My Theory on Human Communication
Communication and interaction has played a pivotal role over the years in the evolution and development of mankind. Humans have always had the aptitude to express themselves and that’s where the search for better, faster and effective means of communication began. “Effective communication” is the catch word. To be able to communicate with clarity is what makes people more effective in workplaces. Another interesting angle to this discussion would be dealing with emotional quotient of people. This brings us to classify communication as verbal and non verbal. Most often it’s the voice modulation and the body language that talks in volumes of a person’s mental state. Through this dissertation I intend to start my process of understanding and defining human communication.
Definition :
A fundamental premise is that communication is that it conveys information.
As many scholars of communication I would like use “communication is the transmission of information from one person to another “ as a working definition, and use (wikipedia, 2007) Lasswell's maxim, "who says what to whom in what channel with what effect," as a means of circumscribing the field of communication theory.
Before exploring and analyzing what communication has done to human life and vice versa, a little bit of history would help.
Human communication dates back to earliest traces of life.
The introduction of speech revolutionized communication. Speech resulted in dissemination of ideas n stimulated inventions. It led to the invention of symbols to represent a concept.
The sign language was the earliest form of communication. Symbols, cave painting, petroglyphs and pictograms facilitated information sharing. Evidences can be found in ancient Egypt, Greece and Africa.
Writing came into existence around 7000 yrs ago. It’s earliest known traces can be found in Egypt, Persia, China and in the Indus valley civilization.
In terms of distance the reach of speech and symbols was limited because it depended on ones memory and retention power.
Ancient Africans and Americans used smoke signals and drums to convey messages over a distance. This is where the era of telecommunication starts.
A telegraphy system was invented in 1972. But suffered popularity due to lack of skilled labor for operation. This encouraged the invention of telephone and the telegraph. In 1920’s the first commercial radio was available. Slowly the need to increase the speed of computing and reduce paper work started arising. This paved way for the invention of computers.
People today use media (Internet, Television, Newspaper and Radio ) as a tool to voice their opinion . Blogs, podcasts and personalized web pages have given a new dimension to indiviual’s choice and freedom of opinion.
The above few lines of “going down the memory lane” is to bring out a peculiar and common trait among humans, which is our inherent penchant for making oneself heard and understood. So this brings the discussion to the socio- psychological angle of human communication.
Communication stands so deeply rooted in human behaviors and the structures of society that scholars have difficulty thinking of it while excluding social or behavioral events.
Psychological and cognitive factors:
Behavioral and cognitive trends have always influenced communicators and thereby the entire study of communication.
(Littlejohn, 19 ) A close observation of two people interacting shows that speakers often adjust their behavior to one another. For e.g. two people may adjust their accents, speed or sometimes even gestures to show their proximity. On the other hand speakers do exactly the opposite or even exaggerate differences as an expression of their animosity.
The accommodation and adaptation theory explain this process.
For example, consider a situation wherein a wife hopes to get a hug from her husband but her partner fails to touch her. The wife in that situation either walks over and gives her husband a hug or backs off and maintains some distance.
Human interaction is therefore very complex and involves a wide mix of patterns. Humans have the tendency to reciprocate some behavior and compensate the others at the same time.
Social factors:
The question “ who am I ?” leads us into very interesting topic of personal identity. Personal identity is a composite picture of oneself as a person. Communication is the means by which the identity of a person is established and the mechanism by which the identity undergoes transformations as well.
A person through social interaction and relations can internalize his identity. There are 2 versions to personal identity . the subjective dimension of identity is your personal sense of self , while the ascribed dimension is what others think about you.
(Hecht, 19..) The above dimensions of identity interacts at 4 layers.
- Personal layer :which consists of one’s self of sense in a social environment
- Enactment layer : others insights on an individual based what he does or how he acts.
- Relational layer :when in a relationship, personal identity can be constructed based on the interaction with the relational partner.
- Communal layer : wherein personal identity is based on a large group or community. Most predominant in asian culture as one’s identity is based on the larger community he hails from.
Thus we see how cognitive influences play a crucial role in defining communication.
The introduction of computers has revolutionized human lifestyle. It’s the age of human – computer or human –computer - human interaction more than human – human interaction.
I honestly feel that my dissertation would be incomplete if I did not address a more contemporary ideology called ‘Cybernetics’.
Cybernetics:
(wikipedia, 2007) Cybernetics is a discipline wherein communication is understood as a system of parts, or variables that influence one another. It explains how behavioral, biological, physical and social processes work.
A good example to explain cybernetics is one’s family photo. No family can be adequately described using a family photo. This is because in order to understand a family, one will have to look into how the members interact with each other and how they influence each other.
Therefore a cybernetic perspective is essential to understand the depth and complexity of interaction.
Conclusion:
The social and cultural transformation in human life has also challenged the conventional ways humans interact. In this era of digital communication,
Information and knowledge sharing has become accurate and time bound.
With time and knowledge, a simple word like “communication” has transformed into a complex, multidimensional and multilayered term. Strangely there is no working model that explains that omni directionally explains the term “communication”.
To me at this point of time communication means a “dynamic, ongoing exchange of information, feelings and emotions between 2 or more people”. Let me add that my search and understanding of “ Communication” for obvious reasons does not end here and therefore my definition above will mostly end up being the working definition of my further study .