Interesting Concept in Ch. 2

One concept from chapter two that I found useful and interesting was the one about the psychological perspective of communication. This perspective says that "two or more individuals exchange meanings through the transmission and reception of communication stimuli" (26). This model follows a very basic sender/receiver pattern where messages are coded and decoded and feedback is important because it validates the accuracy of the sent message.
Messages are interpreted differently depending on the person receiving it. This is where a person's "mental set" dictates how a message will be received. Because everyone has different mental sets, often times this leads to misunderstandings. If the sender does not know how to code their message for a specific mental set, then the message will not be received as intended.
Often, siblings or other family members are of the same mental set and are less likely to misunderstand each other. They are referred to as being "of the same mind."
The text uses the example of a professor teaching a class. Sometimes some students are of the same mind as the professor and therefore understand the lecture. Where as other students may not be of the same mind and don't retain any of the message or just don't understand it at all.