Communication plays an important role in human life. Pleasure from it affects the psychological comfort of participants in the communicative process, and constant dissatisfaction with social contacts and interpersonal relationships gives rise to bad mood, depression, decreased activity, deteriorating health, and makes it difficult to achieve goals.

Communication as a phenomenon of social psychology

Social and psychological specifics of communication

Communication is an integral aspect of human existence, an important prerequisite for its formation as a social being, interaction with various communities, as well as

a necessary condition for the existence of society. In the process of communication, intellectual and emotional-sensual interaction of individuals occurs, unity and coherence of their actions are achieved, which determines the formation of common moods and views, mutual understanding, cohesion and solidarity. They are necessary in collective activity because they represent the cultural and communicative basis of the social life of society. During the development of an individual, the need for communication has a socially selective nature.

In parallel with the need for communication, there is a need for solitude (here - communication with oneself), which is clearly expressed in some people, and barely noticeable in others. It depends both on the specific individual and on the social environment.

Solitude is being alone, isolated, apart, without communicating with anyone.

The activation and tension of social contacts and interpersonal relationships increasingly actualizes the individual’s desire to isolate himself and maintain his independence. It is realized as a need to relax, to understand oneself. If there is no friend nearby with whom one can discuss problems, the individual begins to communicate with himself, as if dividing his own “I”. The ability to conduct internal reflections-dialogues, “talk”, “advisers” with one’s own conscience is extremely important not only for making informed decisions and avoiding mistakes, but also for the spiritual and professional development of a person, maintaining his inner harmony.

The phenomenon of communication is manifested in numerous relationships between people, in the exchange of activities, information, experience, skills, and results of work. Communication is one of the manifestations of human essence, a personal form of existence and functioning of social relations. It reflects the objective need of people to live in society, unite and work with each other. Joint activity cannot occur without coordination of actions, agreement on goals, exchange of opinions, formation of a person’s inner world, his consciousness, feelings, knowledge. And this is only possible thanks to communication.

Communication covers various relationships, interpersonal relationships, is carried out in various forms and through various means, which, being an integral factor of culture, are constantly being improved and enriched.

Communication is the entire spectrum of connections and interactions of people in the process of spiritual and material production, a way of formation, development, implementation and regulation of social relations and psychological characteristics of an individual, which is carried out through direct or indirect contacts between individuals and groups.

A narrow interpretation of this concept is associated with human interpersonal relationships.

Interpersonal communication is a process of substantive and informational interaction between people, in which their interpersonal relationships are formed, specified, clarified and implemented (mutual influence, perception of each other, etc.) and the psychological characteristics of the communicative potential of each individual are manifested.

Interpersonal communication is the interaction of people in which each participant realizes certain goals, while simultaneously learning and changing himself and his interlocutor.

For social psychology, the relationship between communication and activity is fundamental. Based on the idea of ​​their unity, it interprets communication as the reality of human relationships, which cover all forms of joint human activity. This means that any form of communication refers to specific forms of joint activity. That is, people always communicate in relevant activities. Among scientists there are many supporters of a broader view of the connection between activity and communication, according to which communication is interpreted both as an aspect of joint activity and as its product; their opponents consider communication to be an independent phenomenon, unrelated to activity, proving that the process of communication is not only a means for a person , but also a goal. According to this understanding, communication is not necessarily predetermined by the need for joint activity; it can also be realized as a self-motivation process.

So, communication in social psychology is interpreted as a special type of activity; a specific social form of information communication; form of interaction between subjects; a category that is independent and unknown to activity; process of interpersonal interaction; exchange of thoughts, feelings and experiences; an essential aspect of human activity; the reality of human relations, which presupposes any forms of joint activity of people; the universal reality of human existence is generated and supported by various forms of human relations, etc. It is obvious that human activity; her communication with others is interconnected and cannot exist in isolation. Any type, form of human activity (play, leadership, education, etc.) is realized through communication, and communication through them. Even communication with oneself occurs in such a way that a person mentally continues the conversation with his partner.

