ICMS

• Communication


  A two-way process by which information is conveyed or transmitted from a communication source to a receiver who in turn will react to the stimulus
• Forms of communication


  • Interpersonal
  • Intrapersonal
  • Extra-personal
  • Mass communication
• Interpersonal communication


  The process of exchanging messages between people whose lives mutually influence one another in unique ways in relation to social and cultural norms
• A brief exchange with a grocery store assistant who you don't know wouldn't be considered interpersonal communication, because you and the assistant are not influencing each other in significant ways
• If the assistant were a friend, family member, co-worker, or romantic partner, the communication would fall into the interpersonal category
• Reasons to study interpersonal communication

  • Interpersonal communication builds, maintains, and ends our relationships, and we spend more time engaged in interpersonal communication than the other forms of communication
  • People with higher levels of interpersonal communication skills are better able to adapt to stress, have greater satisfaction in relationships and more friends, and have less depression and anxiety
  • Interpersonal communication is also more goal oriented than intrapersonal communication and fulfills instrumental and relational needs
• Instrumental goals


  Goals such as gaining compliance, getting information we need, or asking for support
• Communicating for instrumental goals


  • Asking a friend to help you move
  • Asking a co-worker how to balance a cash register
  • Consoling a roommate who lost their job
• Relational goals


  Goals to maintain a positive relationship
• Communicating for relational goals


  • Organizing an office party for a co-worker
  • Making breakfast with your mom
  • Posting a message on a long-distance friend's Facebook wall
• Self-presentation goals


  Goals to adapt communication to be perceived in particular ways
• Communicating for self-presentation goals


  • A new employee presenting as serious and agreeable
  • Presenting yourself as competent
  • Presenting yourself as friendly
• Instrumental, relational, and self-presentation goals are always working together
• Intrapersonal communication


  Communicating with oneself using internal vocalization or reflective thinking
• Intrapersonal communication


  • It takes place only inside our heads
  • It serves functions like achieving social adjustment, building self-concept, and letting off steam
• Emotions


  Personal experiences that often project what we are feeling on the inside to those around us
• Primary emotions


  Innate emotions experienced for short periods as a reaction to an outside stimulus, similar across cultures (joy, distress, anger, fear, surprise, disgust)
• Secondary emotions


  Emotions that develop over time, take longer to fade, and are experienced in relation to others (love, guilt, shame, embarrassment, pride, envy, jealousy)
• Secondary emotions require more processing and can be managed, making us more competent communicators
• Display rules


  Sociocultural norms that influence emotional expression, including who can express emotions, which emotions can be expressed, and how intense the expressions can be
• In individualistic cultures, expressing emotions is viewed as a personal right and may be exaggerated
• Even though we know that compatible values and shared social networks are more likely to predict the success of a long-term romantic relationship than "passion," Western norms privilege the emotional role of falling in love in courtship narratives and practices
• Display rules


  Sociocultural norms that influence emotional expression
• Display rules influence


  • Who can express emotions
  • Which emotions can be expressed
  • How intense the expressions can be
• Individualistic cultures


  Personal experience and self-determination are values built into cultural practices and communication, expressing emotions is viewed as a personal right, outward expression of inner states may be exaggerated as getting attention is accepted and expected
• Collectivistic cultures


  Emotions are viewed as more interactional and less individual, tied into social context rather than individual right to free expression, emotional displays are more controlled as maintaining group harmony and relationships is a primary cultural value
• Emotional expressions of grief also vary among cultures and are often tied to religious or social expectations
• Emotion sharing


  Communicating the circumstances, thoughts, and feelings surrounding an emotional event, usually starts immediately following an emotional episode, intensity of event corresponds with frequency and length of sharing
• Our social bonds are enhanced through emotion sharing because the support we receive from our relational partners increases our sense of closeness and interdependence
• Our expressions of emotion are infectious due to emotional contagion, or the spreading of emotion from one person to another
• Emotional vocabulary


  The more specific we can be when verbally communicating our emotions, the less ambiguous they will be for the person decoding our message, allows us to convey the intensity of the emotion we're feeling whether it is mild, moderate, or intense
• "I" language


  Communicating ownership of our emotions, may allow us to feel more in control, but may also facilitate emotion sharing by not making our conversational partner feel at fault or defensive
• Communicating emotions through the written (or typed) word can have advantages such as time to compose your thoughts and convey the details of what you're feeling, but disadvantages in that important context and nonverbal communication can't be included, and there is a lack of immediate feedback
• Emotional intelligence

  The ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and action
• Empathy


  The ability to comprehend the emotions of others and to elicit those feelings in ourselves, has important social and physical implications such as attracting and maintaining supportive social networks, lower stress and less anxiety, and overall life satisfaction and optimism
• Responses to low-intensity emotional episodes

  Mostly verbal, such as validating the emotion
• Responses to high-intensity emotional episodes

  Involve nonverbal reactions such as touching, body contact, or embracing, may or may not accompany verbal communication
• Listening is an active process and needs the full participation of the listener to be effective, unlike hearing which can be a passive mode of reception
• Poor listening skills, lack of conciseness, and inability to give constructive feedback have been identified as potential communication challenges in professional contexts
• Empathetic listening can help us expand our self and social awareness by learning from other people's experiences and by helping us take on different perspectives, and can help relational partners manage common stressors of relationships that may otherwise lead a partnership to deteriorate