Glossary

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Glossary Entries
Word(s)	Definition	Source
ABC Model	Reappraisal method that start with isolating the activating event that causes an irrational belief, adjusting emotional responses and consequences of that event, and adjust emotional outcomes	Turner, 2016
Abstract language	When we lack clarity or use language that is culturally bound or ambiguous	N.A.
Accenting	A form of nonverbal communication that emphasizes a word or part of a message.
Accepting messages	Strongest type of confirming messages that acknowledges a person’s feelings as valid through agreement and/or showing support.	Reitzel and Yee
Action-Oriented Listener	This type of listening style is primarily interested in finding out what the speaker wants	N.A.
Activating Event	The event that occurred prior to an emotion being experienced	N.A.
Active Listening	Requires purposefully focusing on what a speaker is saying with the objective of understanding.	N.A.
Affect Displays	Nonverbals that show feelings and emotions.
affection	intimate or physical desire for recognition and appreciation.
Affirming messages	Going beyond affirming messages, affirming messages also convey our interest and concern for the other party.	Reitzel and Yee
Aggression	“directed toward damaging another’s self-esteem, social status, or both, and may take direct forms such as verbal rejection, negative facial expressions or body movements, or more indirect forms such as slanderous rumors or social exclusion”	Galen & Underwood, 1997, p. 589
Aggressive Listening	An ineffective listening practice where individuals listen specifically so that they can attack back.	Leonard
Agreeableness	the habit of being kind, compassionate, warm and cooperative.	N.A.
Amygdala	a small peanut-shaped part of the brainstem that plays a complex role in “vigilance and arousal, as well as ambiguity processing”	Pessoa (2011)
Anxious-Preoccupied Attachment Style	The pattern for this attachment style produces adults who have negative thoughts of themselves, but positive thoughts of others. In this attachment style the caregiver is inconsistent in their treatment of the child.	Leonard
Appraisal	Our internal communication creating an opinion, interpreting, judging, and responding to an event	Lumen, n.d.
Appreciative Listening	Listening for enjoyment. This is considered the easiest of all listening functions.	Leonard
Assertiveness	Refers to a direct communication style in which participants stand up for themselves while respecting the other person.
Attachment Theory	Theory which explains early attachments of children to primary caregivers.	Leonard and Kicenski
Attending	In the listening process, filtering out what is salient; noticeable or important in a way that is similar to selecting during the perception process.	Leonard
Attending messages	Messages that indicate recognition and confirmation of another person’s existence.	Reitzel and Yee
Attribution	“the interpretive process by which people make judgments about the causes of their own behavior and the behavior of others”	Mata & Altman
Avoiding	consists of physical and emotional evasion of topics, situations, and people that evoke conflict. This approach is categorized by a low concern for self and low concern for others	Rahim, 1983a
Back-Channel Cues	Verbal or nonverbal forms of feedback that indicate we are listening.	Leonard
Bald-face Lies	Type of deception that involves an outright falsification of information
Beltlining	An unproductive response to conflict that refers to a boxing move that means to hit below the belt. In terms of conflict, it refers to using intimate information against each other to cause hurt and anger.	N.A.
Bias	relates to our preferences and worldview	N.A.
Big Five Personality Traits	Five major dimensions of personality composed of Emotional Stability/Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Extraversion	N.A.
Blame	An unproductive response to conflict where one tries to place responsibility for the conflict on the other party.
Boundaries	Expectations and limitations we define in order to have meaningful relationships that suit our needs, and to ensure relationships stay within the appropriate category of personal or social.
Bracketing	refers to a constructive conflict strategy that involves breaking down the conflict into smaller more manageable parts	N.A.
Bullying	Unwanted, aggressive behavior… that involves a real or perceived power imbalance; a form of aggression among peers, can encompass physical, verbal and social aggression	ASPA, 2021
Burnout	Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased sense of accomplishment in the workplace	Nagoski & Nagoski, 2019
Cancel Culture	actions people take to hold others accountable; has evolved to include public shaming, callouts, and other forms of public backlash	Vogels, E. A., Anderson, M., Porteus, M., Baronavski, C., Atske, S., McClain, C., Auxier, B., Perrin, A., & Ramshankar, M. (2021, May 19).
Channel	How a message moves from one communicator to another, through different mediums of communication that extend the richness or leanness of the message.	N.A.
Chronemics	The study of time and how it is perceived and used.