Communication is a social phenomenon; its nature is manifested in society. Being an act of transferring social experience, norms of behavior, traditions, it contributes to the enrichment of knowledge, skills and abilities of participants in joint activities that satisfy the need for psychological contact, is a mechanism for reproducing events, moods, coordinates the efforts of people, contributes to the objective identification of the characteristics of partners’ behavior, their manners, character traits, emotional-volitional and motivational spheres. Its socio-psychological specificity lies in the fact that in the process of interaction the subjective world of one individual is revealed to another, an exchange of opinions, interests, feelings, activities, and information occurs. As a result of communication, certain contacts and interpersonal relationships are realized, people are united (disengaged), rules and norms of behavior are developed. The success of any contacts depends on mutual understanding between communication partners. In interpersonal contacts, the entire spectrum of qualities, communicative potential, social significance of the individual is revealed, human likes and dislikes, love and friendship, compatibility and incompatibility are revealed. This indicates the need to know the relationships between the participants in the contact group, because the communication system of an individual, the development of his communicative potential, and the means used in interaction depend on them.

Social psychology studies not only the form and methods of communication, but also its content - what a person enters into interpersonal relationships about.

First, each person performs certain social, including professional role functions (teacher, doctor, lawyer, manager, mother, father, student, etc.), while interacting with other people, being involved in various forms and types of social connections and relationships. All the diversity of these connections and relationships between people can be reduced to six main forms: mutual assistance, non-assistance, opposition and unilateral assistance, non-assistance, opposition. Obviously, the most acceptable form is the mutual assistance of people in solving professional and other social problems. As for mutual non-cooperation, this is the most acceptable form of interaction between people in public places where they stay (public transport, entertainment events, etc.).

The second circumstance is that in the course of social interaction between people, various; interpersonal relationships of both positive and negative nature: mutual (or one-sided) respect, trust, sympathy, cooperation, etc. or, conversely, relations of hostility, mistrust, bias, etc. This is the so-called psychological side of social interaction between people, which is the subject of social psychology.

The features of interpersonal relationships, being an integral aspect and the result of professional and other social interaction of people, in turn, significantly depend on the psychological and personal characteristics of the subjects entering into interaction and have a great influence on the nature and results of their performance of social role functions.

A special case of social interaction between people and the form of its manifestation is communication as a purposeful interaction in which contacts between people are established and developed, general rules, tactics and strategies of behavior are developed and observed. The basis of communication is the needs of people to ensure living conditions, information exchange, the implementation of general and individual tasks, and the achievement of general and individual personal goals. At the same time, communication can be focused on solving business, professional problems, or purely personal-oriented and can be carried out in various spheres of people’s lives: professional and business, public cultural (social, everyday, political, religious, art, etc.), in the field of personal relationships.

In psychology it is customary to distinguish the following patterns of communication:

the presence of common interests, needs, values, goals of communication partners;

absence of deficit, vacuum: communication is one of the basic needs of the individual, therefore the impossibility of its full realization forces a person to look for ways, means and abilities to realize it;

development, expansion, improvement. If this happens, then communication fades and is destroyed;

positive attitude towards your communication partner. Otherwise, a so-called personalized barrier to information perception arises, making it difficult to both perceive and understand the information coming from such a partner.

Communication as a socio-psychological phenomenon includes the following components, which together constitute its psychological structure:

• 1) people’s perception of each other;
• 2) people’s understanding of each other;
• 3) the relationship of people to each other;

In social psychology, there are three interconnected aspects of communication:

communicative (exchange of information between communication partners);

perceptual (mutual perception and understanding of each other by people);

interactive (mutual influence of partners).

Interpersonal communication performs many different functions, among which the most important are:

professional and business;

cognitive-diagnostic;

pedagogical;

informational;

managerial (mobilizing and motivating);

feedback;

personal self-affirmation;

fulfilling the need for communication, receiving positive emotions, psychological comfort from communicating with this particular person;

solving other problems.

It is very important that communication be functionally filled, so that in each act of communication, if possible, the entire complex of its functional tasks is realized.

There are five main types of communication depending on the goals that determine them.

• 1. The goals of communication are outside the process of interaction between subjects, in the matter in the name of which the formation of interpersonal relationships occurs. This is the so-called business communication.
• 2. The goals of communication are to familiarize the partner (recipient) with the values ​​and interests of the initiator (communicator), to transfer his social experience to the partner: pedagogical communication.
• 3. The goals of communication are to know the communication partner and obtain from him the information necessary for the communicator: cognitive communication.
• 4. The goals of communication are to encourage and mobilize a partner to appropriate behavior and action: managerial communication.
• 5. The goals of communication are in it itself, when communication is the main sphere of people’s lives and the satisfaction of their common needs and interests. This is emotional and empathic communication.

