The essence of communication and its main types

Concept and essence of communication

If we consider the way of life of various higher animals and humans, we will find that it has two sides: contact with nature and contact with living beings. The first type of contact, which we call activity. The second type of contact is characterized by the fact that the interacting parties are living beings who exchange information from organism to organism. This type of intraspecific and interspecific contact is called communication.

Communication is characteristic of all higher living beings, but at the human level it takes the most advanced forms, being conscious and mediated by language. The following aspects are distinguished in communication: Content, goal, means.

Content is information transmitted from one living being to another in interpersonal contacts.

In humans, the content of communication is much more extensive than in animals. People exchange information with each other, which represents knowledge about the world, rich, lifelong experience, knowledge, skills and abilities. Human communication is multi-subjective; it is most diverse in its internal content.

The purpose of communication is the reason why a person engages in that activity. In animals, the purpose of communication may be to encourage another creature to perform certain actions, or to warn about the need to refrain from actions. For example, a mother warns her child of danger with her voice or movement: some animals in a herd can warn other animals when they perceive vital signals.

People have an increasing number of communication goals. In addition to those mentioned above, they include transmitting and receiving objective knowledge about the world, teaching and education, coordinating the significant actions of people in their common activities, establishing and clarifying personal and business relationships, and much more. If in animals the goals of communication, as a rule, do not go beyond the satisfaction of real biological needs, then in humans they are a means of satisfying many different needs: social, cultural, cognitive, creative, aesthetic, the needs of intellectual growth, moral development and a number of others.

No less significant are the differences in the means of communication. The latter can be defined as methods of encoding, transmitting, processing, decoding information transmitted from one living being to another in the process of communication.

Encoding information is a way of transmitting it from one living being to another. For example, information can be transmitted through direct physical contact: touching the body, hands, etc. Information can be transmitted through the senses (observation of the movements of one person by another or the perception of signals generated by him) and perceived by people at a distance.

In addition to all these naturally given means of transmitting information, man has a whole series of ones that he himself invented and improved. These are linguistic and other systems of signs, written in various types and forms (texts, diagrams, drawings, plans), technical means of recording, transmitting and storing information (radio and video equipment; mechanical, magnetic, laser and other forms of recording). Humans have surpassed all other living beings on Earth in their ingenuity in choosing means and methods of intraspecific communication[3].

Communication is a complex, multidimensional process of establishing and developing contacts and connections between people, regulated by the needs of cooperation and involving the exchange of information and the development of a common interaction strategy.

Communication is usually included in the practical interaction of people (joint work, joint learning, joint games, etc.) and is used to plan, implement and control their activities.

If relationships are defined by the term “communication,” then communication is understood as the process of human-human interaction, carried out through verbal and nonverbal influence, aimed at achieving changes in the cognitive, motivational, emotional and behavioral spheres of persons involved in communication. During communication, its participants exchange not only their physical actions or products, the results of their work, but also thoughts, intentions, ideas, experiences, etc.

In everyday life, a person learns to communicate from childhood and masters various methods of communication, depending on the environment in which he lives, the people with whom he communicates, and this happens spontaneously, in everyday experience. In most cases, this experience is not enough, for example, to master specific professions (teacher, actor, announcer, investigator), and sometimes simply for productive and civilized communication.

For this reason, it is necessary to improve knowledge of their patterns, acquire skills and abilities to take them into account and use them.

Each community of people has its own means of influence, which are used in various forms of collective life. They concentrate the socio-psychological content of the lifestyle. All this is manifested in customs, traditions, rites, rituals, festivals, dances, songs, stories, myths, in the visual, theatrical and musical arts, in fiction, cinema, radio and television. These specific forms of mass communication have a powerful potential to influence each other. In the history of mankind, they have always served as a means of education, involving people through communication in the spiritual atmosphere of life.

