Download - Interpersonal Communication Magazine
Why is interpersonal
communication important to human
life?
Let’s find out…
Interpersonal Communication
Dive into the magical and natural
process of relationships development.
Why do we need to communicate?
We communicate everyday in every way, sometimes
without even knowing…
THEORIES
¨The study of interpersonal communication looks at a variety of elements that
contribute to the interpersonal communication experience…¨
First Edition available online on ISSUU
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July 3th, 2015
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ditorial B
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Why do we need to communicate?
Happy holidays from our family to
yours!
As humans we interact with each other
on a daily basis, and as a happy
consequence relationships start to
show development and growth. It is in
the human nature to share feelings,
emotions, thoughts, ideas, etc, and we
always do it like a basic instinct, without
even knowing it. We need to
communicate in order to make a
connection with someone else, the
other end in the process of
communication, we want to share stuff,
we want to know more about
something or about that someone, we
want to be heard.. And this can’t
happen if we don’t communicate. It is
an important process that allows us to
connect with people in such levels that
it almost feels like it is meant to be.
Interpersonal
Communication
Let’s talk about…
Happy holidays from
our family to yours!
Interpersonal communication is a
process where a sender and a
receiver exchange information
between each other. It starts with
a sender who transmits the
information or a message through
a channel until it reaches to the
receiver who translates the
information and then it becomes
the sender with a follow up
information or answer. Obviously,
Communication is effective when
there is a feedback between the
people involved in the process.
It is also important to point out that
Interpersonal Communication
happens between two or more
people, and it order to be
successful the message has to be
understood between the people
involved. Also, there are lots of
ways people use to communicate
nowadays, Internet is and always
will be an important factor that
affects the communication, it
could be for good or bad, it is
changing the way we
communicate, but at the end of
the day we still communicate.
TONGUE TWISTER!!:
Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter
Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked?
Uncertainty reduction theory
Uncertainty is unpleasant and therefore
motivational; people communicate to
reduce it. Uncertainty reduction follows
a pattern of developmental stages
(entry, personal, exit). During the entry
stage information about another’s sex,
age, economic or social status, and
other demographic information is
obtained. Much of the interaction in
this entry phase is controlled by
communication rules and norms. When
communicators begin to share
attitudes, beliefs, values, and more
personal data, the personal stage begins.
During this phase, the communicators feel
less constrained by rules and norms and tend
to communicate more freely with each
other. The third stage is the exit phase. During
this phase, the communicators decide on
future interaction plans. According to the
theory we reduce uncertainty in three ways:
1. Passive strategies: observing the person.
2. Active strategies: asking others about the
person or looking up info.
3. Interactive strategies: asking questions,
self-disclosure.
Welcome to theories
As humans we interact
with each other on a
daily basis and
relationships are
developed, some you
may refer to as
acquaintances this is a
very complex process
that we go through every
day of our lives,
repeating it over and
over, encountering
people that we may end
up either knowing or not
until the day we die.
There are also people
that you go so as far as
to love them, which for
me is the highest level of
human communication
and involvement.
Using the word love is the
highest honor that I can
give someone because it
puts him/her at the same
level as the woman that
gave me life, my mother.
Exploring theories of
interpersonal
communication.
Written by: Carlos López
Personal Thought…
“When I first started with this research. I
was thinking “I will find a bunch of
difficult theories” However it was very
interesting to find a bunch of ways
and ideas to develop the process of
communication.
It’s very important to remark that
interpersonal communication is an
interactional process between two
people (a dyad), either face-to-face
or through mediated forms.
And for our knowledge it’s very
proactive to know how we had an
idea about the configuration of
reality.”
the partners and between members
of the partnership and others"
(Huston & Burgess, 1979, p. 4). Social
exchange theory argues the major
force in interpersonal relationships is
the satisfaction of both people’s
self-interest.
This is a humanistic theory because
it has intuitive credibility, it makes
sense and is relative to actual
communication practice. It has a
systematic approach and is timely.
There are multiple truths. It also has
heuristic value because it is easily
applicable to situations.
Social Exchange Theory
Symbolic Interaction Theory
3. Thought: The
third core principle of
symbolic interactionism
is thought. The thought
implies the
interpretations that we
have assigned to the
symbols. The basis of
thought is language. It is
a process of mentally
conversing about the
meanings, names and
symbols. The thought
includes the
imagination. Which
have the power to
provide an idea even
about an unknown thing
based on known
knowledge.
Dig
a li
ttle
de
ep
er
in in
terp
ers
on
al c
om
mu
nic
atio
n.
