Interpersonal Communications Assignment

Option 1: Select one of the general topics listed below, and write a paper exploring its relevance to the study of interpersonal communication. If you would like to write about something not on this list, please ask me about it.

sense bias

linguistic relativism

personality dimensions

mediation

brain lateralization

Option 3: select a public address or interview and:

analyze the interaction (making sure to reference the ideas we’ve been discussing this term)

if applicable, identify the source of ‘noise’

Barriers to IC
Communication climate
• Workplace, personal relationship, classroom, nation
• Macro approach
• Micro approach
Macro Approach
• Linguistic Relativism
• Medium is the Message/massage/message
• Cultural differences
“man’s very perception of the world about him is programmed by the
language he speaks, just as a computer is programmed. Like the
computer, man’s mind will register and structure external reality only in
accordance with the program” (Hall, The Hidden Dimension, 1-2).
Bon Echo Park pictographs
Greek “Discus Thrower” c. 450 BC
Bayeux Tapestry (11th C)
Raphael, “School of Athens” c. 1509
Holbein, “The Ambassadors” (1533)
William Blake “Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (c. 1790) / “The Lamb” (1789)
Picasso “Sylvette”
sculpture in
Rotterdam (c. 1954)
Micro Approach
Managing:
• Fear & Anxiety (acting vs. avoidance)
• Shyness (different than introversion)
• Self-Blame (reframe)
• Failure (integral part of learning)
• Stereotyping and Prejudice (inherited, acquired,
and personal traits)
• Barriers to IC exist on macro and micro
levels. We can work to understand the
macro barriers, and thus lessen their
effect. We can learn to manage our
internal micro barriers, and thus grow as
individuals while becoming more effective
at IC.
Expressing Emotions
• Emotions: feelings that
affect us, and that are the
result of the ways in which
we interpret physiological
responses to events
Theories of Emotion
• Perceptual Theory of Emotion:
Event → experience an emotion → respond physiologically
• Organismic Theory of Emotion:
Event → respond physiologically → experience emotion
• Cognitive Labelling Theory of Emotion:
Event → respond physiologically → interpret the response →
interpretation determines the emotion we feel
• Sense
Interpret
Feel
Intend
Express
Wheel of Emotion
• Emotions involve the body, mind, and
culture
Emotions may be…
• Adaptive (facilitative)
• Maladaptive (debilitative)
Activating event
Getting dumped
Getting dumped
• Strategic
Thought/belief
I’m free!
my life is over
Emotional consequence
jubilation
abject misery
Obstacles to communicating emotions:
• Fear, Inadequate Social Skills, Social
Conventions
Emotional Competence:
• Emotional Understanding, Emotional
Expression, Emotional Responding
Emotional Expression
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•
•
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Personality
Culture
Gender
Context
Non-Verbal Communication (NVC)
• Non-verbal comm. = “messages
expressed by non-linguistic means”
Navarro & the Limbic System
• Freeze/Flight/Fight
• Pacifying gestures
Functions of NVC
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Creating and maintaining relationships
Regulating interactions
Influencing others/ourselves
Concealing
Managing impressions
Types of NVC
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•
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Body movement
Touch
Vocalizations/paralanguage
Space/proxemics (intimate,
personal, social, public)
• Dress
Listening and Responding
• Hearing vs Listening
Elements of Listening:
• Hearing
• Attending
• Understanding
• Responding
• Remembering
Listening Styles
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Task-oriented
Relational
Analytic
Critical
Barriers to Listening
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•
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Information overload
Message complexity
Personal concerns
Rapid thought
Noise
Duration
Poor listening habits: pseudo listening, hogging
the stage, selective listening, filling in the gaps,
insulated listening, defensive listening, ambush
listening
Listening Responses
Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts
• Interpersonal conflict: occurs where there
is “expressed tension between people who
are interdependent, perceive they have
incompatible goals, and feel a need to
resolve those differences”
Principles of Conflict
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•
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•
•
Not necessarily a bad thing
May be overt or covert
Shaped by social groups
Can be managed well or poorly
Can be beneficial for relationships
Responses to Conflict
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•
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Exit
Neglect
Loyalty
Voiced
Conflict Communication Patterns
Conflict management
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•
•
•
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Attend to multiple levels of meaning
Communicate supportively
Listen mindfully/attentively
Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings,
and issues
Check perceptions
Focus on points of agreement
Allow each other to ‘save face’
Project consequences into the future
Competition
Whether we’re talking about
individuals, groups, or nations,
competition requires three things:
– Common goal
– Common technical means
– Common orientation
Competition homogenizes. It can refine
techniques and increase efficiency, but
it funnels competing parties towards
the same end.