Social Psychology - Effective Communication

Question: What are the characteristics of effective communication? What causes Miscommunication from a psychological perspective?

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Answer: Effective communication involves straight talk and immediate feedback. Straight talk means clearly stating one's own feelings and concerns directly and openly without displacing them by shouting, cursing, blaming or ridiculing others. Immediate feedback means once you express your feelings, seek for feedback to make sure that the receiver is on the same page with you. It is not unusual to find out that what you mean is not what the other hear. Immediate feedback can minimize confusion and also eliminate the escalation of negative feelings due to misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

However this is easier said than done. The society has taught us many self-protection mechanisms in order to survive in a world where we meet with many strangers on a daily basis. Being open about your feeling shows vulnerabilities, this is not very adaptive in the modern world of lies and disguises. Thus we are trained in the opposite of strict talk in communication, this results in the frequent misunderstanding among people. It is always easier to point fingers than admit personal vulnerabilities. After years of training, people also lose touch of their own feelings, because they are accustomed to never admit personal faults, they never have a chance go face-to-face with their own feelings. Especially in this competitive society, it is almost the rule of thumb that we always need to be tough, or else you will be disposed of by the society.

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Another Answer: Effective communication has been characterized by immediate feedback and disclosure of feeling. Importance in immediate feedback reflects the signal of assertiveness. Even though we may not get the desired result upon our response, we could still state our needs and express our feeling. Non-judgmental feedback is one of the most receptive tasks for the purpose of effective communication because this will invite others to share one’s feeling.

With agreement to the previous answer that we learned to protect ourselves. It could never be possible if we express our true feeling for everyone. However, I will try to be congruence with my mind and my behavior, at least it can make ourselves comfortable.

Besides of the two factors, I believe active listening and clarification are also important in effective communication. To become an active listener can improve mutual understanding, in a way requires the listener to understand and interpret what she heard in a non-judgmental manner. Also, I find that clarification is particularly useful. There is a lot of misunderstanding being made by overhearing, mishearing and using our perception to assume the speaker’s meaning. To clarify is a good way to moderate unclear message.



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Another Answer: It is incredibly easy for there to be misunderstanding with people. Sad but true. First of all we have email. This is a huge arena for mis-understandings and miscommunication to occur. In email, we don't have gestures, voice tone, facial expressions, or intonations. Stereotypes are other ways for us to mis-communicate. Additionally we have cultural differences, language barriers, baggage from peoples past, insecurities, agendas, assumptions and the list goes on. In fact, it seems easier to create a list of reasons for mis-communication.

Active listening and clarifying are vital in the communication process. So is our ability to admit we have made mistakes. If we are able to admit fault, or played a role in the communication barrier I believe we can move the miscommunication process along. (at least doing our part)

I would also add, being real is so important. People can so easily come to believe that they are the mask that they have been wearing. This week I was reminded of the book, The Velveteen Rabbit. It is a child's book but really it is best suited for adults because the author talks about the importance of being real, and we only become really real when we are loved.


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Another Answer: Thanks to everybody for posting their thoughts! I like and agree with all that is written and discussed. One point that I like is how Psychologist Aronson believes that effective communication is to do with "Straight Talk" , which I believe is to have direct and clear statements without any personal bias or prejudice of any kind. On the other hand, the receiver should receive the message without any bias as well. Some people might throw in emotional and bias thoughts upon hearing a message, whether it is bias against the speaker or any characters mentioned in the message. So in order for 2-way effective communication to work, both parties must not have any form of bias but just active speaking and listening. Also the clarification of certain words or technical terms need to be addressed. Sometimes both the speaker and listener may be thinking about different definitions upon a certain term. Hence, clarification is very important too before answering. There is a saying , "Seek first to understand before to be understood!" How true!