The Communication Theory of
Social Exchange is a theory based
on the exchange of rewards and
costs to quantify the values of
outcomes from different situations
for an individual. People strive to
minimize costs and maximize
rewards and then base the likeliness
of developing a relationship with
someone on the perceived possible
outcomes. When these outcomes
are perceived to be greater, we
disclose more and develop a closer
relationship with that person.
The social exchange theory uses
Thibaut and Kelley’s (1959) theory of
interdependence. This theory states
that "relationships grow, develop,
deteriorate, and dissolve as a
consequence of an unfolding
social-exchange process, which
may be conceived as a bartering
of rewards and costs both between
This theory says how humans develop a complex set
of symbols that gives meaning to the world in their
perspective. The meanings are molded from the
interactions with the society. And these interactions
are subjectively interpreted by them to suit the
meaning in accordance with the existing symbols. It
can be said that if we need to understand the
behavioral patterns of the society we need to
understand the existing symbols. The Interactions
which molded the symbols also create a social
structure. The symbolic interactionism also articulates
that the individuals build a sense of self identity
through these interactions with the society.
Blummer suggests that there are three core principles
of this theory.
1. Meaning : It suggests that people act and
behave towards the other people and things
based upon the meaning that they have
given to them. The principle of meaning is
central to the theory of symbolic
interactionism.
2. Language : The second core principle which
makes the symbols and interactions
comprehensible to the mind. And which
helps in formulating assumptions
“Symbolic Interactionism is
the way we learn to interpret
and give meaning to the
world through our
interactions with others.”
- Scott Plunkett.
Written by: Carlos López
When hearing a
contradictive message we
have a tendency to
believe the non-verbal hints
we receive.
RELA
TION
SHIP
S =
INTE
RACT
IONS
Written by: Gabriela Flores
Relational Dialectics Theory
Its a concept introduced in 1988 by professors Leslie Baxter and Barbera
M. Matgomery; it focuses on the contradiction in relationships. A
relationship is a union of two different individuals that compromise in many
ways. They experience internal tension while being in that relationship and over the time that pressure could break the bond, or make it stronger. It leads then to consider what could be the best solution; a break up or being
open with each other and solve the problem. We have some common
dialects in a relationship, like openness and closeness; which is
when both partners expect an open communication in order to keep
healthy the relationship. But on the contrary, the individual desires
privacy.
Another is connectedness and separateness. People need to be bonded physically and mentally for a relationship to continue. But on the other hand, too much connectedness can blur a person’s individuality. The relational dialectics can be applied in studying interpersonal relationships. The changes on the behavior of the partners can be comprehended applying the contradictions that balances the relationship. If they want to maintain a relationship, it is important to understand the core concepts of relational dialects.
93% of communication is
no-verbal
RELATIONSHIPS =
INTERACTIONS
Written by: Gabriela Flores
Coordinated Management
of Meaning Theory
This theory doesn't focuses on the individual
thoughts of the communicators, nor on
the characteristics of the society in which they live. Instead, it focuses on the interaction between the communicators and the members of the society. It is this interaction that
generates the meaning of the messages that are
sent and received. CMM is not a single theory. It is rather a unified collection of interrelated definitions
and explanations.
Taken together, the six elements of the CMM model (content-speech
act-episode-relationship-self concept-cultural pattern) define a
hierarchy of situations and actions that describes the "communicational
dance." When we interact with others, we do so in the context of a
relationship, and each contact occurs as a particular event or
episode. Our face-to-face communication consists primarily as speech acts which frame the actual words or the content of our speech.
BE SOCIAL! E
OC
IAL!
Written by: Berliomar Rodríguez
Social Penetration
Theory The social penetration is a type of affective
relationship in which the individuals spend more than a superficial communication to a more intimate
(privacy in this case exceeds the physical aspect).
According to Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor, relations vary greatly in their social penetration (is not the same a relationship employee-head that wife-husband); note that all relations are still some kind of particular path, organized in some way, and with a predictable development.
The process of social penetration account with four systematic steps:
Stage of Orientation: reveal certain parts (small) of ourselves to the other.
Affective exploratory stage: emergence of an individual's personality. Expands the private to the public.
Effective stage: spontaneous communication and use of personal drawings, which pose a greater commitment to the other. This phase includes details that make a unique relationship.
Stable phase: efficient communication; establishment of a personal system of communication. There is total honesty, spontaneity and confidence; very few relationships reach this stage. There are few errors or misunderstandings and establishing a system of communication itself.