The human problem is central to all aspects of communication. Dealing with the purely instrumental side of communication can level out its spiritual (human) essence and lead to a simplified interpretation of communication as an information and communication activity. With the inevitable scientific and analytical division of communication into its constituent parts, it is important not to lose a person as a spiritual and active force that transforms oneself and others in the process.

Communication is the most difficult psychological activity of partners.

Concept and specificity of communication.

Can you communicate? I'm sure everyone will say: “Yes, of course.” But in what form does this communication take place? Most often it is just a conversation, an exchange of information. At the same time, everyone knows that the concept of “communication” is much broader than our usual: “Hello!” - "Bye".

If you look into the past, then we, who consider ourselves modern people, will simply feel ashamed. After all, people, already from the 16th-17th centuries, communicated at such a high level that we never dreamed of. Now we are making excuses to ourselves, saying, “This is a crazy time, we don’t even have time to sit down, let alone talk.” And, comforting ourselves with this thought, we continue to communicate at the same low level.

Assuming that “I know how to communicate” means: “I know how to communicate correctly,” and this is the only way to understand the question posed, then the answer to it can be considered insufficiently modest. Although speech plays a huge role in people’s communication, everyone knows perfectly well that people, for example, those who love, do not need words to express their feelings and thoughts. It is enough for them to see each other. This fact is confirmed in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina", in the scene of Kitty and Levin's explanation, when they, without uttering a word, write in chalk on the green cloth of the table for card games only the initial letters of words that make up sentences that are very complex in syntax and content.

Communication between people is the most important feature of human existence. Without it, activity, formation and assimilation of spiritual values, formation and development of personality are impossible. Communication accompanies all these processes and contributes to their implementation. Communication is multifaceted, primarily because it is implemented at different levels: countries and peoples, parties, collectives and individuals can communicate, accordingly, the interaction between the parties in this process will differ in its social significance. In addition, communication can manifest itself in different ways: be direct or indirect, vary in type and, finally, in the process, people can exchange thoughts, feelings, experiences, work skills, etc.

Communication functions.

The enormous importance of interpersonal communication is explained by the most important functions it performs. Firstly, communication involves the exchange of information between people. The information and communication function in one form or another is associated with all forms of human activity. Even thought processes, according to some scientists, proceed more effectively under the condition of continuous information communication.

Communication performs the so-called regulatory-communicative function. In communication, rules of behavior, goals, means, and motives for behavior are developed, its norms are learned, actions are evaluated, and a unique hierarchy of values is formed. It is not surprising that it is in communication that a person learns and experiences his significance.

Communication regulates the level of emotional tension, creates psychological release and ultimately forms the emotional background against which our activities are carried out and which to a large extent determines the very perception of the world. This function of communication in social psychology is called affective-communicative. In real communication, all its functions organically merge, regardless of its form.

The essence of the communication process.

So, the process of communication, communication. Firstly, it consists directly of the very act of communication, communication, in which the communicants themselves participate, i.e. communicating. Moreover, in the normal case there should be at least two. Secondly, communicants must perform the action itself, which we call communication, i.e. do something (speak, gesture, allow a certain expression to be “read” from their faces, indicating, for example, the emotions experienced in connection with what is being communicated). Thirdly, the message is characterized by some content, some form and some meaning. It's not the same thing. Let's say that someone (say, a young man) presents someone (say, a girl he knows) with a bouquet of yellow tulips. And he does it in an unusual way: without a smile, with an aloof expression on his face. In terms of form (let’s say it’s pronounced: “Please take the flowers from me”), everything here is stylistically, grammatically and etiquette-correct. The content - “transfer or offering of flowers” - is clear and may well be generally assessed positively. But the meaning is special: “a young man breaks up with a girl.” Remember that his face was serious, and the tulips were yellow (yellow has long been a symbol of parting, separation). Of course, the true meaning of a real communicative act of this kind may be different if the young man could only get yellow tulips or did not even know that the color yellow is a symbol. An unfriendly facial expression can be determined by circumstances that have nothing to do with the date. It was only important to give an example of the meaning that is generally possible in this situation, to show how meaning can differ from both the content and the form of a specific communicative act. It is further necessary to determine the communication channel in each specific communicative act. When talking on the phone, such a channel is the organs of speech and hearing; in this case, they talk about the audio-verbal (auditory-verbal) channel, or more simply, the auditory channel. The form and content of the letter are perceived through the visual (visual-verbal) channel. A handshake is a way of conveying a friendly greeting through the kinesico-tactile (motor-tactile) channel. If we learn from the suit that our interlocutor, say, is Uzbek, then the message about his nationality came to us through the visual channel (visual), but not through the visual-verbal channel, since no one told us anything verbally (verbally).

