The Characteristic of Interpersonal Communication

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These characteristics expand on the information in Chapter One and in Chapter Six.1. We cannot NOT communicate.

In other words, interpersonal communicationalways takes place when two or more people are together. Think about it if youare in a ele!ator with one other person, communication is taking place. So long

as the other person is aware of you, you are communicating. "ou communicatefriendliness or apathy or any number of things through the way you stand, your eye contact, an many other non!erbal cues. #!en if you say nothing, you cannotnot communicate. $ssume you choose not to say anything at all. Isn%t thatcommunicating something about your attitude to the other person&

'. Interpersonal communication includes both content and information aboutthe content. In other words, at the same time we are (saying) something, we aregi!ing many cues about how what we are saying should be interpreted. *or example, you%!e heard students say to teachers many times, (+o we ha!e a testtoday&) That is the content of the message, but the student can do many things to

pro!ide information about the content and change how the message is recei!ed. If the student adds a bit of whine to her !oice, the message isn%t a uestion at all- thestudent really means (I don%t want to ha!e a test today.) If the student furrowsher brow while asking the uestion, the teacher will conclude the student trulydoesn%t know if there is a test. The whine and the furrowed brow are examples of (metacommunication) pp. /0 234. They are non!erbal cues for the listener onhow to communicate your message.5. Interpersonal communication is contextual. In addition to the use of contextyou%!e encountered so far pp. 15 164, you can !iew interpersonal communicationas occurring in a !ery fluid context sub7ect to reinterpretation. Some things are,of course, fixed. If we are alone in an ele!ator, the physical context is unlikely tochange. 8ut consider an example in which we are constantly interpreting our interpersonal exchanges in ways that clarify and sometimes confuse4 our exchange of meaning. In other words, we are constantly (tagging) our interactions to define oursel!es in relationship to others. Take the example of two

people who are studying together. $s they exchange information and ask eachother uestions, the constantly define their roles. One person is dependent onanother, then the roles switch. One person is using the study session to expressdissatisfaction with the class, and so becomes a (confessor.) $nd so forth. $sthe two people communicate, they constantly redefine the relationship, and sothey redefine how they interpret their own communication.6. Interpersonal communication is irreversible. Once you%!e said something, it

can%t be (unsaid.) "ou can explain what you%!e said, apologi9e for what you%!esaid, or anything else to modify it, but you can%t really (take it back.) $n oldsaying holds that words are like stones, and (once flown can ne:er be recalled).So it is with communication;and not 7ust with words. $s a result, we note thatin interpersonal communication we constantly build on what has recentlyoccurred. "our comment to your best friend about what you are doing tonightcan change depending on the communication you%!e recently exchanged.<. Interpersonal communication is complex. $s you can tell for the first four

principles, interpersonal communication in!ol!es so much that we are oftencommunicating instincti!ely. =e are registering !erbal and non!erbal cues, weare tagging and defining our roles and relationships, we are building on

communication that 7ust happened>we are doing so much that we can%t bethinking about e!erything that%s happening at the time it is happening.

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Check "our ?nderstanding$s a class, select an interpersonal communication situation for example, parent child,

brother sister, best friends4 and explain how each of the fi!e principles applies.#xtend the @esson T#AS>18,1*,'8,'I

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