Essay/Term paper: Four areas of communication

Essay, term paper, research paper:  High School Essays

I have discovered some very interesting facts about the four areas of communication: interpersonal, lifespan, health, and persuasive communication. I found these facts while searching on the internet using many different search engines. I will share these facts that caught my attention with you and let you know where you can learn more about these areas of communication.

Interpersonal communication is when we engage in communication with another person, to gain information about them. This type of communication is different from other forms of communication in that there are few participants involved, occurs between people who have know each other for some time, view each other as unique individuals and not as people who are simply acting out social situations. The interactants are in close physical proximity to each other, many sensory channels used, and feedback is immediate. People wish to engage in interpersonal communication with other individuals for many different reasons. With interpersonal communication we can better predict how the other person will think, feel, and act if we know who they are. To gain this information we can do it passively, actively, or interactively. Interpersonal communication helps us understand each other better establish an identity, and to express and receive interpersonal needs. If you would like to explore the internet more about interpersonal communication, this site will help you get started: http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/interpersonal/indevelop.html.

The next area of communication that I have chosen is health communication. This form of communication is often a difficult task. Information may be controversial, contradictory, and subject to change as new research findings are released. Health communication is such an important area. It can increase awareness of a health issue, problem or solution; affect attitudes to create support for individual or collective action; demonstrate demand for health services; and remind or reinforce knowledge, attitudes or behavior. Due to the continuous new health information discovered this potential exists for misdirecting or alienating the public because of the conflict with long-held personal beliefs. This same information can be found at: http://www.emerson.edu/acadepts/cs/healthcom/resources/commrole.htm.

The next site, http://www.abacon.com/berk/lifespan/summary6.htm, I found was on the development through the lifespan. The psychoanalytic theory provided by Erikson and Mahler was quite interesting. It consisted of an overview of the emotional and social tasks of infancy and toddlerhood. The views Erikson and Mahler were of quite some interest. The trust and autonomy of infancy and toddlerhood grow out of warm, supportive parenting and reasonable expectations for impulse control during the second year. Emotions play a very important role in the organization of relationships with caregivers, explorations of the environment, and discovery of the self. The first year is when the infants' ability to express basic emotions and respond to the emotions of others expands. Shame, embarrassment, and pride begin to appear, as toddlers become more self-aware. To help you understand this development through the lifespan is the ethological theory. This theory is the most widely accepted view of the development of the infant-caregiver relationship. Attachment evolved over the history of our species to promote survival, according to this perspective. The relationship between the infant and the caretaker is one of the most important. This relationship if well-coordinated, positive emotional communication between caregiver and baby supports secure attachment, while insensitive caregiving is linked to attachment insecurity. The attachment bonds with infants' can be with a variety of familiar people, including mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, and substitute caregivers. By the age of two, toddlers' are emerging sense of self. Self-awareness develops, supporting a diverse array of social and emotional achievements. The toddler now has the ability to categorize the self. This particular type of communication, lifespan communication, was definitely one that interested me the most.

Persuasive communication is a type of communication that I find myself using quite frequently. True persuasion involves convincing someone about something non-rountine, something which the reader is not so likely to agree with or respond to. There are many ways to persuade someone to agree with you. Persuasive communication can take many forms, such as: change in attitude, creation of a belief, change in strength of a belief, elimination of a belief, change in behavioral intention, change in behavior, and absence of a behavior. Probably the most common form of persuasion in our society is advertising. Anywhere from TV, radio, magazine, billboard whatever its medium, advertising tends to follow some well-known principles of persuasion. The ad must first get your attention in order to be effective. It can use comedy, humor, sex symbol, graphic design, or even unusual colors. You must then convince the person that there is some benefit to him or her in this message. We are all motivated by a variety of needs but not always a direct, material, benefit. Several persuasive requests appeal to our need to fee important, our need to be like, our need to feel socially accepted. It is highly recommended that you learn more about persuasive communication. This site will give you a good start, http://www.rdc.ab.ca/comm250/ldl_13.htm.

The area of communication, which interested me the most, is persuasive communication. This is an area of communication, which I believe, is used most frequently in our society. It is used everyday, whether it is to convince your parents that you have to go to Cancun for spring break or convincing your professor to give you that extra point for an 'A'. This particular area of communication is definitely the one that interests me the most.

I did not realize how much we use interpersonal, lifespan, persuasive and health communication in our everyday life. I found each one of these of a particular interest to me. Remember that there are sites listed above to give you a jumpstart for you to learn more about interpersonal, lifespan, persuasive, and health communication.