interpersonal communication

Interpersonal CommunicationWeek 5

Learning Outcome

After completing the topics students should be able to:• Explain the meaning of interpersonal communication• Lists the elements of interpersonal communication• Describe the axioms in interpersonal communication• Describe the role of perceptions in interpersonal

communication• Describe the skills of conversation in interpersonal

communication

3

Basic Model of Communication Process

What is interpersonal communication Definition • Any interaction between two people • Two persons interacting a dyad

Communication between two or more connected individuals that involves:

• dyadic primacy (the two-person unit is of central importance)

• dyadic coalitions (two-person groups form even in larger groups)

• dyadic consciousness (the two persons think of themselves as a pair)• interpersonal relationships can

develop from face-to-face interactions as well as those you have on the Internet. • serves a variety of purposes: learn,

relate, influence, play, and help etc.

Elements of interpersonal communication

1.Source-receiver/communicator is the person who sends and receives interpersonal messages simultaneously.

2.Encoding-decoding refers to the act of putting meaning into verbal and nonverbal messages and deriving meaning from the messages you receive from others.

3.Competence is the knowledge of and ability to use effectively your own communication system.

4. Messages are the signals that serve as stimuli for a receiver; metamessages are messages that refer to other messages. Feedback messages are messages that are sent

back by the receiver to the source in response to other messages.

Feedforward messages are messages that preface other messages and ask that the listener approach future messages in a certain way.

Messages can quickly overload the channels, making meaningful interaction impossible

5.Channels are the media through which messages pass and which act as a bridge between source and receiver, for example, the vocal-auditory channel used in speaking or the coetaneous-tactile channel used in touch.

6. Noise is the inevitable physical, physiological, psychological, and semantic interference that distorts a message.

7.Context /situation is the physical, social-psychological, temporal, and cultural environment in which communication takes place.

8.Ethics is the moral dimension of communication, the study of what makes behavior moral or good as opposed to immoral and bad

Axioms of interpersonal communication

AXIOMS: General principles that help explain what interpersonal communication is and how it works

1.Interpersonal communication is grounded in theory and research. The theories of interpersonal communication are

the organized generalizations about interpersonal communication and the evidence bearing on them.

Through theory and research you learn how interpersonal communication works and from this, you can derive principles for achieving more effective interpersonal interaction

2. Interpersonal communication is a transactional process– Interpersonal communication is a process, an

ongoing event, in which the elements are interdependent; communication is constantly occurring and changing.

– Don't expect clear-cut beginnings or endings or sameness from one time to another.

3. Interpersonal communication is ambiguous. – All messages are potentially ambiguous; different

people will derive different meanings from the "same" message.

– There is ambiguity in all relationships.

Transactional Model

4.Interpersonal relationships may be symmetrical or complementary. Interpersonal interactions may stimulate similar

or different behavior patterns, and relationships may be described as basically symmetrical or complementary.

Develop an awareness of symmetrical and complementary relationships. Avoid clinging rigidly to behavioral patterns that are no longer useful and mirroring another's destructive behaviors.

5. Interpersonal communication refers to content and relationship. –All communications refer both to

content and to the relationships between the participants. –Be aware of and respond to

relationship messages as well as content messages.

6. Interpersonal communication is inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable. –When in an interactional situation, you

cannot not communicate; you cannot uncommunicate; you cannot repeat exactly a specific message. –Seek to control as many aspects of your

behavior as possible. In listening, seek out nonobvious messages. Beware of messages you may later wish to take back, for example, conflict and commitment messages.

What is your perception about …..

• Mr. Bean ?• I Malaysia ?

Perceiving others

• Perception: The process of recognizing and understanding others

• By understanding perception, engineers can deal with others effectively

• Is the process by which you become aware of objects, events and peoples through your senses : sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.

• Your perceptions result from what exists in the outside world and from your experiences, desires, needs, wants and loves.

• Stages of perception– You sense, you pick up some kind of stimulation – You organize the stimuli in some way– You interpret and evaluate what you perceive – You stored your perception in memory – You retrieve when it needed (recall)

Stimulation

• Stimulation: sense organs are stimulated• Selective stimulation by selective exposure;

choosing preconceived views that satisfy personal needs

• Selective exposure: exposure to people or messages that conforms to personal existing beliefs, contribute to personal objectives, or prove satisfying in some way

• Also a stimulus that is at a greater intensity than surrounding stimuli is more likely to be perceived.

