What is Communication?

The word communication comes from the Latin communicare, which means “to make common”. The original understanding of the word is consistent with the definition of communication used in modern psychology. Communication is the process of understanding and sharing meaning. Communication is considered a process because it’s an activity, exchange, or set of behaviors – not an unchanging, static product. It is variable, active, and dynamic. It starts long before the words begin to flow and can last long after the words stop.

Communication is a process that requires understanding. Your professor asks, “What is the ontogeny of your misogeny?” You hear the words, but you may not be able to understand or interpret them. Understanding, or grasping, the meaning of another person’s message does not occur unless the two communicators can elicit common meanings for words, phrases, and non-verbal codes.

In addition to understanding, communication involves sharing. Consider the use of the word sharing in language: we share a meal, we share an event, we share a sunset. Sharing is a gift that people exchange. We share with others when we talk to them alone or in larger groups. Regardless of the context, communication involves sharing.

What exactly is understood and shared in the communication process? When you use language for expression, meaning is the shared understanding of your feelings and thoughts. Meaning is the message you construct in your mind as you interpret the message sent.

An example of how meaning operates is the incident in which people around the world saw an African American being beaten by Los Angeles police. The meaning of the videotaped event was whatever interpretation people developed in their minds. Most people perceived the incident as police power gone awry. When the jury acquitted the police, many people interpreted the decision as a miscarriage of justice. Everyone who saw the videotapes or who read about the verdict constructed their own meaning, their own interpretation of the incident. The meaning attributed to the incident fashioned responses from agreement, to disbelief, to violence.

2. What side of communication (process, understanding, sharing, meaning) is highlighted in the following statements?

1. An Asian student who has to struggle with English as a second language has problems in communication with American classmates.

2. Communication is not an object that we can hold in our hand.

3. Parties communicating have an impact on each other.

4. An enraged person is angry in Great Britain but he is mad in America.

5. Every interpretation is the result of the accumulation of experiences preceding the present one.

6. Communication is an activity in which we participate.

7. As participants in communication we are limited by our own view of the situation. A student, for instance, may describe a conflict with a teacher as unfair treatment. “My professor doesn’t like me and grades me more harshly.” The teacher, conversely, might remark, “The student is unfamiliar with class policy.”

8. Communication involves others in the sense that the competent communicator considers the other person’s needs and expectations as he or she selects appropriate and effective messages to convey.

9. Each person is both sending and receiving messages simultaneously.

3. Match the beginnings and endings of the following statements:

1	Meaning is	A	the process of understanding and sharing meaning
2	Regardless of the context,	B	the two communicators can elicit common meanings for words, phrases, and non-verbal codes.
3	Communication is considered a process	C	the shared understanding of your feelings and thoughts. It is the message you construct in your mind as you interpret the message sent.
4	Communication is	D	communication involves sharing.
5	Understanding the meaning of another person’s message does not occur unless	E	because it’s an activity, exchange, or set of behaviors – not an unchanging, static product.

4. Answer the questions to the text:

1. What do you know about the origin of the word “communication”?

2. Why is the original understanding of the word consistent with the definition of communication used in modern psychology?

3. Why is communication considered to be a process?

4. Why does communication require understanding?

5. Why do psychologists believe that communication involves sharing?

6. What exactly do we share with people when we talk to them?

7. What is meaning?

8. Is meaning interpreted by all people identically?

5. Explain whether the following statements are true or false:

1. The word communication comes from the Latin “communicare”, which means “to commune”.

2. Communication is an act or an instance of communicating; the exchange of information, ideas, or feelings.

3. Communication starts long before the words begin to flow and can last long after the words stop.

4. Understanding the meaning of another person’s message does not occur unless communicators can elicit common meanings for words, phrases, and non-verbal codes.

5. Regardless of the content, communication involves sharing.

6. Meaning is the purpose underlying or intended by speech.

7. People interpret messages differently.

1. Read the text and name the main components of communication.