Basic principles and misconceptions in interpersonal communication

Interpersonal Communication

Dear John and Marry

I want to congratulate you on your wedding. I hope that both of you will have a happy life and you can understand each other well. In this letter, I want to give you some guidelines regarding the basic principles of interpersonal communication.

Some of the principles and misconceptions in interpersonal communication

The sharing of thoughts, feelings and ideas with the other person is referred as interpersonal communication. These skills of sharing our feelings are developed through learned behaviors and they can be further improved with practice, reflection, knowledge and feedback. People deal with interpersonal communication on routine basis and it is imperative to understand some of the basic principles of interpersonal communication. These basic principles are described below:

Interpersonal communication is not reversible:

This means that interpersonal communication cannot be reversed back. When a person says something, he cannot take his words back in real sense and cannot remove them from the minds of others. People can only say that forget what I said but this is actually not possible that people will forget something willfully (DeVito, 2012). Therefore, it is imperative to communicate in a good way and to think before communicating with others.

Interpersonal communication is a contextual communication

Since communication cannot occur in isolation, therefore there are certain contexts, which need to be considered in interpersonal communication such as situational, relational, environmental, psychological and cultural context.

Interpersonal communication is not simple

It is a fact that this communication is quite complicated because there are several other things in the mind of a person when he is communicating with the other person. Apart from this, the more the conversation occurs, the more complicated it becomes (Floyd, 2011).

Interpersonal communication is unavoidable

This communication can never be avoided. Even if the person does not want to communicate, he communicates this to the other party through his gestures and postures.

Besides the principles of interpersonal communication, there are some misconceptions about it that are necessary to remove such as some researchers are of the view that effective interpersonal communication can only occur when there is a complete understanding of the message. However, it is a great misconception because at certain times relationships can also be maintained without the proper understanding of the message. For instance, a wife might comment about the beloved pet of her husband, which she dislikes that it will enjoy more if we send it at the neighbor house to play with other pets. In this way, the wife delivers a message, which is not clear, and the relationship is maintained. Another misconception about interpersonal communication is that it solves every problem (West & Turner, 2011). For instance, a wife argues with her husband of coming late at home, the husband and wife then communicates about this problem and it was settled that the husband would not come late at home from the next day. Nevertheless, he did not lose his practice of coming late. In this way, interpersonal communication is a solution for all problems is a misconception.

Some barriers of effective interpersonal communication

Technological barriers

If an interpersonal communication is taking place with the use of technology and any one of the person do not have proper command on the proper usage of then this barrier is likely to occur. Not only is this, but usage of technology in interpersonal communicating is itself a barrier. However, people are bound to use it in case of being at a distant with the other person but since the most effective interpersonal communication can only occur with the natural tone, body language and eye contact, therefore technology is a barrier (Floyd, 2011).

Language barriers

A language barrier may arise in effective interpersonal communication if any one of the person lacks an understanding of the language in which communication is taking place. Apart from this, if any one of the person lacks proper usage of the language, then this can also turn into a barrier.

Psychological barriers

Some barriers also arise due to the perception of a person. Different people have different perception about a particular event or topic and due to this reason; the receiver may interpret the message of the sender in a different way, which was different from the sender's perception. These differences of the perception often act as great barriers in an affective interpersonal communication (West & Turner, 2011).

Emotional barriers

Since everyone has some feelings, therefore emotional barriers are most likely to occur in interpersonal communication. These feelings vary from person to person; due to this reason the extent of this barrier also vary from one person to another. Some people do not communicate in a normal way due to depression, job frustration, illness etc. For instance, a husband who is frustrated due to his job may communicate in a harsh way with his wife.

Desire to participate

Another barrier, which can arise in an effective interpersonal communication, is the lack of desire of the participant to participate in the process of communication. This desire can become a serious barrier on one hand and on the other hand, it can give a negative impact on the other person involved in the communication.

Impact of nonverbal expressions, perceptions and emotions on interpersonal relationships

All of these three features have a significant impact on the interpersonal relationship therefore, it is essential to consider these features and understand them in a deeper sense. Non-verbal communication is a great tool for building relationships. On the other hand, it also helps in cases when a person hesitates to communicate his feelings to the other person. In this case, non-verbal communication is used. For instance, if a person wants to interact with the pother person, the first thing, which he does, is to give a smile, which is a non-verbal act. This smile gives a positive impact to the other party. On the other hand, if a person looks at the person with eager, this will give a negative impact (DeVito, 2012). In this way, non-verbal communication greatly influences the interpersonal relationships. For example, if a wife starts crying due to a conflict with her husband, this gives an impact that she was deeply hearted with that conflict. Similarly, if a husband looks at her with an angry face, this shows that he cry is making the husband angry instead of making him emotionally touched.

