The communicative side of communication: concept, examples from life

Greetings, friends!

In psychology, 3 sides of communication are considered:

Perceptual. This is people's emotional perception of each other. Charisma, attractiveness, solidity, facial expressions and other human characteristics matter here.
Communicative. It is the exchange of knowledge, opinions and directions through verbal and non-verbal communication methods.
Interactive. This is the joint activity of people, as well as the actions by which they influence each other.

Today we will talk about the communicative side of communication. We will find out what it is, look at the structure of communication and look at some examples.

What is the communicative side of communication?

The communicative side of communication is the totality of all aspects of interaction aimed at exchanging useful information (knowledge, instructions, ideas, beliefs, opinions, views, etc.). In this case, there are 2 communication channels:

Verbal. These are all types of verbal communication (both oral and written). Verbal communication provides the highest speed of information transfer, and therefore forms the basis of interpersonal interaction.
Non-verbal. This is the transmission of information through gestures, facial expressions and signs, but without the use of words. Nonverbal communication allows small pieces of information to be exchanged quickly.

Thus, the communicative side of communication is not always associated with spoken words. For example, the phrases “Hello!” or “Nice to meet you!” do not convey information, therefore they belong to the perceptual side. At the same time, the usual nod in response to a question is part of the communicative side of communication.

Functions of the communicative side of communication:

Information exchange. This is the transfer and receipt of knowledge of varying degrees of value (scientific discussion, spreading gossip).
Influence on attitudes and beliefs. The “correct” presentation of information allows you to purposefully influence a person’s subjective opinion on any issue.
Giving orders, making demands. An army order, a requirement from superiors, a doctor’s recommendation, a friendly proposal - all this also applies to the communicative side of communication.

Factors

What are the factors that contribute to effective communication? the successful outcome of communication :

A favorable environment in which the conversation takes place . For example, if a situation that implies intimacy, confidentiality of communication, makes it possible for those communicating not to be heard by others, this will contribute to a confidential conversation.
Compatible psychological characteristics of the participants in the conversation .
This includes the gender, age, character and temperament of the participants. As a rule, communication is more successful among people of close age; also, certain types of people by character and temperament interact better with each other.
Same social status. Interaction will be more successful with people belonging to the same social class.
A trusting atmosphere in the team, its cohesion. For example, with established benevolent norms of behavior in a team, professional interaction will be an order of magnitude more effective than in a team in which everyone is accustomed to protecting only their own interests.
Common goals and motives among interacting people. If the situation involves achieving a common goal, as a rule, mutual understanding is established between partners much faster, leading to successful communication.

What are the factors that reduce the effectiveness of communication? These factors significantly reduce the positive outcome of communication :

The situation is inappropriate to the topic being discussed. For example, when trying to discuss a confidential conversation in a public place, the recipient—the person to whom the message is addressed—will avoid the discussion.
Different social status. Communication barriers often arise between people belonging to different social classes.
It is determined by internal prerequisites about one’s belonging to another class, a feeling of one’s superiority or, conversely, inferiority.
Disunity in the team. The effectiveness of business communication will significantly decrease if, according to established norms in a team, everyone must protect their own interests - even with the awareness that this will negatively affect the solution of professional problems.
Various goals. With the initial desire to achieve different goals, especially if it is impossible to achieve a compromise that satisfies all parties, the effectiveness of communication decreases.

Examples of the communicative side of communication

To better understand what the communicative side of communication is and how to separate it from the perceptual and interactive side, let's look at a few examples from everyday life:

Date. When you have a romantic interest, all three aspects are at their maximum. Both the guy and the girl try to impress each other with their appearance, smell and manners - this is the perceptual side of their communication. They tell each other about themselves, their tastes and interests - this is the communicative component. In addition, they engage in various joint activities: walking in the park, eating ice cream, roller skating - this is the interactive side.
Communication in the store. When you approach the counter, the first thing you do is smile at the seller and say hello to him - this is the perceptual side. Then you say what you want to buy, and the seller counts the amount and tells it to you - this is the communicative side. Next, the seller gives you the purchases, and you pay for them - this is the interactive component of communication.
Ads. Suppose we are shown a cup of hot, steaming coffee and a delicious cheesecake topped with syrup. The visuals stimulate the appetite – this is the perceptual aspect (builds trust in the establishment). At the same time, they explain to us how and where we can try all these goodies - this is the communicative component of the advertising message.