Cognitive Conservatism	The phenomenon of seeking out and noticing information which conforms to our existing self-concept.	Kicenski and Leonard
Collectivism	Cultural practice where people tend to put the group needs before individual needs in exchange for loyalty and expect their ingroups will take care of them. Collectivism exists on a continuum of collectivism and individualism. Please see the definition on Individualism.	Hofstede, 2001
Communication	Communication involves the intentional and unintentional, conscious and unconscious sending, receiving, and responding of verbal and nonverbal messages.	Encarnacion
Communication Accommodation Theory	focuses on the ways in which individuals adjust their communication with others to meet the audience expectations	N.A.
Communication apprehension (“CA”)	is the hesitancy or discomfort surrounding our communication events.	N.A.
Communication Climate	The overall feeling or emotional mood between people	Wood (2015)
Communicators	Rather than identifying the individual parties as sender and receiver, the transactional model simply refers to the parties involved as communicators.	N.A.
complementing	Nonverbal behavior that is used in combination with the verbal portion of the message to emphasize the meaning of the entire message.
Comprehensive Listening	The type of listening we engage in with the goal of understanding information.	Leonard
Comprehensive Listening	The type of listening we engage in with the goal of understanding information	Leonard
Compromising	consists of medium concern for self and medium concern for others. This approach involves finding a middle ground in the conflict situation	Rahim, 1983a
Computer Mediated Communication	communication via electronic means	N.A.
Concrete language	specific in language; dictionary definition language	N.A.
Confidence/Romance Fraud	An individual believes they are in a relationship (family, friendly, or romantic) and are tricked into sending money, personal and financial information, or items of value to the perpetrator or to launder money or items to assist the perpetrator. This includes the Grandparent’s Scheme and any scheme in which the perpetrator preys on the complainant’s “heartstrings”.	(FBI IC3, 2020)
Confirmation bias	When we seek out behaviors in accordance with our perceptions of personality characteristics. Once someone acts on our beliefs of what that person’s personality traits are we tend to see their actions as fitting into those characteristics.	N.A.
Confirming climate	Messages that show we are valued from those with whom we have a relationship	Reitzel
Conflict	Interpersonal conflict occurs when two or more interdependent parties perceive and experience a struggle over incompatible goals, scarce resources, interference from others in achieving their goals	(Hocker & Wilmot, 2018)
Conflict management	Conflict management is the process of trying to find effective strategies to minimize and solve problems associated with different conflict goals	N. A.
Conflict negotiation	Refers to a formal or informal process that individuals use to find a mutually agreeable solution to a problem	N.A.
Conscientiousness	Aspects of personality related to the individual working towards characteristics and having them as a goal to achieve the outcome	N.A.
Constructive feedback	Providing people with timely and meaningful information regarding strengths and weaknesses in their work performance as well as concrete steps for improving any areas of weakness thus fostering personal and professional growth
Contempt	extreme dislike of another person and may include negative verbal and nonverbal expressions towards another person	Gottman, 2014
Content goal	Content or topic goals refer to what we want and need for both our day-to-day and long-term life.	N. A.
Content-Oriented Listening	A listening style interested in the message itself, whether it makes sense, what it means, and whether it’s accurate	N. A.
Contradicting	When verbal and nonverbal messages are incongruent, we tend to believe the nonverbal communication over verbal communication.
Control messages	are meant to coerce rather than persuade relational partners to an action	N.A.
Counterpunch	A defensive response to conflict whereby rather than responding to the initial topic of conflict, the other party responds by sharing their own, often unrelated criticism	N.A.
Criticism	when we publicly or privately call out someone’s faults in a negative manner	Gottman, 2014
Cultural Context	Includes our learned perceptions of the world that influence our beliefs, values, and ultimately our behaviors.	N.A.
Cultural display rules	distinct differences that are cultural rules that govern interpretations of and display of emotions	N.A.
Cultural empathy	“the perception of the needs of others, as well as the knowledge of their cultural specificities”	Gonçalves, Sousa, Arasaratnam-Smith, Rodrigues, & Carvalheiro, 2020, p. 246
Cultural racism	“cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color”	Tatum, 2017, p. 86
Culture	a group of people who share values, beliefs, norms, and a common language. Due to this shared way of thinking and behaving, people from the same culture often share similar perspectives on the world.	Altman & Mata
Cyberbullying	Using forms of electronic communication to send, post, or share negative, “harmful, false, or mean content about someone else”	ASPA, 2021
Debilitative Emotions	tend to be emotions that stop or slow us down from tasks or functioning effectively.	N.A.