The first four types of communication are socially determined and usually professionally necessary.

There are also other types of communication. So, depending on the level of its development:

primitive, subject-object communication, when the communication partner is considered only as a means of solving certain problems.

manipulative, in which the subject of communication sets other conditions for the communication partner and the latter agrees with it and therefore acts accordingly. The general meaning of such communication can be presented as follows: if you do it, you will receive a reward (or punishment; this communication can be presented schematically: subject stimulus-object;

parity communication, as a subject-subject communication, a cat, in a communication partner a person sees a person who has the rights to his position, point of view. Based on such communication, a “pedagogy of cooperation” emerges.

In communication, various means and signs of the communication system are widely used. All their diversity can be reduced into three groups

• 1) verbal (word, speech);
• 2) non-verbal (non-verbal means);
• 3) mixed (a combination of verbal and non-verbal communication environments, which usually happens with verbal communication).

When studying this problem, it is necessary to pay attention to the uniqueness of communication through oral and written speech.

Introduction

Perceptual side of communication

The interactive side of communication

The communicative side of communication

Communication structure

Communication functions

Communication means

Communication as a socio-psychological phenomenon

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Communication is one of the subjects of socio-psychological research.

Communication is a multidimensional and multifaceted process of forming, ensuring and implementing interpersonal and intergroup contact, which is determined by the need to organize the implementation and maintenance of joint activities of people.

Research by G. M. Andreeva, D. Mead, G. Kelly and other scientists who analyzed the content and mechanisms of communication showed that its leading processes or aspects of communication are:

Communicative (transfer of information in the process of communication);

Interactive (i.e. interaction between partners);

Perceptual components (partners’ perception of each other).

Within the framework of socio-psychological knowledge regarding the problems of communication, the most substantively deep and voluminous material has been developed on interpersonal communication. In this regard, all three aspects of communication together reflect the multidimensionality and, at the same time, the ambiguous complexity of the internal, subjective world of one person, if we are talking about his relationship to another. The communicative side of communication reflects that aspect of interpersonal contact that is expressed in the exchange of information between participants in communication.

Let's take a closer look at the processes and aspects of communication.

Perceptual side of communication

In the process of perception, a person forms an image of another, an understanding of his personal traits. The greatest difficulties in the process of perceiving a person by a person are not only the ambiguity of the object itself (a person or a group of people), but also the fact that from external signs, from the image that is formed as a result of contact, partners strive to make judgments about each other’s internal qualities. Hence the numerous stereotypes linking constitution or facial features with individual characteristics.

The main mechanisms of knowing another person are identification and reflection .

Identification involves identification with a perceived subject, on the basis of which a conclusion is drawn about his individual characteristics and expected behavior. A person tries to put himself in the place of another and, based on this, try to understand his state and possible methods of action in a particular situation. Often, in this case, one’s own concepts and behavior patterns are extended to another, which can cause an error, since the differences between this person and the other are not taken into account during identification. More emotive people, naturally, more often use this particular method of cognition, becoming infected with the experiences of their communication partner.

The concept of reflection does not mean a person’s ability to introspect, but the awareness of how others perceive him. Such a reflected image of the Self, i.e. Self in the eyes of others is an important element of the self-concept and self-esteem; it is always, more or less consciously, present in the structure of the personality. When communicating, this reflected idea of ​​oneself plays a dominant role, and the success of the contact largely depends on how much it coincides with the actual image of the subject in the partner (or partners).

The main content of the perceptual process of communication is a system of interpretations of the behavior of another, the reasons for his actions, likes and dislikes. Based on this system, the subject strives to anticipate the further actions of partners, including in relation to himself. Since there is often very little real information about the reasons for certain actions of others and they do not always correspond to reality, the process of interpreting behavior is called attribution (or causal attribution), i.e. attributions. Attribute, i.e. People can attribute to their partners the reasons for their actions and statements either on the basis of an analysis of similar cases, or by analogy with their own behavior in similar situations. In the latter option, the identification mechanism is often included, when the subject, putting himself in the place of another, attributes to him his own motives and experiences, which can lead to a similar result. During analysis, people remember similar incidents that happened to other people, or the behavior of a partner in similar situations, believing that the same reasons are at work.

