COMMUNICATION, BASE OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS (I)

Communicaton

Today, The Grandma has started a new communication course in Gavà. It is always a great pleasure to visit this wonderful city and The Grandma is very happy with her new course.

The Grandma loves communication and she enjoys this course that is addressed to people who are working and need to improve their communication skills. She is going to visit Gavà the next four Mondays and she is going to explain what they are going to do in each session.

Communication, from Latin communicare, meaning to share, is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

The main steps inherent to all communication are:

-The formation of communicative motivation or reason.

-Message composition, further internal or technical elaboration on what exactly to express.

-Message encoding -for example, into digital data, written text, speech, pictures, gestures and so on.

-Transmission of the encoded message as a sequence of signals using a specific channel or medium.

-Noise sources such as natural forces and in some cases human activity, both intentional and accidental, begin influencing the quality of signals propagating from the sender to one or more receivers.

-Reception of signals and reassembling of the encoded message from a sequence of received signals.

-Decoding of the reassembled encoded message.

-Interpretation and making sense of the presumed original message.

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The scientific study of communication can be divided into:

-Information theory which studies the quantification, storage, and communication of information in general.

-Communication studies which concerns human communication.

-Biosemiotics which examines communication in and between living organisms in general.

What is Communication?

The channel of communication can be visual, auditory, tactile, electromagnetic, olfactory or biochemical.

Human communication is unique for its extensive use of abstract language. Development of civilization has been closely linked with progress in telecommunication.

Verbal communication is the spoken or written conveyance of a message. Human language can be defined as a system of symbols, sometimes known as lexemes, and the grammars (rules) by which the symbols are manipulated. The word language also refers to common properties of languages.

Language learning normally occurs most intensively during human childhood. Most of the large number of human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others around them.

Languages tend to share certain properties, although there are exceptions. There is no defined line between a language and a dialect. Constructed languages such as Esperanto, programming languages, and various mathematical formalisms are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by human languages.

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Language can be characterized as symbolic. Charles Ogden and I.A Richards developed The Triangle of Meaning model to explain the symbol -the relationship between a word-, the referent -the thing it describes-, and the meaning -the thought associated with the word and the thing.

The properties of language are governed by rules. Language follows phonological rules (sounds that appear in a language), syntactic rules (arrangement of words and punctuation in a sentence), semantic rules (the agreed upon meaning of words), and pragmatic rules (meaning derived upon context).

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The meanings that are attached to words can be literal, or otherwise known as denotative; relating to the topic being discussed, or, the meanings take context and relationships into account, otherwise known as connotative; relating to the feelings, history, and power dynamics of the communicators.

Contrary to popular belief, signed languages of the world (e.g., American Sign Language) are considered to be verbal communication because their sign vocabulary, grammar, and other linguistic structures abide by all the necessary classifications as spoken languages.

There are however, nonverbal elements to signed languages, such as the speed, intensity, and size of signs that are made. A signer might sign yes in response to a question, or they might sign a sarcastic-large slow yes to convey a different nonverbal meaning. The sign yes is the verbal message while the other movements add nonverbal meaning to the message.

Over time the forms of and ideas about communication have evolved through the continuing progression of technology. Advances include communications psychology and media psychology, an emerging field of study.

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The progression of written communication can be divided into three information communication revolutions:

-Written communication first emerged through the use of pictographs. The pictograms were made in stone, hence written communication was not yet mobile. Pictograms began to develop standardized and simplified forms.

-The next step occurred when writing began to appear on paper, papyrus, clay, wax, and other media with commonly shared writing systems, leading to adaptable alphabets. Communication became mobile.

-The final stage is characterized by the transfer of information through controlled waves of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., radio, microwave, infrared) and other electronic signals.

Communication is thus a process by which meaning is assigned and conveyed in an attempt to create shared understanding.

Gregory Bateson called it the replication of tautologies in the universe. This process, which requires a vast repertoire of skills in interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, gestures, and evaluating enables collaboration and cooperation.

Interpersonal communication is the communication between one person and another or others. It is often referred to as face-to-face communication between two or more people.

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Both verbal and nonverbal communication, or body language, play a part in how one person understands another. In verbal interpersonal communication there are two types of messages being sent: a content message and a relational message.

Content messages are messages about the topic at hand and relational messages are messages about the relationship itself. This means that relational messages come across in how one says something and it demonstrates a person's feelings, whether positive or negative, towards the individual they are talking to, indicating not only how they feel about the topic at hand, but also how they feel about their relationship with the other individual.

There are many different aspects of interpersonal communication including:

-Audiovisual Perception of Communication Problems. The concept follows the idea that our words change what form they take based on the stress level or urgency of the situation. It also explores the concept that stuttering during speech shows the audience that there is a problem or that the situation is more stressful.

-The Attachment Theory. This is the combined work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991) This theory follows the relationships that builds between a mother and child, and the impact it has on their relationships with others.

-Emotional Intelligence and Triggers. Emotional Intelligence focuses on the ability to monitor ones own emotions as well as those of others. Emotional Triggers focus on events or people that tend to set off intense, emotional reactions within individuals.

-Attribution Theory. This is the study of how individuals explain what causes different events and behaviors.

-The Power of Words (Verbal communications). Verbal communication focuses heavily on the power of words, and how those words are said. It takes into consideration tone, volume, and choice of words.

-Nonverbal Communication. It focuses heavily on the setting that the words are conveyed in, as well as the physical tone of the words.

-Ethics in Personal Relations. It is about a space of mutual responsibility between two individuals, it's about giving and receiving in a relationship. This theory is explored by Dawn J. Lipthrott in the article What is Relationship? What is Ethical Partnership?

-Deception in Communication. This concept goes into that everyone lies, and how this can impact relationships. This theory is explored by James Hearn in his article Interpersonal Deception Theory: Ten Lessons for Negotiators

-Conflict in Couples. This focuses on the impact that social media has on relationships, as well as how to communicate through conflict. This theory is explored by Amanda Lenhart and Maeve Duggan in their paper Couples, the Internet, and Social Media

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The academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication is communication studies.

The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. 

Communication studies also examines how messages are interpreted through the political, cultural, economic, semiotic, hermeneutic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Statistics, as a quantitative approach to communication science, has also been incorporated into research on communication science in order to help substantiate claims.

More information: Indeed

Communication is a skill that you can learn.

It's like riding a bicycle or typing.

If you're willing to work at it,

you can rapidly improve the quality

of every part of your life.

Brian Tracy