Socratic Life

In order to talk about the different ways in which to improve our communication and start increasing the amount of information that is going back and forth it is necessary to recognize the different inhibitors both external and internal. Next it is necessary to learn new techniques with which to replace these inhibitors.

Defining The Model

While thinking about the best way to do this, one may wish to define some of the parts or sections that we will try to improve upon. Lets start, by defining the parts of the communication model.

The very model itself has a definition. It is known as Interpersonal Communication. This is the sending of messages or data from one person or small group to another person or small group of people with an effect and immediate feedback.

What are the are the characteristics or parts of the interpersonal communication model?

Messages

To have any level of communication occurring there must be something being sent and received. For an example we can take a look at our brains. In order for thought to occur there must be a sender that sends a signal, a signal sent, a receptor to receive it, stimulus upon reception and an effect based on the stimulus. These messages can be packaged in a number of ways including Audio, Visual, Tactile, Olfactory, Gustatory or any combination of them. In understanding this we can see that interpersonal communication does not need to be spoken or between two people standing in front of each other. It can be done on the phone, through instant messaging, video conferencing or Morse code. It is also important that we point out the fact that these messages do not need to occur because the sender or receiver wanted them to. The way that someone stands or blinks or smells can all be messages that are being sent.

Persons

In order to have interpersonal communication, we must have at least 2 people. A sender and a receiver. It does not however need to be limited to this number. Interpersonal communication can occur between small groups of people as well. As all communication does we need to start with oneself. Communication with oneself is can be called intrapersonal communication. We need to separate these two in order to fully understand them. We will also need to separate mass communication and public speaking from our topic as well. Mass communications and public speaking are usually unidirectional only, meaning that the message goes from the speaker to the audience but not from audience to the speaker.

Reception

This may be the most obvious point but it is worth understanding. In order for Interpersonal communication to happen there must be a message received.

Effect

The effect of the message can range from total agreement to an inaudible grunt. In order for it to be interpersonal communication the receiver of the message must somehow be different because of it. This is the effect. It doesn’t necessarily need to be seen or observed by the sender.

Feedback

It is here that I would like to spend the most energy. Feedback is the message that the receiver sends back to the sender after receiving a message. In order for this to be interpersonal communication it is necessary to have relatively immediate feedback of some kind. From nodding of the head in agreement to a lengthy banter of disapproval, we can see where feedback comes into the interpersonal communication model.

Encoding and Decoding

In Interpersonal communication the message must first be taken from thought and then formulated into an audio signal or one of the other ways to send a message. This is called Encoding. By taking this message through input stimulus and translating them into thought we are decoding them. A lot like a message sent from one end of a battle field to the other. It must be first encoded, written down, sent, received, decoded and then understood.

Competence VS Performance

Competence otherwise known as linguistic competence, has to do with our capabilities in the linguistic sense. This is relevent to our understanding of sentences, and punctuation. We have learned rules that when followed allow us to put sounds together that make sentences. Our competence lies in our ability to take this set of grammatical rules and match the sound with the meaning.

Performance is more abstract. It has to do with other factors such as how tired we are or if we are stressed out or not. If we are feeling flighty and have a short attention span, this has to do with our performance. There are many things that can influence a poor performance.

It may be that a person is totally competent in communication and knows all of the rules. In order to communicate fully and properly though, we must work on the performance.