The perception of others is also influenced by the effects of “halo”, “novelty”, “boomerang”.

The “halo” effect is that the first, general impression of a person, often based on attitudes or some fragmentary information about him, extends to the perception of his actions and personal qualities. In this case, both a positive and negative “halo” can be formed. If the first impression of a person is generally favorable, then in the future all his behavior, traits and actions are assessed only positively, despite their real content. In his activities, mainly only positive aspects are highlighted and exaggerated, while negative ones are underestimated or not noticed. If the general first impression of a person turns out to be negative, then even his positive qualities and actions in the future are either not noticed at all or are underestimated against the background of hypertrophied attention to shortcomings.

The “novelty” effect is that in relation to a familiar person, the most recent, newer information about him turns out to be the most significant, while in relation to a stranger, the first information is more significant. That is why emotionally rich or significant information about a new person can stimulate the formation of a positive or negative “halo”.

Another important effect of perception is the “boomerang” effect, which is that in some cases the impact of information on communication partners (or on a general audience) causes the opposite of the expected result. As a rule, this effect occurs in cases where trust in the source of information is undermined or this source (both the subject and the media or institution) causes hostility among those receiving it. Sometimes the boomerang effect occurs if information for a long time is of a monotonous nature that does not correspond to changed conditions.

Analysis of the perceptual process of communication shows that when perceiving another person, not only an idea of ​​him arises, but also an emotional attitude, in which the partner can cause both a situational emotional experience and a persistent feeling, both positive and negative.

The interactive side of communication

The interactive side of communication is a conventional term denoting the characteristics of the components of communication associated with the interaction of people and the direct organization of their joint activities. The goals of communication reflect the needs of joint activities of people. Communication should always involve some result - a change in the behavior and activities of other people. Here communication acts as interpersonal interaction, i.e. a set of connections and mutual influence of people that develop in their joint activities. The most common is the division of all interactions into two opposite types: cooperation and competition. In addition to cooperation, they also talk about agreement and conflict, adaptation and opposition, association and dissociation, etc. Behind all these concepts the principle of various types of interaction is clearly visible. In the first case, such manifestations of it are analyzed that contribute to the organization of joint activities and are “positive” from this point of view. The second group includes interactions that in one way or another “shatter” joint activity and represent a certain kind of obstacle to it.

Cooperation means the coordination of individual forces of participants (ordering, combining, summing up these forces). An important indicator of the “closeness” of cooperative interaction is the inclusion of all participants in the process.

As for competition, here the analysis is often concentrated in its most vivid form - conflict, a clash of goals, interests, positions, views of opponents (subjects of interaction).

The same person performs different roles. A multitude of role positions often gives rise to their collision - role conflicts. The interaction of people playing different roles is regulated by role expectations. “Performing” a role is subject to social control and necessarily receives public evaluation, and any slight deviation from the model is condemned.

The initial condition for successful communication is that the behavior of interacting people matches each other’s expectations. But communication is not always successful and is often not without internal contradictions. In some situations, antagonism of positions is revealed, reflecting the presence of mutually exclusive values, tasks and goals, which sometimes turns into mutual hostility. In this case, interpersonal conflict arises.

Interaction is also considered from the point of view of transactional analysis by the American psychologist E. Berne. From his point of view, in every person there are three “I”: Child (dependent, subordinate and irresponsible being); Parent (independent, non-subordinate, taking responsibility) and Adult (able to take into account the situation, understand the interests of others and distribute responsibility between themselves and them).

Speaking in the position of a Child, a person looks submissive and unsure of himself, in the position of a Parent - self-confident-aggressive, in the position of an Adult - correct and restrained. In human interaction, these positions are agreed upon only when one of the partners is ready to accept the position defined for him by the other partner.

The most successful and effective communication is between two interlocutors from the perspective of Adults; two Children can understand each other.

Transaction is a unit of interaction between communication partners, accompanied by setting the positions of each.

