Chapter 6: Interpersonal Communication

6.1 Introduction

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • Define interpersonal communication.
  • Explain self-disclosure.
  • Understand the role of communication climate on interpersonal communication.
  • Be aware of the role of dialectical tensions in interpersonal communication.
  • Understand the unique dynamics of different types of relationships.

Think about your relationships in the last few years. You may have just transitioned from high school to Indiana State University. Perhaps you and your friends from high school went to different colleges and are now living far apart from each other. If you have recently been separated by a distance from friends or family, you have noticed that it is more difficult to stay connected and share all of the little things that go on in your day. As you continue to grow and change in college, it is likely that you will create relationships along the way. Being away from your family, you will probably notice changes to your relationships with them. All of these dynamics fall under the scope of interpersonal communication.

Before going any further, let us define interpersonal communication. “Inter” means between, among, mutually, or together. The second part of the word, “personal” refers to a specific individual or particular role that an individual may occupy. We often engage in interpersonal communication in a dyad, which means between two people. It may also occur in small groups such as you and your housemates trying to figure out a system for household chores.

Important to know is that the definition of interpersonal communication is not simply a quantitative one. What this means is that you cannot define it by merely counting the number of people involved. Instead, Communication scholars view interpersonal communication qualitatively; meaning that it occurs when people communicate with each other as unique individuals. Thus, interpersonal communication is a process of exchange where there are desire and motivation on the part of those involved to get to know each other as individuals. We will use this definition of interpersonal communication to explore the three primary types of relationships in our lives—friendships, romantic, and family. But before we go into detail about specific interpersonal relationships, let’s examine two important aspects of interpersonal communication: self-disclosure and climate.

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Introduction to Public Communication by Indiana State University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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