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Brydon: Between One and Many textbook cover

Between One and Many: The Art and Science of Public Speaking, 4/e

Steven R. Brydon, California State University, Chico
Michael D. Scott, California State University, Chico

Glossary

abstract	A summary of an article or a report.



active listening	Listening that involves conscious and responsive participation in the communication transaction.



active mindfulness	The degree to which speakers and audiences are consciously aware of the transactions between them.



ad hominem	The claim that something must be false because the person who said it is not credible, regardless of the argument itself.



agenda	Something that defines the purpose and direction a group takes, the topics to be covered, and the goals to be achieved.



appreciative listening	Listening that involves obtaining sensory stimulation or enjoyment from others.



arguing in a circle (begging the question)	An argument that proves nothing because the claim to be proved is used as the grounds or warrant for the argument.



argumentativeness	The trait of arguing for and against the positions taken on controversial claims.



attitude	A learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object.



audience	The individuals who share and listen to a public speech.



audience accessible	Content the audience is able to understand, regardless of its complexity.



audience appropriate	Informative topic and speech that takes into account the occasion and audience members' belief systems.



audience diversity	The cultural, demographic, and individual characteristics that vary among audience members.



audience involving	Informative topic and speech that succeeds in gaining the audience's attention.



audio media	Aural channels you can use to augment your speech, such as a recording of a famous speaker.



authority warrant	Reasoning in which the claim is believed because of the authority of the source.



backing	Support for a warrant.



bar chart	A graphic used for comparing data side by side.



behavioral intention	A person's subjective belief that he or she will engage in a specific behavior.



belief	An assertion about the properties or characteristics of an object.



Boolean operators	Terms, such as and, or, and not, used to narrow or broaden a computerized search of two or more related terms.



brainstorming	A creative process used for generating a large number of ideas.



call and response pattern	A pattern of organization in which a call by the speaker is followed by a response from the audience.



categorical imperative	Immanuel Kant's ethical principle that we should act only in a way that we would will to be a universal law.



categorical pattern	A pattern of organization based on natural divisions in the subject matter.



causal pattern	A pattern of organization that moves from cause to effect or from effect to cause.



causal warrant	An argument that claims a cause will produce or has produced an effect.



central beliefs	Beliefs based directly or indirectly on authority.



channel	The physical medium through which communication occurs.



claim	A conclusion that persuasive speakers want their audience to reach as a result of their speech.



communication apprehension	Fear about communicating interpersonally and in groups, not just in public.



comparison (analogy) warrant	A statement that two cases that are similar in some known respects are also similar in some unknown respects.



competence-enhancing language	Words that emphasize rather than undermine audience perceptions of a speaker's competence.



comprehension	The act of understanding what has been communicated.



connotation	The secondary meaning of a word, often with a strong emotional, personal, and subjective component.



constraint	A limitation on choices in a speech situation.



constructive self-talk	The use of positive coping statements instead of negative self-talk.



content (of messages)	The essential meaning of what a speaker wants to convey.



context	Information that surrounds an event and contributes to the meaning of that event.



coping skills	Mental and physical techniques used to control arousal and anxiety in the course of speaking in public.



credibility	The degree to which an audience trusts and believes in a speaker.



critical listening	Listening for the purpose of making reasoned judgments about speakers and the credibility of their messages.



critical thinking	The process of making sound inferences based on accurate evidence and valid reasoning.



cross cue-checking	Gauging what a person says verbally against the nonverbal behaviors that make up metacommunication.



cultural diversity	Differences among people in terms of beliefs, customs, and values-in a sense, their world view.



cultural relativism	The notion that the criteria for ethical behavior in one culture should not necessarily be applied to other cultures.



culture	A learned system of beliefs, customs, and values with which people identify.



decoding	The process by which a code is translated back into ideas.



deficiency needs	Basic human needs, which must be satisfied before higher-order needs can be met. They include needs for food, water, air, physical safety, belongingness and love, and self-esteem and social esteem.



demographic diversity	Variations among people in terms of such attributes as socioeconomic background and level of education.



demographics	Basic and vital data regarding any population.



