Now in its sixth edition, Interpersonal Communication continues to help students learn the skills needed to communicate effectively in an increasingly complex environment, while interweaving the most current research and important theories in interpersonal communication. This edition includes greater coverage of computer-mediated communication all throughout the text, and introduces two new boxed features of high appeal: BL"Research in Review" boxes provide abstracts of recent, key studies in the field BL"Screening Room" boxes look at contemporary films and the interpersonal communication concepts they help to illustrate In addition to the updating throughout, key revisions in the text include BLChapter 3, Nonverbal Competence, updates research and reorganizes discussion of nonverbal codes into three categories-visual, auditory, and invisible. BLChapter 6, Interpretive Competence, includes exciting new research showing connections between the brain and mind, as well as the physical and the social. It also features a new discussion of emotion and motivation, a reorganized treatment of social cognitive schema, and expanded material on listening with a section on emotional intelligence. BLChapter 9, Goal Competence, has been rewritten and simplified to make explanations of general theories of influence more accessible, and includes more material on how individuals use daily conversation to influence one another. BLCompanion Website - www.oup.com/us/trenholm - includes discussion questions, test items, additional activities, and handouts previously found in the text

Each chapter ends with Skill Building and Process to Performance. Preface PART 1: INTRODUCTORY PERSPECTIVES 1. Introduction: Communication and Competence What is Communication? Definitions of Human Communication Characteristics of Communication A Model of Communicative Competence Individual Knowledge and Communicative Competence Social Context and Communicative Competence The Link Between Process and Performance Box 1.1: Bonzo Goes to College: Attempts to Teach Language to Primates Box 1.2: Insulting the Meat: An Interpersonal Communication Ritual Research in Review: Communication Competence in the Classroom Screening Room: Meet the Parents 2. Interpersonal Communication: Building Relationships What is Interpersonal Communication: The Nature of Dyads The Situational Approach to Interpersonal Communication The Developmental Approach to Interpersonal Communication The Role of Interpersonal Communication in Relationships What Is a Relationship? The Characteristics of Relationships Relational Paths: Intimacy and Distance Interpersonal Profiles: Private and Public Paths Independence vs. Conformity: A Basic Interpersonal Dilemma Building Relationships: What Does it Take to be Relationally Competent? Communication Competence and Relationships Some Characteristics of Healthy Relationships Box 2.1: The Neuroscience of Love: Why We Need Relationships Box 2.2: Mind Your Manners: Some Social Functions of Etiquette Research in Review: How Childhood Relationships Can Make Us Sick Screening Room: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind PART 2: SENDING AND RECEIVING MESSAGES 3. Nonverbal Competence What is Nonverbal Communication? Spontaneous Communication Symbolic Communication The Power of Nonverbal Codes The Functions of Nonverbal Codes Expressing Meaning Modifying Verbal Messages Regulating the Flow of Interaction The Structure of Nonverbal Codes: Visual, Auditory, and Invisible Communication Visual Communication: Proxemics, Kinesics, and Artifacts Auditory Communication Invisible Communication Balancing Nonverbal Codes: Compensating and Reciprocating Expectancy Violations Theory Cognitive Valence Theory Compensating and Reciprocating in Everyday Life The Interplay of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Box 3.1: A Nonlinear History of Handshaking Box 3.2: The "Guarded Self": How to Avoid Being Seen in Public Research in Review: Detecting Deception from Nonverbal Behavior Screening Room: Freaky Friday 4. Verbal Competence What is Language? Differences Between the Verbal and Nonverbal Codes Characteristics of the Verbal Code The Functions of Language The Structure of Language: Three Levels of Meaning Semantic meaning: Language at the Level of the Word Syntactic Meaning: Language at the Level of the Utterance Pragmatic Meaning: Language at the Level of the Speech Act Language, Power, and Politics Linguistic Determinism: The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Language, Thought, and Action: Language and Naming Group Membership and Language Use: Discourse and Identity Box 4.1: Speaking with Names: An Apache Language Ritual Box 4.2: Talking Tough in Teamsterville: Male Role Enactment in an Urban Community Research in Review: Politeness Convergence in Email Communication Screening Room: The Miracle Worker Screening Room: Spanglish 5. Relational Competence What are Relational Messages? Sending Relational Messages Relational Messages and Relational Definitions The Content of Relational Messages Sending Dominance Messages Indicating Emotional Tone Showing Similarity Defining Episodes Indicating Intimacy How Relational Messages Affect Us Confirming and Disconfirming Messages Paradoxes and Double Binds Pragmatic Patterns and Relational Sequences Looking for Meaning in Patterns Patterns vs. People: The Locus of Dyadic Communication The Problem of Punctuation Types of Patterns Box 5.1: Netiquette: Common Courtesy in CMC Box 5.2: Can You Hear Me Now? Cell-phone Etiquette Research in Review: Messages that Discourage Screening Room: Pride and Prejudice PART 3: INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES 6. Interpretive Competence: Perceiving Social Worlds and Listening to Others The Process of Perception: An Overview The Perceptual Trio: Emotion, Motivation, and Cognition The Structure of Social Cognition Types of Cognitive Structures Cognitive Schemas and Perception Four Processes in Interpersonal Perception Sizing Up Situations Sizing Up People Sizing Up Relationships Explaining Behavior: Attribution Theories Listening: Interpreting Verbal and Nonverbal Messages The Listening Process Types of Listening Effective Responding Emotional Intelligence and Listening Box 6.1: The Power of the Present: Memory, Perception, and Imagination Box 6.2: Interpretive Competence: Making Sense by Using Reflections and Interpretations Research in Review: Making Accurate Decisions in a Cockpit Crisis Screening Room: Mean Girls 7. Role Competence: