The Psychology of Communication

One can never underestimate the power of communication in human life. The way, you the reader and me the writer are connecting now through this written or typed word, is itself testimony to the tremendous potential and power that communication has on us. Communication is what makes the human race gel as a society. A deep understanding of the psychology of communication may help us in smoothing out the unnecessary friction in our relations, our misunderstandings and make the world a more peaceful place to live! That may not necessarily be the case of course, but at least we can hope! In psychology, communication is the most important part of study. Let us explore the field of communication psychology!

What is the Meaning of Communication?
Before delving into the psychology of communication, let us try to define what we mean by communication! There are many types of communication. Communication is any form of verbal or non verbal, direct or indirect signal exchanged between two entities. These entities may be individuals or groups of individuals, between whom there is an exchange of knowledge, ideas, intentions or any kind of data. Communication is a synergising tool, by which a group of individuals bond together and function as a group. Communication enables the recording and passing on of knowledge from individual to society and from one generation to next. Nobody needs to be explained why is communication important, as without it the functioning of the society would be impossible!

There are three processes that constitute communication, if you think in terms of communication psychology:

Absorption
This is the first stage of communication. We absorb information through all of our senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision. Every piece of sensory data is a superimposition of data from all the senses. The impact of all these different types of sensory data forms an image or pattern in our mind. The absorption capacity of individuals, varies according to the nature of their pre-evolved personality and abilities. We have a tendency to see and hear only what we want to see. Only very few people have the ability to take in all the sensory data without bias and registering in the brain.

Processing
The next stage in the process of communication is connecting all these pieces of diverse kind of data, to what we already know. This is the processing stage of the data. What makes sense and connects with your known pattern of knowledge stays, everything else is dumped. Then we make sense of that information, on the basis of what we already know from our knowledge pattern. Based on our experiences, habits, opinions and nature of the molding of our psyche, we decide upon an appropriate response to the data coming in. It may be a choice between fight or flight or any thing else depending on what the data means.

Response
Finally after processing, what you heard from the other person or read through his body language or gestures or the scenario, you design an appropriate response. Your response may be conveyed again through verbal or nonverbal communication.

This is what happens when we communicate! Thanks to the amazing thing, our brain, our responses are amazingly fast. The brain learns a response pattern and most of our communication patterns are learned responses. Communication constantly challenges the brain to respond to stimuli from our surroundings. All these three processes are studied in the psychology of communication. There are several different schools of thought, regarding how the responses to these stimuli from the surroundings are decided by our brains. I will not delve into that subject as even researchers in communication psychology are undecided on it.

What is Communication Psychology?
Now that we know something about communication, we could try to formally define communication psychology which is one of the different fields in psychology!

Communication psychology is a subject devoted to the study of all the aspects and dimensions of communication. This includes a study of the tools of communication, interpersonal dynamics and complexities that arise out of communication or a lack of it. It is a systematic analysis of the effect of communication on the psyche of an individual and the effect of dissemination of information through communication on the dynamics of a group of individuals. In short, communication psychology as a subject encompasses every aspect of transmitting, receiving and processing of information in any form.

To put it in short, communication is all about people being able to understand each other and convey their ideas across in an intelligible fashion, through verbal and non-verbal means.

Classification in Communication Psychology
Psychology of communication can be studied by broadly segmenting it into different types, based on different criteria. If you consider the four types of communication which are verbal, non-verbal, direct and indirect, communication psychology, can be broadly divided into four parts:

• Verbal, direct communication: This is communication which is intended to convey just what it means.
• Verbal, indirect communication: This is a form of communication which conveys one thing if taken at face value, but is intended for conveying something different. Sarcasm is a type of verbal, indirect form of communication.
• Non-Verbal, Direct Communication: This encompasses certain gestures and non-verbal body language cues, which convey intentions clearly.
• Non-verbal, Indirect Communication: This is a sort of ambiguous communication, that can be conveyed through body language and gestures.

If you classify psychology based on the entities that are communicating, it could be classified as:

• Psychology of Communication at Interpersonal Level: This covers communication in all the gamut of relationships that occur at the interpersonal level. Interpersonal intelligence plays a vital role in this area. It may be communication between a parent and child, between friends, employer and employee and many more such relations.
• Psychology of Communication in a Society: It is the study of the way in which an individual reaches out to a society through his writing, speech and work and the impact it has on the society.

So these are the ways in which communication psychology could be divided, which tells you something about the complexity of this subject. Through study, psychoanalysts try to identify the barriers to effective communication at each level and try to subvert them.

The methods of communication have been evolving from the spoken word to today's age of online chatting and mobile phone communication. Technologies like the internet and other telecommunication devices offer great avenues for communication and have had a great impact on the psychology of communication. Are these technologies bringing us closer or widening the chasm between individuals is a matter of debate.

Good communication at the family level, at a social level and at an international level, may go a long way in resolving a lot of issues, only if we talk and listen! Studying communication psychology is always beneficial, as it can help us in every sphere of life. It may be business communication, workplace communication, intercultural communication or interpersonal communication. Hope this short write up on psychology of communication has been a stimulating read.