Deception by Commission	is when we deliberately communicate false information
Deception by Omission	involves intentionally holding back some of the information another person has requested or you are expected to share
Decoding	Happens when someone attempts to interpret the message.	N.A.
Defensive Listening	The ineffective listening practice you perceive an attack where one does not really exist	Leonard
Defensiveness	the perception of threat or threatening behavior	Gibbs, 1965
Defensiveness (Gottman Method)	When one tries to protect themselves by making excuses, denying responsibility, blaming and or accusing the other person, justifying their behavior, or offering a counter-criticism.	Gottman, 2014
Denouncing messages	The worst form of disconfirmation by excluding, banishing, or even shunning people on purpose.
Disconfirming Climate	Messages that suggest we are devalued and unimportant	Reitzel
Discriminative Listening	A unique function of listening that occurs during the receiving stage of the listening process and involves the ability to discern sounds	Leonard
Disfluencies	The use of non-grammatical sounds such as pauses.
Dismissive Attachment Style	Caregiving by parents is experienced by a child as lacking in interest or focused on caregiver’s needs as opposed to the child’s. Findings suggest that those who adopt this style of attachment cultivate a positive view of themselves, but a negative view of others.	Leonard
Disparaging messages	Aggressive messages showing discord and disgust	Reitzel and Yee
Dispute irrational beliefs	Without invalidating our feelings, we monitor debilitative emotions in order to take control of our emotions	N.A.
Disregarding messages	Messages that convey to the other person they are unimportant or even nonexistent.	Reitzel and Yee
Dogmatism	when we use emotional justification rather than evidence-based justification	Harrison, 2021
Dominating	when we focus on our own needs at the expense of others. This approach is competitive in nature, with a win-lose orientation to conflict	Rahim, 1983a
Double bind	At times, an individual’s nonverbal communication contradicts verbal communication.
Downers	Also known as ego busters, downers are people who communicate negatively about us and our worth	Wood (2017) Leonard and Kicenski
Duchenne smile	A spontaneous smile that turns into a smile of genuine enjoyment.
Eavesdropping	Eavesdropping is an ineffective listening practice that involves a strategic attempt to listen to a conversation that you are not a part of.	Leonard
Emblems	Gestures that correspond to a word or an agreed-on meaning.
Emotion states	Exist in small “windows'' of time and experiencing them less dependent on our personality than emotion traits	N.A.
Emotion traits	are connected to our personality and demonstrate our habitual and prolonged set of “base-line” emotions.	N.A.
Emotional Awareness	the conscious understanding and recognition of one's own and others emotions	Agnoli et. al, 2019; Alegre, Pérez-Escoda, López-Cassá, 2019
Emotional contagion	when we are exposed to other individuals' emotions during social interactions, and those emotions become “contagious”	N.A.
Emotional Contagion	A phenomenon which suggests that as people express their emotional states, others around them are likely to “catch” those states. In other words, emotions may be transferred from one person to another.	Kicenski and Leonard (Goleman, 1995)
Emotional Intelligence (“EI”)	measures our ability to process emotions and emotional information	Alegre, Pérez-Escoda, López-Cassá, 2019
Emotional Labor	the expectation to manage emotions in certain environments, including professional environments.	N.A.
Emotions	Emotions are constituted by a process of categorizing the self as being in an emotional state. They are a cluster of events with unclear boundaries and no single cause.	Pober, 2018, p. 640 Russell, 2012, p. 140
Empathetic listening	When we try to feel what another person is feeling and can be considered the most challenging of all listening functions.	Leonard
Empathy	Listening for understanding of the other person’s feelings and/or emotion with the goal of validating. Empathic listening is a higher-level listening and therefore requires more energy.	N/A
Encoding	Occurs when an individual constructs a message using symbols.	N.A.
Environmental Context	Includes the setting, the circumstance, the situation, etc. that influence communication	N.A.
Equivocation	when we use ambiguous or abstract language rather than concrete and specific language.	N.A.
Ethnocentrism	when we unconsciously tend to see the world through our own cultural lens and judge others’ behaviors by the standards we hold and fail to perspective take or see things from another’s perspective	N.A.
