THEORIES OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

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THEORIES OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

• An Introductory Summary

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Humans act toward people or things on basis of
  meanings they assign to those people or things
• Meaning is formed through social interaction
  language
• Self combines impulsive I and reflexive me
• The looking glass Self learns to see itself as
  others (generalized other) see it, by taking
  on the role of the other, interacting with
  others on the basis of that perception, perhaps
  provoking responses that fit expectations
  (self-fulfilling prophecy).

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Coordinated Management of Meaning

• Main focus people who disagree can live together
  in relative harmony
• Quality of life is directly related to quality of
  communication
• Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own
  social realities and are simultaneously shaped by
  the worlds they create
• Change communication change quality of life
  this is the proof offered by CMM

4
Expectancy Violations Theory

• Has to do with sense of personal space (both
  literal and metaphoric) and preferred distance
  from others
• Asks what happens when other people violate our
  expectations about personal space
• Postulates that the consequences can be perceived
  positively or negatively

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Interpersonal Deception Theory

• Deception-detection is an interactive
  (co-constructed) activity, not individual
• Inter-actants constantly adjust their behavior to
  each other
• Detection of deception may focus on
  characteristics of the message, or the behavior
  of the deceiver
• Deceiver is protected, partially, by partners
  truth-bias

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Constructivism

• We make sense of the world through personal
  constructs, i.e. contrasting features we use to
  define the character of another person.
• Some people use more complex constructs than
  others
• Such cognitive complexity is a necessary but not
  sufficient condition for person-centered
  communication

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Social Penetration Theory

• Closeness develops if people proceed in gradual
  and orderly fashion from superficial to more
  intimate levels of exchange
• Personality is conceived as a multi-layered onion
  with public self on the outer layer and private
  self at the core
• Closeness is achieved through reciprocal
  self-disclosure, that is both broad and deep.

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Uncertainty Reduction Theory

• New relationships involve uncertainty
  communication reduces uncertainty
• Motivation to reduce uncertainty increases under
  specified circumstances, and involves
  identifiable strategies

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Relational Dialectics

• Intimate relationships are organized around the
  dynamic interplay of opposing tendencies.
• Especially, tensions exist between needs for
  intimacy and needs for independence
• Closeness, certainty, openness need to be
  balanced against autonomy, novelty and privacy

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Interactional View

• Family members are components of a family system
• Systemic factors are more important than
  personality traits and motives in understanding
  family communication
• Focus of the theory is on individual behavior
  affects the functioning of the system