TRANSMISSION
PREVIEW
The
effectiveness of your outputting behavior depends on more than
the worth of what you have to say. Indeed, you may have creative
and worthwhile ideas, but unless what you say is supported and
worded properly, your message may have little effect on other
transceivers. Others may respond with a shrug of the shoulders
that indicates they fail to understand or believe what you are
saying.
The
effectiveness of your speaking depends not only on what you say
but also on how you say it. Your nonverbal behavior can affect
how other transceivers will respond to your message in a number
of important ways.
Achieving
the objectives of this unit not only will be of indispensable
value in presenting public discussions and public speeches but
also will be valuable in your everyday encounters with individuals
who do not understand or believe your assertions. First we will
the verbal aspects of your transmission. Then we will concentrate
on the nonverbal aspects of your transmission.
By
the end of this unit, you should be able to
Construct
an example of each form of support for assertions.
State the
principles of wording a message.
Describe
the effectiveness of your nonverbal outputting behavior, and
construct a program to improve any areas of weakness you detect.
FORMS OF
SUPPORT
The
verbal component of any message you construct will consist of
assertions with appropriate supporting materials. Any statement
that you make is an assertion. If others listen and respond to
an assertion with complete understanding and agreement, that assertion
needs no further support. However, in a public communication
situation some people in your audience will react to many of your
assertions by either saying or thinking: "I don't understand
what you mean" or "I don't agree with your statement."
To overcome this lack of understanding and acceptance you need
to support assertions.
We
will discuss eight different types of supporting materials. These
are (1) illustrations, (2) specific instances, (3) testimony,
(4) statistics, (5) analogies, (6) explanation, (7) restatement,
and (8) visual aids. Supporting materials can be used to clarify
(increase audience understanding of an assertion) and/or to verify
(increase audience acceptance of the assertion). Let us look at
each of these types of supporting material in order to get a better
grasp of what they are and how they can be used most effectively
to support an assertion.
Illustrations
An
illustration supports an assertion by telling a story that answers
the questions "Who was involved?" "What happened?"
"When did the event occur?" "Where did it occur?"
and "Why did the event take place?" In addition the
illustration should include sufficient detail to allow the audience
to visualize the event.
Illustrations
may be divided into factual illustrations and hypothetical illustrations.
Factual illustrations may be used to clarify and to verify. Hypothetical
illustrations are most useful in clarifying assertions and are
rarely appropriate for verifying assertions. Each of these kinds
of illustrations must meet certain criteria to be effective in
supporting assertions.
When
you use a factual illustration to support an assertion, the example
must meet three criteria in order to be effective. The first of
these criteria is that the illustration should be pointed. This
means that your example should directly illustrate the assertion.
If you assert that racial discrimination exists on your campus,
then your factual illustration should deal with an actual case
of racial discrimination that has occurred on your campus. If
instead of using such an example you told your audience about
an example of racial discrimination in the hiring practices of
local downtown merchants, then your factual illustration would
not have been pointed.
Let
us go to the second criterion for an effective factual illustration.
The illustration should be representative. A student asserted
in a speech that American-made automobiles are uneconomical.
He supported this assertion with a story about the expensiveness
of his father's 1990 Cadillac Eldorado. Obviously his illustration
was ineffective because it was not representative of most of the
possible illustrations related to the economic characteristics
of American-made automobiles.
The
third critical criterion that an effective factual illustration
must meet is the illustration should be vivid imagery. By vividness
we mean that the audience is able to imagine actually seeing,
tasting, smelling, feeling, and hearing the event as it occurs.
To make an illustration vivid, sufficient detail must be included
so that the audience can actually "experience" the event.
Notice
the detail and thus the vividness of this factual illustration
from a student's speech. She makes the point that we process
information in terms of our unique experience.
Our own
experiences really do limit the number of possibilities we can
see in a situation. This was brought home to me in the case
of my father's recent illness. Starting around Christmas time
this past year, Daddy began suffering intense headaches. His
first assumption was that his sinus condition was acting up.
But the pain did not respond to his sinus medication. His neck
started aching too--headache plus neck ache must equal that
new personal computer that was just installed in his office.
But new glasses, even trifocals, and a change in keyboard position
didn't help.
In February
he still had the pain, and now he had started sleeping an inordinate
amount, some times fifteen hours a day if not roused. Whenever
he sat down, he fell asleep; however, lying in a prone position
did help the headache. Yet when he awoke he was never rested.
Everything, even the simplest task, became almost more effort
than he was capable of. Perhaps a change of pace, getting away
from the office, would help. We all looked forward to March
and spring break, but the drive to and from Galveston became
an agony. All of the symptoms he felt he had felt before in
varying degrees, but this time they didn't respond to any of
the usual remedies.
In late
March a magnetic imagining test revealed that he had no tumor,
as we had begun to fear. Fluid had accumulated in the cranium--a
condition very rare in a man of his age and life style. Surgery
in early April drained the fluid, relieved the pressure, and
restored Daddy's energy level. Why did it take so long to find
the problem? He was blinded by his former experiences: ailments
he had had before--sinus trouble, eye strain, arthritis. He
had had friends with tumors, so he was worried about cancer.
But no one in his acquaintance had ever had a fluid buildup.
It was a possibility that never occurred to him because it was
completely out of his experience.
Let
us now discuss the hypothetical illustration. The hypothetical
illustration is created by the speaker to clarify an assertion.
As such, it has not actually occurred. However, even the hypothetical
illustration must meet certain criteria. First, it must be pointed
or relevant to the assertion it supports. Second, the hypothetical
illustration must be realistic. This means that it must seem
as though the event described could actually have happened. Of
course, you should not mislead your audience into believing the
event actually did occur. But if the hypothetical illustration
is completely incredible, your audience will not be able to place
itself into the event you are describing. The final criterion
the hypothetical illustration should meet is that it should be
vivid. The criterion is the same as the vividness criterion for
factual illustrations.
Specific Instances
Specific
instances are examples that lack detail. The chief advantage
the specific instance has over the illustration is that it takes
less time to present. However, because it does not help the
receiver to place him/herself in the situation, the specific instance
does not clarify an assertion as well as the illustration unless
the instance is well known to the audience. Specific instances
are especially useful in verifying an assertion because a number
of specific instances can be presented in the same amount of time
that one illustration is presented. Look at the way one student
used specific instances to support the assertion that the ecology
movement had resulted in a waste of our energy resources:
There are
many examples of ecological positions which have later resulted
in energy shortages. The drive to reduce air pollution caused
by automobiles greatly increased the amount of gasoline used
while available supply shrank. The drive to stop offshore oil
drilling was at odds with the need to increase petroleum supplies.
