Understanding
Interpersonal Communication
HCOM-100
Instructor
Name
Communication Principle
Understanding Interpersonal
Communication
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What is Interpersonal
Communication?
Initiating Relationships
Maintaining Relationships
Through Interpersonal
Communication
What is Interpersonal
Communication?
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Interpersonal communication is a special
form of unmediated human communication
that occurs when we interact simultaneously
with another person and attempt to mutually
influence each other, usually for the purpose of
managing relationships.
What is Interpersonal
Communication?
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IPC involves quality.
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Impersonal communication
IPC involves simultaneous interaction between
individuals.
IPC involves mutual influence between
individuals.
IPC is the fundamental means we use to
manage our relationships.
Initiating Relationships
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Interpersonal Attraction Defined
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Short-Term Initial Attraction
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Degree to which you desire to form or maintain an
IP relationship
Potential for development
Long-Term Maintenance Attraction
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Sustains relationships
Elements of IP Attraction
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Similarity
Physical and Sexual
Attraction
Proximity
Complementarity
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Inclusion
Control
affection
Communicating our Attraction
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Direct and Indirect
Strategies
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Immediacy
Verbal and Nonverbal
Cues
Getting that First
Conversation Going
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Reducing Uncertainty
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What Do You Say First?
The Art and Skill of Asking Great Questions
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uncertainty reduction theory
Passive, active, interactive strategies
conversational narcissism/self-absorbed
communicator style
The Art and Skill of Giving and Receiving
Compliments
Maintaining Relationships
Through IPC
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Self-Disclosure Defined
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Reciprocity in Self-Disclosure
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We voluntarily provide information to others that
they would not learn if we did not tell them
We expect others to share similar information
Appropriateness in Self-Disclosure
Assessing the Risks of Self-Disclosure
Self-Disclosure, Intimacy, and Gender
Models of Self-Disclosure
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Social Penetration
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Developed by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor
Illustrates how much and what kind of information
we reveal in various stages of relationships
Circles represent breadth and depth of penetration
Each relationship represents a degree of social
penetration
Models of Self-Disclosure
The Social Penetration Model
Models of Self-Disclosure
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Johari Window
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Reflects various stages of relational development,
degrees of self-awareness, and others’ perceptions
of us
Square window represents yourself
The self encompasses everything about you,
including things you don’t realize
Models of Self-Disclosure
The Johari Window Model
What questions do you have?
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Homework:
Reading?
 Turn in assignments?
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