Interpersonal Communication Study Guide

interpersonal communication is communication between individual people. We often engage in interpersonal communication in dyads, which means between two people.

Interpersonal communication is a process of exchange where there is desire and motivation on the part of those involved to get to know each other as individuals.

Confirming and Disconfirming Climates

Confirming climates when we receive messages that demonstrate our value and worth from those with whom we have a relationship.

Disconfirming Climates when we receive messages that suggest we are devalued and unimportant.

Recognition Messages: messages either confirm or deny another person’s existence

Acknowledgement Messages: go beyond recognizing another’s existence by confirming what they say or how they feel

Endorsement Messages: Endorsement messages go one step further by recognizing a person’s feelings as valid.

Developing and Maintaining Friendships

Developing and Maintaining Romantic Relationships

Deterioration of Romantic Relationships

Family Relationships

Role-Limited Interaction

No Interaction

Dyadic Breakdown

Establishing a Family

Friendly Relations

Invitational Communication

Intrapsychic Phase

Enlarging a Family

Moving Toward Friendship

Explorational Communication

Dyadic Phase

Developing a Family

Nascent Friendship

Intensifying Communication

Social Support

Encouraging Independence

Stabilized Friendship

Revising Communication

Grave Dressing

Launching Children

Waning Friendship

Commitment

Post-Launching of Children

Retirement

Types of Conflict

Affective conflict: arises when we have incompatible feelings with another person.

Conflict of Interest: arises when people disagree about a plan of action or what to do in a given circumstance

Value Conflict: is a difference in ideologies or values between relational partners

Cognitive Conflict: is the difference in thought process, interpretation of events, and perceptions.

Goal Conflict: occur when people disagree about a final outcome.

Strategies for Managing Conflict

Dominating strategy, or win-lose approach, he/she exhibits high concern for the self and low concern for the other person.

Obliging style: shows a moderate degree of concern for self and others, and a high degree of concern for the relationship itself.

Compromising style: is evident when both parties are willing to give up something in order to gain something else.

Avoiding style: people may suppress feelings of frustration or walk away from a situation. While this is often regarded as expressing a low concern for self and others because problems are not dealt with, the opposite may be true in some contexts.

Integrating style demonstrates a high level of concern for both self and others

Key Terms

  • committed romantic relationships
  • conflict
  • content level of message
  • domestic partners
  • dyad
  • dyadic breakdown
  • dyadic phase
  • family
  • family life cycle
  • grave dressing
  • intrapsychic phase
  • interracial marriage
  • proximity
  • relational culture
  • relational level of message
  • self-disclosure
  • self-identity
  • similarity
  • social support

 

A PDF of this Interpersonal Communication Study Guide can be downloaded here.