The campaign to stop the laying of the Alaskan pipeline served
to slow down the development of a great potential source of
petroleum. Finally, the campaign against the construction of
polluting electrical power plants further jeopardized efforts
to create sufficient energy resources.
Peter MacDonald, Chairman of the Navajo Nation, used
specific instances to support his assertion that American Indians
should receive veterans benefits.
We are,
after all, not only American Indians but Indian Americans.
Sixteen-thousand Navajos are veterans of our wars. When America
needed a secret code to shorten the Second World War, we offered
our language. On the sands of Iwo Jima, and in the forests
of Germany and the jungles of Viet Nam, we gave our lives.
Fifty percent of our Navajo families are families of veterans.
But we have no veterans benefits--no health care, no housing
loans, no educational assistance.*
*Peter
MacDonald, "The Navajo Nation: A New Spring," Vital
Speeches of the Day, LIII (March 15, 1987), 342-344.
The
use of specific instances will be effective to the extent that
the following criteria are
1. The
specific instances are pointed; that is, they are relevant to
the assertion they support.
2. The
specific instances used are representative of all the possible
instances which could have been used.
3. The
specific instances are numerically sufficient; that is, enough
instances are cited to give the audience the impression that
the phenomenon occurring in the instances is widespread.
You will notice that the excerpts from the student's
speech and Peter MacDonald's speech meet these criteria.
Testimony
The
use of testimony to support an assertion involves a verbatim (word-for-word)
quotation or paraphrase of another person's statements. John
Campbell, President of Oklahoma State University, describes the
characteristics of a scholar by using both a word-for-word quotation
and a paraphrase from a famous American thinker.
Noted essayist
Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks of the powerful creative energy that
may be tapped in each thinking individual, which in turn advances
the causes of humankind. In this famous essay, "The American
Scholar," Emerson eloquently describes the self-imposed
challenge which broadens, enobles, and enriches its adherents:
"The scholar is that man who must take up into himself
all the ability of time, all the contributions of the past,
all the hopes of the future. He must be a university of knowledges."*
*John
R. Campbell, "In Quest of Excellence . . . Commitments and
Strategies for the Second Century." Inaugural Address presented
at Stillwater, Oklahoma. April 13, 1989.
Testimony
may be used both to clarify and verify. When you use testimony,
the following criteria for effectiveness should be met:
1. The
testimony should be well-documented.
2. The
testimony should be pointed.
3. The
testimony should be simple and easy to understand.
4. The
testimony should be from a relatively unbiased authority.
Let us look at a student's use of testimony to support
the assertion that the best way to get world peace is to have
a strong military.
The notion
that detente and military strength are incompatible is basically
false. General A. J. Goodpaster, Supreme Allied Commander in
Europe, made this point in a speech at the Washington Institute
of Foreign Affairs, in Washington, DC, September 16, 1973, when
he stated:
"While
[the Soviet leaders] are talking of detente and of negotiation,
they are also maintaining and even building up their forces.
But this sort of policy is very difficult for our democracies.
Our people like to think that peace is the natural condition
of man, that armies are temporary nuisances, and that conflicts
of interest can be solved by a simple policy of goodwill. Since
this is a period of detente, an 'era of negotiation,' forces
can be reduced. But we must learn, and our people must learn,
that in order to achieve a meaningful and enduring relaxation
of tensions, we must maintain our capability for defense. Detente
without defense is a delusion--and an especially dangerous delusion
at that."*
*General
A. J. Goodpaster, "Detente and NATO," Vital Speeches
of the Day, XXXX(October 15, 1973), 26. Reprinted by permission
of Vital Speeches of the Day.
Compare
the student's use of testimony with the criteria for effective
use of testimony. You should find that the student's use of testimony
meets all of the criteria with one possible exception. That exception
is the criterion that the authority quoted should be relatively
unbiased. General Goodpaster's position in the military might
distort his view of what the best course of action is in regard to building and maintaining military power.
If
the person we are quoting is not familiar to our audience, we
must establish source credibility. This is done by briefly identifying
the person in a way that indicates his or her expertise. Notice
in this example that the student identified General Goodpaster
by his position as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Also,
John Campbell identified Ralph Waldo Emerson as a noted essayist.
Furthermore, we identified John Campbell; he is the president
of a university.
Statistics
Statistics
are useful in verifying an assertion. They verify an assertion
by showing how many instances support an assertion. For example,
if we asserted that a lot of college students earn a lot of money
during summer vacation, statistics could be used to verify this
statement. The statistics would answer some or all of the following
questions: How many students earn a lot of money during the summer?
What proportion of college students earn a lot of money during
the summer? How many students earn more than $500 during the
summer? More than $2000? More than $5000?
Statistics will be effective most often when they meet
the following criteria:
1. They
should be relevant to the assertion they are to support.
2. They
should be clear and understandable to the audience.
3. They
should be vivid or striking or interesting to the audience;
that is, do not use statistics with which your audience is
already familiar; do not us so many statistics that your audience
becomes bored.
4. They
should be documented; that is, you should tell the audience
who compiled them, how they were compiled, and/or when they
were compile.
Take
a look at the way George McGovern used statistics in a speech
he made in the United States Senate on February 15, 1972. Senator
McGovern was supporting the assertion that drug abuse is a serious
problem in the United States that necessitates federal programs:
All statistics
on narcotics are questionable; but best current estimates--and
they are admittedly understated--put the American drug addict
population at about 350,000 persons. In New York City that may
mean as many as 100,000 people. In one District of Columbia
neighborhood it translates into a constant heroin craving for
one in three meals between the ages of 15 and 24.
A heroin
addict with a $35 daily habit, and that is probably well below
the average, must somehow come up with that amount of cash each
day, every day of his life. In 98 percent of the cases he steals
to pay the pusher, but because of high cost of fencing stolen
goods he must steal as much as five times the value of his habit
every day. On an annual basis he must steal nearly $64,000
worth of property. Country-wide--using low estimates on both
the number of addicts and the cost of their habits--that translates
into about $4.4 billion in crime.*
*George
McGovern, "Toward an End to Drug Abuse," Vital Speeches
of the Day, XXXVIII(March 15, 1972), 323-324. Reprinted by permission
of Vital Speeches of the Day.
