Understanding Human Communication

by Ronald B. Adler, George Rodman

Understanding Human Communication, Seventh Edition, by Ronald B. Adler and George Rodman presents a comprehensive, useful introduction to the academic study of communication that strikes a balance between the needs of instructors and students. The book's enduring features include a clear and reader-friendly writing style; an inviting visual design with marginal quotations, cartoons, photographs, newspaper clippings, and supplemental readings on almost every page; and everyday applications based on solid research and theory. New features include an increased emphasis on technology, streamlined organization based on user suggestions, and revised and updated material on gender, cultural diversity, and theory. These combined features plus an extensive ancillary package make Understanding Human Communication, Seventh Edition, one of the leading texts in the field of interpersonal communication.
Features
- Photographs, short readings, cartoons, epigrams, and news items enliven each section with high interest ideas and personalities.
- A comprehensive glossary and the following chapter-length appendices are included at the back of the book:
Appendix A: Interviewing
Appendix B: Mediated Communication (new!)
- Each chapter ends with the following categories of supplemental material:
Summary: recaps the content of the chapter
Resources: provides updated lists and brief descriptions of print resources that discuss the topics in the chapter and popular films with plots and characters that demonstrate concepts covered in the chapter
Activities: includes four kinds of activities--"Ethical Challenges," "Critical Thinking Probes," "Skill Builders," and "Invitations to Insight"--that invite students to analyze and change their own communication behavior
- The following sidebars and marginal notes contain material that supports the main content of the book:
Understanding Diversity boxes show how factors such as ethnicity, different physical abilities, regional origins, and nationalities shape perceptions of and reactions to communication
Understanding Communication Technology boxes highlight the ways in which technology is changing the nature of human communication, giving readers tools for using technology in communicating (new!)
Communication Boxes present thought-provoking topics through interesting and humorous articles and vignettes
Marginal Definitions of colloquial terms help readers unfamiliar with idiomatic English understand the subtleties of phrases and words used in the text, such as "get it off my chest" or "hashed out"

Genres: Textbooks, Psychology, Nonfiction, School, Communication, Read For School, College

Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Ronald Brian Adler

Reviews

[Jessica Gleason]

Interesting updates. The new chapters are useful. Lacks real world readings/articles which could help students apply concepts. I wish it also had better activities.

[Spencer Hubert]

This book was extremely frustrating to read. Almost all of its content everyone knows by the age of 14, but because the book spends chapters and chapters putting in into words to whose benefit I do not know (aliens?), it tricks the reader into thinking they're learning new concepts or skills. While in addition, just constantly throughout the book, every other paragraph, the extremely annoying author HAS to throw in another political jab. And the thing is: college students eat this stuff up. It's literally a tool for brainwashing.

[Karla]

My son’s speech class text
Comprehensive and well written I liked the connection to Chapman, as I was previously familiar with his work
Activities are connected to the material well and further exploration is available at the website
The format design was colorful, text format changing appropriately as well
Summaries are brief, key terms pretty direct

[Angela]

Ronald B. Adler has been groundbreaking in the field of communications since his 1965 edition. I took a course in 1989 in college that studied his insights, and it has been a benefit to my personal and professional life ever since.

[Alexann]

Interesting, but incredibly redundant in my opinion. I ended up not reading the last chapters, opting for my teacher’s powerpoint explanations instead which were more organized and went straight to the point.

[Shaydy]

At times this is a self-help book with valuable mementos; at others, it puts names to phenomenon most people have experienced since youth and don’t necessarily benefit from hearing explained in textbook (albeit accessible textbook) format.

[Rain]

Dry boring... but required reading for college speech class.

[Acenith Claassen]

Tends to contradict its own text quite a bit with regard to sex and gender. Quizzes in each chapter put people into categories that simply cannot be accurate based on 4 or 5 questions.

[Amelia]

So many typos, but I learned a lot from the actual content.

[Nicholas Ward]

Tough

[Maya Lane DeGala Harris]

This book determines whether you are a good human being with interpersonal communication terms!

[Haytham Badawey]

The best book on human communication, it has the cutting edge for the art and science of human communication. The terminology, the concepts, processes, skills and abilities; everything is explained in fine details and very well presented and summarized in this book.

Other books in the field are just a trial for imitating and copying this book, I read the 3th edition, and I use it as a reference!

I completely recommend it!

[Magali Williams]

Not a fun read--it was a textbook for a class lol, but for the most part very educational. There were several things about the LGBTQ+ that were either blatantly wrong or just mostly wrong. It was nice to see the effort but it's really frustrating when it might be some people's only knowledge on certain aspects of the community. Most of the issues I found were with the gender side of things or just using sexuality, sex, and gender interchangeably at times.

[Stephen]

2004 wrote: Required Read for Fundamentals of Speech and Communication. I resolve I will never understand human communication, nor will anyone, for as soon as it is studied, it will evolve into something else. If too many know it's secrets, the tricks are gone. The gig is up.

[Jonathan]

None

[Kristen]

I had to read this book for a 1st year University class. I remember using it again in other years as it was very informative to my studies as a Communications student

[Miriam Dyck]

It did its job. It got me through my course and it was very well organized. For all intense and purposes it was fine but nothing to read for fun

[Melonie]

This book must be good, since I was on the re-editing team ;-)

[Issa]

It definitely exceeded my expectations!