COMMUNICATION

Communication in Health and Social Care

Communication in Health and Social Care

1.1 Theories of communication

Psychoanalytic theory

A model for internal world of a person was explained by Sigmund Freud and he divided it into three different parts that were id, ego and superego. There are different instincts and drives in the life of an individual and it is necessary to properly manage the conflicts between these instincts and drives. Among three different parts of the internal world of a person id can be explained in a way that it is present by birth in the unconscious portion of mind. It deals the pleasure part of life and decides the things that provide pleasure to a person and the things that give pain. Basic instincts and drives are present in the id and it cannot decide the right and wrong things for a person. Ego is the second part of personality and it is present in the conscious part of mind and its main role is to control the desires and wishes of a person. This part is capable to cater with the realities of the world along with proper activities and goals (Pearce, n.d).Superego helps in setting the standards of life of a person and it works on the moral principles which produce two different feelings. A feeling of reward is produced if the societal and parental dictates are followed and guilt is produced in violating them. According to the theory there are certain defense mechanisms that operate in the unconscious part and prevent the person from anxiety. These mechanisms are repression, projection, reaction formation, displacement, sublimation, regression, rationalization, denial and identification (Pearce, n.d).

Behavioral theory The behavioral theory was formulated by Skinner and it is based on observations. The basic concept of the theory is that all the behaviors that are expressed by a person are learned or adapted from the environment. The ideas of traits do not exist according to the theory and the behaviors are learned by different stimuli. The learning is of two types, one is respondent which do not needs an active participation of the individual and the involuntary responses can be conditioned (Kazantzis, Reinecke & Freeman, 2009). The second type is the operant conditioning in which the active participation of the person and it involves the feelings of reward until the behavior is learned by an individual. It is different from the respondent conditioning in a way that the voluntary responses are conditioned (Kazantzis, Reinecke & Freeman, 2009).

Cognitive theory

Cognitive theory was given by Piaget and it is related to the development and intelligence of the human nature. Cognitive theory assists in attaining the knowledge and further it helps in the construction and proper use of the knowledge. According to the theory the cognitive development of an individual is the organization of the mental processes along with maturity and experience. It is further stated that the idea of cognitive development is based on the humans and the language of humans is also dependent on the development ...