Interpersonal Communication Model

• After studying this chapter students should be able to describe the communication process using a model.
• Students should also be able to identify barriers to communication, and understand verbal/non-verbal codes.
• A further objective is to explain the relationship between verbal/non-verbal communication, and explain different non-verbal codes.

A Model of Interpersonal Communication

• The model involves the sender encoding a message through a medium to the audience who decode it.
• The audience then provides feedback to the sender, creating a loop.

Elements in Communication Process

• Sender: Initiates the communication
• Message: The subject matter being conveyed
• Medium: The means used to convey the message
• Audience: The receiver of the message
• Feedback: The response to the message
• Code: A set of symbols used in meaningful combinations
• Verbal Code: Communication using words, like "Pass the salt."
• Nonverbal Code: Communication without words, like a smile, a gesture, or the color red for danger
• Encode: To make an idea accessible to others
• Decode: To receive, understand, and interpret a message

Communication Contexts

• Communication occurs within a context, which is a set of circumstances or a situation.
• Seven contexts of communication include:
• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• Small-group
• Public
• Mass
• Organizational
• Intercultural
• Intrapersonal Communication: Communication within ourselves, important for self-image formation.
• Interpersonal Communication: Communication between two people, forming the basic unit of communication.
• Small-Group Communication: Communication among people working together towards a common goal.
• Public Communication: Public speaking in public places, largely one-way and formal, like lectures or political speeches.
• Mass Communication: Transmission of a message to a mass audience, traditionally one-way.
• Social media has increased feedback opportunities in mass communication.
• Organizational Communication: Communication among individuals within an organization to achieve shared goals.
• Intercultural Communication: Communication between people of diverse cultures with different values and beliefs.
• Shared meaning is essential, requiring an open, positive, and respectful attitude.

Communication Barriers

• Communication barriers can arise from any part of the communication process.
• Recognizing these barriers helps improve communication.
• A good communicator anticipates and tries to prevent barriers.

Five Categories of Barriers

• Perceptual barriers
• Language barriers
• Physical barriers
• Physiological barriers
• Psychological barriers

Perceptual Barriers

• Occur because perception is the process of interpreting information or giving meaning to the world.
• Perception is unique; no two people perceive a communication situation exactly the same way due to different life experiences.
• Perceptual breakdowns may occur due to cultural background, past experience, selection, needs, and education.

Cultural Background

• People of a similar culture share values, beliefs, rules of conduct, and symbolic codes, such as language.
• Another culture may have a different understanding of what is acceptable.
• Ethnocentrism: The tendency to view one's own culture as supreme.
• Cultural Stereotyping: Results from failing to recognize individuality within a culture.

Past Experience

• No two people have identical experiences, leading to different perceptions of the same situation.
• A bad experience with a dog may cause someone to always see dogs as ferocious and untrustworthy.

Selection

• Individuals tend to select what they want to attend to based on interest and familiarity.

Needs

• Physical and psychological needs influence perception.
• Maslow's theory suggests that unsatisfied lower-level needs make it difficult to motivate people with higher-level needs.

Education

• Education and intellect play a major role in shaping perceptions.
• Professionals like doctors, mechanics, police officers, and reporters perceive the same event differently based on their expertise.

Language Barriers

• Language and its usage often result in communication barriers.
• Issues include different languages, language varieties, misunderstood meanings, jargon, difficult words, insensitive language, pronunciation, incorrect grammar, long sentences, and spelling/punctuation errors.

Physical Barriers

• These are external factors that hinder communication.
• Examples include people talking, a stuffy atmosphere, uncomfortable seats, a weak Internet signal, lack of data, an untidy document, small lettering, or a speaker's untidy appearance or mannerisms.

Physiological Barriers

• These barriers relate to the physical well-being of the participants.
• They are experienced internally by the sender or audience.
• Examples include hunger, headaches, and fatigue.

Psychological Barriers

• These are experienced in the mind.
• Examples include stress, boredom, or a bad attitude.

Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

• Verbal communication involves the use of words, including spoken words (interviews, radio broadcasts, conversations) and written words (letters, books, posters, class notes).
• Non-verbal communication is the process of communicating without words.
• In written messages, communicators use headings, subheadings, paragraphing, different fonts, and pictures.
• In spoken messages, body language and tone of voice are used.

Functions of Non-Verbal Codes

• Expressing meaning such as non-verbal messages convey feelings of the sender and/or the audience towards each other in ways like showing respect.
• Modifying verbal messages are used in conjunction with the verbal message, thus the meaning of the verbal message could be modified or changed.
• Regulating the flow of interaction to indicate a desire to start speaking.
• Complementing add to or elaborate on the verbal message.
• Accenting which underlines the verbal message.
• Repeating the verbal message through non-verbal means.
• Substituting a nonverbal code(s) only.
• Contradicting the opposite of the verbal message.

Types of Non-Verbal Codes

• Proxemics using space to communicate, and Territoriality.
• Clothing and personal adornment are used to convey group membership.
• Gaze which can be the use of eye contact to convey attention.
• Facial expression can be a smile to convey happiness.
• Kinesics can be body movements, or leaning forward to convey interest.
• Voice as the use of the quality of the voice and tone to convey sincerity.