Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication Essay

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The article, Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication, challenges the perception that people intimately connected have greater communication skills than that of complete strangers. Some individuals believe that because they share an intimate rapport their ability to effectively communicate is far greater than those who share no relations. This paper will summarize the article, review an example of this ideology revealing its pitfall, and give suggestions on how to circumvent future communication bias.
In the study conducted in support of the article, Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication, researchers asked married couples to take part in an experiment in which two sets of couples sat in chairs -- with their backs to each other -- and tried to figure out the meaning of phrases whose meaning isn 't entirely clear (Close Relationships, 2011). This set the stage to remove nonverbal communication and forced the couples to rely …show more content…

I had booked tickets to return back to Maryland via Baltimore Washington International Airport. I explained the there was a six hour delay in Philadelphia. I also suggested that I could just drive from Philly to the house in one and a half hours instead of awaiting the six hours to fly from Philly to BWI. I rented a car at Philly to do so. My husband then said he could would pick me up when I get in. He then canceled my rental car in Philly. I thought that we were on the same page and that he would pick me up in Philly and I would forgo the flight to BWI. Instead, he was waiting for me in Baltimore and I was waiting on him in Philly. This was a terrible miscommunication as I now did not have a rental car booked and my flight to BWI already departed. My husband eventually made it to Philly to get me but all of this could have been avoided had we not assumed we were on the same page and verified the

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