Transcript triangle of meaning

TRIANGLE OF
MEANING
HOW DO WE INTERPRET
COMMUNICATIONS?
DEFINING “MEANING”
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DO YOU SAY WHAT YOU MEAN?
DO YOU MEAN WHAT YOU SAY?
DO YOU ASSUME THAT OTHERS
INTERPRET THAT COMMUNICATION
EXACTLY AS YOU MEANT IT?
HOW DO WE TRULY “COMMUNICATE”
WITH OTHERS?
AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS
WORKS
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WHAT IS “FISH”?
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AN AQUATIC BEING
A ROCK BAND
A CHARACTER ON AN
OLD TV SHOW
AN ACTIVITY YOU
ENJOY
SOMETHING THAT
YOU EAT
A FOUR LETTER
WORD
HOW DID YOU PROCESS “FISH”?
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DID YOU THINK
ABOUT MULTIPLE
MEANINGS OR DID
YOU ASSUME THAT I
MEANT WHAT YOU
INTERPRETED IT TO
MEAN?
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WITHOUT CONTEXT,
NONVERBAL CUES,
OR AN
UNDERSTANDING
OF THE RECEIVER –
THE WORD
BECOMES ONLY A
SYMBOL WITH
MULTIPLE
POSSIBILITIES.
What does “fish” mean to the participants in this
picture?
WHAT ABOUT “LOVE”?
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT MEANS THE SAME
THING TO YOU AS IT DOES TO THE PERSON
WITH WHOM YOU ARE SPEAKING?
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WE USE ONE
WORD WHILE IN MANY OTHER LANGUAGES
MULTIPLE WORDS ARE USED TO INDICATE
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOVE.
PLEASE REMEMBER
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Four letter words can get you in trouble.
Even four letter words like “fish” and “love”.
person
object
symbol
The area inside the triangle represents all the possible
meanings of the word (symbol) for that individual.
Person #1
object
symbol
Person #2
object
symbol
REMEMBER that the symbol (word) is not the thing it
represents.
Person 1 & 2
object
symbol
The overlapping area indicates the possible
meanings for the symbol that the sender and
receiver have in common.
COMMUNICATION IS A PROCESS
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SENDER
RECEIVER
MESSAGE
MEDIUM
INTERFERENCE
FEEDBACK
CONTEXT
“What do you think that meant?”