An important component of the communicative act are the motives of the participants in communication, i.e. their goals and intentions. A teacher, for example, wants to communicate something to students in a lecture so that they learn it. It happens that some students do not want to learn this something at the same time. Then they talk about “scissors in intentions” (intentions). Communication in such cases either becomes difficult or comes to a null result.

Finally, everyone is well aware that during an act of communication a person can say one thing and think another, i.e. lies or simply keeps silent about something for some (not necessarily bad) reasons. In a number of cases (and with the help of scientific methods - always) it is possible to detect dissociation (i.e. mismatch) between the form and content of the message. Forensic scientists, for example, know well how important it is to observe the facial expression and appearance of the person being interrogated during testimony. Yes, and you and I, not being specialists, often say something like: “I can see in my eyes that it’s not true,” “he’s talking about fun things, but he’s still walking around, not finding a place for himself—something is bothering him. You ask, “everything’s okay,” but in reality...”

Consequently, if we want to be understood correctly, it is necessary that both form and content harmoniously merge with each other, without introducing elements of dissociation. And communication channels must be free from “noise” (as experts call any, not just audio, interference). While talking, it is not good to turn away, do other things (for example, leaf through a book), you cannot, in a word, “make noise” of the communication channel. Naturally, you need to choose the optimal voice volume - speak loudly enough, but not deafen, keep the optimal communication distance (there are even special interesting studies about this). Poor handwriting is not such a harmless flaw when you think that it can prevent the recipient from easily and correctly understanding the written letter. Haven’t you yourself experienced irritation while struggling to decipher someone’s scribbles?

Forms of communication and their culture.

Communication between people occurs in various forms, which depend on the level of communication, its nature, and purpose. The most typical forms of interpersonal communication are anonymous, functional-role communication, in which work relationships, informal and intimate family communication occupy a special place. The above classification is, of course, conditional. It does not exhaust all possible forms of communication in which a person can participate.

Let's look at the basic forms in more detail.

Anonymous communication is interaction between strangers or people with no personal relationship. It is understood as any temporary connections between people in which they act as citizens, residents of a city or town, passengers of a train, plane or public transport, spectators of a cinema or sports match, visitors to a museum or exhibition, etc. This refers to their prior and, as a rule, subsequent unfamiliarity. They meet, enter into relationships with each other and go their separate ways. They are anonymous, nameless in relation to each other.

Formal-role communication involves varying durations of communication between people who have certain roles. Participants in such communication perform certain functions in relation to each other: buyer - seller, passenger - conductor, waiter - client, doctor - patient, etc. Service relationships are also of a functional-role nature, but they are characterized by a significant duration; they, as a rule, are of great importance in people’s lives. Their participants know each other to a greater or lesser extent, at least as workers, members of the same team.

Informal communication represents all kinds of personal contacts outside the formal relations of colleagues and members of any organizations. Of course, informal communication is also possible with workmates, but only if it goes beyond the scope of work relationships. Examples could be non-official contacts with workmates, acquaintances, meetings with friends, comrades in sports and other hobbies, etc. A special area of informal communication is communication between close people or family members.

Classification of communicative acts.

