Elements of Human Communication

Lecture 1

Foundations of Human Communication

U N I T C O N T E N T S

v Elements of Human Communication

v Purposes of Human Communication

v Types of Human Communication

Ofall the knowledge and skills you have, those concerning communication will prove the most important and the most useful. They will always influence and play a crucial part in how effectively you live your personal and professional lives. And so it's vital to your success to learn how communication works and how you can master its most essential skills. In this first unit you'll learn:

■what communication is, the purposes it serves, And the forms it takes

■how understanding the way communication works can help you achieve a variety of personal and professional purposes

Your communication knowledge and skills are among your most important assets. They will help you achieve a wide variety of personal, professional, and social goals. In many situations, communication skills will make the difference between success and failure.

You use your communication knowledge and skills in just about everything you do – asking for directions, discussing an issue in a chat room, interviewing for a job, listening to others, or surfing the Net. Communication abilities also play a significant part (perhaps the most significant part) in all your interactions – from making friends and lifelong partners, to resolving inevitable conflicts, to networking for professional advantage, to working on a team solving a problem, to informing and persuading large groups.

In short, your communication knowledge and skills will prove of value in all your interactions with other people, whether you're speaking or listening.

Elements of Human Communication

Communication occurs when one person (or more) sends and receives messages that are distorted by noise, occur within a context, have some effect, and provide some opportunity for feedback. This introductory unit explains the various parts of this definition and identifies the purposes and types of human communication. Throughout this explanation and, in fact, throughout this book the text makes reference to both face-to-face and electronic communication. No matter how sophisticated, electronic communication is still very similar to ordinary face-to-face interactions. For example, electronic communication allows for the same types of communication as does face-to-face interaction, whether interpersonal, small group, or public. In Internet communication you put your thoughts into words that you type on your keyboard and send via modem or cable; similarly, in speech you put your thoughts into spoken words and send your sounds through the air.

Two-person, or interpersonal, communication can occur face-to-face or on the phone or through e-mail or snail mail. Similarly, you engage in interpersonal communication in chat groups when you "whisper" or single out just one person to receive your message instead of the entire group. In chat groups you can talk with a small group of others in ways similar to the way you'd talk around a table in the cafeteria or in a business organization or in a telephone or video conference. In newsgroups posting a message for members to read is in many ways similar to the way you express your thoughts in delivering a public speech to an audience. Of course, there are also differences between face-to-face and electronic communications, which we'll discuss as we consider the various forms of human communication throughout the text.

The elements present in all communication acts, whether intra-personal, interpersonal, small group, public speaking, or mass communication

or whether face-to-face, by telephone, or over the Internet are: (1) context (2) sources-receivers, (3) messages, (4) channels, (5) noise, (6) effects, and (7) ethics.

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