Evaluating	The stage of listening where one assesses the validity and credibility of the message.	Leonard
Evaluative Listening	Is a listening function which fulfills the goal of analysis and evaluation of messages.	Leonard
External Distractions	A directation that comes from the physical environment that involves any visual, auditory, or other sensorial elements within the space that captures your attention.	N.A.
Extraversion	how outgoing or sociable a person is.	N.A.
Face	Refers to the positive social impression we would like to make on others.	Ting-Toomey, 1988
Face	how we present ourselves to others and how we are seen by others	N.A.
Face	Refers to the positive social impression we would like present during social interactions.	Oetzel & Ting-Toomey, 2003
Face Blindness	Known in the medical literature as prosopagnosia, people who have this condition have difficulty seeing the face of another person and connecting that with a name or personality.	Altman & Mata
Face Negotiation Theory	Describes the use of communication to maintain and negotiate an individual’s presentation of face and that culture influences the way we handle conflict because of our face concerns, cultural background, and situational factors.	Oetzel & Ting-Toomey’s, 2003
Facework	Describes the communicative behavior we use, both verbal and nonverbal, to enact and maintain our own presenting image or that of another.	Kicenski and Leonard
Facial Action Coding System (FACS)	A coding system that analyzes specific facial muscle movement associated with specific emotions.
Facilitative Emotions	tend to be emotions that do not negatively impact us from the daily tasks or functions of our lives, and allow us to progress forward in a positive way.	N.A.
family	the people who raised you from childhood through adolescence, whether there is a biological connection or not.
Fearful-Avoidant Attachment Style	When a child experiences physical or emotional cruelty or the “care” they receive is life threatening, these individuals grow up with a negative view of themselves and others.	Leonard and Kicenski
Feedback	A verbal or nonverbal response to a communication message.	N.A.
Fight or Flight Mode	This acute response increases our heart rate and blood flow, dilates the pupils, and increases overall energy. When in fight or flight, it is nearly impossible to breathe deeply, think through possibilities, and make unbiased judgments. The goal is survival.	Altman & Mata
Force	An unproductive conflict response that refers to using physical pressure to exert control in conflict exchanges. It can include both force directed at inanimate objects or physical assault at another person.
Friendship	a close relationship with a person where you have a common interest or connection.
Fundamental Attribution Error	an essential human tendency to attribute another’s behavior to internal, rather than external, factors	Ross (1977)
Gaslighting	When one twists and exploits their victim's words, emotions, and experiences to make them feel like they’re imagining or exaggerating what happened.
Gender Fluidity	A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.	Kicenski and Leonard These updated definitions come from HRC.org
Gender Identity	One’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.	Kicenski and Leonard These updated definitions come from HRC.org
Gestures	Arm and hand movements that include adaptors, emblems, and illustrators.
Gossip	talking about people who aren’t present	Robbins & Karan, 2019
Gratitude	Showing validating or confirming messages	N.A.
Gunnysacking	An unproductive conflict response of storing up one’s grievances and unloading them all at once at a later date on the other party.
Halo Effect	occurs when initial positive perceptions lead us to view later interactions as positive. The horn effect occurs when initial negative perceptions lead us to view later interactions as negative	Hargie (2011)
Haptics	The study of communication by touch.
Hate Speech	abhorrent messages used to hurt, incite violence, and inflict psychological harm	ŞtefÃniÞÃ & Buf, 2021
Hearing	The physiological process of taking in sound.	Leonard
High Self-Monitoring	A high persistence of reading the emotions or mental states of others.	Leonard and Kicenski
High-context communication	Communication that tends to be more indirect and implicit because communicators have a common history with shared meanings, routines, and rituals.	Reitzel
Ideal Self	A standard of personal aspiration related to physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual hopes or wishes a person may have.	Kicenski and Leonard
Identity goals	Identity goals refer to the image we would like to present to the world. Conflict over identity goals can occur when our public image is threatened and we do not feel valued in an interaction, relationship, or specific setting
Identity Management	A dramaturgical theorization about how we attempt to “form” self and simultaneously influence others’ perspectives of the self we perform.	Kicenski and Leonard
Identity Needs	Communication is critical to our identity. Our sense of who we are is a reflection of how others see us	N.A.
Identity Scripts	Social expectations regarding how members of a particular group behave and communicate as a part of their social identity.	Wood, 2017 Leonard and Kicenski
Illustrators	Nonverbals used to help emphasize or explain an idea.
