The Importance of Communication In Our Lives


The Communication Process – The Feedback Loop:
Thoughts & Feelings à Encode à Media/Medium à Decode à
Thoughts & Feelings à Encode à Media/Medium à Decode à

            The communication process is in every part of our everyday lives. It is a part of every communication that we have, without fail. The cycle starts the thoughts and feelings that someone has about their understanding of what is going on around them or in their head. These thoughts and feelings are then encoded by them to who they are conversing with. They encode their thoughts and feelings through symbols and methods as a way to deliver their message to the person that they are communicating with. Their message is delivered in a type of medium, which is often some form of media. This message is then received (or not received —which often causes problems because of miscommunication) by the other person who has to decode it, and they do so in their own way. They do this by deciphering what was encoded to them. After they have deciphered and decoded the other’s message they have their own thoughts and feelings about it. During this stage in the process, their thoughts and feelings can be affected, influenced, and shared by the other person. After this, they then encode those thoughts and feelings that they had back to the person that first encoded their own message to them. It is delivered be some form of medium. The initial communicator must then decode the message that was given to them. They then have thoughts and feelings about it and the process continues. It continues because it has become a loop, which is known as the feedback loop. 
            There are 3 main channels that are involved with communication: words, nonverbal, and tone. Words are the verbal part —which seem like they are the most noticeable, in many cases. Nonverbal is one’s body language. Tone is how the words are said, pitch, volume, speed, etc. One thing to note from this process is that the nonverbal channel needs to be trusted more than the actual words that are used. Even with words, people do not always say what they mean —this is very common. People are not always clear with what they want to relay to others. Consequently, how we encode our messages makes a world of difference in the short and long run. 
It is important to remember that it does not matter if you are a good communicator if who you are encoding to cannot decode your message. This is in part because words have different meaning to everyone individually because everyone has their own way of seeing and interpreting the world. For this reason, whomever is being encoded to has to complete the process themselves —they have to encode what they just decoded, then they display that through a medium, then the other decodes what was encoded to them. 
It is important to be aware of the problems because people say and give messages that they do not always mean to, which can cause miscommunication. In general, people tend to look for the nonverbal cues that people either give intentionally or unintentionally, whether they realize it or not. Another thing that people do is respond to other’s intentional or unintentional nonverbal channels. By this I mean that people often act as if they know what is going to happen, what someone is going to say, and/or where the conversation is going to. Because of this, it is important to slow down and not jump to conclusions. We are not always keyed in to the whole or even the right message, at times. This is why it is important to be on the same channel as the person we are trying to communicate with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Family Systems Theory - What Is It?

            In class this week, there was a focus on the types of family systems. One that I thought that was really interesting was the Family Systems Theory. This theory assumes that each member of the family has a role to play in order to keep things going or to make changes within the family. In this way, it is like an ecosystem because each member has a critical role to play, just like in nature.  Even though everyone does have a role, it may not seem like it. There are times when some people may feel like they do not have a role or a part to play; however, it is important to remember that no matter how little a role might seem it is still essential to the family as a whole. Each role is cherished and is needed in different ways and at different times.           Each part helps in some way and there may be times when roles are changed in order to better fit the needs of the family or maybe just becau...
Read more

The Importance of Work

          Work is an important part of everyone’s life, or at least it should be. One important and also a good part of work is being able to do it with family. By working together with family, I have been able to connect better with my own family. Work is first taught within the home, and it is important that it is. If it is not taught within the home, then it may not be taught at all. People learn a lot in the home and one of those things is being able to take care of themselves. By being taught to work from a young age teaches children about the reality of the real world and what is really out there. Being deprived of opportunities will leave people at a disadvantage in a lot of things in life. People also benefit from working and earning their own money.            All throughout the time that I was growing up, I was taught by my parents the importance and significance of work—especial...
Read more

A Child's Needs

Everyone makes decisions for a reason, even children, though their reasons are not always what we think they are. They make decisions based on their needs and their want for them to be fulfilled. Children and teenagers have 5 main needs: comfort and belonging, power, protection, withdraw, and challenge. These needs are why children make the decisions that they do. Because parents and others often do not see past the behavior of the child to what the child actually needs, there are mistaken approaches that they take instead. Parents take mistaken approaches when they assume they know what their child wants, when in reality they are seeking something else.           The 1st needs, contact and belonging, are needed right from birth because children benefit from the touch of someone. That contact can come in many forms including eye contact, hugs, holding, and others. The need for contact is so great that people, especially children and te...
Read more