Interpersonal Communication



Interpersonal Communication

Introduction

Interpersonal communication refers to a communication process in which individuals share and communicate their various information, feelings and meanings through verbal or non verbal messages. Interpersonal communication usually involves face to face communication, because it is an immediate interaction and communication between individuals. As we have mentioned that interpersonal communication is a face to face conversation between individuals, so the language used is not the only thing to be considered, but the way in which the message is delivered, facial expressions and tone of language is also very important to be considered in an interpersonal communication process (Wood, 2012). It is very obvious that there are some barriers inherent with the communication process, a brief discussion about the barriers and communication spoilers that are experienced by individuals in an interpersonal communication are discussed as follows.

Communication Barriers in Interpersonal Communication

Communication barriers are referred to as the obstacle that serves as a block in the path of effective interpersonal communication. The most significant categories of barriers that affect the effectiveness of interpersonal communication include judging and avoiding other person's concerns. These two categories of communication barriers in interpersonal communication involve various conversation spoilers that spoil or make the conversation between individuals ineffective. A brief discussion on the two categories of communication barriers and one significant conversation spoiler form each category of barriers are discussed as follows.

Judging

Judging is one of an important barrier that could occur in interpersonal communication bet6ween individuals. This barrier relates to the judgment or decision that an individual makes about another individual. This judgment could be positive, negative or influenced by biasness or stereotyping. Judgment becomes a barrier in interpersonal communication when individuals do not make an accurate decision about the other person. One of the significant conversation spoilers in judgment is praising evaluatively (Santrock, 2006).

Praising Evaluaitvely

Praising evaluatively is a communication spoiler that refers to a situation in which an individual praises the actions and abilities of other individuals with an intention of manipulating. This communication could occur when an individual needs the abilities of another individual to complete his or her own task. For example, I experienced this communication spoiler in my academics course. One of my classmates required completing his mathematics assignment, but he did not know this subject very well. So, he used this communication spoiler to praise my skills and abilities towards mathematics just to take advantage of my expertise in the subject. This strategy of praising me just to complete his own task was not acceptable to me and this caused a barrier in the path of effective interpersonal communication between my classmate and me.

In order to prevent this communication spoiler in future and gain success in making interpersonal communication effective, it is very important not to use this praising strategy. In other words, an individual could simply ask for the other person's help in completing his tasks and assignments, instead of using ineffective p0raising for making him do your work. This could be an effective prevention of evaluatively praising ...