Evaluate
McGovern's use of statistics using the four criteria listed above.
Which of the four criteria has he met and which has he failed
to meet? If you said McGovern met the first three criteria and
failed to meet the last, chances are you have a good idea as to
how statistics should be used.
How would you evaluate a student's use of statistics
supporting the assertion that Americans are eating more healthfully?
The nation's
eating habits are changing. According to the 1989 Statistical
Abstract of the United States, the consumption of fresh fruit
has risen 30% since 1970. For example, in 1970, each person
consumed 17.4 pounds of bananas; in 1987 we each consumed 24.9
pounds, an increase of 43%. We are also eating more apples.
In 1970 we ate 16.2 pounds per capita annually; in 1987, the
figure rose to 20.3 pounds. Apple consumption is up 25%.
Analogy
An analogy is a comparison between two objects or events.
This comparison helps the audience to understand or believe something
about one of the events or objects based on its similarity to
the other event or object.
As a former Dean of Agriculture, a university president
could make the following comparison with conviction.
In scholarship,
as in farming, the most fertile soil may be found under the
fences, rather than at the center of long established fields.
For this reason, interdisciplinary research teams are emerging
as the keys to finding solutions for tomorrow's problems.*
This analogy helped support the point that innovations
that break new ground are a high priority at the university.
*John
R. Campbell, "In Quest of Excellence . . . Commitments and
Strategies for the Second Century." Inaugural Address presented
at Stillwater, Oklahoma. April 13, 1989.
Analogies
are often used to clarify an assertion. When analogies are used
to clarify, they should be both clear and vivid to your audience.
One additional criterion analogies should meet is that the events
or objects being compared should be similar in all important respects.
The
criterion of similarity is applied more rigorously when the analogy
is being used to verify than it is when the analogy is being used
to clarify an assertion. In using an analogy to clarify, we may
compare two objects or events that are really quite dissimilar
but have similar characteristics. An example of this kind of
analogy is provided in Victor Hugo's statement: "Greater
than the tread of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come."
Also, Richard Voell used this kind of analogy to clarify the assertion
that U.S. business has not lived up to the predictions made for
it thirty years ago.
But today,
we not only don't dominate, we're getting our tail kicked by
nations one-tenth our size. In fact, we're a lot like Gulliver
when he was tied down by Lilliputians in Swift's Gulliver's
Travels. We're still bigger and more powerful than our adversaries,
but we can't seem to move or exercise our power. Our international
competitors, many of them small and weak compared to us, are
walking away with our technology, our jobs and our markets.*
*Richard A. Voell, "Unbinding Gulliver,"
Vital Speeches of the Day, LIII (August 15, 1987), 661-665.
When
an analogy is used to verify an assertion, greater care must be
taken to compare two objects or events that are very similar.
Thus, if we wanted to support the assertion that a new method
of study is effective in terms of grades received, we would need
to compare the effectiveness of the new method of study with the
effectiveness of another method of study. But to meet the similarity
criterion our analogy would have to go further and show that such
things as the following were similar in both situations: (1) the
amount of time spent using each method; (2) the difficulty of
the material studied with each method; (3) the difficulty of the
exam given to people who had studied with each method; and (4)
the intelligence of the people using each of the methods of study.
In general, we can say that the analogy is a relatively weak method
of verifying an assertion because so many conditions may vary
between the two objects or events being compared.
Consider
the use of analogy in the following situation. Samuel Lefrak posed
this question: What can a present-day President learn from President
Roosevelt's failure to prepare Pearl Harbor against sneak attack?
He answered:
The lesson
of Pearl Harbor is clear: Know your weakness and strengthen
it. The most critical weakness of America today is not in Saigon,
Peking, or Moscow. Our weakness is in the heart of every major
American city. It is all around us here in Brooklyn; slums
and deterioration . . . the American ghetto! In the heart of
Brooklyn there is Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville-East New
York, more battered than Pearl Harbor . . . looks more like
Berlin or Hiroshima after World War II.**
**Samuel
Lefrak, "Aerospace and the Housing Industries," Vital
Speeches of the Day, XXXVIII(February 15, 1972), 274. Reprinted
by permission of Vital Speeches of the Day.
Decide whether the comparison is being used to clarify
or verify, and evaluate its effectiveness according to the criteria
we have discussed.
Explanation
Explanation
is a simple, concise definition of an object, event, or concept.
This definition is accomplished by (1) showing the relationship
between the object, event, or concept and its component parts,
or (2) describing the object, event, or concept in terms the audience
can understand more easily than the terms normally used to refer
to the object, event, or concept.
An example of the first type of definition is John
H. Stura's explanation of insider trading.
What is
"insider trading"? "Insider trading" refers
to the buying or selling of securities by someone who has obtained
nonpublic information that is likely to be important to a reasonable
investor and who uses that information in breach of an obligation
of trust or confidence.*
*John H. Stura, "Illegal Insider Trading,"
Vital Speeches of the Day, LIII (April 15, 1987), 404-409.
An example of the second type of definition can be
found in Richard Voell's attempt to help his audience understand
what a trillion dollars is.
How much
is a trillion? If you put one trillion dollar bills end to
end, they would stretch 1000 million miles. That's enough to
go from the Earth to the Sun with 3.8 million miles, or $38
billion, to spare.**
**Richard A. Voell, "Unbinding Gulliver,"
Vital Speeches of the Day, LIII (August 15, 1987), 661-665
Explanation is most useful in clarifying an assertion.
Explanation helps to clarify assertions when the following criteria
are met:
1. The
explanation should be as clear and vivid as possible.
2. The
explanation should be as brief as possible.
The
first of these criteria is especially important because explanations
have a tendency to be uninteresting to audiences. In the light
of this fact it is important to keep the number of explanations
you use in your presentation as small as possible. The following
excerpt from a speech on the future of the small farm illustrates
effective use of explanation. Note especially its clarity and
brevity.
