Understanding Human Communication

by Ronald B. Adler

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN COMMUNICATION IS UNDERSTANDING CHANGE. For over three decades, this has been the best-selling text for the introduction to human communication course. Understanding Human Communication is written with one goal in to provide students with the insights and skills to succeed in our changing world. Ronald B. Adler, George Rodman, and new author Carrie Cropley Hutchinson place communication theory within the context of everyday skills and draw from the latest media, culture, and scholarship, creating a distinctive pedagogy that gives students the tools they need to master--and enjoy--this intriguing and relevant subject.

NEW TO THE ELEVENTH EDITION
* New part-opening "Case Studies" present real-life communication challenges on the job, in school, and in personal relationships.
* A brand-new chapter, "The Changing World of Communication," considers demographic and cultural influences and the ways in which technologies have created both new opportunities and challenges in our modern world.
* This edition presents current research on many new topics including how we perceive strangers differently in mediated and face-to-face communication, how linguistic labels reflect cultural identity, the differences between conflicts online and in person, and the ways in which gender influences styles of conflict.
* New "@ Work" boxes demonstrate how key concepts presented in the book can be applied in the workplace.
* Part Public Communication has been streamlined and reorganized to give students a more efficient introduction to public speaking. Synthesizing material from previous editions, the new Chapter 11, "Preliminary Considerations," discusses choosing and developing a topic as well as managing communication apprehension.
* A new Appendix, "Communicating for Career Success," provides students with practical information on interviewing and networking.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
* Understanding Diversity sidebars address subjects such as managing identity during the process of "coming out," the potential for misunderstandings during translation, and how lessons from other cultures can enhance listening skills.
* Understanding Communication Technology boxes focus on topics related to mediated communication, including how social media can meet a variety of communication needs, the etiquette of revealing what one has learned about others online, the dangers of being overly connected via the internet, and the ethical principles for using and acknowledging information gleaned from the web.
* Invitation to Insight sidebars offer readings that show how the elements of communication operate in contemporary society, including the risks of broadcasting personal information via "sexting," social standards for using profanity, and the limitations of free speech when civil listening is absent.
* Critical Thinking probes encourage students to consider their own actions in light of concepts covered in the text.
* Ethical Challenges invite students to ponder contemporary ethical issues in communication, such as whether honesty is always the best policy, the acceptability of presenting multiple identities, the tension between allowing free speech and the acceptability of hateful language, and the challenge of dealing politely but effectively with obnoxious group members.
* Cultural Idioms appear in the margins of each chapter, helping non-native English speakers understand American colloquialisms while also showing more proficient speakers how supposedly everyday speech can be misunderstood by listeners from other cultures.

SUPPORT PACKAGE
* ClassMate, a nationally hosted online homework system, gives you the ability to manage digital content from this book and its supplements, to make assignments, to administer tests, and to track student progress.
* Companion Website (www.oup.com/us/uhc11) with free resources for students and instructors
* Student Success Manual (available free to students in a package) with summaries of key concepts from each chapter, and additional questions with full answers, giving students even more opportunities for practice
* Instructor's Manual with a revised and expanded Test Bank
* Instructor's CD-ROM (includes the full computerized Test Bank)
* Now Learning Communication Through Film
* Two additional, optional chapters available (one on Mediated Communication and the other on Service Learning)

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

471 pages, 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!