GEC 05 – PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

MIDTERM PERIOD

Module 2
Principles Of Communication

In http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com, the following principles about the nature of communication are

discussed. These principles will facilitate communication and render it effective:
1) Communication is an interaction situation wherein the participants are affected by each one’s
behaviour. Every message is simultaneously a stimulus to new behaviour and a response to prior
behaviour of the receiver. No message should be isolated from what has occurred before between the
communicants if we really want to understand the message. It should be understood in the totality of the
situation.
2) One does communicate. We do communicate even when we are ignoring the message of
another or maintaining complete silence. An easy way to understand this would be to think what you would
do if someone you did not want to interact with smiled at you. Even by ignoring him, you would still be
communicating, “I do not want to talk to you.” Silence, posture, and other non-verbal behaviors are the
ways we communicate even when we wish to deny doing so.
3) The message received is not necessarily the message sent. We usually relate to others as if
there was only one reality about the way we perceive the world. We all live as separate individuals with
different experiences and different views of reality. How we interpret the verbal and non-verbal messages
may be quite different from the meaning intended by the speaker or communicator. Even when several
people are viewing the same behaviour, each person interprets it differently. While talking or writing, we are
describing only those experiences that occur inside us and they may not be the same for others because
every person is unique. Every person has a different background.
4) Communication occurs simultaneously at more than one level. We communicate on the level of
the literal content of the information being conveyed as well as on the relationship level. In other words, we
do not convey information to the receiver as verbally only. By the context, in which the communication
occurs, and by various verbal and non-verbal cues, we are also telling the other person how we see our
relationship with him, how we see ourselves, and how he should interpret our messages.
This second level of communication is called “meta-communication.” It refers to any verbal or non-
verbal cues about the literal content of the message sent. For example, I may say to another person, “I’m
very happy with you,” and be serious indicating that I do not mean what I say. I may also verbally meta-
communicate by adding, “I was only joking,” which tells the receiver how he should interpret my original
statement.
The context in communication is another important component of meta-communication. If a man
slaps his wife while travelling in the bus, he would be telling the world something different than if he were to
do the same thing in his own house.
Meanwhile, according to http://www.pstcc.edu, there are four basic principles of interpersonal
communication:
1) Interpersonal communication is inescapable. It is impossible not to communicate. The very
attempt not to communicate tells something. Through the tone of voice, gesture, posture, facial expression,
we constantly communicate to people around us. Through these channels, we constantly receive
communication from others. Even when you sleep, you communicate. The basic principle of communication
is “People are not mind readers.” In other words, this means “People judge you by your behaviour, not your
intent.”
2) Interpersonal communication is irreversible. You can not take back something that you have
said. The effect of what you said must inevitably remain. A Russian proverb says “Once a word goes out of
your mouth, you can never swallow it again.”
3) Interpersonal communication is complicated. No form of communication is simple. Because of
the number of variables involved, even simple requests are extremely complex. Theorists note that
whenever we communicate, there are really at least six people involved: (a) who you think you are; (b) who
you think the other person is; (c) who you think the other person thinks you are; (d) who the other person
thinks he is; (e) who the other person thinks you are; (f) who the other person thinks you think he is. We do
not actually swap ideas. We swap symbols that stand for ideas. This also complicates communication.
Words do not have inherent meaning. We simply use them in certain ways. No two people use the same
word exactly alike. Osmo Wiio gives us some communication maxims similar to Murphy’s law (Welin-Goos,
1978; in http://www.pstcc.edu): (a) If communication can fail, it will; (b) If a message can be understood in
different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm; (c) There is always
somebody who knows better than what you meant by your message; (d) The more communication there is,
the more difficult it is for communication to succeed. These maxims are not real principles. They simply
remind us of the difficulty of accurate communication.
4) Interpersonal communication is contextual. In other words, communication does not happen in
isolation. There is: (a) psychological context, which is who you are and what you bring to the interaction.
Your needs, desires, values, and personality are the things that form the psychological context; (b)
relational context, which concerns your reactions to the other person; (c) situational context, which deals
with the psycho-social where you are communicating. An interaction that takes place in a classroom will be
very different from one that takes place in a bar; (d) environmental context, which deals with the physical
where you are communicating. Examples of factors in the environmental context are furniture, location,
noise level, temperature, season, and time of day; (e) cultural context, which includes all the learned
behaviors and rules that affect the interaction. Example, if you come from a culture where it is considered
rude to make long direct eye contact, then you should avoid eye contact with other people. If the other
person comes from a culture where long direct eye contact signifies trustworthiness, and you avoid long
direct eye contact because you have a different culture, then this cultural context would lead to
misunderstanding.

END

Questions to answer:
1) Why are there situations wherein the message received is not necessarily the message sent?
2) Why is interpersonal communication complicated?
3) What is meta-communication?
4) What is the difference between environmental context and cultural context?
5) When you are talking with a person who is not a close friend, and you do not like the topic of your
conversation, what will you do? How will you tell that person politely to stop talking to you? Explain.