Organization• Organization organize information picked up by

the senses in three ways: rules, schemata, and scripts

• Organization by rules: – Proximity: things close together are perceived as a

unit. Verbal and nonverbal signals are considered as a unit.

– Temporal: things occurring together in time are a unit– Similarity: things physically similar form a unit– Contrast: things different from each other do not

belong together.

Organization by Schemata• Mental templates or structures help

organize daily information; general ideas about people or social roles. Re: stereotypes.

Organization by Scripts• Organized body of information about

some, action, event, or procedure; a general idea of how these should play out

interpretation-evaluation

• Interpretation-evaluation Inevitably subjective and greatly influenced by your experiences, needs, wants, values, beliefs about the way things are or should be, expectations, physical and emotional state, and so on.

• Interpretation-evaluation influenced by personal rules, schemata, and scripts as well as gender

Memory

• Perception, Interpretation, and evaluation are stored in memory for later use.

• We can only perceive the world around us through memory of names, understanding, and recognition.

Recall

• Recalling or accessing stored memory.• Reconstructing everything in a manner

meaningful to myself, depending on schemata, and scripts

INCREASING ACCURACY IN INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION

1. Analyze Perceptions• Become aware of personal perceptions;

subject them to logical analysis, and critical thinking. – Recognize the personal role: emotional an

physiological state will influence the meaning given to personal perceptions• Be aware of personal bias• Gender will influence personal perceptions

• Avoid early conclusions: on the basis of personal observations of behaviors, formulate hypothesis to test against additional information and evidence rather than drawing conclusions and then looking to confirm them.– Delay conclusions till a wide variety of clues have been

processed.– Avoid one-clue conclusions.– Look for a variety of clues pointing in the same direction.– Be alert to contrary clues that seem to refute the

original hypothesis– Seek validation from others.– Ask if personal perceptions may be distorted in some

way.

2. Check Perceptions• Make perceptions accurate. • Explore the thoughts and feelings of the other

person, not to prove that your initial perception was correct.

• With this technique chances of misinterpretation another’s feelings is lessened.

• give the other person an opportunity to elaborate on thoughts and feelings

Two steps:• First: Describe what is seen or heard,

descriptions ore not really objective but influenced by personal identity, emotional state.– Describe thoughts about what is happening, offer

several possibilities.• Second: seek confirmation.– Ask the other if personal perception is accurate– don’t read thoughts fro behavior– Don’t phrase the request for confirmation

defensively; ask supportively– Would you rather…– Are you…

3. Reduce Uncertainty Helps achieve greater accuracy in perceptions

• Low-anxiety cultures: do not feel threatened by uncertainty. It is expected in life.

• High-anxiety cultures: o much to avoid uncertainty and have anxiety about what will happen next

• Communication problems are great when low-anxiety and high-anxiety cultures come in contact.–Work flow differences–Different view of rules–Assignments are vague or detailed–Superior’s knowledge

Strategies to reduce uncertainty:• Observe others while they are involved in an active

task, interaction with others in informal situation; true self is more likely evident.

• Manipulate situations to observe in more revealing and specific contexts: interviews, auditions, teaching situations.

• Listening to a group as an observer before becoming involved reduces uncertainty and appropriate contributions as possible.

• Collect information by asking others.• Interact by asking questions, disclose information

about self and create an environment that encourages disclosures.

4. Increase Cultural Sensitivity

• Recognizing and sensitivity to cultural differences helps increase accuracy in perception: customs vary across cultures.

• Within cultures there are differences; do not make assumptions or assign serotypes. Recognizing differences will encourage accurate perceptions.

• Cultural sensitivity counteracts the difficulty in understanding nonverbal messages.

