Download Chapter 10 Glossary Ambiguous response A disconfirming

Chapter 10
Glossary
Ambiguous
response
A disconfirming response with more than one meaning, leaving the other
party unsure of the responder’s position.
Apathy
A defense mechanism in which a person avoids admitting emotional pain
by pretending not to care about an event.
Assertion
A direct expression of the sender’s needs, thoughts, or feelings, delivered
in a way that does not attack the receiver’s dignity.
Behavioral
description
An account that refers only to observable phenomena.
Certainty
Attitude behind messages that dogmatically imply that the speaker’s
position is correct and that the other person’s ideas are not worth
considering. Likely to generate a defensive response.
Cognitive
dissonance
An inconsistency between two conflicting pieces of information,
attitudes, or behaviors. Communicators strive to reduce dissonance, often
through defense mechanisms that maintain an idealized presenting image.
Communication
The emotional tone of a relationship between two or more individuals.
climate
Compensation
A defense mechanism in which a person stresses a strength in one area to
camouflage a shortcoming in some other area.
Confirming
A message that expresses caring or respect for another person.
communication
Consequence
statement
An explanation of the results that follow from either the behavior of the
person to whom the message is addressed or the speaker’s interpretation
of the addressee’s behavior. Consequence statements can describe what
happens to the speaker, the addressee, or others.
Controlling
Messages in which the sender tries to impose some sort of outcome on
communication the receiver, usually resulting in a defensive reaction.
De-escalatory
conflict spiral
A communication spiral in which the parties slowly lessen their
dependence on one another, withdraw, and become less invested in the
relationship.
Defense
mechanism
A psychological device used to maintain a presenting self-image that an
individual believes is threatened.
Defensiveness
The attempt to protect a presenting image a person believes is being
attacked.
Description
Gibb’s term for language that describes a complaint in behavioral terms
rather than being judgmental, thereby creating a supportive
communication climate. See also Evaluation, “I” language.
Disconfirming
A message that expresses a lack of caring or respect for another person.
communication
Displacement
A defense mechanism in which a person vents hostile or aggressive
feelings on a target that cannot strike back, instead of on the true target.
Empathy
The ability to project oneself into another person’s point of view, so as to
experience the other’s thoughts and feelings.
Equality
A type of supportive communication described by Gibb, suggesting that
the sender regards the receiver as worthy of respect.
Escalatory
conflict spiral
A communication spiral in which one attack leads to another until the
initial skirmish escalates into a full-fledged battle.
Evaluation
Gibb’s term for judgmental assessments of another person’s behavior,
thereby increasing the odds of creating a defensive communication
climate. See also Description, “I” language.
Facethreatening act
Behavior by another that is perceived as attacking an individual’s
presenting image, or face.
Feeling
statement
An expression of the sender’s emotions that results from interpretation of
sense data.
Generalized
complaining
A disconfirming response that implicitly or explicitly attributes
responsibility for the speaker’s displeasure to another party.
Gibb categories Six sets of contrasting styles of verbal and nonverbal behavior. Each set
describes a communication style that is likely to arouse defensiveness and
a contrasting style that is likely to prevent or reduce it. Developed by
Jack Gibb.
Impersonal
response
A disconfirming response that is superficial or trite.
Impervious
response
A disconfirming response that ignores another person’s attempt to
communicate.
Incongruous
response
A disconfirming response in which two messages, one of which is
usually nonverbal, contradict each other.
Intention
statement
A description of where the speaker stands on an issue, what he or she
wants, or how he or she plans to act in the future.
Interpretation
statement
A statement that describes the speaker’s interpretation of the meaning of
another person’s behavior. See also Attribution.
Interrupting
response
A disconfirming response in which one communicator interrupts another.
Irrelevant
response
A disconfirming response in which one communicator’s comments bear
no relationship to the previous speaker’s ideas.
Neutrality
A defense-arousing behavior described by Gibb in which the sender
expresses indifference toward a receiver.
Physical
avoidance
A defense mechanism whereby the person steers clear of people who
attack a presenting self to avoid dissonance.
Problem
orientation
A supportive style of communication described by Gibb in which the
communicators focus on working together to solve their problems instead
of trying to impose their own solutions on one another.
Provisionalism A supportive style of communication described by Gibb in which the
sender expresses a willingness to consider the other person’s position.
Rationalization A defense mechanism in which logical but untrue explanations maintain
an unrealistic desired or presenting self-image.
Regression
A defense mechanism in which a person avoids assuming responsibility
by pretending that he or she is unable to do something instead of
admitting to being simply unwilling.
Repression
A defense mechanism in which a person avoids facing an unpleasant
situation or fact by denying its existence.
Sarcasm
A potential defensive reaction in which an individual redirects a
perceived threat to his or her presenting self by attacking the critic with
contemptuous, often ironical remarks.
Spiral
A reciprocal communication pattern in which each person’s message
reinforces the other’s. See also De-escalatory conflict spiral, Escalatory
conflict spiral.
Spontaneity
A supportive communication behavior described by Gibb in which the
sender expresses a message without any attempt to manipulate the
receiver.
Strategy
A defense-arousing style of communication described by Gibb in which
the sender tries to manipulate or deceive a receiver.
Superiority
A defense-arousing style of communication described by Gibb in which
the sender states or implies that the receiver is not worthy of respect.
Tangential
response
A disconfirming response that uses the speaker’s remark as a starting
point for a shift to a new topic.
Verbal abuse
A disconfirming response intended to cause psychological pain to
another.
Verbal
aggression
A defense mechanism in which a person avoids facing unpleasant
information by verbally attacking the confronting source.