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©2007 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 5
Creating
and
Using
Meaning
©2007 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
 What Meaning Means
• Assuming You Know What I Mean
 Conveyor-belt fallacy
◦ assumption that because a message is sent and
received, the receiver therefore understands what
the message means

• The Meaning in Messages

 Intended meaning
◦ meaning the sender has in mind when designing
his or her message
 Interpreted meaning
◦ meaning the receiver interprets from the message
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 What Meaning Means
FIGURE 5.1 The Conveyor Belt Fallacy

When we send messages, as if on a conveyor belt, we assume people understand what we mean.
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 How We Create Meaning
• Perception
• Organization
• Interpretation
• Signs and Symbols
 Sign
◦ something that people agree represents something
else and is usually linked with what it represents
 Symbol
◦ type of sign that has an indirect association to what
it represents
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How We Create Meaning
FIGURE 5.2 How We Create Meaning

© Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

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How We Create Meaning
FIGURE 5.3 Storm Sign

Dark, gray
clouds are a
sign that a
storm is
approaching
©
Royalty-Free/ORBIS

7
 The Contexts of Meaning
 Context
◦ physical, social, and psychological situation in
which a communication event occurs
• Intrapersonal Context
 Intrapersonal decoding
◦ process of receiving data that originate either inside
or outside ourselves and then interpreting and
assigning meaning to those data
 Intrapersonal encoding
◦ process of organizing data and translating thoughts
into a managed internal response

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The Contexts of Meaning
FIGURE 5.4 The Contexts of Meaning

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The Contexts of Meaning

The meaning of
words or nonverbal
behaviors can be
confusing without
knowledge of the
cultural and
interpersonal
contexts.
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS

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 The Contexts of Meaning
• Personal
History
Context

• Cultural
Context

• Interpersonal
Context

• Business © Ryan McVay/Getty Images

Context
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 The Meanings of Words
 Semantics
◦ relationship between words and the meanings
we attach to them

 Concrete Words
◦ associated with objects or events that we have
experienced through our senses

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 The Meanings of Words
 Abstract Words
◦ ideas or concepts that we cannot directly
experience through our senses

• Practice Designing and Interpreting

Meaning
 Designing meaning
 Interpreting meaning

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 Specific and Vague Message Meanings
• Specific Meaning in Business Messages
 Specific business messages
◦ straightforward, explicit, and clear, with nothing
hidden

• Vague Meaning in Business Messages

 Vague business messages
◦ couch our intentions in ambiguous language or
behavior

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 Specific and Vague Message Meanings
• Blaming the Receiver
• Will My Audience “Get” What I Mean?

Both the message

sender and the receiver
have responsibility for
effective communication
and meaning clarity.
© Comstock/PunchStock

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Questions

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