Let me also
indicate what I mean by the family farm. I mean a farm on which
the majority of the labor and the management decisions are made
by the operator and his family. It might be a small unit with
a low income or it might be a large one with a gross income
of $100,000.***
***Don
Paarlberg, "Future of the Family Farm," Vital Speeches
of the Day, XXXVIII (February 1, 1972), 235. Reprinted by permission
of Vital Speeches of the Day.
Restatement
Restatement
consists of saying something you have already said. Often it
is expressed in different words. Restatement can best be used
to clarify an assertion, since the assertion may be placed in
more familiar or more vivid language. Furthermore, restatement
of an assertion helps the audience to remember that assertion.
In
a technical sense, restatement does not help to verify an assertion,
but repetition of an assertion often brings about greater acceptance
of the assertion by the audience. Phrases such as "Guns
don't kill people; people kill people," "You've come
a long way, baby," and "Be all that you can be in the
Army" seem to gain much of their persuasive impact from the
fact that they are often repeated.
In
essence, restatement should meet the following criteria:
1. The
restated assertion should be important enough to warrant specific
attention by the audience.
2. The
restatement should be clear and vivid.
Peter MacDonald, in his speech to the Navajo Nation
used restatement to stress the notion of oneness of family.
I am talking
about how we can help each other: that is the Navajo way.
The most efficient economic system ever created is the family.
And the Navajo family, the extended Navajo family, the clans
has strength greater than the nuclear family.
The Navajo Nation itself is the greatest family of
all. We are bound together by blood and by history, by geography
and by culture, by sovereignty and by tradition.
--are we not all one people?
--are we not all one family?
--are we not all one nation?
That unity
gives us strength; we must find ways to tap that strength.
We can do it if we build on the family and if we mobilize our
own resources to address our problems.*
*Peter
MacDonald, "The Navajo Nation: A New Spring," Vital
Speeches of the Day, LIII (March 15, 1987), 342-344.
Visual Aids
Although
visual aids may at times be completely nonverbal, we will consider
them along with the forms of verbal support. We will do this
because visual aids usually do include some words and thus are
at least partially verbal. Furthermore, effective visual aids
help to clarify and/or verify assertions. Several types of visual
aids are available, but common principles govern their use.
TYPES OF VISUAL AIDS
Some
of the more popular kinds of visual aids are (1) actual objects,
(2) models of objects, (3) charts and pictures, (4) overhead projections
and slides, (5) videotapes and movies, and (6) flipcharts and
chalkboards. Each can be helpful, but each has its limitations.
Often
actual objects bring a sense of reality to presentations that
is difficult to gain in other ways. But if an actual object is
small enough for a speaker to bring before an audience, it is
probably too small to use for large audiences. Objects are useful
only if they can be seen. Generally, actual objects are most
appropriate for small gatherings. Models are used generally when
the actual object is too large or too small to display as a visual
aid.
Charts
and pictures are used commonly. They can have high attention
or interest value. They range from drawings of diagrams, bar
graphs, pie graphs, and maps to actual photographs that have been
enlarged so all audience members can see them.
Overhead
projections and slides are very popular in the business community
and at professional conferences. They can help keep a presentation
orderly and well organized. However, a speaker needs to learn
to operate these devices in an effective way if they are to help
a presentation. The same can be said for videotapes and movies.
In addition, a videotape or film can take over and dominate a
presentation rather than aid the presentation.
Flipcharts
with large sheets of paper that can be flipped over when a speaker
is finished talking about something she has written are useful.
Flipcharts can be helpful if the audience is expected to take
notes during the presentations. However, the speaker must write
legibly and maintain eye contact with the audience rather than
the visual aid. This takes practice. The same is true for chalkboards.
In addition, the speaker needs to erase material once he has moved
on to a new point. The audience may continue to give attention
to the board when it should be concentrating on the speaker.
USING VISUAL AIDS
In
order to use visual aids effectively the following principle should
be followed: visual aids should help to transmit the message
and not detract from it. Visual aids help to transmit messages
by clarifying assertions that are either difficult to remember
or difficult to comprehend. Visual aids also help to prove assertions
by strengthening the impact of evidence and reasoning. Remember
that good visual aids are just what the name says they are: they
must be visual (seen) and aid the presentation. Let us examine
both of these requirements.
The
object or image that is displayed must be visual. First, the
object must be large enough so that it can be seen by all members
of the audience. Second, it must not be too complex. Too much
visual information distracts from what the speaker is saying.
Also, if the visual aid is too complex, the material on it will
be too small to be seen by everyone, or the visual aid itself
will be so large that it will be unwieldy to use. Third, even
if the visual aid is large enough to be seen and simple enough
to be comprehended, still it must be positioned properly. A visual
aid blocked by the speaker, the podium, or members of the audience
is ineffective. To be effective a visual aid must be seen.
The
object or image must aid the presentation. First, it must be
relevant to the understanding or acceptance of some assertion.
If the visual aid does not really fit what the speaker is saying,
the visual material may compete with the speaker and cause a distraction.
Second, the visual aid must not be disruptive. If a visual aid
is displayed before the speaker talks about it or is left in view
after she is finished talking about it, audience attention is
likely to be drawn from the speaker. By the same token, objects
that are passed around the in the audience during a presentation
are not aids, they are disruptions.
Third,
a visual aid that does not work properly will not aid a presentation.
An overhead projector that will not function, a poster that will
not stand erect, a piece of equipment that will not operate distract
the audience and frustrate the speaker. A speaker must practice
using the visual aid, anticipate problems that may occur, and
make contingency plans. To be effective a visual aid must help,
not hinder, a presentation.
WORDING
You
may have well-supported ideas arranged in a reasonable manner
and still be ineffective in your verbal outputting. To be effective
you must word the message so that it is clear, psychologically
valid, and appropriate.
Clarity
Your message tends to be clear when the words you use
are specific rather than abstract and when ideas are separated
from each other through the use of transitions.
The
message we send is clear when the receiver's mental picture of
an event is similar to the mental picture we had when we sent
the message. Use of specific words rather than more general or
abstract words helps to ensure that both transceivers have similar
mental pictures.
For
example, if you say, "He was driving for some time at a high
speed," your receivers will interpret the terms differently.
Depending on his experiences, a receiver may interpret "high
speed" anywhere from 70 mph on up; "for some time"
may range from a few minutes to days. If you are more specific
and say, "He was driving between 85 and 90 mph for a little
over an hour," your receivers are more likely to evoke a
mental picture similar to yours.