If we consider the communicative acts themselves according to their types and types, then, depending on different classification criteria, we would get different varieties: in content: production, practical-everyday, interpersonal-family, scientific-theoretical; by form of contact: direct, indirect. For example, correspondence is an indirect form of contact between communicants, and personal conversation is a direct form of contact; by type of communication: bidirectional and unidirectional. For example, reading a book, or watching a movie, or playing the role of a spectator at a play is a unidirectional communicative act. But if you applaud actors, or write a letter to the author of a play, book or film director, or reward singers with applause, the connections become bidirectional, mutual; according to the degree of mutual correspondence between communicants: high, satisfactory, insignificant, unsatisfactory, negative. If the degree of mutual correspondence is unsatisfactory (in such cases, it is about communicative incompatibility and even about complete psychological incompatibility), it is appropriate to state: “they speak different languages.” Although they do not mean different national languages at all, but, for example, completely incompatible passions, interests, manners of speaking and communicating in general; according to the results: from negative (“he completely misunderstood me, distorted my thought”) through zero (“we just can’t understand each other”) to positive (“he understands me, and I understand him”). The scale of negative and positive results is quite stretched: we can understand someone in such a way that he will be delighted, or we can simply cause a nod of approval. Misunderstanding can border on a distortion of understanding. This is why it is necessary to strive for maximum success in communication.

There are people who are not very talkative. They may listen to you with attention, but at the same time you will not see it. It seems to you that they simply don’t want to listen to you, but in fact, your interlocutor has such a habit and for him this is the norm of communication. People who either have a respected position in society or are tall and large in size often behave this way. Often, when talking with such people, we feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, and sometimes we stop, because... it seems to us that we are not being listened to very carefully or are simply being ignored. This is often facilitated by our own attitude before the conversation. If someone told us something that does not honor the interlocutor before the conversation, then we develop alienation, and not always legitimately so.

Installation concept.

Installation is a very unpleasant thing. It can interfere with the start of a conversation or lead to conflict in the communication process. There is confirmation of this in Gogol’s “The Inspector General”:

“Governor... Let me invite you to move with me to another apartment.

“Khlestakov. No I do not want to! I know what it means to go to another apartment: that is, to prison! What right do you have? How dare you?.. Yes, here I am... I serve in St. Petersburg. (Being cheerful.) I, I, I...

Mayor (to the side). Oh, my God, so angry! I found out everything, they told me everything, damned fools!

Mayor (stretched out and trembling with his whole body). Have mercy, don't destroy! Wife, small children... don’t make a person unhappy.

Khlestakov. No I do not want! Here's another! What do I care? Because you have a family and children, I have to go to prison, that’s great!.. No, thank you humbly, I don’t want to.”

Despite the fictionality and conventionality of the comedic situation, it is distinguished by a deep understanding of a very important psychological phenomenon, which experts call “attitude.” In this case, the mayor and Khlestakov reveal their own attitudes when they meet, i.e. their own meaningful ideas about what could happen, what the characters think should happen. After all, the mayor was waiting for the arrival of the auditor, he believed Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky that the auditor was already here, that he, the mayor, was talking to the auditor, who needed to be softened, brought to his side, “greased” and thereby avoid the collapse of his career. And Khlestakov knew that he owed money at the hotel, and therefore, trouble awaited him, and arrest was not ruled out, since he would not be able to pay off his debts. That is why the mayor does not doubt the strength of Khlestakov, the auditor, and Khlestakov does not doubt the mayor’s intentions to arrest him. At the same time, they both do not notice signs of another reality, interpret each other’s remarks solely against the background of their own attitudes.

