Chapter 1: Preliminaries to Human Communication

Intrapersonal Communication

When it comes to human communication, an important topic to learn about is interpersonal communication. What this basically means is that you talk to yourself to better learn about who you are, evaluate and persuade yourself about decisions that you have to make, and also to rehearse a message that you will send to others. Intrapersonal communication helps you think, reason, and analyze with yourself.

The following vieo gives you an example of what interpersonal communication looks like. Towards the end of the video you can see how it relates to this topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aMISACsgXQ

The Competent Communicator

Communication competence refers to both your knowledge and understanding of how communication works and to your ability to use communication effectively. Every individual can improve on their communication skills. It is important to be aware of our actions and behaviors both as senders (encoders) as well as receivers (decoders). Communication competence involves several characteristics. A competent communicator...

• thinks critically and mindfully
• is culturally sensitive
• is ethical
• is an effective listener

Here is a video that demonstrates the benefits of communicating appropriately and effectively:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwjAAgGi-90&feature=related

Elements and rules of communication vary from culture to culture, and it is important to improve our competence in order to function and communicate effectively in our diverse world.