Adapting to Social Expectations Being Part of the Group: Following Social Rules Social Control and Conformity Pressures The Nature of Social Roles Choosing Our Roles Social Support and Role Identity Commitment and Role Identity Rewards and Role Identity How Social Roles Affect Communication Communication as Performance Communication and Story-Telling Box 7.1: They Just Like to Be Not the Same as Us: Play Patterns and the Development of Sex role Identities Box 7.2: When is a Man a "Real Man"? Research in Review: Male Role Enactment during Comforting Screening Room: Big Fish 8. Self Competence: Establishing Individual Identities The Self in History Self Concepts: Gaining Independence from Social Roles and Rules What is the Self-Concept? Self as Narrative Self as Cognitive Schema Self as Behavioral Indicators Self as Relational Achievement Self as Internal Dialogue Individual Differences and Interpersonal Communication Communicator Style Rhetorical Sensitivity Communication Apprehension Attachment Styles Intimacy Motivation Box 8.1 The Saturated Self: Will You Still Be You Tomorrow? Box 8.2: Zen and the Art of Selflessness: "What is Your Original Face Before Your Mother and Father Were Born?" Research in Review: Blogs as Mediated Interpersonal Communication Screening Room: Big Eden 9. Goal Competence: Interpersonal Influence The Nature of Strategic Interaction What is Influence? Issues in Influence Skills for Goal Achievement Theories of Influence: Understanding Others' Needs The Need for Rewards The Need for Consistency The Need to Establish Identity Summary: Choice and Motivation Source Characteristics Power and Interpersonal Influence Self-Presentation Strategies Influence as Self-Persuasion Message Strategies Compliance-Seeking Strategies Strategies in Interaction Interpersonal Influence and Goal Competence Box 9.1: Weapons of Influence: Mental Shortcuts that Trigger Compliance Box 9.2: Caveat Emptor: Techniques of Confidence Tricksters Research in Review: Gossip as Strategic Interaction Screening Room: Paper Clips PART 4: RELATIONAL CONTEXTS 10. Family Interaction Patterns Maintaining Family Ties The Family as a System: Structure and Function Family Structures The Functions of the Family The Evolving Family: Calibrating Change The Dynamics of Change in the Family Strategies for Coping with Change Families in History Family Communication Patterns Interaction Patterns in the Family as a Whole Interaction Patterns in Family Subsystems Communicative Competence and the Family Family and Interpretive Competence Family and Role Competence Family and Goal Competence Family and Message Competence Box 10.1: A Better Place to Live: How the Built Environment Shapes Family and Community Life Box 10.2: Childhood in the l8th Century: What Shapes the Family That Shapes Us? Research in Review: Dialectics in Stepfamily Communication Screening Room: He Got Game 11. Intimate Relationships: Creating Dyadic Identities Have People Always Had Intimate Relationships? How Are Intimate Relationships Formed Today? Defining Private Bonds Friendships and Romantic Relationships Influences in Defining Intimacy The Creation of Intimate Relations Interpersonal Attraction: Opening the Door Duck's Filtering Theory of Attraction Interpersonal Magnets: Factors That Pull Us Together and Push Us Apart The Closer the Better: Revealing Self to Other Stages of Development in Friendship Stages of Development in Romantic Coupling Two Close for Comfort: Relational Maintenance and Dissolution Balancing Self-Identity and Relational Identity Relational Maintenance Behaviors Stages of Relationship Dissolution Warning Signs: Gottman's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" Communicative Competence and Intimate Relations Intimacy and Interpretive Competence Intimacy and Role Competence Intimacy and Self Competence Intimacy and Goal Competence Intimacy and Message Competence Box 11.1: Seeing Our Partners Through Rose-Colored Glasses: Long Distance Dating Relationships Box 11.2: Playing the Dating Game: A Social History of Courtship Research in Review: Trust and Self-Disclosure in Online Friendships Screening Room: High Fidelity 12. Professional Relationships: Communicating with Colleagues and Other Strangers Interpersonal Communication in Public Situations Public Realms in History Interacting in the Public Realm Today Communication in Our Communities Space and Place: Community Design and Communication Third Places: Connecting with Your Community Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace Sizing Up Organizational Cultures Making the Team Serving the Customer Drawing the Line on Relationships Managing the Office Romance Deciphering the Boundaries Between Home, Work, and Community Communicative Competence and Professional relationships Professional Relationships and Interpretive Competence Professional Relationships and Role Competence Professional Relationships and Self Competence Professional Relationships and Goal Competence Professional Relationships and Message Competence Box 12.1: The Conversational Organization Box 12.1: "Sorry, I'm Not apologizing": Conversational rituals Between Women and Men at Work Research in Review: Lessons from 'The Apprentice' Screening Room: Barbershop Screening Room: Office Space 13. Cultural and Historical Influences: Communication Competence in Context Cultural Influences How Cultures Differ American Cultural Patterns Ethnic, Regional, and Class Differences Communicating Across Culture Barriers to Intercultural Understanding Communicative Competence and Culture Culture and Interpretive Competence Culture and Role Competence Culture and Goal Competence Culture and Self Competence Culture and Message Competence Historical Influences The Colonial Period (1600-1780) The Early Industrial Period (1830-1880) The Modern Period (1900-1960) Communicative Competence and Historical Change History and Interpretive Competence History and Role Competence History and Goal Competence History and Self Competence History and Message Competence Box 13.1: When East Meets West: Hidden Differences in Corporate communication Styles Box 13.2: If You Can't Stand the Shame, Don't Play the Game: Playing the Dozens as a Conflict-Reducing Ritual Research in Review: Perceptions of Minority Invisibility Screening Room: ANTZ Screening Room: Crash Index

Sarah TrenholmProfessor of Communication, Ithaca College, Arthur JensenAssociate Professor of Speech Communication and Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University