Interpersonal communication is contextual

In other words, communication does not happen in isolation. There is:

ü Psychological context, which is who you are and what you bring to the interaction. Your needs, desires, values, personality, etc., all form the psychological context. ("You" here refers to both participants in the interaction).

ü Relational context, which concerns your reactions to the other person - the "mix."

ü Situational context deals with the psycho-social "where" you are communicating. An interaction that takes place in a classroom will be very different from one that takes place in a bar.

ü Environmental context deals with the physical "where" you are communicating. Furniture, location, noise level, temperature, season, time of day, all are examples of factors in the environmental context.

ü Cultural context includes all the learned behaviours and rules that affect the interaction. If you come from a culture (foreign or within your own country) where it is considered rude to make long, direct eye contact, you will out of politeness avoid eye contact. If the other person comes from a culture where long, direct eye contact signals trustworthiness, then we have in the cultural context a basis for misunderstanding.

Закончите предложения в соответствии с содержанием текста.

1. Remember a basic principle of communication: _______________

a. be polite with others

b. listen to people attentively

c. people are not mind readers.

2. Interpersonal communication is irreversible according to the proverb: ____________

a. “Look before you leap”

b. “Once a word goes out of your mouth, you can never swallow it again”

c. “Soft words win hard hearts”.

3. There is no form of simple communication because _____________

a. we exchange ideas

b. we swap feelings and ideas

c. we swap symbols that stand for ideas.

4. A tongue-in-cheek maxim is _____________

a. a real principle of communication

b. humorous reminding of the difficulty of accurate communication

c. the fact that if communication can fail, it will.

5. All the learned behaviours and rules that affect the interaction are considered as __________

a. cultural context of communication

b. psychological context of communication

c. situational context of communication.

6. Noise level, temperature, season, time of day are examples of factors in _____________

a. situational context of communication

b. environmental context of communication

c. psychological context of communication.