In the last example there is no interactive component, since the communication is one-way and does not involve interaction. But the communicative component is fully present and fulfills all its functions: it tells the viewer about the cafe, arouses desire and encourages them to come to the establishment in the near future.

Principles

Principles of effective communication:

Communication should be a two-way process. Only if all participants in the conversation are interested in achieving a positive outcome will the prerequisites for its effectiveness arise.
The person to whom the message is addressed must make every effort to perceive it correctly.
The person conveying the message must make it as clear, concise and understandable as possible.
A level of trust must be established between communicating people that is appropriate to the situation being discussed.
The emotionality of communication must correspond to the message being conveyed.
Tolerance, as a means of increasing the effectiveness of communication, should be inherent in all participants in communication.

All participants must follow the principles of effective communication. The more committed they are to complying with them, the more productive their interactions will be.

Communication structure

Any communication requires the presence of 4 mandatory elements:

message (transmitted information);
message sender (communicator);
link;
recipient of the message (recipient).

In the case of interpersonal communication, there is also a fifth element - feedback. Feedback is the recipient's reaction to a message, which the communicator takes into account. In the examples discussed above, feedback is present between the guy and the girl (they jointly decide how to spend the evening), as well as between the seller and the buyer. But in the example with advertising there is no feedback.

Definition of basic concepts

Effective communication - what is it in psychology?

Currently, the importance of communication in a person’s life is constantly increasing, and therefore requires additional study of the technology of effective communication, as well as mastering skills that contribute to this.

The effectiveness of communication in psychology means the optimal way to achieve the goal of communication , in which the loss or distortion of the true meaning of the meanings, attitudes, and reactions transmitted to a person and received from him is minimized.

Stages of the communication process

Psychologists distinguish 5 stages in this process:

Performance. The sender clearly imagines the thought that he wants to convey to the recipient.
Embodiment. He embodies this thought in the form of a set of words, gestures or symbols.
Broadcast. Information is transmitted to the recipient via the selected communication channel.
Interpretation. The recipient decodes the information, turning it into his own thoughts (not always what the sender expected)
Feedback. The recipient reacts to the message, and the sender reads this reaction.

Looking at this list, it is easy to guess that at each stage of the communication process there may be interference, due to which the meaning of the information will be distorted.

Conditions

Speech communication will be successful if the following conditions are met:

The content of the speech should correspond as much as possible to the purpose of communication , not contain elements that are not related to the topic under discussion, and be concise and adequate.
The speech must be grammatically correct and accurately reflect the message that needs to be conveyed to the interlocutor.
The presentation of thoughts should be logical and consistent . A well-structured narrative structure contributes to its successful perception by the listener.

Means of information transmission

Information can be transmitted in two ways: verbally (verbally) and non-verbally. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Verbal communication

Verbal refers to all forms of information transfer that involve words in one way or another. This may be oral speech, plain printed text, embossed dotted text in Braille, an audio message transmitted using Morse code, or a visual message using semaphore alphabet.

Regardless of the channel of information transmission, a message that can be translated into speech (a set of words) is verbal.

There are 3 types of verbal communication:

formalized – communication that obeys certain rules (conferences, meetings);
partially formalized - communication that is not subject to strict rules, but implies compliance with norms (small talk, meeting new people);
informal – everyday communication that does not imply specific rules (conversations with friends, relatives).