Implicit Bias	when people favor one group over another, in thoughts and actions, however they are unaware that this bias exists.	Altman & Mata
Indifference	occurs when we show a lack of caring or connection to the other person(s) and/or the content of the message	N.A.
Individualism	Refers to cultural preferences for individuality, autonomy. Individualism exists on a continuum of collectivism and individualism. Please see the definition on Collectivism.	Hofstede, 2001
Indulgence versus Restraint Dimension	The level to which a culture embodies the goals and virtues of personal happiness. A culture that is indulgent will be focused on individual satisfaction through leisure and personal freedom. A culture that values restraint emphasizes self control and strict social norms, where individual freedoms like leisure are not valued as much as hard work and dedication.	Encarnacion
Inferior Comparison	Comparisons made by a person between themselves and others wherein they are less worthy	Kicenski and Leonard
Infidelity
Information Overload	When you have so much information coming at you it’s easy to become overwhelmed	N.A.
Insensitive Listening	An ineffective listening practice that focuses only on the content level of meaning, without exploring the type of nonverbal cues that accompany the message,	Leonard
Instrumental needs	are those we engage in to complete daily tasks
Integrating	Integrating, also known as collaborating, consists of problem-solving, open communication, direct confrontation of conflict, assertiveness, and cooperation	Rahim, 2010, Kilman & Thomas, 1977)
Intercultural Communication	A form of communication that shares information across different cultures and social groups.	Stokes-Rice, 2019
Interdependent	which means that we mutually affect each other	N.A.
Internal Distractions	Internal thoughts or feelings that direct you from hearing a message	N.A.
Interpersonal Communication	Interpersonal communication is defined as the process of communicating between two people and how we send and receive messages from others given our internal perceptions, emotions, and unique contexts.	Encarnacion
Interpreting	Integrating both visual and auditory cues to make sense of, or attribute meaning, to what we hear	Leonard
Interrupting	The ineffective listening practice of unintentionally or intentionally delaying or preventing communication.	Leonard
Intersectionality	Aspects of our identities, including race, gender, sexuality etc. which may overlap to enable privilege or disprivilege in our everyday lives.	Kicenski and Leonard (Crenshaw, 1995)
Intersectionality	how the different parts of our identities, including race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, etc. play a role in power, privilege, and the way we are treated and function in our everyday lives.	Altman
Irrational beliefs	Beliefs that are proliferating negative emotion	N.A.
Jealousy	The emotions that are mixed in with your relational experience, such as hurt, anger, and fear
Kinesics	The study of “body language.”
Kitchen-sinking	An unproductive response to conflict where one brings up past conflicts, even those resolved, as a way to gain leverage in the conflict.	N. A.
Labeling	An unproductive response to conflict which occurs when you assign negative terms to the other person’s behavior, causing you to view the person through the lense of the label.
Listening	An active process where we make sense of, interpret, and respond to the messages we receive.	Leonard
Listening Style	A set of attitudes and beliefs about listening”	Floyd, 1985
Long-term versus short-term orientation Index	The positionality of a culture’s understanding of time being future-oriented or present-oriented. A culture with long-term orientation will be focused on instilling value in generational wisdom of elders, long term relationships, and persistence as a key in goal achievement. A culture with short-term time orientation focuses on short term goals, having high respect for past traditions, and creating quick and efficient results.	Encarnacion
Longevity of emotion	When an emotion to be part of a person’s mindset and way of thinking	N.A.
Lose-lose	A lose-lose outcome occurs when neither party achieves their goals or both parties are dissatisfied with the conflict outcome	Spangler, 2003
Low Self-Monitors	A low persistence of reading the emotions or mental states of others.
Low-context communication	Communication that involves more direct and explicit messages because there is a lack of shared meaning.	Reitzel
Managing our emotions	when we are feeling our emotions and we are in control of how we are reacting to them given our surroundings	Learning, n.d.
Manipulation	An unproductive conflict strategy includes one party being extremely charming and maybe even generous to help sway the conflict outcome in their direction	N. A.
Marginalized people	people that are excluded and discriminated against due to their group membership	N.A.
Mask	our presenting self that we use to conceal certain aspects of ourselves	N.A.
Mentor	a more experienced colleague who provide guidance, knowledge, and support for the purpose of the advancement of a less experienced colleague	Bauer, 1999
Message	The meaning or content one communicator is attempting to get the other to understand.	N.A.