Attitudes of all kinds play an extremely important role in the theoretical and practical activities of a person and clearly appear in communication processes. In order not to get into trouble yourself and not to embarrass your interlocutor, you need to know what an attitude is, how it develops in the conditions of communication, how it can be changed and how it should be managed. Do this experiment in your mind (or in practice!). You and your friend are in the cinema. The lights went out and the film began showing. Everyone (including you and your friend) is closely watching what is happening on the screen. Suddenly you ask your friend (in a whisper, of course, but so that you can be heard): “Please remember the name of an egg-laying mammal. Platypus, or what? If the film is not thematically connected at the moment with your platypus and zoology in general, you can rest assured that your question will not even be heard. They will definitely ask you again. But if you ask something relevant regarding the plot of the film, the characteristics of the actor, etc., they will answer you. Even if you ask your question more quietly than the first. Why? Yes, because it is “appropriate”, “clear” what refers to the most probable in a given situation, what is customary to talk about in a given situation, what is included in the “setting for the perception of a given film”. Everything else turns out to be outside the field of attention, and therefore is not recognized or understood.

In everyday communication, often someone suddenly (precisely “suddenly,” that is, unexpectedly) begins to tell an incident from his life or, say, an anecdote, while neither one nor the other is expected from him. Some people begin a conversation as if continuing to develop their own thoughts, which they themselves were absorbed in, and no one present had any idea about them. For example: “Do you think this is correct?!” — an elderly man once asked irritably the woman standing next to him on the bus. She was confused: “Sorry, but I don’t understand you... We don’t seem to know you…”. It turned out that the elderly angry man wanted to do the confused woman a favor: the compassionate mother standing next to her seated her healthy and cheerful daughter, about eight or nine years old, in the vacant seat. Instead of this girl, what the angry man believed should have sat down was a woman who had not paid any attention to what had happened. With his exclamation, which continued the train of his thoughts, the man seemed to invite him to condemn the wrong act of the girl’s mother. But is it possible to understand his intentions by his exclamation? I had to explain, waste nervous effort, waste time...

It happens that a person is having fun, he is in a good mood, and he wants to share it with others. Is it bad? And a funny joke is already told or the reason for the joyful state is explained. But at the same time, a person may not notice that others are tuned in “to a different wavelength.” Something might upset them. They may be grieving the loss of a friend or loved one. How can a joke sound against the backdrop of such an attitude? What does a wide smile look like under these conditions? We will rightly call them manifestations of tactlessness. This means that when starting a conversation, check whether it is appropriate to start talking at all, whether you need to say what you want. In a word, when entering into communication, start with “orientation” in the communication situation: always answer your own mental questions about who is in front of you, what and how you can (and whether it is necessary at all) to talk about.

Very often we have to face a situation where our own joke does not cause the expected reaction, be it laughter or at least a smile. What if we ourselves don’t find anything funny in a friend’s joke? What to do then? Moreover, if someone made fun of someone else, and this second one was offended. Usually those people who have a great sense of humor start communication well, but those who lack this important feeling find it difficult to start a conversation or get to know each other. “If a person doesn’t understand a joke, he’s lost!” And you know: this is no longer a real mind, even if a person is even seven spans in the forehead!” - these are the words of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. You can agree with this, you can disagree, but the fact remains that not every one of us has a sense of humor. The difficulty of discovering that you have an underdeveloped sense of humor lies in the fact that there are no people who do not laugh, who do not find it funny. But laughter can be caused by different reasons. If these reasons are insignificant or cannot at all be, strictly speaking, reasons for fun, then the saying is appropriate here: “Laughter without a reason is a sign of a fool.” For example, it is not appropriate to laugh at the sight of a fallen plump woman walking down the street carrying a heavy bag of groceries. But there are people for whom this is funny, and the funnier the more different things roll out of the fallen bag, the more noise there is. A person who can laugh at this probably cannot think of anything funnier than removing a chair from under a person sitting on it. We can almost say with complete certainty that such a “joker” has not yet matured to understand what is truly funny and has little or no knowledge of the best examples of humor. But this does not mean that a sense of humor cannot be developed. After all, it is possible (and this has been experimentally proven) to develop an ear for music. How to do it? To do this, you will have to work a little, although the work will subsequently be rewarded beyond measure with good laughter. It will probably be necessary to read humorous essays and novels, for example, not forgetting about “The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik.”

Language as a type of communication.

The most common type of communication is conversation. During a conversation, we use a language, whether it is our native or a foreign one, in any case it is necessary.

