The Elements Of Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is cyclic in nature. The message I sent and then feedback is given to complete the communication cycle. As it is on going hence the relationship that is impersonal at the beginning turns into interpersonal where one person is at times the sender and at other times the receiver.

A. Source [sender] – Receiver: Interpersonal communication involves at least 2 individuals. Each person formulates and sends message [sender activity] and at the same time receives and comprehends message receiver activity]. Who you are, what you know, what you believe, what you value, what you want, what you have been told, what your attitudes are, and so on all influence what you say, how you say it, what messages you receive, and how you receive them. Each person is unique and hence each communication situation is unique.

B. Encoding – Decoding: Encoding refers to the act of producing a message [spoken or written] Decoding refers to the act of understanding messages. By sending ideas via sound waves the ideas are put in a code, hence encoding. By translating sound waves into ideas, they are taken out of a code, hence decoding. Thus speakers and writers are called encoders and listeners and readers are called decoders. For interpersonal communication to take place messages must be encoded and decoded.

C. Competence: The ability to communicate effectively is an individual’s interpersonal competence. For example this competence includes the sensibility that in certain contexts and with certain listeners one topic is appropriate and another is not. Knowledge about the nonverbal cues and cultural norms is part of interpersonal competence. Communication competence is learnt by observing others, by explicit instructions, by trial and error and so on. At times people are better communicators as they have been exposed to richer communication situations and have extrovert personalities. These people are regarded easy and comfortable to be with.

It is observed that better interpersonal communication skills result in academic competence, job satisfaction, and meaningful relationships.

	Knowledge of interpersonal communication Leads to Greater interpersonal competence Leads to Greater number of available choices for interacting Leads to Greater likelihood of interpersonal effectiveness

D. Messages

In interpersonal communication messages must be sent and received. Messages may be auditory [hearing] visual [seeing] tactile [touching] olfactory [smelling] gustatory [tasting] or any other combination. The outfit worn by the communicator, the gait, the handshake, the smile or frown, the gaze all communicate messages that are sent and received.

Interpersonal need not occur face to face. It can take place by telephone, through prison cell walls, through video phone or computers. Also notice that messages need not be sent intentionally all the time, slip of the tongue or a slight eye movement may contain a strong meaning as well.

Messages refer to people, world, events, and other messages. Messages that are about other messages are called metamessages, for example: “Do you understand?”, “Did I say that right?”, “what did you say?”, “Is it fair to say that…”, “I want to be honest.”, “that’s not logical…”, “Correct me if I’m wrong”. 2 important types of messages are feedback and feedforward.

E. Feedback Messages

Throughout the interpersonal communication process feedback is exchanged. It is the message sent back to the sender concerning the reaction to what is being said. Feedback tells the sender what effect he is having on the listeners. On the basis of this feedback the speaker may adjust, modify, strengthen, de-emphasize or change the content or form of the messages to get a desired result. Feedback, just like the initial message may be written, spoken or non verbal. Feedback may take 5 different forms.

E1. Positive / Negative: Feedback may be positive when appreciation or agreement is shown, or negative, when criticism or a negative reaction is transmitted. Positive feedback communicates that the sender is right on track and must continue in the same way. Negative feedback tells the person that something is essentially wrong and readjustment is required. A puzzled look from a listener may mean that the speaker needs to clarify a term or explain a concept in greater detail.

E2. Person focused / Message focused: Feedback may center on a person, “You have a great smile” or it may center on the message, “Can you repeat that number?”

E3. Immediate / Delayed: In interpersonal situation feedback is immediate. With the help of word or a gesture a response is communicated. On the other hand in other situations it may be delayed, like the supervisor reads questionnaires after the completion of the course. In media situation the feed back is immediate, but in buying and selling situation it may be delayed until the product is used and results observed.

E4. Low Monitoring / High Monitoring: Feedback varies from spontaneous and totally honest reaction to carefully constructed response to serve a specific purpose. Most interpersonal situations deal with spontaneous reactions but at times, depending on the relationship and situation one may be more cautious in responding, for example head of state in press conference on a foreign soil.

E5. Supportive / Critical: Supportive feedback accepts the speaker and what the speaker says, for example as a person is consoled he is encouraged to talk and whatever he says then is accepted by the audience. Critical feedback is evaluative and judgmental. When critical feedback is given, another person’s performance is judged, as coaching someone in learning a new skill.

F. Feedforward Messages

                         

Feedforward is information that is provided before sending in primary message. They reveal something about messages to come. For instance the content page in a book, the opening para, movie previews, magazine covers and introductions in public speeches. The functions that feedforward performs are opening channels of communication, previewing the message, disclaiming and alter casting.

• There exists the initial willingness to communicate that opens the communication channel. Keeping in view the environmental factors and other contextual features communication is initiated.
• These messages preview other messages, like content ‘I’m afraid I have bad news for you’ the importance ‘listen to this before you make a move’ the form or style ‘ I’ll give you all the intricate details’ or the positive or negative quality of subsequent messages ‘you’re not going to like this but here is what I heard’.
• The disclaimer is a statement that aims to ensure that the message will be understood and will not reflect negatively on the sender.
• Feedforward is often used to place the receiver in a specific role and requests that the receiver responds in terms of the assumed role. For instance if it is asked of the receiver that ‘As an advertising executive what do you think of corrective advertising?’ This question asks for a response from a specific perspective.

G. Channel

To communicate channel is the medium through which messages pass. The channel acts as a bridge connecting sender and receiver. Communication rarely takes place over only one channel. Multiple channels are used to communicate messages, like in face to face interaction mainly speaking and listening takes place but at the same time gesturing and hand movements are also present.

H. Noise

Noise enters into all communication systems no matter how well designed and sophisticated. Noise is anything that distorts or interferes with the message reception. Five main types of noise are physical, psychological, technical, social and semantic [language based]. Noise cannot be eliminated, but its effect can be reduced.

I. Context

Communication always has a context which influences the form and content of your messages. At times the context is obvious, like the difference in the manner of communication in a funeral home, a huge stadium, a rock concert a quiet restaurant. At other times the context is intrusive as underlying rivalry between 2 members of a bigger group. There are 4 basic dimensions to it:

1. The physical dimension is the concrete environment in which communication takes place.
2. The temporal dimension refers to the time, day and moment in history and the overall placement of message in the sequence of communication.
3. The socio psychological dimension includes status, relationship, roles, norms of society, formality, friendliness etc.
4. The cultural dimension is the influence of one’s nationality on the over all message encoding or decoding.

J. Purpose

The purpose of interpersonal communication is to learn, to relate, to influence, to help etc. In this world human beings are dependent on other people to fulfill their own roles. If they are unable to form communicative links they will fail in their own various responsibilities. Hence the importance of IPC is immense and gaining conscious knowledge of it gives one an edge to communicate more effectively.

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