Microaggressions	a statement or action that is made by a person with more power and privilege and delivered to a person who has less power and privilege.	Altman
Mindfulness	Being present in the moment and focusing on the communicative event you are participating in.	Leonard
Mindfulness	refers to being present in the moment, with increased awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and communication behaviors.
Monitor our emotional reactions	When we are cognitively aware of the motion we are experiencing	N.A.
Monochronic time	Values punctuality and precise calculations of time.
Muted group theory (“MGT”)	studies the differences in dominant and subdominant groups and explains how subdominant groups have less power and access than the dominant group.	Barkman, 2018
Narcissistic Listening	An ineffective listening practice that involves self-centered and self-absorbed listening in which listeners try to make the interaction about them.	McCornack, 2019
Neuroticism	a person's vulnerability to debilitative emotions such as anger, anxiety, or depression.	N.A.
Neutrality	“feeling indifferent, nothing in particular, and a lack of preference one way or the other. Note, when we use the term “indifferent,” we do not use it to indicate disliking something because that would imply a negative rather than a neutral reaction”	Gasper, Spencer & Hu, 2019
Noise	Noise refers to anything that interrupts the communication process and prevents the message getting from one communicator to the other	N.A.
Nonverbal communication	Everything that conveys meaning beyond the words themselves.	Reitzel
Nonverbal immediacy	Behaviors that decrease “real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators.”	Comadena et al., 2007
Nurturing versus Achievement Dimension	The level of cooperation or competition practiced within a culture. Nurturing based cultures are guided by concern for people and their well-being, emphasizing relationships and support. Achievement based cultures are guided by markers of success such as material gain or status, and emphasize personal responsibility and stereotypical gender roles.	Encarnacion
Obliging	An accommodating style of conflict management which consists of high concern for others and low concern for self. When we use an obliging approach to conflict, we may sacrifice our own needs for the other person	Rahim, 1983a
Oculesics	The study of nonverbal communication concerning eye behavior.
Olfactics	The study of smells and how they are perceived.
Openness to experiences	the ability to welcome new ideas, information, and even arguments that may differ from our own	N.A.
Oppression	occurs when the dominant group reinforces their power while withholding or suppressing historically marginalized groups from power	N.A.
Ought Self	The person the outside world might expect from you. This is the self one feels obligated to become to meet others’ expectations; it may also include social norms or cultural standards.	Kicenski and Leonard
Pace	How quickly a person utters words.
People-Oriented Listeners	A listening style in which a person tunes into other people’s emotions, feelings, and moods	Bodie and Worthington,2010
Perceived Self	Describes the person you believe yourself to be.	Kicenski and Leonard
Personal Rejection	An unproductive conflict response that occurs when one party in the conflict withholds love, affection, and attention from the other party in hope that the rejected party will give in.
Personality	a relatively fixed set of characteristics based on our lived experience and our genetic make-up	N.A.
Phubbing	(PHone + snUBBING) occurs when we “snub” or ignore others by giving our attention to our electronic devices
Physical Needs	are those that keep our mind and body functioning
Physiological Noise	Any physical distraction that prevents us from taking in our communication partners’ messages	N.A.
Pitch	How harmonically high or low you say something.
Polychronic time	Views the concept of time as fluid and free-flowing and can change with each situation.
Power distance	Refers to cultural beliefs about the distribution of power within the culture.	Hofstede, 2001
Power Distance Index	The level of, or distribution of, resources within a culture and the acceptance of those patterns of distribution from members of the culture. A high power distance culture emphasizes and accepts differences in status, title, hierarchy and authority. Cultures with low power distance have more equal divisions of power and do not put significance in titles, status, hierarchies, or authority.	Encarnacion
Pragmatic rules	help us use language appropriately. What is appropriate in one circumstance may not be in another.	N.A
Prejudice	“a preconceived judgment or opinion, usually based on limited information”	Tatum, 2017, p. 85
Presenting Self	The public self we perform for others which typically conforms with approved social norms	Kicenski and Leonard
Process goals	Process goals refer to our ideas about how we should communicate about and resolve conflicts	N.A.
Proxemics	The study of how space and distance influences communication.
Proximity	how we see one object in relation to what is around it. We do not just see a person; we see the person within their surroundings which affects our interpretation of that person.	Mata & Altman
Pseudo-Listening	Pretending to listen.	Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L., & Proctor, R. 2018, 204
Racism	is a systemic form of oppression using power dominance to control people based on race	N.A.