Language is a priceless gift that a person is endowed with. “You can’t tell it with your tongue, you can’t spread it with your fingers,” people say. With the help of words you can tell about everything. “The main character of our language is the extreme ease with which everything is expressed in it: abstract thoughts, internal lyrical feelings, a cry of indignation, sparkling prank and amazing passion,” wrote A.P. Herzen. Language is a human tool. It is necessary so that people can fully communicate. It is true, of course, what is sung in the old song, “after all, sometimes silence is clearer to us than many words.” But this happens sometimes. And in everyday communication, we most often lack precisely the word, and we “writhe, tongueless,” trying to find it, this is the only necessary, correct, accurate one. “You waste, for the sake of a single word, hundreds of tons of verbal ore...” This is not only about poets and poetry. This is also true in everyone who values what is expressed and strives to weigh his word, understanding that it is a powerful irritant and can have a huge impact on a person: a word can kill, a word can save.”

Communication through speech ensures the success of joint activities. When we want to express our attitude towards the confusion reigning around us, we say: “Babylonian pandemonium!” The origins of these winged words are in the biblical legend about the construction in ancient Babylon of a tower to the sky (“pillar of creation”), which ended in failure, since God became angry, confused the languages of people, and they ceased to understand each other. “We speak different languages with you, we cannot find anything in common,” we conclude bitterly when there is no mutual understanding and the relationship does not work out. Communication through words (speech communication) consolidates and preserves the experience of humanity, passing it on from generation to generation, because language is a tool of culture.

More than 3.5 thousand languages of the world reflect in many ways all the achievements of science, technology, and art. Interest in the native language, the desire for perfect mastery of its written and oral forms always characterize a cultured person. There is no sphere of communication where good command of the language and the ability to use this invaluable gift bequeathed to us by our ancestors are required.

Do we know our native language? “Of course,” many will answer. After all, we have been using it since childhood. And at school they studied all sorts of declensions and conjugations. A foreign, unfamiliar language is another matter. “But it turns out that “declension-conjugation”, and indeed all grammar, is only an integral part of the language. And that’s not the only point. The main thing is that language is the most important means of communication.

The relationship between communication and etiquette.

The word “etiquette” is of French origin and means “tag”, “label”. In European languages, incl. and in Russian, it has become generally accepted and is used to denote external forms of cultural behavior.

Etiquette is “an established order of behavior, forms of behavior in any communication.” Initially, etiquette denoted the rule of palace ceremonial at the French royal court, then it spread in aristocratic circles.

Etiquette in modern society has a number of varieties: diplomatic, military, business, everyday informal communication. Etiquette is formalized, agreed upon rules of conduct accepted in a given society or social group, through which respect for the individual and his dignity is expressed, ease of communication is created, and compliance with aesthetic tastes is ensured.

The content of etiquette covers the rules of behavior in mass, repeated situations: greetings at meetings and farewells, behavior at the table, in public places, etc.

Etiquette allows us not only to do the right thing in mass, repeated situations, but also prescribes certain norms of verbal communication.

Etiquette also determines the rules of behavior in special circumstances of life. So, fun is unacceptable at a funeral, but it is necessary to express sympathy and condolences to family and friends. At a wedding or party, it is customary to be cheerful, friendly, sociable and not spoil the mood of others with a mournful appearance.

At all times and in all established societies, people's behavior is regulated by rules that correspond to a specific communication situation. When the word “etiquette” is uttered, one would like to add: “court,” so the phrase “court etiquette” is often found. And immediately magnificent pictures of ceremonies, brilliant outfits of court ladies with fans and nobles with swords and feathers on their hats come to mind. The gentlemen bow low in intricate bows and make complex and deft movements with their hats, sweeping the sparkling floor with feathers; ladies curtsy, bowing their wigged heads. You can hear the music of leisurely minuets and appeals: “Oh, madam, if only I were allowed to express my admiration!...” It is clear that the challenge to a duel should have been staged by spectacularly throwing the glove at the feet of the offender with words like: “I have the honor to offer you, sir, cross your sword with mine, tomorrow at dawn at the left wall of the monastery of Saint-Germain! And the challenger had to pick up the thrown glove, which would mean: “the challenge to a duel is accepted,” and answer like this, for example: “I have always dreamed of an opportunity, sir, to give you a fencing lesson in exactly the place and time that you yourself deigned to appoint.”