In the same way, perceptions and emotions also affect interpersonal relationships. Perceptions largely depend upon the culture and religion of a person. Therefore, it has been commonly observed that most of the marriages end in conflicts if they are between the individuals of two different cultures. Due to the difference in perceptions, they have different expectations from one another and failure to fulfill those expectations usually result in conflicts. Apart from these perceptions, people have different emotions. Some are very emotionally touched while others are entirely different from them. These feelings need to be understood clearly, because they play a vital role in interpersonal relationships (DeVito, 2012). For instance, a husband should understand the emotional level of his wife so that he can consider it in case of any argument with her.

Understand the impact of gender and culture on interpersonal communications:

Culture is an important element and plays a vital role in influencing and shaping up interpersonal communication. Culture is responsible for shaping up our point-of-view, our qualities, our judgments and our opinion of self and others. Cultures are controlling and they are unconscious and very influential. They are more then customs, eatable items, clothing and language. There are two things that should be kept in mind regarding culture and they are, culture keeps on changing and it is pertained to the place where we are performing different activities, which eventually become our identity. Culture derives from groups. It tells us that what things are important and meaningful to us. In some cultures, women are given less importance and in some equal importance are given to both men and women. In both cases, the effectiveness and command in communication may vary for women in both conditions. In some culture, women are even given more importance to men.

Communication is vital for human interaction it can take place between husband and wife, parents and children and so on (West & Turner, 2011). Thus, it would be safe to say that diversity of those who are involved in conversation plays an important factor in determining the uniformity and effectiveness in communication. Male and Female both communicate in a different manner male mostly communicate status and independence where else women mostly focus on intimacy and making connections. Gender influences the way a person communicate. In general, women are more emotional as compared to men. The focus of the females is on building relationships and on feeling however, men focus more on power and status. This is where the problem arises. Men are mostly task oriented, tend to receive or gather information, and help others more as compared to women. Similarly, men tend to handle pressure situation much better as compared to women who most of the time tends to get off the track and carried away with their emotions. Women on the other hand are excellent in communicating and extracting out information from men (Floyd, 2011).

Both culture and gender influence the way that people communicate with each other as they are very important elements in determining the effectiveness of communication taking place between people. All these factors must be studied and carefully researched in order to create a balance and establish effective way of communication.

Describe strategies for managing interpersonal conflicts.

Where there are people, it becomes almost impossible to avoid conflicts. Different people think differently, act differently, behave differently and so chances of conflict will always be high. It is a normal part of our life. However, the main issue is not the conflict but it is how to resolve them. Here are some strategies to manage and resolve intrapersonal conflicts:

Face it:

Whenever conflict arises, it should be discussed and dealt with. There are many situations where things get worse because actual conflict is not addressed which later results in the feeling of regret and guilt (West & Turner, 2011).

Do not ignore it:

Conflicts should never be ignored and the issue should always be dealt with if any conflict arises between husband and wife both should be keen to address each other issues rather then ignoring them and thinking of them as non-issue. This will ultimately help in gaining respect and improving relationships.

Think about it:

It will always be wise to plan how to resolve the issue before the person is approached. This is will help in solving the conflicts.

Communicate face-to-face:

It is always very helpful when issues are discussed face-to-face as it allow both persons to understand each in a much better way and clear thought of communication is transferred to the other person which may assist in resolving various disputes throughout the world (DeVito, 2012).

Use a neutral person to resolve it he issue: It is very important to talk about each other as it will be easier to jump to satisfactory conclusions.

Apologize where required:

We must learn o apologizes whenever and wherever necessary as it helps in cooling down the conflicts and learn from owns mistake.

Judge your own self:

We must be our best judge and held ourselves accountable for the actions that we do.

Try to minimize conflict:

It is important to take all steps related to minimization of conflict by understanding each other and making sacrifices. This may also include to work together to bring together two different minds group and culture together (West & Turner, 2011).

Improve our own communication skills:

We must improve our communication by making our communication effective. We must learn how to deal and get out of situations using words and how to communicate what exactly we feel to the other person.

Avoid trouble:

We must avoid trouble in whatever way we can. It is very important to avoid people and avoid actions that might get us into trouble.

Conflict cannot be completely finished but it can surely be minimized by simply keeping the above factors in mind.