Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication: the kind of communication that takes place between two people who are getting to know each other and want to take their relationship from a non-personal one to a personal relationship. There are four principles to this kind of communication. Those principles are it is inescapable, irreversible, complicated, and contextual (pstcc.edu). It is inescapable because we communicated with people every day of our lives either through verbal means or nonverbal cues. It is irreversible because once something is said, it cannot be taken back, even if you apologize for something you have said, the receiver will not forgot what was said. It is complicated because researchers have said there are six “people” involved in interpersonal communication, and they are:
1. Who you think you are.
2. Who you think the other person is.
3. Who you think the other person thinks you are.
4. Who the other person thinks she/he is.
5. Who the other person thinks you are.
6. Who the other person thinks you think they are (pstcc.edu).
It is contextual because there are five contexts to consider in this communication. There is psychological context, which is what you bring to the conversation, situational context which is where you are communicating, environmental context which is the physical location of where the communicating is taking place, and cultural context which are our learned behaviors from our cultures that affect the interaction you are a part of (pstcc.edu)
There are also three stages in which interpersonal communication can take place, and they are engagement, management, and disengagement. Engagement is when you first meet and try to take it to a personal relationship. Management is when you work toward keeping intimacy in the relationship. Disengagement is withdrawing from the relationship, or the break up (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, & DeFleur, 2005; pstcc.edu).
Examples of the three stages interpersonal communication can go through.
