Psychology of communication
Konstantin RnD
???? IT Lead Product manager | B2B | B2C | Digital | Mobile and Web Apps | R&D |
Magical guide about?#productmanagement. Part 10 article #66
Communication (Latin communicatio) — literally meaning “common” or “shared by all”. In practical terms, it is a process of exchanging ideas and information between two or more people, leading to mutual understanding.
The objectives of communication may be as follows:
How is communication different from communication?
Many people believe that these two words are synonyms, and use them accordingly. However, their meaning is different, so these concepts should not be confused and identified.
Communication is an interpersonal interaction in which individuals exchange emotionally meaningful messages. A significant part of communication is carried out more for the sake of exchanging emotions than for the sake of transmitting information.
Communication is the process of purposeful exchange of information between individuals or groups (speeches, negotiations, reports, business correspondence). Emotions may be present in communication, but they are not as pronounced as in communication.
Mechanisms of influence in social communications
Psychological influence is the impact on the state, thoughts, feelings and actions of another person using exclusively psychological means, with the granting of the right and time to respond to this impact. Exclusively psychological means of influence include verbal, paralinguistic and non-verbal.
Verbal signals?are words and, above all, their meaning, but also the nature of the words used, the selection of expressions, the correctness of speech or different types of its irregularity.
Paralinguistic signals?are features of speech utterance, individual words and sounds.
Nonverbal signals?— the mutual location of the interlocutors in space, poses, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, appearance design, touches, smells.
By interacting, people influence each other. The mechanisms of this influence are as follows.
1. Argumentation?— the statement and discussion of arguments in favor of a certain decision or position in order to form or change the interlocutor’s attitude to this decision or position.
2. Self — promotion?— declaring one’s goals and presenting evidence of one’s competence and qualifications in order to be appreciated and thereby gain advantages in elections, appointment to office, etc.
3. Manipulation?is a hidden motivation of the addressee to experience certain states, make decisions and/or perform actions necessary for the initiator to achieve his own goals.
4. Suggestion?is a conscious, undocumented influence on a person or group of people, with the aim of changing their state, attitude to something and creating a predisposition to certain actions. According to V. Bekhterev’s definition, this is “direct inoculation of mental states that does not need evidence and logic” [Bekhterev, 2009]. Suggestion differs from infection in that the suggestive (suggestor) he himself is not in the state that he is trying to instill in the perceiver of suggestion (suggestion). This process is accompanied by a decrease in consciousness and critical perception, lack of active understanding and detailed logical analysis.
5. Infection?is the transfer of one’s condition or attitude to another person or group of people who somehow (not yet found an explanation) adopt this condition or attitude. The state can be transmitted either involuntarily or arbitrarily, assimilated — also involuntarily or arbitrarily. The result is the effect of multiple mutual reinforcement of the emotional states of communicating people, which is most intensively manifested in a crowd, but can also occur in small groups.
6. The awakening of the impulse to imitate?— the ability to cause the desire to be like yourself. This ability can manifest itself both involuntarily and arbitrarily. The desire to imitate and imitation (copying someone else’s behavior and way of thinking) can also be arbitrary and involuntary.
7. The formation?of favorability — attracting the involuntary attention of the addressee by showing the initiator his own originality and attractiveness, expressing favorable judgments about the addressee, imitating him or rendering him a service.
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8. Request?— an appeal to the addressee with an appeal to satisfy the needs or desires of the initiator of the impact.
9. Ignoring?— deliberate inattention, absent-mindedness towards the partner, his statements and actions. Most often it is perceived as a sign of neglect and disrespect, but in some cases it acts as a tactful form of forgiveness for tactlessness or awkwardness committed by a partner.
10. Forcing a person?to perform certain actions with the help of threats and deprivation. In the most severe forms of coercion, threats of physical violence, restrictions on freedom and physical influences can be used. In the last two cases, coercion ceases to be a proper psychological means of influence.
11. An attack?is a sudden attack on someone else’s psyche, committed with or without conscious intent and is a form of emotional tension discharge. Uttering disparaging or insulting judgments about a person’s personality; rude aggressive condemnation, vilification or ridicule of his deeds and deeds; reminder of shameful or deplorable facts of his biography; categorical imposition of his advice, etc.
The constituent elements of communication
Communication procedure
The following stages are distinguished in the communication procedure
Interpersonal communication
The following theoretical directions have contributed to the development of interpersonal communication problems:
For behaviorism, the key factor determining social behavior is external stimuli; for cognitive theories, internal motivations; for psychoanalysis, unconscious drives; for role theory, role prescriptions; the main idea of humanistic psychology is a person’s ability to self — improvement
Motives of communication
The motives that encourage communication can be different, from egoistic-manipulative to altruistic-disinterested. By establishing relationships with other people, a person can strive to dominate, impress, maintain the image of a friendly and benevolent person, etc. However, the most important human needs realized in communication are the need for affiliation (trusting communication) and the need for altruism (the need to take care of others)
Influence on the psyche
According to the observations of psychotherapists, the optimal level of communication depends on the psychotype of the individual. If for extroverts, a high level of communication and attention from others is acceptable and even necessary for well-being, then for introverts, an excessive level of communication can lead to discomfort and emotional burnout. Doctors recommend that such people carefully regulate the level of communication, limiting it to an acceptable level.