In
achieving clarity, a technique that is often valuable is to compare
an object, concept, or event with a more familiar object, concept,
or event. For example, we might describe a dik dik by saying
it looks very much like a miniature deer. (This is a case of
the analogy used for clarification; see "Analogy" in
this unit.)
We
also help receivers understand our message by using transitions
to separate one idea from another. In writing we use paragraphs
and centered headings to indicate that we are moving from one
idea to the next. Such devices are not available to us in speaking.
Rather we use both verbal and nonverbal transitions. Nonverbal
transitions will be dealt with in Unit 11.
Verbal
transitions include such phrases as "Let us move to the second
reason," "Another point that must be made in this regard
is . . . ," and single words such as "therefore,"
"secondly," "moreover," "furthermore,"
etc. You should practice using verbal transitions as bridges
between ideas.
Psychological Validity
Like
clarity, psychological validity relates to what is evoked when
words are used. But where clarity refers to the similarity of
the mental images created by transceivers, psychological validity
refers to the feelings, mood, tone, or emotions evoked when words
are used. Not only is it important for a receiver to come up
with a clear image of what the speaker has in mind, it is important
for the receiver to experience the feelings the speaker associates
with the subject under consideration.
The
use of imagery is a primary way of achieving psychological validity.
Imagery may be any one of the following types: visual, auditory,
tactile, gustatory, olfactory, organic, or kinesthetic.
Visual
imagery refers to anything that can be sensed through the eyes.
To help others visualize concepts, objects, or events, we describe
them in concrete terms related to shape, size, movement, color,
etc. The speaker who personifies death as "that tall, bright
angel" conveys a much different feeling about death than
the speaker who describes death as a "stooped, satanic ogre
who steals his prey under the cloak of darkness." A college
president painted a similar picture of "mediocrity":
"Mediocrity constantly prowls the borders of excellence,
waiting for commitment to high goals and standards to falter."*
*John
R. Campbell, "In Quest of Excellence . . . Commitments and
Strategies for the Second Century." Inaugural Address presented
at Stillwater, Oklahoma. April 13, 1989.
Auditory
imagery is created by describing what we heard in a given situation.
Often we indicate the pitch, loudness, and/or intensity of auditory
stimuli. The speaker who says "It was a quiet night"
creates a mood different from the mood created by the speaker
who says "The only sound I could hear was the pounding of
my own heart and the quick gasps of my own breath."
Tactile
imagery can be created by describing something that comes in physical
contact with the body. Items that may be included in describing
how something feels include texture, shape, weight, density, and
temperature. Compare, for instance, "His handshake was unenthusiastic"
with "Shaking hands with him was like grasping a handful
of unrefrigerated Jello."
Gustatory
imagery refers to the way something tastes. We may say something
is sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or spicy. Another way we describe
the taste of things is by comparing them with more familiar items.
When a speaker reports that the dessert was too sweet, she creates
a feeling that differs from the one evoked by, "The dessert
seemed to have honey piled on sugar and sugar heaped upon chocolate
frosting."
Olfactory
imagery is created by appealing to the sense of smell. Here again
the comparison with more familiar odors is one of the chief means
of describing olfactory stimuli. Consider the mood created by
referring to the smells of hot buttered toast, the yeasty aroma
of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, and the aromatic fragrance of freshly
brewed coffee.
Organic
imagery refers to internal sensations experienced by individuals
such as dizziness, nausea, feelings of well-being, etc. When
a speaker reports that everything in his head reeled round and
round as he looked down from the skyscraper, he is using organic
imagery.
Kinesthetic
imagery deals with the sensation of muscle movement and strain.
A speaker who described a fight in the following manner created
within his audience the tension he had felt.
As the two
men squared off, each seemed tense and rigid. Each of them circled
cautiously to the left. Suddenly, there was a flashing of arms
as each flailed at the other. A final right to the jaw sent
one of them reeling. As he lay on the ground he made one last
feeble effort to get up, but he could not. He fell to the ground.
The winner stood straighter and relaxed.
Appropriateness
To be effective, your word choice must also be appropriate
to your subject and purpose, the other transceivers in the communicative
encounter, and the particular occasion.
When perfecting the wording of a presentation, you
want to word your message in a way that is consistent with its
purpose. For instance, a statement like "We must immediately
withdraw our financial support from the United Nations" would
not be an appropriate central statement for a speech to inform
on the merits of the UN.
In
terms of choosing words appropriate to the other transceivers
in the communicative encounter, you will need to rely on your
transceiver analysis profile (see Unit 6). Of particular importance
is the knowledge level of the other transceivers. You want to
avoid using terms unfamiliar to the other transceivers without
providing sufficient explanation of terms. At the same time you
want to avoid using such simple terms that you insult the audience's
intelligence.
Finally
in selecting appropriate words for your message you need to consider
the occasion. Words appropriate at a sporting event may not be
appropriate at a commencement ceremony held in precisely the same
physical location with many of the same transceivers present,
even if the individuals are discussing school spirit in both cases.
In general, more formal occasions demand more formal language.
NONVERBAL
OUTPUTTING
Principles
of Nonverbal Outputting in Public Communication
Three
general principles of nonverbal behavior were presented in Unit
2. These principles are as relevant to the public communication
encounter as they are to the interpersonal communication encounter.
In public communication, however, there are two additional principles
of nonverbal communication to consider. We will discuss all five
principles relevant to public communication.
PRINCIPLE
ONE: WE CANNOT NOT COMMUNICATE.
Although
we would expect few public communicators to want to avoid communication,
this principle is relevant for the public communicator. The public
speaker or discussant should realize that many nonverbal cues
communicate unintentional messages to the audience. The manner
in which he walks to the speaker's stand, the way he listens to
other speakers, and the way he dresses are just a few examples
of nonverbal cues that may become unintended messages. Careful
attention should be paid to these nonverbal cues.
PRINCIPLE
TWO: NONVERBAL CUES COMMUNICATE FEELINGS AND ATTITUDES MOST EFFECTIVELY.
The
feeling tone of a message in a public communication situation
is set through both the words used and through nonverbal outputting.
Albert Mehrabian has estimated that 7 per cent of the total feeling
impact of a message stems from the words used, 38 per cent from
vocal cues, and 55 per cent from facial expression.* Unfortunately
Mehrabian's studies did not involve cues of the body other than
facial expression. We would expect that gestures as well as bodily
movement would play a large role in communicating the speaker's
feelings.
