Self Concept, Self Awareness and Interpersonal Communication

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Human communication consists of the sending and receiving of verbal and nonverbal messages between two or more people. (De Vito). It is the interchange of thoughts, opinions or information by speech, writings, signs, body language and sign language. Humans communicate all the time without thinking about it (Brock, Matson, 1995). One form of human communication is interpersonal communication. One way of defining interpersonal communication is to compare it to other forms of communication. Such as intrapersonal communication; talking or dialoging with yourself. Small group communication; which entails five to approximately ten individuals. Public speaker communication, where there is interaction towards an audience and mass communication. Mass communication allows for information to be transported via magazines, television, radios and so forth. Thus, interpersonal communication varies to the other forms in how many participants are engaged, the proximity of the members to each other and whether feedback is immediate. An alternative analysis of interpersonal communication, done by researchers as coined it as the “Developmental view” (Allyn & Bacon, 1994). This view suggests that communication occurs between people who have known each other for some time or share relationships and view each other as unique individuals. We engage in interpersonal communication not only to gain information of another person, but to learn how to effectively communicate with them and create and sustain relationships. Therefore, we would be better able to predict how they think and know who they are. One theory that reflects this is the “Social Penetration Theory.” When people get to know each other better, the layers or the walls come down and exposes ‘true colors’ of the person. (Altman & Taylor, 1973) However, this is generated by the process of self disclosure, the sharing of hidden

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