Identify Three Concepts from Any of the Interpersonal Communication Theories
Identify Three Concepts from Any of the Interpersonal Communication Theories
Interpersonal communication is as important as life itself for most of the people on this planet. Humans are social creatures, mostly, and the ways of communication are very important for building a healthy society through the construction of relationships between individuals. There are numerous theories of interpersonal communication that explain the process of building and supporting relationships with people around. The theory of Symbolic Interaction is one of such (Nelson).
It has the following idea as base: people form some meaning and structure of everything around in a society using interactions. Then, people act according to the meanings they give to other people, events, things, etc. Moreover, the theory presupposes that the entire world is made of such social objects, named and determined by a society beforehand (Nelson). The theory has the following main concepts: society, self, and mind.
Society. The basic social acts (the ones that create meaning only) must involve some kind of initial gesture from a person. Then, this act must receive some kind of response to this gesture from another person. Finally, some kind of result appears (Nelson). Life of any person is full of such moments, especially in childhood and youth. It is so because when a person learns new concepts and models of behavior, learning the life, this individual does something and then has to see the response to this action and only then this person will know what kind of act it is. The simplest example is smoking. Being a child, I was not aware that smoking is bad because I did not know about it. Then, at school, kids have been told that smoking is bad. However, children are maximalists, usually. We all have tried smoking and then it was considered as cool thing s because other kids gave the response that it was cool. Then, parents explained why it was bad and the problem was solved.
Self. Understanding
Interpersonal communication is as important as life itself for most of the people on this planet. Humans are social creatures, mostly, and the ways of communication are very important for building a healthy society through the construction of relationships between individuals. There are numerous theories of interpersonal communication that explain the process of building and supporting relationships with people around. The theory of Symbolic Interaction is one of such (Nelson).
It has the following idea as base: people form some meaning and structure of everything around in a society using interactions. Then, people act according to the meanings they give to other people, events, things, etc. Moreover, the theory presupposes that the entire world is made of such social objects, named and determined by a society beforehand (Nelson). The theory has the following main concepts: society, self, and mind.
Society. The basic social acts (the ones that create meaning only) must involve some kind of initial gesture from a person. Then, this act must receive some kind of response to this gesture from another person. Finally, some kind of result appears (Nelson). Life of any person is full of such moments, especially in childhood and youth. It is so because when a person learns new concepts and models of behavior, learning the life, this individual does something and then has to see the response to this action and only then this person will know what kind of act it is. The simplest example is smoking. Being a child, I was not aware that smoking is bad because I did not know about it. Then, at school, kids have been told that smoking is bad. However, children are maximalists, usually. We all have tried smoking and then it was considered as cool thing s because other kids gave the response that it was cool. Then, parents explained why it was bad and the problem was solved.
Self. Understanding
Cited: Nelson, L. D. Herbert Blumer 's Symbolic Interactionism. 1998. Web. 26 January 2012 .