Communication

Describe the process by which self-concept is developed and maintained.

Understand how perceptions, emotions, and nonverbal expression affect interpersonal relationships.

Define emotional intelligence and its role in effective interpersonal relationships

Communication is a process which involves two people: the person transmitting the communicated information and the person receiving it. In order for communication to be effective, there must be a good link between the two. This is true whether the communication takes place at home, at work, or in the society at large. The ability of a person to accurately receive communicated information is based in part on that person's perception of the communicator. The receiver will be affected by both verbal and nonverbal cues in formulating an idea of what the other person is trying to say. Because of this, it is important that the communicator be aware of what type of image he or she is presenting to the receive " The role played by self-perception in effective communication is extremely important. Self-perception is largely based off of what we believe others think of us.

Researchers discovered that head posture had a "weaker" effect on the viewer than smiling did. What this shows is how powerful nonverbal communication can be, even when first meeting a person. How we perceive their movements and facial expressions can give us clues to how they are feeling, and how we might interact with them. These clues include how happy the person is, how reliable they are, how sympathetic they are, and how optimistic they are. All these qualities were perceived simply from a photograph, not from a physical meeting with the person. The study concluded that smiling is an extremely important form of nonverbal communication, and it is used universally as a recognizable and pleasing form of nonverbal communication."

The effects of non-verbal communication in the workplace are more important than ever in today's multicultural world because each ethnic group brings their own culture into the workplace. The most common uses of non-verbal communication in the workplace is by supervisors and others with high status, who use non-verbal symbols of their status and authority, either consciously or not, to remind those below them of their high position. Because non-verbal communication can differ so greatly between cultures, most organizations have introduced cultural sensitivity training.

Formal organizations are governed by rules and have a hierarchal structure with clear-cut roles and responsibilities. The atmosphere is hushed and emotion is frowned upon. (Morand, 1995) A certain amount of distance, usually between 4 and 12 feet (Morand, 1995), and level of detachment is maintained even between peers. Someone coming into this type of organization, a new employee could assume that suits would be the appropriate manner of dress and that personal issues are to be left at the door, based solely on the environment. Other cues regarding acceptable behavior will be acquired through interactions with others. Business relationships within this type of organization are polite yet friendly. Raised eyebrows or slight frowns indicate that interrupting a speaker or calling a supervisor by their first name is unacceptable."

The more commonly known means of non-verbal communication involve the eyes, face and body. Some of the least known means of non-verbal communication involve bodily appearance, space, touch, clothes and vocal cues. Non-verbal communication is hard to interpret because of its ambiguity."

This paper introduces and analyzes three journal articles on non-verbal communication. The first article is "Methods and Techniques: A Method for Teaching about Verbal and Nonverbal Communication" by Mark Costanzo which discusses teaching non-verbal communication by using the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT). The second article is "The Effect of Smiling and of Head Tilting on Person Perception" by Emma Otta et al, which profiles a study on head tilting and smiling and the effect it has on the perception of the person. The third article is "The Nature of Rapport and its Nonverbal Correlates" by Linda Tickle-Degnen and Robert Rosenthal which discusses rapport as another important form of nonverbal communication and how rapport changes as a relationship matures.

Ultimately, the researchers discovered that head posture had a "weaker" effect on the viewer than smiling did. What this shows is how powerful nonverbal communication can be, even when first meeting a person. How we perceive their movements and facial expressions can give us clues to how they are feeling, and how we might interact with them. These clues include how happy the person is, how reliable they are, how sympathetic they are, and how optimistic they are. All these qualities were perceived simply from a photograph, not from a physical meeting with the person. The study concluded that smiling is an extremely important form of nonverbal communication, and it is used universally as a recognizable and pleasing form of nonverbal communication."

It is essential to have an ongoing commitment to continually improve verbal, non-verbal and written communications for anyone pursuing immediate academic objectives, and further, professional objectives in business. The need to have a strongly developed set of verbal, non-verbal and written communications is in many professions just as important if not more important than having technical skills, as business is by nature highly collaborative. The ability to quickly become part of a broader team and contribute to objectives is even more important than knowing more than everyone else. Contributing through collaboration is a skill that continually needs refining and strengthening if a business student will be able to progress into a successful professional career."

This paper examines how communication is a process by which we produce signals ourselves and receive and interpret the signals of others, using our five senses. The senses, used for human communication, are hearing/sound production, sight, touch, smell and taste. It also discusses the importance of non-verbal communication. The film "To Live Again" about the rescue and rehabilitation of a young woman after 16 years of solitary confinement in her own room at the hands of her mentally-ill mother, is used as an example to demonstrate the importance of good communication skills.

From the Paper

"The Johari model of the self or four selves provides insight into the role of self-awareness in communication. 'The Johari Window' is a model