ABSTRACT
This chapter is about processes that lie at the very heart of human communication—processes so central and so fundamental that theories failing to address these phenomena ultimately seem somewhat lacking because they miss so much of what we experience and know to be involved when we communicate with others. Consider how much of what takes place when we interact with others falls into the two broad categories of “thinking things” and “doing things.” When you converse with your roommates, parents, professors, and that special “main squeeze,” innumerable thoughts go through your mind—thoughts about yourself, about what you're doing and saying, about the other person, or even about something far away and unconnected to the moment. And at the same time that you're experiencing this shifting hodgepodge of thoughts, you're also doing things—selecting and constructing things to say that might be sensible to the other, actually producing verbal utterances that reflect your meanings and your understanding of the interaction as it unfolds, and enacting all the facial expressions, gestures, and other nonverbal behaviors that arise from, and tell something about, your thoughts, emotions, and even your physiological state.
