Good Research Proposal About Critical Analysis Of A Chapter On Interpersonal Communication

Introduction

Before we define interpersonal communication, there is need to understand the meaning of communication. The definition of communication has changed from over the years for example according to Giffin and Patton (1971) Communication is “a process involving the sending and receiving of messages”. Communication is more than just sending and receiving a message, it is more of a way human beings create a meaning for something as spelled out by John Stewart (1999) “that humans build their reality”. Therefore creating a meaning for something involves composing and understanding the situation. On that note, communication can be defined as a process of encoding a meaning of a situation into a massage by a sender and forwarding the information through a channel to a receiver. The receiver depicts the meaning of the message and gives a response related to the sent message that is taken as a reply by the sender.
Interpersonal communication, therefore, is a verbal or non-verbal interaction that occurs between two or more persons somehow related to each other in the sense of the communication process. The communication process starts from the sender of the message who encodes a meaning into the message and sends it through a verbal or non-verbal channel. The message is perceived by the receiver that decodes the meaning from the message and in return is expected to format a response to the sent message.
There is a great bond/relationship that exists between communicators i.e. what one thinks of and says greatly affects what the recipients thinks and says. Interpersonal communication, therefore, includes the communication between a teacher and a student, an interviewee, and an interviewer. Furthermore, the parties involved in the interpersonal communication process are not only connected, but also interdependent in a way that the action of a single party might have great impacts on the other parties involved. For example, a great academic success of a child in a family will have an impact and affect the class teacher, parents of the child, friends, and family, etc.
Because of the interdependence that exists, we notice that interpersonal communication becomes inevitably and essentially rational in nature in a way that it affects and defines and affects relationships that exist between the persons involved. That is the way communication is approached by communicating parties as well as defines the relationships. For example, the way lovers communicate with each other is quite different from the way sisters and brother do, or a policeman and a criminal. On another note, the manner or way in which one person communicates to the other defines the kind of relationship that will exist between the two communicating parties. For example, a teacher who cracks jokes and makes fun in a class becomes more approachable by students than one who always looks rude and hardly mentions polite statements in class. In interpersonal communication, regular use of hurtful and hateful languages or messages is likely to result in a bad relationship. The uses and expression of respectful behaviours and languages will most likely result in supportive and friendly relationships. This is one of the most obvious observations one can make yet so many people don’t seem to appreciate the wide interconnection that exists between what they say and the relationships that develop and or deteriorate.

References

Giffin, K. Patton B (1971) Basic readings in interpersonal communication. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1971.
Altman, I., & Taylor,D. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Knapp, M. L., & Daly, J. A. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.