Understanding Communication In Close Relationships

547 Words3 Pages
Understanding Communication in Close Relationships Understanding Communication in Close Relationships Without communication, human relationships would not exist. The desire to be connected to others is what sets humans apart from other living creatures. Communicating effectively in close relationships requires overcoming barriers. These barriers may be gender differences, moods, emotions, and assumptions of meaning. Each of these has its own effect on communication and the misunderstandings that may come if one is not aware of the barrier. It is vital to the health of human relationships that we are aware of these communication barriers and make an effort to understand each other. As described in the article titled "Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication" from HealthDay (2011, January), it is shown that spouses believe that they understand each other better than they understand strangers, however, that is not accurate. According to Kenneth Savitsky (2011), professor of psychology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass, "accuracy rates for spouses and strangers were statistically identical." (Par. 6) This is a very interesting finding as most people think that they understand each other better than they actually do. Especially in spousal relationships, we believe that we are on the same wave-length; therefore, to discover how common misunderstandings are because of simple communication barriers is fascinating. These miscommunications may be a large part of the rising divorce rates. When couples feel that they understand each other completely, however, are communicating on different levels, it can be very hard to understand why the communication is failing. As a wife of 9 years, I have had several misunderstandings of communication. The ones that stand out the most are the non-verbal misunderstandings. It is very easy to misread
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