Penetration stage (optional): there is imbalance in the relationship and reaches its
extinction.
1
2
3
4
*
PATTERNS ORSIMILARITIES?
Relational Patterns of
Interaction Theory
Written by: Berliomar Rodríguez
Interactions of a person with the other can be thought as in certain patterns. There is always
some template that you can define any communication. Some patterns of interaction are:
Symmetric Relations: When the individuals involved in the communication respond in a similar way, are mirror images of each other.
Complementary Relationships: The participants in the communication are totally different in the
way in which they react. Like if a person is stupid and the other always argues that are
complementary to each other.
65% of what we learn about another
person when communicating is by
observing non-verbal body language.
ID
EN
TIT
Y IN A
CT
IO
N
Identity Management Theory
This theory explains the basis of the theories of
identity management Erving Goffman, which were
developed by the authors William R. Cupach and
Tadasu Todd Imahori. They described as intercultural
communication refers to how people interact with
others of theirs same environment and origin differ,
and intercultural respect to the communication of a
group of people who differ from their origin, whether
with respect religion, ethnicity, education or social
background. Also speaks of what is identity, which
nothing but personality possessed by each individual
and can also be the view that people have of
themselves either individually or in a social setting.
Written by: Gabriela Acosta
7% of communication is what
you say (words), 38% is how
you say it, and 55% is body
movement.
NOT A PRIVATE THEORY
Communication Privacy Management Theory It was first developed by Sandra Petronio in 1991,
but it truly came together as a theory in 2002
when she published her book, giving it its title.
This theory talks about the limits and barriers we
place on our privacy, how much information about
ourselves we disclose to people and how much
information we keep private. This allows us to
know step by step people and inquire more about
their privacy, people choose to say or not, the
information we choose to disclose or keep private
can bring about both risks and rewards.
The rule based management
system allows for management on
the individual and collective levels
and is a complex arrangement
consisting of three processes:
privacy rule characteristics,
boundary coordination, and
boundary turbulence.
Written by: Gabriela Acosta
LeT’s TheORiZE…
This theory suggests that people tend to look for new situations when they feel discomfort about it. Let’s see what that means: People have thoughts, attitudes or opinions about
something, so when they receive new information or when they are in the middle of a situation they use those thoughts, attitudes
or opinions in order to process it, so when the outcome doesn’t feel right to them that’s
when the dissonance or the discomfort happens.
So basically, people avoid situations that would
potentially cause discomfort. For example: Someone
would think that maintaining a healthy life is important,
but they don’t usually go to the gym, work out or even
eat healthy; there’s a contradiction there, between
what they think and their actions. The theory was
developed in the 1950s by Leon Festinger.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory…
Attribution Theory Attribution theory is all about how individuals make
assumptions towards seen behavior in their surroundings. This theory assumes that we make
judgments before an action or a behavior happens, so it means, we make conclusions beforehand. For
example: If we make a joke in front of people and they don’t laugh, you start to think if you aren’t funny
enough, there is something wrong with them or they decide not to laugh to make you feel bad. The
attribution doesn’t also apply to internal thoughts, there is also external factors that can be attributed to
an existent situation, in that example could be that maybe they didn’t hear you well, they didn’t
understand the joke, or that is was a bad joke or offensive to someone in the group.
Written by: Javier Benitez
When hearing a contradictive message
we have a tendency to believe the non-
verbal hints we receive.
…oUr beHAVIors
Expectancy Violations
Theory We have now reached to the theory that
confuses everyone, and not because the
theory is hard to explain but because it is
all about non-verbal communication and
that sometimes confuses people when they
try to read sign and body language.
This theory states that individuals expect the non-verbal behavior to be based on the
social rules, past experiences and situational aspects of that behavior, so
when that non-verbal communication follows the pattern people could judge
them to be positive or not, same thing for the other way around, when the pattern of
non-verbal communication isn’t right.
On a personal note, all of these theories are important to have a better understanding of how interpersonal communication works. We now know that it isn’t just about talking to another person or a group of people, it is more than that, there are factors and situations that affect or are involved in the process
of communication than just sharing information back and forth. We can conclude that there are too many things going on inside our heads before the communication starts, even though, we are still sending signals without even knowing it. Interpersonal communication goes to show that without it, there
wouldn’t be something to talk about.-
I communicate
Written by: Javier Benitez
This Magazine was brought to you by:
Acosta, Gabriela.
Benítez, Javier.
Flores, Gabriela.
López, Carlos.
Rodríguez, Berliomar.