Non-verbal communication

Nonverbal communication is the transfer of information using gestures, intonation, signs and other symbols. Its importance is understood by every person who uses a telephone and knows how difficult it can be to understand the interlocutor without seeing his gestures and facial expressions. Psychologists who study interpersonal communications believe that nonverbal communication accounts for up to 55% of transmitted information.

Communication barriers

The presence of communication barriers also characterizes the specifics of interpersonal communication. A communication barrier is a psychological obstacle that arises on the way to adequate transmission of information. Modern social psychology identifies several types of communication barriers. One of them is the barrier of misunderstanding: phonetic, semantic, stylistic, logical and others. Such barriers arise due to the different means of signs to convey a message. The simplest example of a phonetic barrier is a misunderstanding between two people speaking different languages.

A semantic barrier occurs when people for some reason do not understand the meaning of what is being said. Example - a philologist listens to a close technical conversation between two mathematicians. He's unlikely to understand what they're talking about. The same barrier arises between parents and teenage children when the latter speak technical jargon.

Between people who are carriers of different subcultures within the dominant culture, a semantic barrier may arise that determines the lifestyle and thinking style of its carriers. Most often, there are subcultures of youth, representatives of various professions, criminals (delinquent subcultures), children's subcultures, and so on. Professional, criminal and children's subcultures are the most specific in any society. Each subculture has its own specific language, which can be of great importance not only for the exchange of information in its environment, but also for the method of self-determination and even survival, as happens, for example, in a criminal environment.

The stylistic barrier is determined by the difference in the way information is presented. Styles are usually determined by the functional asymmetry of the human brain as a special phenomenon of the specificity of the left and right hemispheres in relation to various mental functions. The dominance of one hemisphere can determine typical difficulties in the perception and processing of information, and the discrepancy between the dominant types of partners even leads to stylistic barriers in the communication process.

With a dominant logical style, the subject processes and presents information sequentially, without missing a single link in the chain of reasoning. Excessive preference for details and clarifications does not allow the bearer of the logical style to quickly make decisions, and his rationality, coldness and emotional dryness prevent him from establishing contacts with different people. But in situations that are known in advance and do not require new solutions, such people are quite successful. When the expressive style predominates, the subject shows himself to be emotional, impulsive, opinionated, empathetic and endowed with good intuition. Such a person can very easily attract attention to his words and easily establish contact with others. However, excessive exaggeration and some scattered thoughts may alienate him from people who adhere to a different style. The most optimal is a mixed style, where there is both a logical vision of the problem and its expressive perception and interpretation.

When communicators do not agree with the arguments presented, a logical barrier arises. This is inevitable when the interacting parties have different ideas about the essential grounds of the judgment.

Barriers of sociocultural differences are also identified: social, political, religious, professional and others. Social barriers are determined by the subjects of interaction belonging to different social strata of society. Political barriers are created by different ideologies and different ideas about the structure and meaning of power. Religious barriers are determined by how tolerant the religion itself is towards representatives of other faiths.

Examples

Effective communication in conflict. Returning from the army to his parents' house, the son spent the day surrounded by relatives, after which in the evening he got ready to visit close friends. Looking around at the mirror, he heard his father’s demanding voice: “You must be home at 10 pm.” Without stopping what he was doing, the son calmly said: “Forget it, dad. This is already in the past." Conciseness, confidence and calmness in this case were the best way out of a brewing conflict situation, since these are the qualities that are inherent in a mature, independent man.
Effective communication with children . A very indicative scene from the movie “Gentlemen of Fortune”, when the teacher addresses children who do not want to have breakfast: “Children, breakfast is canceled for today, because we are flying on a rocket to Mars, so take the space spoons in your hands and have a good meal, because We’ll only be back on Earth around lunchtime.”

Adjusting to the children's wishes and subsequent rejection of persuasion, which children are prejudiced against, allowed them to switch their attention and look at the situation from a different perspective.