The Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Interactions - Essay Example

Interpersonal communication is the process of sending and receiving information between two or more people. It is the key to happier, healthier relationships, and greater personal fulfillment. (Runion, 2003). Identify the barriers to effective interpersonal interactions. Communication barriers are things that prevent the effective exchange of thoughts between a sender and receiver of a message. There are several barriers to effective interpersonal interactions such as perceptual, language and gender barriers. Perceptual barriers are caused by how we view things and our attitudes towards issues in life. It is brought about by difference in opinion between individuals. For example, a receiver of a message may form an opinion of what is being said without effectively listening because of a painful past that made them to be untrusting. A language barrier arises when people do not understand each other’s expressions and jargon since they are not familiar with them. This attempt to communicate fails as they don’t have a common language. Another barrier is gender. This is brought about by the difference in speech patterns between men and women. The speech function of men is on the left hemisphere of their brain causing them to be logical thinkers while in women; the function is in both right and left hemispheres of the brain. This causes women to link logic and emotions when talking. This also explains why women talk longer than men in a day. This difference if not understood and well managed, can be a communication barrier and hinder a healthy growth in relationships. A solution to overcoming communication barriers is being mindful of one’s communication strengths and weaknesses. Develop strategies for active, critical and empathic listening. Listening is important in any conversation as it creates meaning between people (Sole, 2011). Sadly, hearing is usually mistaken for listening. Sole puts it this way, “We sometimes confuse hearing with listening” (Sole, 2011. sec.7.3). Active listening is when a listener consciously eliminates all distractions and concentrates on what the speaker is saying in order to create a mutual understanding. The listener later recaps what the speaker said or what they thought the speaker has said. Critical listening goes hand-in-hand with active listening because you must understand what your spouse is saying and remember it when giving feedback. Empathic listening is placing yourself in your spouse’s shoes, as they talk, with an intension to obtain understanding and respond to the emotions. It is about feeling your spouse and not feeling sorry for them. A point to remember when you are talking with your spouse is that, do not be tempted to pass judgment or offer advice. Effective listening skills can be developed with time and the more one works at developing the skills, the better you become. Strategies for active and critical listening involve paying attention to the speaker, show interest, understand what is being said, ask questions in a positive and non-threatening manner, evaluate the message, give feedback and respond appropriately. Practice the following strategies to be an effective empathic listener. Listen, understand and respond with body language as this will signal to your spouse that you are genuinely interested and help you focus on what is being said. Do not be judgmental; let your spouse feel that they can freely discuss with you anything without being condemned. Define emotional intelligence and its role in effective interpersonal relationships. Emotional intelligence is how conscious of our emotions we are and how we can control them and make better decisions as a consequence (DeVito, 2009). Dr. Gandolfi defines it as “being aware of emotions and how they can affect and interact with traditional intelligence.” This awareness of emotions help in understanding personal motivations, feelings and needs which helps in understanding how to communicate effectively to your partner. A spouse with a solid emotional foundation has the patience and understanding to deal with life’s difficulties. These virtues help in building lasting relationships since life difficulties greatly influence the success of a relationship. Emotional intelligent empowers an individual to understand the difference between damaging and effective communication. Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence, states that an emotional intelligent person can manage themselves and their relationships well. In times of conflict, such an individual is able to recognize the situation and overcome emotions building a stronger relationship. In conclusion, emotional intelligence presents opportunities for spouses to transform conflict into of healthy relationships. A solution to this problem is being great at engaging, listening, understanding each other and making yourself to be understood. Evaluate appropriate levels of self-disclosure in relationships. Self disclosure is the process of sharing ones private thoughts, feelings and revealing yourself to others. (Coon, D. & Mitterer, J.O, 2008). It is an essential process for developing close relationships. As you talk with your partner, your level of liking, trust and self-disclosure will deepen. Self-disclosure has two extremes; moderate disclosure which leads to a return in kind and over-disclosure which is sharing too much information. When disclosure progresses at a moderate pace, it builds trust, intimacy, reciprocity and positive feelings. On the other hand, when it is inappropriate, one is likely to back off and wonder about the other person’s motives. This is an important point for you to note as you relate with one another with an aim of building trust between yourselves. Tim and Sara, for you to overcome the problem of self-disclosure, you both need to self-disclose and listen to each other. When there is enough mutual self-disclosure, your relationship is bound to grow in depth and intimacy. Describe strategies for managing interpersonal conflicts. Conflicts between people occur due to differences in opinions, values and priorities (Cardillo, 2007). Sara and Tim let me assure you that your relationship is not immune from conflicts but the difference will come in on how you manage them. The following strategies may be of help. Deal with it. Ignoring or avoiding conflict leads to unresolved feelings of anger, hostility and resentment. Learning to manage conflicts effectively makes one happier and healthier both physically and emotionally leading to better relationships. Choose your battles. Since there will always be differing opinions and ways of doing things, decide which issues are worth fighting for or compromising and living with them. If you make an issue about everything, there is a danger of being viewed as a complainer which may cause legitimate issues to be ignored. Invite a mediator if necessary. Some situations may require the intervention of a neutral third party who has to remain objective and facilitate resolution and compromise. Apologize appropriately. One has to be willing to acknowledge their mistake, take responsibility and apologize. Compromising for the sake of peace and moving on. This involves meeting your spouse halfway to get to where you want to go in your marriage. One may apologize even if the conflict is not entirely a result of your actions. It is imperative that we arm ourselves with conflict resolution skills since there will always be conflicts as we relate with each other. In the book, Stay with Conflict, Mayer notes “as much as we might like to think that good communication, good problem solving and good intentions are the main keys to constructive engagement, we must also look at the use of power (Mayer, B. (2009). Pg. 269, para.2).” In conclusion, healthy relationships require effective communication. While good communication is not a guarantee for a happy marriage, it does provide a strong reassurance that the couple will continue to travel safely and successfully in their marital journey. References Sole, K. (2011). Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. O. (2008). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept (12th ed). Wadsworth Publishing; 12th edition Devito, J. A. (2009). The Interpersonal Communication Book (12th ed.) NY, United States:   Pearson International Gandolfi, F. (2006). Mind Your IQ. HR Monthly, August, pp 44-45. Cardillo, D. (2007). Seven Strategies for Managing Conflict. Retrieved from http://www.dcardillo.com/articles Mayer, B. (2009). Staying with Conflict: A Strategic Approach to Ongoing Disputes. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Jossey-Bass, 2009. p 269. http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/barriers-to-communication. Runion, M. (2003). How to Use Power Phrases to Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, & Get What You Want (1st edition) McGraw-Hill Publishers Read More