But now we will not talk about the etiquettes of bygone days, familiar from the novels of Dumas or Walter Scott, nor will we dwell on the ceremony of lighting the peace pipe in the North American Indian tribes. There are many books that tell us about the rules of good manners, about behavior in public places, about how to properly set a table, handle a fork and knife, etc., how to invite a person to dance, and give up your seat on a tram. The totality of all the rules of behavior and verbal address constitutes what is called etiquette. Each action, each appeal must, as you know, be accompanied by rituals appropriate to the occasion: “magic words”: please, thank you, etc. You can, of course, forget (if it really happens) about this or that verbal formula accompanying the service, finding something else that is no less suitable. It is only important to always remember that the essence and meaning of etiquette are determined by the internal readiness of one person to help another and what is called delicacy and tact. In other words, do not impose your company while remaining polite; the desire not to interfere with others, while remaining free to carry out one's own actions. And this means, in the end, that you cannot make noise and interrupt others in conversation. If you want to express your opinion (including objections, disagreement with the words or actions of others), you must first inquire whether the interlocutor said everything he wanted, whether he is ready to listen to you. Etiquette, as you may have guessed, includes not only verbal forms of expressing politeness and sympathy. Etiquette of words and actions should not conflict with a person’s appearance or clothing. In other words, etiquette is not completely observed if, despite all the correctness and politeness of behavior, young people come to the theater in jeans and colorful T-shirts. It is even worse if someone wearing bright, extravagant clothing joins the funeral procession.

Even when getting dressed (and even earlier, when purchasing clothes), one must keep in mind that clothing, gait, manner of standing, sitting, even laughing, form a kind of sign system; a person dressed in one way or another declares something, communicates something about himself to others. For example, a wedding dress, a festive suit are signs of an upcoming celebration; a tracksuit, a tennis racket in his hands “say” that the person is an athlete; a careless hairstyle and unkempt jeans indicate that a person neglects the aesthetic feelings of others. Dirt under the fingernails and soiled clothes do not at all signal that a person belongs to the working class. These are simply signs of a slob, to whom neither the rules of personal hygiene nor the concept of aesthetic appearance are available. Loud negotiations during a film show, or a hat left on in the room are signs of bad manners and selfishness.

“They meet you by their clothes, they see you off by their mind,” says Russian folk wisdom. In other words, both your appearance and the words you say are important in communication. Etiquette, as we have already said, regulates communication and interaction between people. You need to take etiquette and the ability to communicate seriously and wisely. The rule is quite simple: what may be unpleasant for you is unpleasant for others.

So, what is still needed to communicate correctly? We must, first of all, respect the interlocutor, listen to him with as much attention as possible, without interrupting and allowing him to speak, and not “noise” the communication channels. It is also necessary to look appropriate so that there is no mismatch, try to say only what we think, so as not to introduce dissociation. All these, if not universal ways of communication, then at least they will help you communicate more correctly and find a common language with people.

Disdain for etiquette and reluctance to follow it is an indicator of a person’s insufficient cultural development, which complicates his relationships with other people. Compliance with etiquette rules creates an atmosphere of friendliness, respect, trust, warmth, and a special psychological climate that overcomes people’s alienation.

Bibliography:

Communication characteristics

Communication usually manifests itself in the unity of its five sides: interpersonal, cognitive, communicative-informative, emotional and conative.

The interpersonal side of communication reflects the interaction of a person with his immediate environment: with other people and communities with whom he is associated throughout his life.