*Silent
Messages (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1971),
43.
PRINCIPLE
THREE: NONVERBAL MESSAGES ARE THOUGHT TO HAVE HIGH VALIDITY.
This
principle has many specific applications for the public communication
situation. Your audience is unlikely to believe that your are
interested in and enthusiastic about your subject if you slouch
over the speaker's stand and look sleepy. Also, your audience
is unlikely to believe that your are happy to have the opportunity
to speak to them if your facial expression conveys sullenness
and disgust. Finally your audience is unlikely to believe you
are confident in your proposal if your manner indicates that you
are ill at ease and lack confidence.
PRINCIPLE
FOUR: NONVERBAL CUES ARE THE CHIEF MEANS OF EMPHASIZING IDEAS.
Ideas
in a speech or public discussion presentation can be emphasized
either through vocal variety or through movement. When you change
your rate, pitch, or loudness, whatever you say is emphasized.
If you are speaking rather quietly and then change to speaking
more loudly, the words uttered in the louder voice will be given
more importance by your receivers. Conversely, a change to a
quieter delivery from a louder delivery will emphasize the words
spoken in the quieter voice. Similar effects can be achieved
by changing from a low pitch to a high pitch, from a high pitch
to a low pitch, from a rapid rate to a slow rate of speaking,
and from a slow rate to a rapid rate of speaking. Pauses may
also be used to achieve emphasis. Pauses tend to emphasize the
point made immediately after pausing.
Emphasis
can also be achieved through gesturing and movements of the body.
In the case of gesturing, the ideas being expressed at the time
the gesture is made are given emphasis. Movement from one position
to another results in emphasizing the statements made immediately
after moving. Such movements of the body are often used to indicate
that a new subdivision of the message is beginning.
There
are two extremes to avoid in emphasis. The first extreme is
underemphasis. Some individuals with little or no public communication
experience have a tendency to underemphasize the important points
of their presentation. The second extreme is overemphasis. If
you continually emphasize what you are saying, you are not allowing
the really important point to stand out.
PRINCIPLE
FIVE: NONVERBAL CUES THAT SIMULATE GOOD CONVERSATION RESULT IN
THE MOST FAVORABLE AUDIENCE RESPONSES.
Most
audiences do not like to feel as though they are being preached
to or as though the speaker is trying to display the eloquence
of her voice. For this reason many people urge the public speaker
or the participant in a public discussion to just be natural like
the person is in most conversations. To a point this is good
advice. The speaker should appear relaxed and comfortable. The
speaker should also speak so that she can be easily heard and
yet not be overpowering. However, the point that should be made
is that the speaker's nonverbal cues must simulate conversation
at its best.
Many
minor faults that can be tolerated in informal conversation or
even in a structured interview or private discussion become quite
distracting in public discussion or public speaking. Inadequate
loudness, too rapid a rate of speaking, poor articulation and
pronunciation of words are just a few of these problems of nonverbal
outputting that are much more serious when others have less opportunity
to ask questions of clarification In addition, other transceivers
in an informal conversation may know you well enough to know that
you are concerned and interested despite an overly casual posture.
However, audience members may assume poor posture reflects an
attitude of disinterest.
Vocal
Cue
For
the purpose of this discussion we will divide vocal cues or paralanguage
into the following categories: rate, pitch, loudness, quality,
pronunciation, and fluency.
RATE
Rate
refers to the speed with which you speak. Rate varies according
to such factors as your emotional state, the occasion, and the
amount of time you have to transmit your message. Possible problems
with your rate of speech are that you may talk too rapidly, you
may talk too slowly, or you may lack sufficient variety in your
rate of speaking. Too rapid a rate of speaking may make it impossible
for your audience to comprehend your message. A rate of speaking
that is too slow may cause your audience to quit paying attention
because of boredom or impatience. A lack of variety in rate of
speaking can also cause your audience to become bored.
Your
rate of speaking is also determined by the number and length of
pauses you use. We already have mentioned that pauses can be
used to emphasize either the idea immediately before the pause
or the idea immediately following the pause. In using pauses
you should be careful to avoid filling pauses with meaningless
vocalizations such as "ah," "er," and "uhm."
Some words are also used as vocalized pauses. Three terms most
frequently used as vocalized pauses are "well," "you
know," and "okay." To rid yourself of vocalized
pauses you must become aware of your use of them. To become aware
of your vocalized pauses, ask a small group of friends to signal
you each time they hear you using the vocalized pause. Once you
become aware of your use of vocalized pauses you will be able
to eliminate them quickly.
PITCH
Pitch
is defined as the highness or lowness of voice on the musical
scale. Everyone's voice has a range over which it can function
comfortably. Because a number of undesirable personality traits
are associated with high voice pitch, whereas a low pitch is associated
with positive personality characteristics, you should customarily
speak in the lower half of your normal range.
The
most prevalent pitch problem is a lack of variety. Many speakers
tend to use the same pitch throughout their presentation of a
message. Such dull voices are often regarded as a sign of a lack
of interest and enthusiasm on the part of the speaker.
LOUDNESS
Loudness
is the amount of force a person uses while speaking. The amount
of force is controlled by the diaphragm. The more forcefully
we push with this muscle that separates the chest cavity from
the abdominal cavity, the louder we speak.
Some
speakers talk so quietly that listeners either cannot hear them
at all or must work so hard to hear them that they become fatigued.
Other speakers talk so loudly that the loudness calls attention
to itself and distracts from the message. Still other speakers
fail to use any variety in loudness. Such lack of variety results
in monotony and underemphasis of important points. And some begin
a sentence with adequate volume, but the speaker becomes inaudible
by the end of the sentence. These four basic problems of loudness
often result from inexperience in public communication and from
tension or anxiety concerning the communication situation.
QUALITY
Quality
or timbre sets a person's voice apart from other voices of the
same pitch and volume. Most voices are pleasing or displeasing
because of differences in the size and shape of the pharynx and
differences in the size of the mouth opening. Our control over
our vocal qualities is somewhat limited by the size and shape
of these resonating cavities, but the quality of the voice can
be modified. The best quality for any one person will be unique
to him as an individual.
This
best quality is obtained from a proper balance between vocal and
nasal resonance and a low degree of tension and breathiness.