Reappraisal	the process of consciously re-evaluating the interpretations and responses to events	N.A.
Recalling	The ability to remember the information one receives	Leonard
Receiving	Taking in information using our auditory and visual senses	Leonard
Reflected Appraisal	A process of forming self in which we internalize others’ views of who we are.	Mead, 1934 Kicenski and Leonard
Regulating	Nonverbal behavior that controls the flow of communication.
Regulators	Gestures that help coordinate the flow of conversation, such as when you shrug your shoulders or wink.
Relational context	When we communicate there is a relational component involved that affects various aspects of the interaction including the message we send, the way we send it, and how the other person receives and interprets the message.	N.A.
Relational goals	Relational goals refer to our preferences in our relationships and what outcomes are important. It helps define our preferences for relationship outcomes.	N.A.
Repeating	It is a nonverbal action that mirrors the direct verbal message.
Responding	Sending verbal and nonverbal feedback to a message.	Leonard
Reverse Mentoring	Younger workers who are more adept at using social media and navigating the newer trends in technology who serve as mentors to their managers or older colleagues.	Kwoh, 2011
Romantic partners	Romantic partnerships involving at least two people (more for polyamorous relationships), who desire to share time and space, and may involve affection, sexual intimacy, mutual interests, tenderness, and caring.
Salience	the degree to which something attracts our attention in a particular context	Mata & Altman
Secret Tests	a form of communication whereby individuals use a variety of direct and indirect strategies to learn information about each other and their relationship	Baxter & Wilmot, 1984
Secure Attachment Style	Individuals who experience caregivers as consistent and attentive. Findings suggest such persons tend to develop a positive view of themselves and others.	Leonard
Selective Listening	Only paying attention to the points someone makes that are important to you, that impact you, or that you agree with.	Leonard
Self Awareness	Self focused attention or knowledge.	APA Leonard and Kicenski
Self Disclosure	Sharing personal or private information with another person that includes expression of your observations, thoughts, feelings, needs.
Self Talk	Messages you silently say to yourself as you experience everyday life. These may be positive or negative.	Kicenski and Leonard
Self-Concept	Refers to the overall idea of who a person believes themselves to be.	Leonard and Kicenski
Self-Discrepancy Theory	A theory suggesting that we use specific standards to understand our own worth—even though these standards, or “self-guides,” may not be accurate potentialities of what we can or even should become.	Kicenski and Leonard
Self-Efficacy	Refers to a person's perception about their ability to perform a task and their expectation about the outcomes their behavior will have in a challenging situation	(Bandura, 2012) Leonard and Kicenski
Self-Esteem	Refers to the judgments and evaluations we make about our self-concept	Leonard and Kicenski
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy	The phenomenon that suggests that our own expectations–and also those that others may place upon us–may shift our behaviors such that any expectation we hold may actually come to be reality.	Kicenski and Leonard (Merton, 1948)
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy	“a false definition of the situation evoking a behavior which makes the originally false conception come true”	Merton (1968)
Self-Monitoring	The ability to observe and regulate our behaviors to meet the demands or expectations of social situations.	Leonard and Kicenski
Self-Serving Bias	the tendency to interpret events in a way that assigns credit for success to oneself but denies one’s responsibility for failure, which is blamed on external factors	APA Dictionary (2021)
Semantic rules	Rules that help us with meaning. When we look a word up in the dictionary the definition provided are the semantic rules for that symbol and it can ave historical and cultural context..	N.A.
Seven “universal” facial expressions	The correlation of facial movements to specific emotions, with distinct differences in how each culture interprets and displays the emotions. These seven facial expressions include sadness, anger, disgust, fear, contempt, surprise, and happiness.	N.A.
Sexism	discrimination or prejudice based on biological sex.	N.A.
Sexting	The practice of sending and/or exchanging sexually themed images, videos, or messages on cell phones and through social media applications
Sexual Orientation	Sexual orientation refers to the sex of those to whom one is romantically attracted.	Kicenski and Leonard (APA, 2012)
Silencer	An unproductive response to conflict where one party uses a variety of behaviors to stifle conflict discussion, such as crying, yelling, and heavy breathing.	N. A.
Social Comparison	A process of judging ourselves in terms of how we compare to others which may affect identity development.	Festinger, 1954 Kicenski and Leonard
Social Intelligence	we seek understanding of someone’s language and culture in an attempt to have communication competence	N.A.
