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Overview of
Interpersonal
Communication
Chapter 2
In this chapter we will explore:
• What is interpersonal communication?
• The purposes of interpersonal communication
• Components of interpersonal communication
• The process of perception
• Models of interpersonal communication
• Interpersonal communication skills
What is interpersonal communication?
• Sending and receiving messages with others about personal
experiences and information
• Formal and informal exchanges
• Face‐to‐face and mediated contexts
• Helps individuals achieve personal and professional goals
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What purposes does interpersonal
communication achieve?
• Meet Personal Needs
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
What purposes does interpersonal
communication achieve (cont.)?
• Meet personal needs
• Communicating and meeting personal needs
• Learning about self and others
• Self‐concept
• Self‐esteem
• Building and maintaining relationships
• Reducing uncertainty about others
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How do we get to know new people?
• Uncertainty Reduction Theory
• People want to know what other people will say and do
• Cognitive uncertainty
• Behavioral uncertainty
• Charles Berger and Richard Calabrese posit that we try to eliminate
unknowns when we first meet a new person
• Reduce uncertainty
• Reduce anxiety
How do we get to know new people (cont.)?
• Three types of strategies to learn more about someone and reduce
uncertainty:
• Passive strategies
• Active strategies
• Interactive strategies
• Self‐disclosure
• Evaluations of others:
• Person’s ability and likelihood to reward or punish others
• Degree to which they meet or violate one’s social expectations
• Likelihood that one will reencounter the individual
What makes interpersonal communication happen?
• Sender or source
• Receiver
• Message
• Channel
• Feedback
• Environment
• Noise
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What makes interpersonal communication
happen (source)?
• Sender or source
• Initiates communication
• Creates the message or content (encoding)
• Selecting the transmission channel
• Individual characteristics shape message construction
What makes interpersonal communication
happen (receiver)?
• Receiver
• Decodes the message
• Using five senses
• Message reception and understanding is shaped by:
• The environment in which the message is transmitted
• Receiver’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, values, history, prejudices, etc.
• If the receiver fails to understand the message, then communication did
not occur
• Communication partners simultaneously serve as senders and receivers
What do we communicate?
• Message
• Any type of textual, verbal, and nonverbal aspect of communication in which
individuals convey meaning
• Message transmission:
• Intentionally and unintentionally
• Verbal, nonverbal, text
• The essential function of a message is to communicate meaning
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How do we communicate?
• Channel
• The pathway or medium in which messages are conveyed
• Impacts the communication message, its reception, and receiver feedback
• Traditional channels
• New media channels
How do we know communication is successful
(feedback)?
• Feedback
• Information shared back to the sender, which keeps communication going
• Provided internally or externally
• Positive, negative, neutral, or ambiguous
How do we know communication is successful
(environment)?
• Environment
• The context or situation in which communication occurs
• Affects communication with others
• Can be related to fields of experience or a person’s past experiences or
background
• Environments may overlap or remain independent of each other
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How does the context impact communication?
• Noise
• Anything that hinders or distorts the message being sent or received
• No noise = the message is received and understood
• Noise = negatively impacts the message in some way
• Types of noise
• Physical noise
• Psychological noise
• Semantic noise
• Physiological noise
Do our perceptions matter?
• Perceptions: The process of acquiring, interpreting, and organizing
information via one’s five sense
• Continuous process in which one’s experiences and preferences shape
individuals and how they communicate
• Stages of perception:
• Attending
• Organizing
• Interpreting
Do we only perceive the things that we attend to?
• Attending is the act of focusing on specific objects or stimuli in the world
around you
• Selective perception: Attending to a specific thing while ignoring other things
• How do we decide what to attend to?
• Things that are extreme, intense, exceptional, or extraordinary
• Things that are different, unusual, or contradictory
• Things that are repetitive
• Things that are personally motivating or important
• One’s emotional state
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How do we make sense of incoming stimuli?
• Organizing: Making sense of and defining incoming stimuli
• Schemes used to classify perceptions
• Physical constructs
• Role constructs
• Social behaviors
• Psychological constructs
How do we evaluate information?
