Interpersonal Communication and Culture Development - Essay Example

The relationship between Interpersonal Communication and culture development Introduction The concept of the relationship between Interpersonal Communication and culture development has been widely discussed, both in class and from the books. Therefore, the concept of interpersonal communication helps develop a culture forms the basis of this discussion, which is also the subject of discussion under the selected article: Article: Hopmann, David Nicolas. "The Consequences of Political Disagreement in Interpersonal Communication: New Insights from a Comparative Perspective." European Journal of Political Research 51.2 (2012): 265-287. Summary of the conclusions of the article Interpersonal communication has a direct influence on culture development. Open and clear communication between people forms the basis for good and effective public relations. The interpersonal relationships between the politicians have a major influence on the behavioral culture of the voters. The interpersonal communication between politicians serves to depress the voter turnout, through influencing the attitudes of the voters, since the controversy raised by the interpersonal communication affects the informational gains of the voters. The disagreements of the politicians make it hard for the voters to decide which party to support (Hopmann, 265). Thus, it is apparent that interpersonal communication has a direct influence on the culture of the people, based on the techniques and skills applied in the communication. Where there seems to be disagreement and ineffective interpersonal communication between the politicians, which focuses on discrediting each other’s political parties at the expense of disseminating gainful information, there is a tendency to generate a culture of voter apathy (Hopmann, 282). On the other hand, where there is effective interpersonal communication, based on disseminating the individual and party political ideologies to the people, the voter motivation and positive attitude is enhanced. The conflict arising from the controversy of words and the disagreements between the voters serves to cause the disapproval of the voters’ party of choice, which in turn influences the political behavior and political attitudes of the people. Studies have shown that citizens tend to identify with the political network that supports their ideologies and lifestyle (Hopmann, 267). However, the controversy created by the interpersonal communication between the politicians, serves to erode the information gains that such citizens would have reaped from the discussion of the parties’ ideologies, since the controversy seeks to discredit each other’s party pledges, at the expense of informing the citizens on the ideologies that the parties stands for. The citizens then tend to avoid controversies and thus opt out of the communication tussle between the politicians. Ineffective interpersonal communication is the basis for influencing the social pressure in a negative way. The application of good interpersonal communication skills, which amounts to diverging and disseminating gainful information to the public, constitutes a positive political behavioral attitude towards party and candidates choice decision-making (Hopmann, 278). The ineffective interpersonal communication techniques serve to influence the attitudinal effect of the voter decision and their behavioral effects. Thus the fundamental conclusion of this article is that; the application of poor interpersonal communicational skills and techniques does not only serve to ruin the relationship of the two individuals holding a conversation, but also the third parties, who may be interested, or affected by the interpersonal relationship in any way (Watzlawick, 57). This draws a parallel relationship between the interpersonal communication and the social context, where the nature of the interpersonal communication applied, and the context where it is applied, has a great influence on the impacts that such a communication is likely to make. Argument in support of the conclusions of the article Communication is the substance of any form of relationship. Therefore, the nature of communication applied by individuals highly determines the type of relationship that such individuals should have. Communication is not only used to determine the nature of the present relationship between the individuals, but also to determine the culture of the relationship that will eventually be build between the individuals, especially if such individuals will be engaged in a long-term interaction (Cristina et al, 3). While interpersonal communication is applied towards conversing and passing messages amongst people, it plays a great role in establishing the level of trust, warmth and affection that will characterize such a relationship. This because, with the application of the effective interpersonal communication skills and techniques, the level of trust between the parties involved in communication is high, and thus a culture of mutual and warm relationship is cultivated. For example, according to the findings of s study undertaken by Han and Sang-Chin, to deduce how trust work in interpersonal relationships, the level of trust build in the relationship highly determines the intimacy culture of the individuals involved in a marriage relationship (Cristina et al, 4). The case is the same for the relationship established between politicians and the voters, based on the skills and techniques that are