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Communication Skill

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Communication Skill
Chapter 06.qxd

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6

Constructivism: A General Theory of Communication Skill

Brant R. Burleson
Purdue University

INTRODUCTION
This chapter is about communication skills and one particular theory of these skills— constructivism. As you’ve probably discovered in your reading of this book, communication is a broad term that encompasses lots of different things. So, I will begin by presenting some examples of what I mean by “more and less skilled communication.”
Consider two young adults, each of whom is trying to comfort a friend who has recently been “dumped” by a long-term dating partner:
Mary:

Ben broke up with you? He’s an idiot! But, this isn’t the end of the world, you know. I mean, it’s not the worst thing that could happen to you, and to be honest,
I think you’ll be better off without Ben. Anyway, there are tons of cute guys on this campus, you know, lots of fish in the sea. You just gotta get out there and catch another one! Keep in mind that no guy is worth getting all worked up about. I mean, it’s just not that big a deal, not at this point in life. You can do a lot better than Ben. Just remember that Ben isn’t worth any heartache and you’ll stop being so depressed about the whole thing.
Michael: Barb broke up with you? Oh man! I’m really sorry; I know you must be hurting right now. Do you want to talk about it? You were together a long time and were really involved with her, so you must have some real heartache. This just sucks;
I’m really sorry, man. The same thing happened to me last year, and I remember how rotten it makes you feel. It’s especially tough when it’s sudden like that. It’s probably gonna take some time to work through it—after all, breaking up is a really hard thing. I know it may not mean very much right now, but keep in mind

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that you’ve got some good friends here—people who really care



References: Adams, C. H. (2001). Prosocial bias in theories of interpersonal communication competence: Must good communication be nice? In G. J. Shepherd & E. W. Rothenbuhler (Eds.), Communication and community (pp. 37–52). Adams, C. H., & Shepherd, G. (1996). Managing volunteer performance: Face support and situational features as predictors of volunteers’ evaluations of regulative messages Applegate, J. L., Burleson, B. R., & Delia, J. G. (1992). Reflection-enhancing parenting as antecedent to children’s social-cognitive and communicative development Bacue, A., & Samter, W. (2001, July). The dark side of cognitive complexity, II: The production of guilt-inducing messages Barone, D. F., Maddux, J. E., & Snyder, C. R. (1997). Social cognitive psychology: History and current domains. Berger, C. R. (2003). Message production skill in social interaction. In J. O. Greene & B. R. Burleson (Eds.), Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp Brendel, J. M., Kolbert, J. B., & Foster, V. A. (2002). Promoting student cognitive development. Journal of Adult Development, 9(3), 217–227. Buhrmester, D. (1996). Need fulfillment, interpersonal competence, and the developmental contexts of early adolescent friendship. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and adolescence (pp Burleson, B. R. (1982). The development of comforting communication skills in childhood and adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1578–1588. Burleson, B. R. (1987). Cognitive complexity. In J. C. McCroskey & J. A. Daly (Eds.), Personality and interpersonal communication (pp Burleson, B. R. (1998). Similarities in social skills, interpersonal attraction, and the development of personal relationships Burleson, B. R. (2003). Emotional support skills. In J. O. Greene & B. R. Burleson (Eds.), Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp. 551–594). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Burleson, B. R., & Caplan, S. E. (1998). Cognitive complexity. In J. C. McCroskey, J. A. Daly, M. M. Martin, & M Burleson, B. R., Delia, J. G., & Applegate, J. L. (1992). Effects of maternal communication and children’s socialcognitive and communication skills on children’s acceptance by the peer group. Family Relations, 41, 264–272. Burleson, B. R., & Denton, W. H. (1997). The relationship between communication skills and marital satisfaction: Some moderating effects Burleson, B. R., & Goldsmith, D. J. (1998). How the comforting process works: Alleviating emotional distress through conversationally induced reappraisals Burleson, B. R., & Kunkel, A. W. (1996). The socialization of emotional support skills in childhood. In G. R. Pierce, B. Burleson, B. R., & Kunkel, A. W. (2002). Parental and peer contributions to the emotional support skills of the child: From whom do children learn to express support? Journal of Family Communication, 2, 79–97. Burleson, B. R., & Waltman, M. S. (1988). Cognitive complexity: Using the Role Category Questionnaire measure. Chaiken, S., Liberman, A., & Eagly, A. H. (1989). Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. New York: Guilford. Clark, R. A., & Delia, J. G. (1979). Topoi and rhetorical competence. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 65, 187–206. Clark, R. A., Willihnganz, S., & O’Dell, L. L. (1985). Training fourth graders in compromising and persuasive strategies Coopman, S. Z. (1997). Personal constructs and communication in interpersonal and organizational contexts. In G Delia, J. G., Kline, S. L., & Burleson, B. R. (1979). The development of persuasive communication strategies in kindergartners through twelfth-graders Delia, J. G., O’Keefe, B. J., & O’Keefe, D. J. (1982). The constructivist approach to communication. In F. E. X. Dunn, J. (1998). Siblings, emotion, and the development of understanding. In S. Braten (Ed.), Intersubjective communication and emotion in early ontogeny (pp. 158–168). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Duys, D. K., & Hedstrom, S. M. (2000). Basic counselor skills training and counselor cognitive complexity. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Habermas, J. (1998). On the pragmatics of communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Hart, C. H., Newell, L. D., & Olsen, S. F. (2003). Parenting skills and social-communicative competence in childhood. In J. O. Greene & B. R. Burleson (Eds.), Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp. Hewes, D. E. (1995). Cognitive processing of problematic messages: Reinterpreting to “unbias” texts. In D. E. Jones, S. M., & Guerrero, L. A. (2001). The effects of nonverbal immediacy and verbal person centeredness in the emotional support process Kline, S. L. (1991). Construct differentiation and person-centered regulative messages. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 10, 1–27. Lambert, B. L., & Gillespie, J. L. (1994). Patient perceptions of pharmacy students’ hypertension compliance-gaining messages: Effects of message design logic and content themes. Health Communication, 6, 311–325. MacGeorge, E. L., Clark, R. A., & Gillihan, S. J. (2002). Sex differences in the provision of skillful emotional support: The mediating role of self-efficacy Marsh, D. T., Serafica, F. C., & Barenboim, C. (1980). Effect of perspective-taking training on interpersonal problem solving. Child Development, 51, 140–145. McCornack, S. A. (1992). Information manipulation theory. Communication Monographs, 59, 1–16. Neuliep, J. W., & Hazelton, V., Jr. (1986). Enhanced conversational recall and reduced conversational interference as a function of cognitive complexity O’Keefe, B. J., & Shepherd, G. J. (1989). The communication of identity during face-to-face persuasive interactions: Effects of perceiver’s construct differentiation and target’s message strategies O’Keefe, D. J. (2002). Persuasion: Theory and research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pelias, R. J. (1984). Oral interpretation as a training method for increasing perspective-taking abilities.

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