Some of the more common types of poor voice quality are breathiness,
thin and weak voices, nasality, and huskiness and harshness.
Problems in voice quality may be overcome under the guidance of
a person who has been trained to deal with them.
PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation
refers to the appropriateness and precision with which we articulate
words. Acceptable pronunciation is important in establishing
credibility with other transceivers. If your pronunciation departs
so far from the norm established by your age group, geographic
region, or social-cultural status that it calls attention to itself,
many listeners are likely to question your competence. A good
guide to an acceptable pronunciation for most words is a recent
dictionary. Of course, the dictionary may not include deviations
acceptable to your age group, geographic region, or your social-cultural
group.
Pronunciations
may be unacceptable because of (1) stressing the wrong syllable
such as "a'.dult" for "a.dult'," (2) sound
additions such as "drownd.ed" for "drowned,"
(3) sound omissions such as "li.ble" for "li.a.ble,"
(4) sound reversals such as "prevert" for "pervert,"
and (5) sound substitutions such as "git" for "get."
Sound substitutions can also be the product of the careless articulation
of consonants such as "dese" for "these."
FLUENCY
Fluency
is the smoothness with which we speak. Fluency results from a
successful combination of all the factors of voice we have discussed.
Whenever an individual's speech exhibits a combination of any
of the following characteristics, we tend to perceive the speech
as nonfluent:
1. Pauses
are poorly placed or timed.
2. Pitch,
loudness, or rate changes are poorly placed or timed.
3. A number
of vocalized pauses occur.
4. A number
of words are poorly articulated or mispronounced.
If your speech is nonfluent, it is probably because
you lack experience in the particular communicative encounter
in which your are participating or because you have not practiced
transmitting your message a sufficient number of times.
Many
of us are quite fluent in informal conversations because we have
participated in many such communication encounters and are totally
familiar with the message we want to communicate. Some of us,
however, have not had sufficient opportunity to participate in
public communication encounters and/or may not be very familiar
with the topic of our message. Considerable practice using a
small group of friends for an audience will help us to become
more fluent in the public communication encounter.
Bodily
Cues
Let
us consider four basic kinds of nonverbal cues of the body: eye
contact, facial expression, gestures, and movements of the body.
EYE CONTACT
The
importance of looking at the receivers of your message rests on
two points. First, you need to look at the audience in order
to determine their reactions to your message. Only if you monitor
feedback can you use feedback to adjust your message to your audience
and get the response you want. The second reason for looking
at your audience is that people usually consider a speaker to
be more sincere and confident if she looks at her audience. A
speaker who fails to look at her audience is likely to cause her
audience to think that she must have something to hide or that
she is not really confident her ideas are worthwhile.
In
establishing eye contact with your audience you need to be sure
that you do not look at just one or two people in the audience.
You want to be sure that a person, regardless of where he is located
in the audience, feels as though he has been communicated with.
However, you do not want to shift your gaze from one part of the
audience to another so quickly that you really do not get an opportunity
to establish eye contact with anyone.
FACIAL EXPRESSION
As
we have already indicated, facial expression is one of the chief
means the speaker has of communicating the feeling component of
her message. For this reason your face needs to be flexible enough
so that your feelings can be communicated through it. The problem
some speakers have is that they fail to change their facial expression
at any time throughout their speech or public discussion presentation.
GESTURES
Gestures
can be defined as movements of the hands and arms that accompany
spoken messages. Most of us use a wide array of gestures when
we communicate on an informal basis with a group of friends.
Although there may be a tendency to avoid using gestures in public
communication situations, this tendency should and can be avoided.
With practice, gestures will come just as naturally in public
communication as they do in interpersonal communication. This
does not mean that gestures will occur naturally the first time
you speak in public. Before you present your speech or public
discussion, you may have to force yourself to gesture while you
are practicing. If you have forced yourself to use your hands
and arms during practice, you are likely to find yourself gesturing
in a very natural manner during the presentation.
Good
gestures are usually relaxed, definite, and properly timed. Nervous
movements such as arranging your hair or clothing, adjusting your
glasses, or folding and unfolding note cards are not good gestures.
Gestures that aid communication and flow smoothly and easily are
the result of practice and experience. Some speakers fail to follow
through with their gestures. These kinds of gestures seem weak
and do not aid communication. Gestures should be made in full
view of the audience. Finally, gestures should be properly timed.
A gesture that occurs somewhat before or after the idea it is
supposed to emphasize tends to be comic rather than helpful.
Gestures that are properly motivated- that is, are made because
you are involved in the idea and want to communicate it to your
audience--are usually well timed.
Movements of the Body
Occasionally
the speaker will need to take a step or two or change his position
or stance in order to indicate to his audience that he is moving
from one topic to another or that he is coming to an important
idea. Rather than preplanning your exact movements prior to your
presentation, you should try various movements during your practice
sessions until your physical actions feel natural and flow smoothly.
Such practice will give you the flexibility you need to respond
to your feelings while you are making the presentation before
your audience.
Too
much movement during your presentation is just as undesirable
as no movement at all. Continuous pacing back and forth or continuous
shifting of position can call attention to itself and thus distract
from your message. Generally the amount of movement appropriate
to your presentation depends on the nature of your message and
the size of the audience. If you are presenting a message that
calls for considerable action from your audience you may need
to use more movement than if your message asks your audience to
give calm consideration to a problem area. If your audience is
extremely large, more and larger movements may be required to
indicate that you are moving to a new topic or beginning an important
point.
STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING NONVERBAL OUTPUTTING PROBLEMS
There
are three crucial steps in overcoming problems in nonverbal outputting.
The first of these steps is recognition of the problem. The information
provided in the previous sections of this unit, principles, vocal
cues, and bodily cues, is designed to help you recognize your
nonverbal outputting problems with the aid of your classmates
and/or your instructor. The second step in overcoming nonverbal
outputting problems is practice. The third step in overcoming
nonverbal outputting problems is to deliver you message in a public
communication situation without giving conscious attention to
nonverbal outputting behaviors.
The
suggestions made in this section are for practice only. During
actual delivery of your message you need to let your voice and
body react conversationally to the ideas you are thinking and
feeling as you transmit your message to the audience.