The cognitive side of communication allows you to answer questions about who the interlocutor is, what kind of person he is, what to expect from him, and many others related to the partner’s personality.

The communicative and informational side is an exchange between people with different perceptions, ideas, interests, moods, feelings, attitudes, etc.

The emotional side of communication is associated with the functioning of emotions, feelings, and moods in personal contacts between partners.

The convariant (behavioral) side of communication is used to coordinate internal and external contradictions in the positions of partners.

Communication performs certain functions. There are six of them:

the pragmatic function of communication reflects its necessity-motivation and is realized in the interaction of people in the process of joint activity. At the same time, communication itself is very often the most important need.
the function of education and development reflects the ability of communication to influence partners, as well as to develop and improve them in all respects. By communicating with other people, a person learns universal experience, historically established social norms, values, knowledge and methods of action, and is formed as a person. In a broad sense, communication can be defined as the universal reality in which human mental processes, states and behavior are born, exist and manifest throughout life.
the affirmation feature gives people the opportunity to acknowledge, validate, and validate themselves.
the function of association-dissociation of people, on the one hand, by establishing contacts between them, facilitates the transfer of necessary information to each other and sets them up for the implementation of common goals, intentions, tasks, thereby uniting them into a single whole, and on the other hand, can become the cause differentiation and isolation of individuals as a result of communication.
the function of organizing and maintaining relationships serves the interests of establishing and maintaining fairly stable and productive connections, contacts and relationships between people in the interests of their joint activities.
The intrapersonal function of communication is realized in a person’s communication with himself (through internal or external speech, built on the nature of dialogue).

Types of communication

Communication is extremely versatile. It can be presented in a variety of types.

A distinction is made between interpersonal and mass communication. Interpersonal communication is associated with direct contact between people in groups or pairs, constant in the composition of the participants.

Mass communication is a set of direct contacts between strangers, as well as communication mediated by various types of media.

In addition, a distinction is made between interpersonal communication and role-based communication. In the first case, the participants in communication are certain people with certain individual characteristics that manifest themselves in the process of communication and organization of joint actions. In role-based communication, its participants act as carriers of certain roles (buyer-seller, teacher-student, boss-subordinate).

In role communication, a person is deprived of a certain spontaneity of his behavior, since his steps and actions are predetermined by the role he performs.

In the process of such communication, a person is revealed not as an individual, but as a specific social unit that performs certain functions.

A person has a choice between trusting and conflict communication, the first of which is characterized by the transfer of particularly valuable information. Trust is an integral feature of any type of communication, and without it we will not be able to negotiate or solve intimate problems. Conflict communication is characterized by confrontation between people, expression of discontent and mistrust.

Communication can be both personal and business. Personal communication is the exchange of informal information.

Business communication is the process of interaction between two people within a shared responsibility or activity. Finally, communication is both direct and indirect. Direct (indirect) communication is historically the first form of communication between people. On its basis, in later periods of the development of civilization, various types of mediated communication arise.

Mediated communication is interaction using additional means (written, audio and video materials).

Some of the types of connections in the diagram are not commented on, and the meaning is clear even without explanation.

Communication functions

Although we understand the importance of relationships with other people, it is not always possible to grasp all the functions of communication. Psychologist V.N. Panferov identified 6 main points:

communicative – interaction of people at different levels – from individual to social;
cognitive – understanding of the transmitted information;
informational – exchange of data between each other;
creative – the formation of new connections between people, their development;
conative – leadership and fulfillment of roles in relation to each other;
emotive – emotional contact between people.

In other sources you can see a classification into 4 functions:

syndicative – an association of people;
instrumental – transmission of information, a way of managing society;
translational - transfer of judgments, assessments, methods of activity;
self-expression is an opportunity to show and present oneself to others, for mutual understanding.

Or a more concise and generalized division:

socialization – education of interaction skills in society (what is this?); mastering rules and regulations;
control of society - organization of people's behavior and work;
expressive function – understanding the emotions, feelings, experiences of others.