Creating Understanding: How Communicating Aligns Minds

Jessica Gasiorek,R. Kelly Aune

Creating Understanding: How Communicating Aligns Minds
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Country
United States
Published
14 December 2020
Pages
172
ISBN
9781433168154

Creating Understanding: How Communicating Aligns Minds

Jessica Gasiorek,R. Kelly Aune

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

What, exactly, is understanding? And how do people create, maintain, and manipulate states of understanding via communication? This book addresses these questions, drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in cognitive science, communication, psychology, and pragmatics. Rejecting classic descriptions of communication as sending and receiving messages, this book proposes a novel perspective that depicts communication as a process in which interactants construct, test, and refine mental modes of a joint experience on the basis of the meme states (mental representations) activated by stimuli in social interactions. It explains how this process, when successful, results in interactants’ mental models aligning, or becoming entrained-in other words, in creating a state of understanding. This framework is grounded in a set of foundational observations about evolved human cognition that highlight people’s intrinsic social orientation, predisposition toward efficiency, and use of predictive interference-making. These principles are also used to explain how codified systems ( codes ) emerge in extended or repeated interactions in which people endeavor to create understanding. Integrating and synthesizing research across disciplines, this book offers communication scholars and students a theoretical framework that will transform the way they see understanding, communication, and social connection.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in 7-14 days

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.