There
are a number of strategies you can use to work on nonverbal outputting
problems during your practice sessions. You may want to audiotape
or videotape yourself. This will allow you to study your own
nonverbal outputting behavior more thoroughly. It might be especially
interesting to compare an initial recording of yourself with a
recording made after several practice sessions to note any improvements.
If only audiotape is available, you may need to practice in front
of a mirror to work on bodily cues. A second way of using your
practice sessions is to have a small group of friends and/or classmates
function as an audience and give you feedback concerning your
progress on overcoming your nonverbal outputting problems. You
will also be able to get suggestions from your instructor concerning
what you can do to improve your nonverbal outputting.
Often
as a first step in dealing with nonverbal outputting problems
it is better to read poetry or prose selections than to practice
a presentation of your own. Reading such material allows you
to concentrate on your nonverbal outputting without worrying about
what you will say next. Of course you will have to pay enough
attention to the material so that your voice can respond and communicate
the appropriate emotion. Reading poetry or prose also gives you
the opportunity to use a greater variety in rate, pitch, and loudness
than you ordinarily might use. Selections of prose and poetry
which are especially helpful in working on specific problems can
be found in the books listed at the end of this unit.
Of
course you should not limit your practice to reading prose and
poetry. You should practice the public presentation you will
be making at least two or three times before you present your
speech or public discussion. Such practice will help you to be
considerably more fluent without a substantial reduction in spontaneity.
You
may find that initially in your practice you will have to exaggerate
rate, pitch, and loudness changes in order to get an acceptable
level of vocal variety. In addition, if you are having difficulty
in using gestures or bodily movement, you may need to use more
gestures and/or movement than would be desirable in an actual
public presentation. Do not worry about exaggeration during practice.
Such exaggeration will help you get an appropriate degree of variety
in a spontaneous manner during your public communication presentations.
REVIEW
You have met the objectives of this unit if you can
Construct
an example of each form of support for assertions.
State the
principles of wording a message.
Describe
the effectiveness of your nonverbal outputting behavior, and
construct a program to improve any areas of weakness you detect.
In
this unit we have examined the verbal dimension of messages.
We have focused on how we support and word our messages. Forms of support are necessary for clarifying and/or
verifying assertions.
There are eight forms of support.
You have met the objectives of this unit if you can
1. Illustrations
are stories.
A. Factual
illustrations may be used to clarify and verify.
B. Hypothetical
illustrations may be used to clarify.
C. All
illustrations should be pointed, representative, and vivid.
2. Specific
instances are examples that lack detail.
A. Specific
instances can verify assertions.
B. Specific
instances should be pointed, representative, and numerically
sufficient.
3. Testimonies
are direct quotations or paraphrases of another's words.
A. Testimony
can be used both to clarify and verify.
B. Testimony
should be well-documented, pointed, easy to understand, and
unbiased or balanced.
4. Statistics
involve numbers that show how man instances support an assertion.
A. Statistics
are used to verify assertions.
B. Statistics
should be relevant, understandable, interesting, and well-
documented.
5. Analogies
are comparisons between two objects or events.
A. Literal
analogies are used to both clarify and verify; the points
of comparison must be alike in all important respects.
B. Figurative
analogies are used to clarify and they must be clear and vivid.
6. Explanation
is a simple, concise definition of an object, event, or concept.
A. Explanation
is used to clarify.
B. Explanations
should be clear, vivid, and brief.
7. Restatement
consists of repeating something that has already been said in
the same or similar words.
A. Restatement
is used to clarify.
B. Restatement
should be used only with important assertions and should be
clear and vivid.
8. Visual
aids consist of information that the receiver inputs visually.
A. Visual
aids are used to clarify and/or verify.
B. Visual
aids should be visual: large enough to be seen, not too complex,
and positioned properly.
C. Visual
aids should aid the presentation: relevant, not disruptive
(in sight only when in use, and rarely, if ever, passed among
the audience during the speech), and in working order.
Wording a message effectively requires clarity, psychological
validity, and appropriateness.
1. Clarity
is achieved under two conditions:
A. When
we use specific, concrete words rather than abstract words,
and
B. When
we use transitions to separate our ideas.
2. Psychological
validity is achieved when we select particular words that suggest
feelings, mood, tone, or emotions such as the following:
A. Visual
imagery appeals to the sense of sight,
B. Auditory
imagery appeals to the sense of sound,
C. Tactile
imagery appeals to the sense of touch,
D. Gustatory
imagery appeals to the sense of taste,
E. Olfactory
imagery appeals to the sense of smell,
F. Organic
imagery appeals to internal sensations, and
G. Kinesthetic
imagery appeals to muscle movement and strain.
3. Appropriateness
is achieved when our word choice fits the following:
A. Our
subject and purpose,
B. The
other transceivers in the communicative encounter, and
C. The
particular occasion.
You
will recall from Unit 2 that in speech communication the message
is made up of both verbal and nonverbal cues. In this unit we
have discussed nonverbal outputting behaviors by subdividing these
cues into vocal cues (the sounds that a receiver hears) and bodily
cues (the sights that a receiver sees).
Nonverbal
outputting cues are important in speech communication because
they affect how we process the words that we have received. Because
we can be seen and heard, we constantly send messages whether
we intend to or not. It is through our nonverbal delivery that
we let a receiver know how we feel about what we are saying.
When faced with an inconsistency between verbal and nonverbal
cues, receivers will tend to believe the nonverbal cues. In addition,
it is primarily through nonverbal cues that we are able to emphasize
ideas in spoken messages. Finally, receivers respond more favorably
to delivery that simulates good conversation.
Vocal cues, sometimes referred to as paralanguage,
includes such things as rate, the speed with which we speak; pitch,
the highness or lowness of our voices; loudness, the amount of
vocal force we use; quality, the timbre of our voices; pronunciation,
the appropriateness and precision with which we articulate words;
and fluency, the smoothness with which we speak.
Bodily cues include eye contact, where we direct our
gaze while speaking, facial expression, facial changes we make
while speaking, gestures, movements of the hands and arms, and
movement, changes in physical location.
To
be effective, our nonverbal outputting behaviors need to reinforce
and complement our verbal message. More effective nonverbal outputting
can be achieved by doing the following three things: (1) learning
what our own particular nonverbal outputting problems are, (2)
practicing in a somewhat exaggerated manner to overcome these
problems, and (3) delivering the actual presentations without
consciously thinking about our nonverbal outputting behaviors.
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