denotation	The generally agreed upon meaning of a word, usually found in the dictionary.



elaboration likelihood model	A model of persuasion designed to explain why audience members will use an elaborated thinking process in some situations and not in others.



distorted evidence	Significant omissions or changes in the grounds of an argument that alter its original intent.



emblem	A nonverbal symbol that can be substituted for a word.



encoding	The process by which ideas are translated into a code that can be understood by the receiver.



environment	The physical surroundings as you speak and the physical distance separating you from your audience.



ethical relativism	A philosophy based on the belief that there are no universal ethical principles.



ethics	A system of principles of right and wrong that govern human conduct.



ethos	The degree to which an audience perceives a speaker as credible.



eulogy	A kind of commemorative speech about someone who has died that is usually given shortly after his or her death.



expert opinion	A quotation from someone with special credentials in the subject matter.



extemporaneous delivery	A mode of presentation that combines careful preparation with spontaneous speaking. The speaker generally uses brief notes rather than a full manuscript or an outline.



extended narrative	A pattern of organization in which the entire body of the speech is the telling of a story.



fact	Something that is verifiable as true.



fallacy	An argument in which the reasons advanced for a claim fail to warrant acceptance of that claim.



false analogy	The comparison of two different things that are not really comparable.



false dilemma	A generalization that implies there are only two choices when there are more than two.



feedback	Audience member responses, both verbal and nonverbal, to a speaker.



first-order data	Evidence based on personal experience.



flip chart	Large tablet used to preview the outline of a presentation or to record information generated by an audience.



flow chart	A graphic designed to illustrate spatial relationships or the sequence of events in a process.



formal outline	A detailed outline used in speech preparation, but not, in most cases, in the actual presentation.



ganas	Spanish term that loosely translates as the desire to succeed.



general purpose	The primary function of a speech. The three commonly agreed upon general purposes are to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.



generalization warrant	A statement that either establishes a general rule or principle or applies an established rule or principle to a specific case.



good reasons	Statements, based on moral principles, offered in support of propositions concerning what we should believe or how we should act.



goodwill	The perception by the audience that a speaker cares about their needs and concerns.



grounds	The evidence a speaker offers in support of a claim.



group	Three or more individuals who are aware of each other's presence, share a mutually interdependent purpose, engage in communication transactions with one another, and identify with the group.



growth needs	Higher-order human needs, which can be satisfied only after deficiency needs have been met. They include self-actualization (the process of fully realizing one's potential), knowledge and understanding, and aesthetic needs.



halo effect	The assumption that just because you like or respect a person, whatever he or she says must be true.



hasty generalization	An argument that occurs when there are too few instances to support a generalization or the instances are unresponsive of the generalization.



hyperbole	An exaggeration of a claim.



illustrators	Nonverbal symbols used to visualize what is being spoken.



impromptu delivery	A spontaneous, unrehearsed mode of presenting a speech.



inclusive language	Language that helps people believe that they not only have a stake in matters of societal importance but also have power in this regard.



index	A listing of sources of information, usually in newspapers, journals, and magazines, alphabetically by topic.



individual diversity	How individuals in an audience differ in terms of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, values, motives, and expectations.



inference	The process of moving from a ground, via a warrant, to a claim.



informative speaking	The process by which an audience gains new information or a new perspective on old information.



interdependence	A relationship in which things have a reciprocal influence on each other.



invention	The creative process by which the substance of a speech is generated.



isolated examples	Nontypical or nonrepresentative examples that are used to prove a general claim.



language intensity	The degree to which words and phrases deviate from neutral.



learning styles	Differences in the way people think about and learn new information and skills.



line graph	A graphic used to show points in time.



linguistic relativity hypothesis	The idea that what people perceive is influenced by the language in which they think and speak.



listening	The process of receiving, attending to, and assigning meaning to aural as well as visual and tactile stimuli.



loaded language	Language that has strong emotional connotations.



logos	The proof a speaker offers to an audience through the words of his or her message.



long-term goals	Those ends that we can hope to achieve only over an extended period of time.



main points	The key ideas that support the thesis statement of a speech.



