Fundamentals of interpersonal communication

What is communication?

Beginning from the womb when we respond to movements and sounds, to the time we are born and learn to talk, and until the moment we perish; we communicate. It is an essential part of being human. You cannot not communicate. Even when you are “not talking with someone” you are sending them a message. Scholars have been trying to understand and define communication for thousands of years.

From Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Poetics (est 384 B.C.) to the present, communication has played an important part in the lives of people across the globe. Research has also shown that losing or not having close, healthy relationships can lead to sickness and even death. Argyle (1987), in a survey of physicians in The Psychology of Happiness, found that those who are widowed or divorced experience more medical problems than do married people. Understanding more about communication and improving your skills can help you foster close relationships that can improve your health. Not only does communication help our physical needs, it also helps us meet relational and identity needs.

Defining Communication
So, what exactly is communication? Communication means different things to different people in different contexts and situations. Many living creatures communicate: animals communicate with one another, flowers attract bees, even our lunar cycle communicates the passing of time. However, for the purposes of our course, we are going to focus on human communication. One team of researchers found more than 126 different published definitions of communication (Webb & Thomas-Hayes, 2002). While that may seem overwhelming, there are some basic elements that were common between the various definitions.

Human communication involves the process of generating meaning by sending and receiving verbal and nonverbal messages that are influenced by contexts. Masterson, Beebe, and Watson (1989) define human communication as the process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others by creating meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal messages. The National Communication Association, a scholarly organization that helps govern the discipline, defines communication as twofold. It is, “how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, and is the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry” (National Communication Association, n.d.). The best way to understand these two definitions is by considering our class. This class is a communication course, meaning it is taught within the discipline of Communication, and in this class we are learning about the process of communication at the interpersonal level.

The words communication and interpersonal both have Latin roots. Communication is derived from the Latin verb communicare which means “to share” while the word interpersonal means “between persons.” When we put interpersonal and communication together, we have the interactive transactional sharing that happens between humans as they negotiate an understanding of each other. This is why we define interpersonal communication as the exchanges of information between two people for the purpose of sharing, understanding, and influencing one another.

Characteristics of communication

There are several characteristics to consider when thinking about how humans communicate interpersonally with each other. We must look at the context, the relationships, and the goals of the communication transaction. Context can affect how we communicate and with whom we communicate. Context refers to the setting in which communication takes place. The context helps establish meaning and can influence what is said and how it is said.

Traditionally, there were five contexts to consider. The smallest interaction occurs between two people, known as a dyad. These interactions between two people who have a relationship with each other is referred to as the interpersonal context. Relationships evolve through various stages fueled by our interpersonal interactions with each other. The intercultural context looks at interactions between people from different cultures.

The group context refers to the communication that occurs between members of a group. Groups form for a variety of reasons such as problem solving, learning, advising, or decision-making. The organizational context includes interactions between interrelated individuals within a particular environment as they work towards achieving specific goals within an organization or company. Lastly, mass communication occurs when a message is transmitted to a large audience simultaneously by a small group of elite gatekeepers. Radio and television broadcasts are examples of mass communication.

Today, these contexts are no longer as distinct. As you will read later, new media technologies have collapsed the distinctions between many of these contexts into what is today known as masspersonal communication (O’Sullivan & Carr, 2018). By understanding the context in which communication takes place, we can shape our messages to fit our interactional goals.

Communication is such a vital and important part of our existence. Understanding more about the way that you and others communicate can help improve relationships with families, colleagues, and friends. Everyone can benefit from improving their communication skills and knowledge.

Activity 1: The Name Game

Ask for a volunteer, then have the person start a line of the students across the room. Depending on the size of your room and class, it may curve around the front and sides of the room. The key is that it is a single line and everyone can see each other. Have students identify an adjective that fits them and starts with the same sound as the name they prefer to go by in class. The volunteer will start by introducing themselves, saying “I’m Cheerful Christina” and the class will say “hi Cheerful Christina.” Then move to the second person in line. This person will re-introduce the first person and then introduce themselves. They will say for instance, “This is Cheerful Christina and I am Athletic Aaron.” Then move to the third person, this person will introduce the first and second people, then themselves. It may sound like this, This is Cheerful Christina, Athletic Aaron, and I am Singing Sally.”

This will continue until the last student has introduced everyone. You can also be the last person. When giving the rules, make sure to let the students know they can help using nonverbal communication, but that they should let the students figure out each person’s adjective and name. Afterwards you can have them sit down and debrief asking questions such as:

• What was challenging about this activity?

• What helped you to remember?

It is important to mention how this was intense communication and how when we are in a situation like this we often are very focused. We look at each person, we listen, we interpret the messages, and we share communication out when it is our turn. It is a rich activity that illustrates basic communication elements and can get the class to know each other at the same time.

Activity 2: NON-Human Communication

Play the trailer for the class and then ask them to break into small groups and discuss what they would do if they were in a task force to meet for the first time with an alien that had come to earth. What would the students’ goals be? How would they physically approach the aliens? What if the aliens don’t share our language or culture? All of these considerations will help the students to understand the complexity of communication behaviors they may have previously taken for granted.

Argyle, M., (1987). The Psychology of Happiness. Routledge.

Burleson, B. R. (2010). The nature of interpersonal communication: A message-centered approach. In C. R. Berger, M. E. Roloff, & D. R. Roskos-Ewoldsen (Eds.), The handbook of communication science (pp.145-164). Sage.

Dance, F., & Larson, C. (1976). The functions of human communication: A theoretical approach. Holt, Reinhart, and Winston.

Devito, J. A., (2005). Messages: Building interpersonal communication skills (6^th ed.). Pearson.

Masterson, J., Beebe, S., Watson, N., (1989). Invitation to effective speech communication. Scott, Foresman.

National Communication Association. (n.d.) What is Communication? https://www.natcom.org/about-nca/what-communication

O’Sullivan, P. B., & Carr, C. T. (2018). Masspersonal communication: A model bridging the mass-interpersonal divide. New Media & Society, 20(3), 1161-1180.

Webb, L. and Thompson-Hayes, M., (2002). “Do popular collegiate textbooks in interpersonal communication reflect a common theory base? A telling content analysis.” Communication Education, 51, 210-24.

• Human communication: The process through which human beings make sense of the world through interpretation and share meaning with one another

• Interpersonal communication: Communication that takes place between people usually to establish, or manage a relationship.

• Context: The frame of understanding through which communication takes place

• Interpersonal context: Communication between two individuals

• Intercultural context: Communication between people from different cultures

• Group context: Communication between people in a group

• Organizational context: Communication between people who are part of the same organization

• Mass communication context: Communication that is directed to a mass audience