Interpersonal Communication

A variety of discursive methods used by individuals to achieve certain goals that include persuading, informing, comforting, challenging, and other modes of dealing with people. Many sensory channels are used, but increasingly, the term refers not only to face-to-face encounters but also to mediated interaction through technological devices such as computers (e-mail) and telephones (also with text-messaging capabilities).

All forms of interpersonal communication involve gaining knowledge of others. Varieties of interpersonal communication theories, strategies, and aims coexist. These include social penetration theory, or how we gain information about others; norm of reciprocity, or how individuals reveal themselves to others (dyadic effect or level of revealed intimacy); and compensation (one's behavior is countered by another, as in facial expressions; variations on this theory are expectancy violation, arousal labeling theory, discrepancy arousal theory, and cognitive valence theory), among many others. Depending on the knowledge gained, we interact with people more efficiently. We can better predict how they will think, feel, and act if we know them. We gain this information passively, by observing them actively, by having others engage them, or, interactively, by engaging them ourselves. Self-disclosure, as in revealed intimacy, is often used to get information from another person.

Interpersonal communication helps us understand the context in which someone is speaking or writing. Context and expression frequently determine the meaning of words. Content messages refer to the surface-level meaning of a message. Relationship messages refer to how a message is said. Content messages and relationship messages are sent simultaneously, but each affects the meaning assigned to the communication. Interpersonal communication helps us understand each other better.

Interpersonal communication also establishes or constructs identity and public image through the interaction of the roles and faces presented in our relationships with others. William Schutz (1958) has identified three needs involved in interpersonal communication: (1) inclusion, (2) control, and (3) affection. Inclusion is the need to establish identity with others. Control is the need to exercise leadership and prove one's abilities. Groups provide an outlet for this need. Some individuals shun leadership roles and look to groups to establish relationships and friendships. For them, groups provide the necessary control and support for certain facets of their lives and fulfill the basic human need for affection. For more information, see Berger (1997) and Schultz (1958).