Aspects of the Communication Process; Interpersonal Communication

1. There are seven fundamental elements to interpersonal communication. Whenever we engage in interpersonal communication in any way these elements are present. The nature of these elements is that they are closely interrelated and take place in a circular process.

a. DeVito tells us that when two people communicate there is always a source. The source is where the message originates and is responsible for encoding the message, or assigns meaning to the message (DeVito, 2013).

b. Whoever receives the message that is being communicated is the receiver. As the receiver receives the sender’s message they decode and interpret the meaning of the message then they respond by thinking about the message, they may also provide feedback, take action, etc.

c. Whenever communication is taking place there is a message being communicated, either verbally or non-verbally. There are a number of ways that the message can be transmitted. It can come through words, gestures, eye contact, accent, vocal cues, spatial relationships, touching, clothing, hair, odor and more. Every kind of stimuli or signal that is transmitted, whether or not it is purposeful, from the most obvious word or gesture or the smallest nuance such as scent or lilt of voice contains some sort of meaning that comes through a channel.

d. Channels are the medium through which the message passes. Examples are face to face conversation, touch, sign language, telephone, instant message, email, letter, and even smoke signal. Sometimes things interfere with the message being sent or received. These things can be referred to as noise.

e. Noise is something that interferes with or impedes the message being transmitted or received. It can come from any number of sou...

... middle of paper ...

...be attention-getting in both positive and negative ways. It is through stimuli that we perceive things. How we perceive our world around us affects the way we communicate.

Works Cited

Black, H. K. (1999). A sense of the sacred: Altering or enhancing the self-portrait in older age? Narrative Inquiry 9.

DeVito, J. A. (2013). The interpersonal communication book (13th Edition). Boston: Pearson.

Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., Rudman, L. A., Farnham, S. D., Nosek, B. A., & Mellott, D. S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review.

Gudykunst, W. B., Young. Y. K, (2003). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wood, J.T. (2009). Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.