Unit 14

Levels of Communication (1)

Phatic communication: Using conventional messages to establish rapport, to break the ice, and/or to end a conversation. You might hug, kiss, shake hands, bow, smile, make eye contact, and face one another. We exchange pleasantries by using clichés. Clichés are overused expressions that have lost their original (content) meanings and have taken on new relational meanings. We expect phatic communication at the beginning and end of every conversation, regardless of our feelings about a person.

eg:Hello. How are you? I'm fine. How are you?

Thanks for coming. Have a nice day. You're welcome.

Factual communication: Discussing events, making observations, offering knowledge to others in a manner which can be called small talk. At business parties, we rely upon factual communication to build network. Factual communication includes reporting what you've read in a textbook, what you've read in a textbook, what you've studied for a test, showing pictures of your kids, and exchanging personal history. Factual communication is relatively safe and most do this well.

eg:I'm majoring in business administration.

I'm married with three children, two sons and one daughter.

Did you watch the basketball game last night?

What did you do in class last Friday?

Peak communication: Coming together with another in an extraordinary way. Two individuals experience a transformation when they are sharing exactly the same emotion with the same level of intensity. It's as if, for the moment, two souls come into one. Peak communication is rare, even among close friends and family members.

eg:I love you. I love you too.

I'm so angry with you. I'm so angry with you as well.

I'm glad that we were able to fight long enough to get this resolved. Yes, I feel exactly the same way, glad that we communicated collaboratively.

I'm scared. I'm scared too.