The essence of E. Bern's theory comes down to the fact that when the role positions of communication partners are agreed upon, the act of their interaction gives both a feeling of satisfaction. If a positive emotion is present in communication in advance to the delight of the partners, then E. Berne calls this type of interaction “stroking.” When agreeing on positions, no matter what the interlocutors talk about, they exchange strokes. The deprivation of reciprocal stroking already affects a person. If, contrary to his expectations, he is also approached from an inconsistent position, this causes anger and can cause conflict.

From a psychological point of view, the content of the conflict can be very diverse depending on the role positions of the partners. What can be decisive for the entire dialogue is how correctly the position is chosen and how well it is agreed upon between the communication partners. What position we take in contact is immediately determined by the range of psychological roles that we have to perform.

The communicative side of communication

The communicative side of communication involves the exchange of information between partners. The orientation of the partners towards each other, their activity in the desire to convince the other or induce him to a certain action, i.e. there is not just a “movement” of information, but its development, clarification and enrichment. Therefore, the communicator (the person conveying information) needs to take into account not only what is said, but also how, to correlate the content of information with the attitudes, values, and motives of each of the perceivers.

Based on the tasks that the communicator sets for himself, incentive messages (to encourage someone to do something), informative (to convey information), expressive (to create an experience), and factual (to establish and maintain contact) are distinguished.

Actual, i.e. meaningless, communication involves the use of communication solely for the purpose of supporting the communication process itself.

A purely informative purpose of a message may not imply a reaction from the interlocutor, i.e. For the communicator, the very fact of the message may be important, regardless of what impact it had on the recipient and whether it was understood correctly.

The most difficult task of communication is the implementation of the intention to influence the behavior of another, since in this case it is necessary not only to understand the significance of the message, but also the same approach to assessing the situation or other partners, a close system of values. The following methods of influence in the process of communication are identified: persuasion, suggestion, imitation, infection. When persuading, the communicator focuses on the conscious, rational perception of his information, therefore his monologue or dialogic speech should be as detailed and expressive as possible. Other methods of influence involve focusing not only (and not so much) on consciousness, but on the unconscious feelings, experiences, and aspirations of people.

A special place in the analysis of the communication process is occupied by the study of specific communication barriers that disrupt the process of information exchange, adequate understanding and response to the message. Barriers can be generated by social factors, for example, political differences, differences in views associated with differences in status positions, environment, culture, religion. Also, the cause of misunderstanding may be the individual characteristics of the partners, for example, introversion, anxiety, suspiciousness of the interlocutors.

Communication structure

Communication as a process has its own structure, which has been discussed in detail by different authors.

B. Lomov proposed a classification consisting of three levels:

Macro level: communication is a complex network of relationships between an individual and other people and social groups and is considered as an important aspect of a person’s lifestyle (the process of communication is studied at time intervals, compared, compared with the duration of human life, with emphasis placed on the analysis of the mental development of the individual);

Mesa level: communication is considered as a set of purposeful, logically completed contacts or interaction situations that change and in which people find themselves in the process of life activity at specific time periods of their lives (the emphasis is on the substantive components of communication situations - “in connection with what” and “with what purpose”; the dynamics of communication are revealed around this subject of communication, verbal and non-verbal means, stages of communication are analyzed);

Micro level: attention is focused on the analysis of elementary units of communication as the interaction of behavioral acts (interaction covers the action of one partner and the reaction of another, for example, “question - answer”, “communication of information - attitude towards it”, etc.).

G. Andreeva defines the structure of communication as highlighting three interrelated factors in it: communicative (involves the exchange of information between individuals); interactive (organization of interaction between participants in communication, i.e. exchange of not only knowledge, ideas, but also actions); perceptual (the process of perception and knowledge by partners of each other and establishing mutual understanding on this basis).

B. Parygin considers the structure of communication as the relationship of two aspects - content and formal, i.e. communication and interaction with its content and form.

A. Bodalev distinguishes gnostic (cognitive), affective (emotional) and practical (active) components in the structure of communication.

The logical basis for modeling the structure of communication as a process (transfer of information, mutual influence, knowledge of each other, exchange of results of activities, etc.) can be the characteristics of its relatively autonomous components, such as: purpose, content, means of communication; participants in the process, the type of communication established between them; motives, needs, value orientations of communication participants; communicative potential of subjects of communication; types and forms of communication; sociocultural and ethnopsychological specifics of communication; ethical, psychological and gender characteristics of communication; communication style, strategies and tactics; result of communication.

