meanings provided by
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nature that meaning was first and
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foremost generated and is still being
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generated through our communication
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processes so the answer to the question
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what is communication from this point of
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view is that it's a creative process a
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meaning generating process and we've
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already covered a lot of ground by
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looking at these three models but let's
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finally touch on some major areas that
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show how people look at communication
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that will help us to make it even more
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concrete the most historic area is
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rhetoric if you've ever taken a
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speaking class then you have an idea
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about what this is it all began when
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Aristotle wrote a book about 2,000 years
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ago and even really before that and he
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taught us that when we spoke we had
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these available approaches and choices
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and techniques that we could use to
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persuade our listeners the classic view
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of rhetoric is all about how a speaker
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can create and share messages artfully
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with an audience for maximum
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persuasiveness Aristotle showed us that
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there are dozens or maybe even hundreds
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of small choices that we make along the
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way that can make us more or less
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persuasive given the circumstances today
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the area of rhetoric studies things like
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political speeches argumentation the
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freedom of expression in society and
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lots of other topics like that another
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popular area is called interpersonal
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communication this area looks at
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one-on-one conversations and
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relationships and normally focuses on
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face-to-face interaction like
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friendships romantic relationships and
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family dynamics at a basic level you
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might study things like active listening
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skills conflict resolution the stages of
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relationship development the area of
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interpersonal communication is a big
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area of study that looks at both
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nonverbal and verbal dynamics and how
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small changes in the way we talk to each
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other can shape our relationships in big
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ways another popular area is
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organizational communication and this is
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another broad area here you'd learn
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about communication that happens in and
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around the workplace you might study for
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example different leadership styles and
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how you see those at work or workplace
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culture and how it shapes our lives as
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employees and how communication is
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likely to happen through both formal and
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informal networks organizational
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communication is a huge area and we even
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see subfields within it taking shape on
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their own like crisis communication
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training and development and whole
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classes in professional communication
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skills more recently we see a lot of
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interest in the area of health
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communication and here you learn about
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how communication and healthcare
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settings is real
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important because it can directly impact
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issues like how quickly patients recover
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how we communicate risk and how patients
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and families talk about illness in
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either helpful or harmful ways it's all
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about the way the quality of
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communication influences our health and
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well-being and I'm just scratching the
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surface communication is a huge field
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and there's lots of other interesting
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areas of study and it seems like the
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boundaries continue to expand every day
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and like I said from the beginning
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finding one agreed-upon definition of
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communication is not really the goal but
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we have to at least explore a basic
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definition look at these three common
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models and mentions some of the major
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areas of study to help us answer the
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question hopefully this will paint a
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well-rounded picture that answers the
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question what is communication so
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question for you how would you answer
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this question I would love to hear your
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comments and that section below the
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video and I look forward to reading your
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point of view and by the way I have a
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free online mini course and the five
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essential communication skills that
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every professional should know I will
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put a link to that in the description
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below this video feel free to take a
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look it's free thanks God bless and I'll
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see you in the next video
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