manuscript delivery	A mode of presentation that involves writing out a speech completely and reading it to the audience.



marginalizing language	Language that diminishes people's importance and makes them appear to be less powerful, less significant, and less worthwhile than they are.



memorized delivery	A mode of presentation in which a speech is written out and committed to memory before being presented to the audience without the use of notes.



message	The meaning produced by communicators.



metacommunication	The message about the message; generally conveyed nonverbally.



mistaking correlation for cause	The assumption that because one thing is the sign of another, they are causally related.



misused statistics	Statistics that involve errors such as poor sampling, lack of significant differences, misuse of average, or misuse of percentages.



Monroe's motivated sequence	A five-step organizational scheme, developed by speech professor Alan Monroe, including (1) attention, (2) need, (3) satisfaction, (4) visualization, and (5) action.



narrative	An extended story that is fully developed, with characters, scene, action, and plot.



narrative fidelity	The degree to which a narrative rings true to real-life experience.



narrative probability	The internal coherence or believability of a narrative.



negative self-talk	A self-defeating pattern of intrapersonal communication, including self-criticizing, self-pressuring, and catastrophizing statements.



non sequitur	An argument that does not follow from its premises.



nonverbal behavior	A wordless system of communication.



online catalog	A computerized listing of library holdings.



organizational chart	A graphic that illustrates hierarchical relationships.



overhead transparency	A graphic that can be projected.



panel discussion	An extemporaneous group discussion held for the benefit of an audience.



pathos	The emotional states in an audience that a speaker can arouse and use to achieve persuasive goals.



perception	The process by which we give meaning to our experiences.



peripheral beliefs	The least central type of beliefs, the easiest to change.



persuasion	The process by which a speaker influences what audience members think or do.



physiological arousal	The physical changes that occur when a person is aroused, such as increased pulse, greater alertness, and more energy.



pie chart	A graphic often used to show proportions of a known quantity.



pinpoint concentration	Listening that focuses on specific details rather than patterns in a message.



plagiarism	Stealing the ideas of others and presenting them as your own.



post hoc, ergo propter hoc	("after the fact, therefore because of the fact"): The assumption that because one event preceded another, the first event must be the cause of the second event.



presentational media	Channels of communication that extend the five basic senses: touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell.



preview	A forecast of the main points of a speech.



primary sources	Original sources of information.



primitive beliefs	(also known as type A beliefs) Those beliefs learned by direct contact with the object of belief and reinforced by unanimous social consensus.



proactive delivery	Planned and rehearsed presentation.



problem-solution pattern	A pattern of organization that analyzes a problem in terms of (1) harm, (2) significance, and (3) cause, and proposes a solution that is (1) described, (2) feasible, and (3) advantageous.



pseudoreasoning	An argument that appears sound at first glance but contains a fallacy of reasoning that renders it unsound.



qualifier	An indication of the level of probability of a claim.



rebuttal	An exception to or a refutation of an argument.



receiver-centric	A person's assumption that the meaning he or she gives to a word or a phrase is its exclusive meaning.



red herring (smoke screen)	An irrelevant issue introduced into a controversy to divert from the real controversy.



reframing	Revising your view of a situation or an event, usually in a positive direction.



refutational pattern	A pattern of organization that involves (1) stating the argument to be refuted, (2) stating the objection to the argument, (3) proving the objection to the argument, and (4) presenting the impact of the refutation.



regulators	Nonverbal behaviors that influence the speech transaction.



relational component (of messages)	The collective impact of the verbal and nonverbal components of a message as it is conveyed.



research	The process of gathering supporting materials for a speech.



retention	The act of storing what was communicated in either short- or long-term memory.



rhetorical question	A question that the audience isn't expected to answer out loud.



rhetorical situation	A natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence (goal) which strongly invites utterance.



search term	A word or phrase used in library catalogs and indexes to identify a subject.



secondary sources	Information sources that rely on other (primary) sources rather than gathering information firsthand.



second-order data	Evidence based on expert testimony.



selective attention	Making a conscious choice to focus on some people and some messages, rather than others.