External - manifested in the communicative actions of the participants in the process, in the choice of style, form, communication strategy, in language activity, intensity of actions, adequacy of behavior, etc.

Internal - reproduces the subjective perception of the interaction situation, which is expressed using verbal and non-verbal signals.

Communication functions

As for the functions (from the Latin Functio - execution, implementation) of communication, they are understood as the external manifestation of the properties of communication, the roles and tasks that it performs in the process of an individual’s life in society.

There are various approaches to the classification of communication functions. Some researchers consider communication in the context of its organic unity with the life of society as a whole and with direct contacts of people and the inner spiritual life of a person.

The following functions are distinguished:

Communication is a form of existence and manifestation of human essence; it plays a communicative and connecting role in the collective activities of people;

It represents the most important vital need of a person, a condition for his prosperous existence, and has a psychotherapeutic, confirmatory meaning (confirmation of one’s own “I” by another person) in the life of an individual of any age.

B. Lomov identifies three functions in communication: information-communicative (consists in any exchange of information), regulatory-communicative (regulation of behavior and regulation of joint activities in the process of interaction, and affective-communicative (regulation of the emotional sphere of a person.

The information and communication function covers the processes of generating, transmitting and receiving information; its implementation has several levels: at the first level, differences in the initial awareness of people who come into psychological contact are equalized; the second level involves the transfer of information and decision-making (here communication realizes the goals of information, training, etc.); the third level is associated with a person’s desire to understand others (communication aimed at forming assessments of achieved results).

The second function - regulatory-communicative - is to regulate behavior. Thanks to communication, a person regulates not only his own behavior, but also the behavior of other people, and reacts to their actions, that is, a process of mutual adjustment of actions occurs.

Under such conditions, phenomena characteristic of joint activity appear, in particular, the compatibility of people, their teamwork, mutual stimulation and correction of behavior. This function is performed by such phenomena as imitation, suggestion, etc.

The third function - affective-communicative - characterizes the emotional sphere of a person, in which the individual’s attitude to the environment, including social, is revealed.

You can give another, slightly similar to the previous, classification - a four-element model (A. Rean), in which communication forms: cognitive-informational (reception and transmission of information), regulatory-behavioral (focuses attention on the characteristics of the behavior of subjects, on the mutual regulation of their actions ), affective-empathic (describes communication as a process of exchange and regulation at the emotional level) and social-perceptual components (the process of mutual perception, understanding and cognition of subjects).

L. Karpenko, according to the “goal of communication” criterion, identifies eight functions that are implemented in any interaction process and ensure the achievement of certain goals in it:

· contact - establishing contact as a state of mutual readiness to receive and transmit messages and maintain communication during interaction in the form of constant mutual orientation;

· informational - exchange of messages (information, opinions, decisions, plans, states), i.e. reception - transmission of what data in response to a request received from a partner;

· incentive - stimulating the activity of the communication partner, which directs him to perform certain actions;

· coordination - mutual orientation and coordination of actions to organize joint activities;

· understanding - not only adequate perception and understanding of the essence of the message, but also the partners’ understanding of each other;

· amotivational - inducing the necessary emotional experiences and states from a communication partner, changing one’s own experiences and states with his help;

· establishing relationships - awareness and fixation of one’s place in the system of role, status, business, interpersonal and other connections in which the individual will act;

· implementation of influence - a change in the state, behavior, personal and meaningful formations of the partner (aspirations, opinions, decisions, actions, activity needs, norms and standards of behavior, etc.).

An analysis of the features of communication in the field of business relationships also indicates its multifunctionality (A. Panfilova, E. Rudensky):

The instrumental function characterizes communication as a social control mechanism, which makes it possible to receive and transmit information necessary to carry out a certain action, make a decision, etc.;

Integrative - used as a means of uniting business partners for a joint communication process;

The self-expression function helps to assert oneself, demonstrate personal intelligence and psychological potential;

Broadcasting - serves to convey specific methods of activity, assessments, opinions, etc.;

The function of social control is designed to regulate the behavior, activities, and sometimes (when it comes to trade secrets) the language actions of participants in business interaction;

The socialization function promotes the development of business communication culture skills; With the help of the expressive function, business partners try to express and understand each other’s emotional experiences.