• Interpreting: The act of assigning meaning to a stimulus in order to
evaluate and understand its worth:
• Personal experience
• Relational involvement
• Expectations
• Assumptions
• Relational satisfaction
How can we conceptually organize the
communication process?
• Model:
• A simplified representation of a system
• Often a graphic
• Highlighting crucial components and important connections
• Models help people understand how real‐world communication
interactions occur
• Eliminates unnecessary components to increase clarity
• Aid in decision making
• Explain, control, and predict events based on past observations
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What kind of models pertain to interpersonal
communication?
Interaction Transaction
Action models
models models
What kind of models pertain to interpersonal
communication (action)?
Interaction Transaction
Action models
models models
One‐directional
communication from
source to receiver
Action Models
Shannon‐ Early Schramm Berlo’s SMCR
Weaver Model Model Model
• Linear
communication
• Sender encodes
message through
channel to receiver,
who decodes
message
• Feedback is not
immediate
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Shannon and Weaver Model
Action Models Continued
Shannon‐ Early Schramm Berlo’s SMCR
Weaver Model Model Model
• Linear • Communication is
communication not linear, but a
• Sender encodes process
message through • Messages are
channel to receiver, interpreted based on
who decodes individual factors
message • Unsuccessful when
• Feedback is not feedback is absent,
immediate ineffective, or
incomplete
Schramm Model
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Action Models cont.
Shannon‐ Early Schramm Berlo’s SMCR
Weaver Model Model Model
• Linear • Communication is • Sender
communication not linear, but a
• Sender encodes process • Message
message through • Messages are • Channel
channel to receiver, interpreted based on
who decodes individual factors • Receiver
message • Unsuccessful when
• Feedback is not feedback is absent,
immediate ineffective, or
incomplete
SMCR Model
What kind of models pertain to interpersonal
communication (interaction)?
Interaction Transaction
Action models
models models
One‐directional Communication is
communication from continuous both sender
source to receiver and receiver are
responsible for effective
communication
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Interaction Models
Osgood and Watzlawick, Beavin,
Schramm Model and Jackson Model
• Communication circular and complex
• Communication is reciprocal and equal
• Messages are based on interpretation
• Involves encoding, decoding, and
interpreting
Osgood‐Schramm Model
Interaction Models cont.
Osgood and Watzlawick, Beavin,
Schramm Model and Jackson Model
• Communication circular and complex • Communication is continuous and
• Communication is reciprocal and equal conversational
• Messages are based on interpretation
• Every message is meaningful
• Involves encoding, decoding, and
interpreting • Stimulus, response, and reinforcement process
• Analogical or digital
• Symmetrical or complementary
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Watzlawick‐Beavin‐Jackson Model
What kind of models pertain to interpersonal
communication (transaction)?
Interaction Transaction
Action models
models models
One‐directional Communication is Individuals are
communication from continuous in which simultaneously the
source to receiver feedback is provided sender and receiver
Barnlund’s Transactional Model
• Message encoding and decoding occur simultaneously
• Communication is a continuous, endless cycle
• Communication constantly changes
• Multi‐layered feedback system involving oral and nonverbal
communication
• Communication is complex
• Cues (e.g., public, private, behavioral)
• Context (e.g., social, cultural, relational)
• Noise (e.g., physical, physiological, psychological, semantic)
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Transactional Model of Communication
Model of mindful communication
Transactional model of
communication
Shapiro & Carlson’s
mindful practice:
attention, intention, and
attitude
Communication is more
conscious, focusing on
effective communication
What makes you a great interpersonal
communicator?
• Mindful Listening
• Carefully and thoughtfully attending to the message being transmitted
• People Skills
• A set of characteristics helping you understand and interact with others
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
• Ability to identify your own emotions and the emotions of others, using that
information to guide one’s behavior
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Does communication need to be ethical?
• Ethics are a set of moral values each person carries throughout life
• National Communication Association general credo for ethical
communication
• Truthfulness • Condemn degrading
• Freedom of expression and communication
diversity • Expression in pursuit of fairness
• Understanding and respect • Respecting privacy and
• Access to resources and confidentiality
opportunities • Accept responsibility
• Respect individuality
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