Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal Communication 14th Edition

Book Preface

A wise editor once told us that any revision to a successful textbook should be both familiar and fresh. It should include plenty of updated material, but it should retain the essence of its time-tested approach. We have worked hard to make sure this edition of Interplay achieves those goals. This new edition builds on the approach that has served students and professors over almost four decades. The accessible writing style is based on the belief that even complicated ideas can be presented in a straightforward way. A variety of thought-provoking photos, sidebars, and cartoons make the subject more interesting and compelling. In terms of its scholarly grounding, Interplay cites more than 1,500 sources, nearly a third of which are new to this edition. These citations have a strong communication focus, as we continue to spotlight scholarship from our field. Research and theory aren’t presented for their own sake, but rather to explain how the process of interpersonal communication operates in everyday life.

NEW IN THIS EDITION

One effective way of incorporating new concepts and research is to offer plenty of cutting-edge material in sidebars. Reviewers tell us these sidebars are essential to Interplay’s success, so we’ve updated them across the board.
• Focus on Research boxes—18 of which are new to this edition—cover timely subjects including the pros and cons of communicating via Snapchat, cultural differences in how speakers apologize, the relationship between Instagram and social comparison, the role of punctuation in text messages, relational struggles caused by cell phone use, disclosures between parents and their adult children, and the negative effects of mind-reading expectations.
• Dark Side of Communication sidebars address problems including how seemingly harmless labels can cause interpersonal damage, talking frankly about STDs, saying “sorry” too often, the dangers of multitasking, and the harmful effects of “ghosting.”
• Media Clips use both television shows and films to dramatize how communication concepts operate in everyday life. New TV shows include black-ish (co-cultural communication), This Is Us (self-concept), Game of Thrones (language), The Americans (deception), Speechless (nonverbal communication), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (emotion management), and Empire (conflict). New feature films include Wild (social needs), Meet the Patels (culture), Trainwreck (relational dialectics), Finding Dory (family), and Moonlight (aggressiveness).
• At Work boxes help readers apply scholarship to their careers. New topics include letting your voice be heard (literally) on the job, relational repair at work, online relationships with coworkers, and keeping cool under fire.
• Watch and Discuss is a new feature in this edition. These thumbnail images point to YouTube videos for viewing in or out of the classroom and are followed by two discussion prompts each. Topics include mean tweets and disinhibition, “vaguebooking” (posting ambiguous messages on Facebook), how your body language can affect the way you feel, listening with empathy, privacy management and cell phones, whether women and men can “just be friends,” passive aggressive communication, and “emotional correctness.”
• Assessing Your Communication instruments in every chapter help students understand and improve how they communicate in important relationships. New instruments in this edition focus on social media use and relational maintenance skills. We have also made many changes to the text proper to address the latest communication research and changing communication practices. These include the following:
• Chapter 1 includes two new topics: masspersonal communication— messages that are personal yet public; and multimodality—the ability and willingness to use multiple channels of communication.
• Chapter 2 offers new discussions on code-switching, intersectionality, and communicating about disabilities.
• Chapter 4 has enhanced coverage of empathy and the role it plays in helping communicators understand and appreciate each other.
• Chapter 5 offers a new summary of gender and language usage.
• Chapter 6 adds a review of research on how our own nonverbal behavior influences the way we feel.
• Chapter 8 provides new coverage of self-talk as a means for managing emotions.
• Chapter 10 updates and extends the discussion of friendship and describes the relational value of singleness.
• Chapter 11 moves up the topic of conflict and describes how serial arguments work in interpersonal communication.
• Chapter 12 now concludes the book with coverage of communication climate, which includes new and updated material on confirming messages, aggressiveness, ostracism, and the language of choice.