All of the above functions are transformed into one main function of communication - regulatory, which manifests itself in the interaction of an individual with other people. And in this sense, communication is a mechanism of social-psychological regulation of people’s behavior in their joint activities. The identified functions, according to the researcher, should be considered as one of the grounds for classifying all other functions of a person as a subject of communication.

Communication means

For transmission, any information must be appropriately encoded, i.e. it is possible only through the use of sign systems. The simplest division of communication is verbal and non-verbal, using different sign systems.

Verbal uses human speech as such. Speech is the most universal means of communication, since when transmitting information through speech, the meaning of the message is least lost.

It is possible to identify the psychological components of verbal communication - “speaking” and “listening.” The “speaker” first has a certain idea regarding the message, then he embodies it in a system of signs. For the “listener,” the meaning of the received message is revealed simultaneously with decoding.

There are three positions of the communicator during the communication process:

Open (openly declares himself a supporter of the stated point of view);

Detached (stays emphatically neutral, compares conflicting points of view);

Closed (remains silent about her point of view, hides it).

Nonverbal communication. There are four groups of nonverbal means of communication:

1) Extra- and paralinguistic (various near-speech additives that give communication a certain semantic coloring - type of speech, intonation, pauses, laughter, coughing, etc.)

2) Optical - kinetic (this is what a person “reads” at a distance - gestures, facial expressions, pantomime).

A gesture is a movement of the arms or hands; they are classified based on the functions they perform: - communicative (replacing speech) - descriptive (their meaning is understandable only in words) - gestures that express an attitude towards people, a person’s state.

Facial expressions are the movement of facial muscles.

Pantomime is a set of gestures, facial expressions and body position in space.

3) Proxemics (organization of space and time of the communication process).

In psychology, there are four communication distances:

Intimate (from 0 to 0.5 meters). People who, as a rule, have close, trusting relationships communicate on it. Information is transmitted in a quiet and calm voice. Much is conveyed through gestures, glances, and facial expressions.

Interpersonal (from 0.5 to 1.2 meters). It allows communication between friends.)

Official business or social (from 1.2 to 3.7 meters). Used for business communication, and the greater the distance between partners, the more formal their relationship is.

Public (more than 3.7 meters). Characterized by speaking in front of an audience. With such communication, a person must monitor his speech and the correct construction of phrases.

Visual, or eye contact. It has been established that people usually look into each other’s eyes for no more than 10 seconds.

Verbal and nonverbal communications are closely intertwined, organically complement each other and constitute the communication process as a whole.

Communication as a socio-psychological phenomenon

Domestic psychological science has long-standing traditions regarding the study of the category “communication” and the identification of its specific psychological aspect. First of all, the question of the relationship between communication and activity is fundamental.

Based on the idea of ​​the unity of communication and activity (B. Ananyev, A. Leontiev, S. Rubinstein, etc.), communication is understood as the reality of human relations, which provides for any forms of joint activity of people. That is, any forms of communication belonging to specific forms of joint activity. Moreover, people not only communicate while performing certain functions, but they always communicate during relevant activities.

G. Andreeva believes that it is advisable to have the broadest understanding of the connection between activity and communication, when communication is considered both as an aspect of joint activity (since activity itself is not only work, but also communication in the labor process), and as its peculiar derivatives (from the Latin derivatus derivative from what primary).

In other words, it is advisable to consider communication in two ways: as an aspect of joint activity and as its product.

Regarding another position, when the category of “communication” can be considered as independent and reduced to activity (V. Znakovoe, A. Rean, etc.), the process of communication becomes for a person not only a means, but also a goal. The idea of ​​autonomy and intrinsic value of communication is substantiated by A. Rean and Y. Kolominsky:

Firstly, the theoretical concept of the structure of fundamental human needs (A. Maslow), in which communication is one of the basic needs (it is necessary in order to share your grief or joy with another person, in order to feel like a human being);

Secondly, from the standpoint of the subject-subject approach to communication (if activity is associated with the formula “subject - object”, then in communication none of the partners can be considered as an object, because each of them is an active subject of this process).

Communication is a social phenomenon, the nature of which manifests itself in society, among people during the transfer of social experience, norms of behavior, traditions, etc.

