Decision-making group: a form of group setting where the main objective is to form a judgment based on orderly discussion and exchange of ideas. In essence, almost any group can be considered a decision-making group; be it a forum, round table, panel, or seminar. Decision-making groups depend on the input of all members to come to a solution or agreement, therefore, free communication between the individuals involved is vital to the success of the group (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & Defleur, 2005).
Decoding: a process done when the receiver thinks about and compares symbols coming from the sender’s message to their own in their memory to interpret the message. This is the process where the receiver tries to understand the message which is being sent by the sender or source (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
Deep Meaning: the basic idea of the message that you just received, enough to know what exactly needs to be done. For example, if a professor tells you to use only scholarly journal articles for your paper and to cite it using APA fifth edition, you may tell somebody who asks you what to do, “Use journal articles and cite using that latest APA version”. Your deep meaning of the message is still enough to get done what you need to, but you do not relay the exact surface message to another because you have your own understanding of the instructions (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
Denotative meaning: the set meaning of a word as it appears in a dictionary and which is expressed by the symbol that refers back to the object or concept. Denotative meanings are set by the conventions of the society and the language in question (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
Distortion: a misrepresentation, inaccuracy, or poor reception of a signal or message. This occurs when the meanings of the message being communicated are different, so the message has not been received completely accurately. This occurs because meanings come from our own personal experiences with situations, and not everybody experience the same situations or in the same way (Weiner, 1990; DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
Dyad: two people in a continuing social relationship. A dyad can be a boyfriend and girlfriend, or somebody with their significant other. A dyad is needed in order for interpersonal communication to occur (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005).
