The human being is defined by his condition of sociability, and if it is sociable it is because it can communicate, that is, exchange its thoughts and emotions on the one hand, and its creations and experiences on the other. The best human achievements are due to these. “By communicating with thoughts and emotions, people live and express themselves, and when the object of communication is their creations and experiences, both individuals and groups progress and become culturally enriched” (Gómez Delgado, T.; 1998).
The communication is a necessary condition for the existence of man and one of the most important factors in his social development. J. C Casales. (1989), suggests that being one of the significant aspects of any type of human activity, as well as a condition for the development of individuality, communication reflects the objective need of human beings for association and mutual cooperation. In this Psychology-Online article we are going to offer you a study on the communication factors in everyday life.
What is everyday communication
What is very true is the fact that Communicating is the foundation of all social life. It is a process that brings two or more people into psychological contact and functions as an organizing moment and as a stage for the expression of subjectivity in which meanings and meanings of specific subjects are exchanged, building individuality and knowledge of the world. In the words of Morales Álvarez “Society as an objective reality becomes a subjective reality when the individual internalizes in his consciousness and assumes as his own the social world produced by man, objectified in the meanings of language, as external to him” (Morales Álvarez, J. and Cortés, MT, 1997, p-46).
For Wilbur Schramm, one of the basic principles of the general theory of communication is that “signs can only have the meaning that the individual’s experience allows him to read in them” (Schramm, 1972, p.17) since We can only interpret a message depending on the signs that we have learned to attribute to them, which constitutes a referential framework based on which a subject, or a group of them, can communicate.
Communication, in the historical-cultural school, was worked on as a fundamental category based on the work on higher psychic functions, who highlighted how these do not respond to the line of biological evolution, but are the result of assimilation. of the products of culture, which occurs only from contact between men. In this sense, it is also worth highlighting LSVigotsky’s idea about the interpsychological origin of everything psychic, that is, how each psychic function and personality in general is generated as inter-psychological processes and then internalized.
During the communication process, the subjects involved influence each other, That is, their subjectivities interact through the processes of externalization and internalization. Coupled with this, a redefinition and configuration of subjectivity occurs, where reality comes through the other.
Principles and functions of language in everyday life
Communication must be studied as a multidimensional and multifunctional process. In correspondence with this premise, Lomov raises the need to approach it from three levels of analysis in relation to its structure: Macrolevel, Mesolevel, Microlevel.
Comunication elements
Generally, when we talk about the elements of communication, we refer to the sender, message, receiver, context, channel and code. However, we can also analyze the communicative act through other study prisms.
Regardless of the implicit value of Lomov’s studies about the 3 levels of analysis in the structure to which reference has been made, I agree with what was stated by Andreieva, GM (1984, p-85) in this regard when he addresses 3 elements or factors of communication in everyday life inextricably intertwined:
- Communicative aspect: which is nothing more than the exchange of information, ideas, criteria between the participants in the communication.
- Interactive aspect: which refers to the exchange of help, cooperation in communication, and activity planning actions.
- Perceptual aspect: which refers to the perception process of communicators, to how both perceive each other in the communication process, on which understanding and effectiveness in the communicative exchange will depend.
These three aspects in turn are identified with three fundamental functions of communication, which are:
- Informational function: which includes the process of transmission and reception of information, but seeing it as a process of interrelation. Through it the individual appropriates the historical-social experience of humanity.
- affective-evaluative function: which is very important within the framework of the emotional stability of the subjects and their personal fulfillment. Through this function, man forms an image of himself and others.
- Regulatory function: through which the feedback that takes place throughout the communication process is achieved, which serves so that each participant knows the effect caused by their message and so that they can evaluate themselves.
The forms and content of communication are determined by the social functions of the people who enter into it, by their position in the system of social relations and by their membership in one or another community or group; They are regulated by factors related to production, exchange and consumption, as well as by traditions, moral, legal and institutional norms and social services.
How important is communication in everyday life?
Because the communication process It is what allows people to relate and bond through the different activities and spheres that encompass daily life. It is necessary to pay special attention to how to develop skills that enhance this human capacity.
We would have to start from what the conditions would be, around said process, that facilitate and promote its effectiveness. First of all, I would like to refer to the need to create a favorable psychological climate of security, trust, positivity, empathy, among other factors. When I talk about creating a climate, it is necessary to orient yourself to the other by understanding them and showing that understanding, putting yourself in their place and accepting them, being sincere, allowing total expression without offense or aggression. In essence it is esteeming the other, respecting their right to express their feelings.
The importance of the receiver of the message
One of the most important factors of communication in everyday life is the receiver. It is also essential as another essential element of interpersonal communication: listening ability and skills adequately developed in the participants of the communicative process.
The possibility of true dialogue, learning and change depends on there being a high capacity to provide data to affirm what one thinks, with an equally high capacity to be willing to listen below, and get to modify any ideas that are necessary.
Knowing how to listen is a skill that brings substantial rewards: increased production and understanding, renewed work capacity and increased efficiency, reduced loss of time and materials. By becoming more aware of the listening process, the individual becomes more trustworthy and manages to build good relationships, while learning to recognize the true purpose behind the messages of others.
Communication and assertiveness
The Assertiveness is a fundamental skill for the establishment of interpersonal relationships. When we talk about learning to be assertive, I mean promoting the development of skills that will allow us to be direct, honest and expressive people in our communications; in addition to being safe, self-respecting and having the ability to make others feel valuable. There is an element here that cannot be missing, you must always try to find a “Win-Win” solution, that is, you must direct the communicative act in a way that benefits its participants.
According to Predvechni (1986), not only these elements are necessary; but also the person must plan the language, the content, the means to transmit it and know how to provide feedback. Another author, Bert Decker (1981), highlights issues regarding voice, posture, etc.
Naturalness is a strategy of great value, because this is a resource that allows making impressions or emphasizing something, so that it is assumed by the interlocutor as true, authentic.
Examples of communication in everyday life
There are categorical opinions such as that of Hernández Aristu (1992) when he states: “Every communicative act, if it is authentic, implies a synchronous process of unmasking, of revealing the objective, normative, intersubjective and linguistic reality. At the same time, it involves freeing oneself from external pressures that arise from relations of power and dominance, from institutional, personal, explicit or covert interests. Likewise, it involves a release of pressures, internal automatisms, fears, inhibitions, etc.
The communicative intention
The communicative act is the result of intersubjective consensus, of the symmetry of the relationship between the interlocutors, in which the force, if it exists, is none other than that of rational discourse. These communicative acts are therefore acts of emancipation (Hernández Aristu, 1992)
The reciprocal relationship of the parties with respect to the object of the dialogue can only be effective for the purposes of problem solving when the situation is structured as a cooperative process, in which the attitude favorable to the purpose of achieving a common objective makes possible a positive relationship of the parties, at the same time it is a condition so that the contradiction at the level of the object of the conversation can be resolved jointly.
These communicative strategies are based on a cooperative position and guide the act of communicating towards expression and understanding mutual relations for the search for joint solutions, of the tasks that gave rise to the establishment of communication.
Through them, progress is achieved in the communicative process, both subjective and objective, which is experienced by both participants. When one person addresses another through language seeking mutual understanding and effective communication, it is reciprocally presupposed that what each person says:
- Respond to reality; is true.
- That what they say conforms to social norms and is justified, that is, what they say is justified.
- That when they speak they do it with sincerity and truthfulnesswhich are not intended to deceive.
- That what they say is understandable, intelligible to both.
Communication barriers in daily life
Several authors agree on classifying barriers into two large groups or levels:
- The first, to…