this is probably going to be one of the worst, irrelevant, random, illogical and irrational posts i am ever going to do.
since most of everyone is regurgitating (as usual) what our lecturer is talking about by going about the various stages, i’ll like to touch upon the purpose of interpersonal communication and the true application of it as an art.
totally nonsensical right?
yea. i know.
interpersonal communication is defined as being between 2 persons. supposed to be spontaneous, personal, immediate and informal.
as most posts go by the blogger’s point of view, i can’t help but agree that my point of view will be bias based on my own personal experiences that have shaped my perception of things.
With such i will start on the simple thought that i think 60 – 70% of the time, interpersonal communication has failed.
WHY?
many of you are probably disagreeing with me right now. fair enough. i think that many a times during the course of communication we may understand, think we understand, accept or whatever other verb you can find, the other party’s point of view. we may simply be putting ourselves out in such a manner that is socially acceptable in the context itself. can you imagine if you are constantly in disagreement with everyone? haha. i can because i always am.
of course egocentrism comes into play again but what i am talking about here is why we cohere in a certain manner to the other’s party train of thoughts. we can nod, say yes, you are right and all. and ultimately in the end there might still be a part of us that disagrees yet we choose to silence it. of course not necessarily the odd one out is correct one.
though communication has served it’s purpose. the reason why the word interpersonal is added is used to emphasize that it is an social activity. and in social activities there always norms, rules.
this post is rather disorganized and i see the word count coming up to 330 so i guess i should stop here to prevent more confusion.
i’ll end off by saying this, perception check. how many people can honestly say they do that. even psychologists and psychiatrists who do counselling who needs to understand the patient’s mindset can agree or disagree with them but not understand them. and when that happens can we still say that interpersonal communication is successful?
i might have been a little extreme there.
fake plastic trees 
Hello there!
It’s always interesting to read your posts. Very intriguing and thought-provoking. And yes, quite extreme in a sense. But that’s what makes it reader-enaging as well.
For a start…I’m guilty. Well, maybe not 60-70% of the time, 10-20%? My mind could be wandering somewhere as I’m speaking to someone. And end up agreeing or disagreeing when a part of me feels that it shouldn’t be that way. Well, I guess most of us are like that.
Ahh..perception check. If you really understand that person, say a best friend or your sister, then I guess interpersoanl communication does serve its purpose. Not everything needs to be so extreme.
Have a good weekend:)
Something refreshing… I agree that most blogposts i’ve read so far are actually regurgitations of the past week’s lectures. >.<
In my opinion, sometimes people are actually in silent disagreement. Like I said, not many people dare to speak up so openly like you, Shawn. ‘Cos you’re a rockstar. LOL.
It is also true that communication is governed by unspoken rules and regulations, but of course, there are always presences of non-conformists suc as ourselves. Perception check. Even if we were to conduct one, it probably wouldn’t be accurate anyway. Different person, different perception. it’d be fooling ourselves to say, that we understand fully from someone else’s point of view. ‘Cos there’re always hidden reasons, like you pointed out to me in the past.
Hope I made sense.
diane.e or hui shan or i donno which one i should address you by,
my estimation varies greatly across different persons that’s for sure so i’m glad that yours is 10 – 20%. if it really is that case. =P. sometimes the subconscious mind works without your knowledge.
lester,
that is probably true, your idea of a perception check. problem lies that we are not phD holders and even if we can disprove the logic that perception checks are inaccurate we’re probably not credible enough.
even if we were rockstars. LOL.
we’re not perfect creatures, we err. of course most of the times when we don’t understand fully what the other party is sayin, it’s no biggie, we all go on with our lives doin the things we do. Psychiatrists/psychologists/counselors may face something deeper, however. A patient who they think is okay and sound may in fact not be, and in the case of those who pose a danger to themselves and intend to, and eventually do, well… perhaps no book on interpersonal comms can ever fix that.
oh well! a meeting of minds may not always be met, but hey, at least we’re all talking about it! comms must be interesting after all, eh? lol.