applied by the politicians in their interpersonal communication. The Politeness Theory serves to explain the predictions regarding how individuals are likely to react, whenever the people they are engaging with contradict their assumptions and expectations, especially when such expectations are in relation to personal preferences (Watzlawick, 58). Therefore, when politicians are involved in an interpersonal communication controversy amongst themselves, trying to discredit each other at the expense of disseminating their ideologies and those of their parties to the citizens, the result is that the citizens’ expectations are contradicted. This in turn serves to erode the trust or minimize the level of trust that such citizens had on either of the politicians or their parties, resulting to a scenario where they opt out of the voting turnout, considering that the gainful information they expected to receive from the politicians is not achieved. The fundamental assumption of the Politeness Theory is that; all individuals are concerned with making a face (Watzlawick, 59). This assumption points to the fact that the electorate expects the politicians who are requesting for their votes to be humble and polite while addressing the electorate, focusing on disseminating gainful information to them, such as their political ideologies, at the expense of engaging in other political tussles, which are not beneficial to the electorate. To the extent that the politicians fulfills this assumption, then, the citizens builds a high level of trust in them, and thus the culture of supporting politics is enhanced. On the other hand, when the politicians contradict this fundamental assumption of the Politeness Theory, then the electorate loses trust in such politicians, and thus develops a culture of voter apathy (Hopmann, 282). This simply means that the nature of interpersonal communication highly determines the culture of politics within a particular social setting. The Training & Development Journal also support the fact that the skills and techniques of interpersonal communication applied, highly determines the social culture that is established in a particular social setting (Interpersonal Communication, 9). According to this journal, the best ingredient for effective public organization is open and clear communication between people, focused on handling the specific topic or issue that is of concern to the people involved. Thus, in labor intensive operations, the success will be determined by the attitude of the people, which in turn supports a certain behavioral development that becomes the culture of such people. Relating well with the people therefore increases the chances of succeeding in a public organization endeavor (Interpersonal Communication, 9). This being the case, it is therefore apparent that the success of the politicians or their parties is purely dependent on the nature of the relationship they have with the electorate, which is determined by the interpersonal communication between them. The electorate expects that the politicians will address their ideologies, thus enabling them to determine whether such ideologies are suitable for their lifestyle and interests. Should the politicians contradict this expectation, by failing to address the actual topics that are of interest to the people, the people will end-up absconding voting, since they do not have an informed basis of doing making a candidate or party choice. This creates the culture of non-participation of the people in the electoral process. The process of building relationship occurs in two stages; relationship build-up and relationship breakup (Watzlawick, 52). In either of the stages, the fundamental determinant is the nature of interpersonal relationship involved. For example, when a couple is newly married, the very first aspect of communication they establish and adopt as the fundamental of their communication will highly determine the success of the marriage (Cristina et al, 2). The same is applicable in an organizational work relationship and ethics. When a new manager or employee is posted to a certain work station, the very first communicational aspect that the manager or employee receives from the works station highly determines how he/she will relate with the work station in the future. If his/her expectations are met, the employee or the manager adopts a positive attitude. On the other hand, if the expectations of the employee or the manager are contradicted, the attitude formed regarding the work station becomes negative, which is then very hard to turn around (Interpersonal Communication, 9). The attitude formed in the marriage relationship or in the working relationship is influenced by the level of trust that is developed from the very beginning, which then builds-up as the new marriage or working culture. Therefore, interpersonal communication plays a great role in developing the culture of a certain social setting. References Cristina Becchio, et al. "Time Will Show: Real Time Predictions during Interpersonal Action Perception." Plos ONE 8.1 (2013): 1-6. Hopmann, David Nicolas. "The Consequences of Political Disagreement in Interpersonal Communication: New Insights from a Comparative Perspective." European Journal of Political Research 51.2 (2012): 265-287. "'Interpersonal Communication'." Training & Development Journal 34.7 (1980): 9. Watzlawick, Jackson. Explaining Theories of Interpersonal Communication. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 35, (1967): 50-64. Print. Read More