Social Needs	Humans are social creatures; we need interaction with other humans to survive and thrive, and communication is fundamental to this social engagement.	N.A.
Sociopath	“people who display anti-social behavior characterized by a lack of empathy towards others coupled with abnormal moral conduct and an inability to conform to societal norms.”	Ultius, 2015
Stereotype Threat	Internalizing negative societal stereotypes about one’s own racial, ethnic, gender, or other marginalized group.	Altman
Stereotyping	Categorizing someone primarily as a member of a group (as opposed to seeing them as an individual) and assuming that the person shares all social, cultural, and behavioral traits as all others in that group	Altman
Stonewalling	The receiver emotionally or physically withdraws from the interaction, closing themselves off from the other person, considered a form of avoidance. May be a response to criticism and contempt; includes ignoring another person’s verbal or nonverbal attempts to get our attention.	Gottman, 2014
Substituting	Nonverbal behavior that replaces verbal communication altogether.
Superior Comparison	An assessment of yourself as “better than” based upon a comparison to another person.	Kicenski and Leonard
Superiority	Anytime we condescend or act as if we are correct and the other person is damaged; a form of defensiveness	Gottman
Supervisor	supervisors are charged with managing others’ performance, including conducting performance evaluations, while also serving as an educator, sponsor, coach, counselor, and director	University of Virginia, n.d.
Symbolic Interactionism	A theory suggesting our understanding of ourselves, and indeed the world around us, is shaped by our interactions with others	Mead, 1934 Kicenski and Leonard
Symbols	An object or image that denotes or is understood to have a specific meaning. We use symbols to express thoughts and ideas in physical form.	N.A
Sympathy	the ability to understand your own experiences and emotional reactions to the environment around you and use that as a way to compare to other individuals who may be having similar emotional experiences	N.A.
Syntactic rules	are those that help us with language structure and symbol arrangement	N.A.
Tangential response	Occurs when the speaker briefly acknowledges a person’s contributions to a conversation, but then immediately changes the direction of the discussion.
Time-Oriented Listener	This listening style prefers a message that gets to the point quickly.	N.A.
Toxic Work Culture	where the workplace might include fighting, drama and unhappy employees to the point that productivity and the well-being of people in the office are affected	deBara, 2021
Transgender	An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth.	Kicenski and Leonard HRC (2022)
Uncertainty Avoidance Index	The level to which a culture expects and accepts predictability, rules, regulations, and guidelines. A culture with high uncertainty avoidance will emphasize the need for rules and regulations. These cultures will find confidence in guidelines and erring on the side of caution. A culture with low uncertainty avoidance will be more comfortable with variability, vagueness in rules or guidelines, riskiness and adventure.	Encarnacion
Uppers	Also known as ego boosters, uppers are people who communicate positively about us and who reflect positive appraisals of our self-worth.	Wood, 2017 Leonard and Kicenski
Verbal Abuse	Pattern of speaking that includes a specific intent to demean, humiliate, blame or threaten the relational partner.
Verbal Aggression	Involves attacking the self-concepts of the other party using insults, character attacks, harsh teasing, and profanity	Hocker & Wilmot, 2018
Verbal communication	In general, verbal communication refers to our use of words while nonverbal communication refers to communication that occurs through means other than words, such as body language, gestures, and silence.	N.A.
Vocalics	Refers to the vocalized but not verbal aspects of nonverbal communication, including our speaking rate, pitch, volume, tone of voice, and vocal quality. These qualities reinforce the meaning of verbal communication, allow us to emphasize particular parts of a message, or can contradict verbal messages.
Vocalics	The study of paralanguage that includes vocal qualities such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers.
Volume	The loudness (prosody) of the language being spoken.
Vultures	Individuals that are an extreme form of downer.	Wood, 2017 Leonard and Kicenski
White Lies	information is presented as slightly false
Win-lose	A win-lose outcome occurs when one party in the conflict gets what they want and the other party is left to feel they were defeated.	Spangler, 2003
Win-win	Win-win: A win-win outcome occurs when both parties in the conflict are satisfied with the outcome by having their needs met.	Spangler, 2003
Workplace Romances	Mutually desired relationships involving sexual attraction between two employees of the same organization	Pierce and Aguinis, 2001
Worldview	Our unique lens of reality	Encarnacion