Improve intercultural communication through:• Prepare yourself• Reduce uncertainty• Recognize differences• Confront personal stereotypes• Adjust communication• Manage culture shock

Interpersonal Communication : Conversation

• When two people exchange message• Whether face to face, telephone and varies

channels • Five stages – Opening – Feedfoward– Business– Feedback– Closing

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 35

Five Stages - The Opening

• Verbal or nonverbal greeting

• Reciprocated

Opening

Conversation


Five Stages - The Opening

• Verbal or nonverbal greeting

• Reciprocated

Opening

Conversation


Five Stages - Feedforward• Focus of conversation• Identify tone• In e-mail the title is the feedforward

OpeningFeedforward

Conversation


Five Stages - Business

• Substance of conversation

• Exchange of roles

• No permanent record

OpeningFeedforward

Business

Conversation


Five Stages - Feedback• Signal end of business• May backup to business if other not finished

OpeningFeedforward

BusinessFeedback

Conversation


Five Stages - Closing

• Signals end of conversation

• Express pleasure in interaction

• Leave-Taking cues

OpeningFeedforward

BusinessFeedback

Closing

Conversation


Conversation Skills

Conversation

Dialogue Mindfulness Flexibility Cultural sensitivity Metacommunication Openness

Empathy Positiveness Immediacy Interaction management Expressiveness Other-Orientation


• Is a state of awareness in which you are

conscious of your reasons for thinking or

behaving.

• Increasing mindfulness

– Create and recreate categories

– Be open to new information

– Beware of relying too heavily on first impressions

Mindfulness


Increasing dialogue– Demonstrate respect for the other person. Allow

that person the right to make his or her own choices – Avoid negative criticism• Example : I didn’t like that ideas

– Avoid negative judgment • Example : you’re not a very good listener

– Keep channels of communication open by displaying a willingness to listen.

– Avoid manipulating the conversation to try to get person to say something positive about you or force the other person to think.

Dialogue/Monologue

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• Is the ability to adjust communication

strategies on the basis of the unique situation

• Increasing flexibility

– No two situations or people are the same

– Communication takes place in context

– Everything is in a state of flux

– Every situation offers different option

Flexibility—Realize...

Cultural sensitivity •Is an attitude and way of behaving in which you are aware of and acknowledge cultural differences •Increasing cultural sensitivity • Prepare yourself – read about and listen carefully

for culturally influenced behaviors • Recognize and face your own fears of acting in

appropriately with members of different cultures • Recognize differences • Become conscious of the cultural rules and

customs of others.


• Is communication that refer to other communicaton

• Examples :

– verbally – do you understand what I’m trying to say

– Non verbal – you can hug someone you are consoling

• Increasing metacommunication

– Explain feelings along with your thoughts

– Give clear feedforward to help other person get a general picture

of the messages

– Paraphrase

– Use to talk about communication patterns – example “ I‘d like to

talk about the way you talk about me to our friend

Metacommunication


• Openness has to do with you willingness to

selfdisclose

• To reveal information about yourself that you

might normally keep hidden

• Increasing openness

– Self disclose when appropriate

– Respond to those with whom you are interacting

– Own your own feelings and thoughts – take

responsibility what are you saying

Openness


• Is an ability to feel what others feels from that

person’s point of view without losing your own

identity

• Increasing Empathy

– Avoid evaluating, judging, or criticizing the other

person’s behaviours

– Focus your concentration

– Reflect back to the speaker

–When appropriate, use your own self disclosures

Empathy


• Involve the use of positive rather than negative

• For examples:

– Negative: I wish you would not ignore my opinions

– Positive : I feel good when you ask my opinions

• Increasing positiveness

– Look for and compliment the positive in the person or

in the person’s work

– Express satisfaction

Positiveness


• Is a quality of interpersonal effectiveness that

creates a sense of togertherness

• Show interest and attention

• Increasing immediacy

– Express psychological closeness and openness

– Use the other person’s name – say name

– Focus on the other person’s remark – listen carefully

– Be culturally sensitive

Immediacy

• Techniques and strategies by which you regulate and carry on

• Increasing interaction management

– Maintain conversational turns, passing the opportunity to

speak back and forth through appropriate eye movement,

vocal expressions.

– keep the conversation fluent, avoiding long and awkward

pauses.

– Communicate with consistent verbal and Non Verbal

messages

– Avoiding sending contradictory signals

Interaction Management

Expressiveness • Is the skill of communicating genuine involvement• It includes abilities such as taking responsibility for

your thoughts and feelings • Providing appropriate feedback • Increasing expressiveness – Use appropriate variations in vocal rate, pitch – Use appropriate gestures – Culturally aware – Give verbal and non verbal feedback to show that you

are listening

Other- Orientation

• Is the ability to adapt your messages to the other person

• Increasing other orientation – Show consideration and respect – Acknowledge the other person’s felling as

legitimate – Focus your messages on the other person

interpersonal communication

Documents

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