self-adapting behaviors	Nonverbal behaviors used to cope with nervousness; for example, self-touching or grasping sides of lectern with hands.



self-talk	(sometimes referred to as intrapersonal communication) Communicating silently with oneself.



sensorial involvement	A process that involves listening with all the senses, not simply the sense of hearing.



sexist language	Language, such as housewife and fireman, that stereotypes gender roles.



short-term goals	Those ends that we can reasonably expect to achieve in the near term.



sign warrant	Reasoning in which the presence of an observed phenomenon is used to indicate the presence of an unobserved phenomenon.



signposts	Transitional statements that bridge main points.



situational ethics	The philosophy that there are overriding ethical maxims, but that sometimes it is necessary to set them aside in particular situations to fulfill a higher law or principle.



slippery slope	The assumption that just because one event occurs, it will automatically lead to a series of undesirable events even though there is no relationship between the action and the projected events.



socioeconomic status	Social grouping and economic class to which people belong.



source credibility	The audience's perception of the believability of the speaker.



spatial pattern	A pattern of organization based on physical space or geography.



speaker's notes	Brief notes with key words, usually written on cards, used by a speaker when presenting a speech.



specific purpose	The goal or objective a speaker hopes to achieve in speaking to a particular audience.



speech anxiety	Feelings of discomfort that people experience before, during, and after speaking in public.



speech of acceptance	A speech expressing thanks for an award or honor.



speech of commemoration	A speech that calls attention to the stature of the person or people being honored, or emphasizes the significance of an occasion.



speech of introduction	A speech that briefly sets the stage for an upcoming speaker.



speech of recognition	A speech presenting an award or honor to an individual.



speech to entertain	A speech that makes its point through the use of humor.



spiral pattern	A pattern of organization that employs repetition of points, with the points growing in intensity as the speech builds to its conclusion.



star pattern	A pattern of organization in which all of the points are of equal importance and can be presented in any order to support the common theme.



statistics	Numerical summaries of data, such as percentages, ratios, and averages, that are classified in a meaningful way. Age, height, and weight are not statistics, although they are commonly mistaken as such.



stereotyping	The assumption that what is considered to be true of a larger class is necessarily true of particular members of that class.



stock issues pattern	A four-point pattern of organization that is based on (1) ill, (2) blame, (3) cure, and (4) cost.



straw person	An argument made in refutation that misstates the argument being refuted. Rather than refuting the real argument, the other side constructs a person of straw, which is easy to knock down.



subpoint	An idea that supports a main point.



supporting point	An idea that supports a subpoint.



symbol	Something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship or association.



system	A collection of interdependent parts arranged so that a change in one produces corresponding changes in the remaining parts.



thesis statement	A single declarative sentence that focuses the audience's attention on the central point of a speech.



third-order data	Evidence based on facts and statistics.



time pattern	A pattern of organization based on chronology or a sequence of events.



totalizing language	Language that defines people exclusively on the basis of a single attribute, such as race, ethnicity, biological sex, or ability.



transaction	A simultaneous exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between two or more people.



trustworthiness	The perception by the audience that they can rely on a speaker's word.



universalism	The philosophy that there are ethical standards that apply to all situations regardless of the individual, group, or culture.



unsupported assertion	The absence of any argument at all.



utilitarianism	The philosophy based on the principle that the aim of any action should be to provide the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.



values	Our most enduring beliefs about right and wrong.



verbal aggressiveness	The trait of attacking the self-concept of those with whom a person disagrees about controversial claims.



verbal qualifiers	Words and phrases that erode the impact of what a speaker says in a speech.



visual imagery	The process of mentally seeing (imagining) oneself confidently and successfully performing an action or a series of actions.



visual media	Channels that augment the sense of sight to communicate a message.



warrant	The connection between grounds and claim.



wave pattern	A pattern of organization in which the basic theme, often represented by a phrase, is repeated again and again, much like a wave cresting, receding, and then cresting again.



wide-band concentration	Listening that focuses on patterns rather than details.



zone of interaction	Area of audience in which speaker and audience members can make eye contact.

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