It helps to enrich the knowledge, skills and abilities of participants in joint activities that satisfy the need for psychological contact, is a mechanism for reproducing events, moods, coordinates the efforts of people, helps to objectively identify the characteristics of partners’ behavior, their manners, character traits, emotions, volitional and motivational spheres.

So, the specificity of communication lies in the fact that in the process of interaction the subjective world of one individual is revealed to another, a mutual exchange of opinions, information, interests, feelings, activities, etc. occurs.

The success of any contacts depends on establishing mutual understanding between communication partners. In real interpersonal contacts, the entire spectrum of personality qualities, its communicative potential, social significance are revealed, human likes and dislikes, love and friendship, compatibility and incompatibility, attractiveness and enmity are revealed.

In this regard, it is extremely important to know the relationships that have developed between the members of the contact group, because, ultimately, the entire communication system of an individual, the development of his communicative potential, and the means used in the interaction process depend on them.

A person’s need for communication is determined by the social way of life and the need to interact with other people.

Communication is the main condition for human survival and ensures the implementation of the functions of training, education and development of the individual.

Studying the behavior of infants, American researchers K. Flake-Hobson, B. Robinson and P. Skene note that in the first weeks of life, children can only exchange gestures, facial expressions, and numerous sounds with adults, which indicates a genetic “programming” for communication with the environment .

Communication is the entire spectrum of connections and interactions of people in the process of spiritual and material production, a way of formation, development, implementation and regulation of social relations and psychological characteristics of an individual, which are carried out through direct or indirect contacts in which individuals and groups enter.

This is a broad understanding of communication, and the narrow context - interpersonal communication - indicates the process of substantive and informational interaction between people, in which their interpersonal relationships are formed, specified, clarified and implemented and the psychological characteristics of the communicative potential of each individual are manifested.

Conclusion

Based on the information presented in this work, we can conclude that communication is a multifaceted but holistic process of developing contacts between people, which includes three interrelated aspects: communicative, interactive and perceptual.

The communicative side of communication is the exchange of information between participants in joint activities.

The interactive side is the interaction of communicating people - the exchange in the process of speech not only of words, but also of actions and deeds.

The perceptual side of communication is the perception of communicating people of each other. It is very important whether one of the communication partners perceives the other as trustworthy, intelligent, understanding, prepared, or whether he assumes in advance that he will not understand anything and will not understand anything communicated to him.

In social psychology, the phenomenon of communication is one of the most important, since it gives rise to such phenomena as the exchange of information, people’s perception of each other, management and leadership, cohesion and conflict, sympathy and antipathy, etc.

As a result of communication, certain contacts and interpersonal relationships occur, people are united (or separated), rules and norms of behavior are developed.

Communication is an extremely complex phenomenon in the life of an individual and humanity as a whole, it covers a large number of interconnections, interpersonal relationships, is carried out in various forms and through various means, which are an integral factor of culture and are constantly being improved and enriched.

Bibliography

1. Andreeva G. M. Social Psychology. Moscow: Aspect Press, 1998.

2. Bern E. Games that people play. - Ekaterinburg. 1999.

3. Communication and optimization of joint activities. Edited by Andreeva G.M., Yanoushek Ya. Moscow, Moscow State University Publishing House, 1987.

4. Parygin B. D. Fundamentals of socio-psychological theory. - M., 1971.

6.Bodalev A.A. Perception and understanding of man by man. M., 1982.

Labunskaya.V.A/Human expression: communication and interpersonal cognition. "Phoenix". Rostov-on-Don.1999.

7.Piz A. Body language. - Novgorod, 1992.

After studying this chapter, the student should:

• know psychological meaning of the concept of “communication”;
• be able to describe communication as a specific psychological phenomenon that differs from behavior and individual activity;
• own some techniques for predicting and preventing conflict situations in communication.

Communication as a psychological phenomenon

More than 100 years of research in the field of experimental general psychology led scientists to the idea of ​​​​the need to create a new branch of science that would study communication of people. This was caused by a number of reasons. Firstly, mental processes, mental properties and states manifest themselves differently in different life situations, but especially in those that are accompanied by communication - both direct, in particular in small social groups, and indirect, for example when perceiving advertising. Secondly, psychologists drew attention to the possibility of empirically studying social phenomena that require deep psychological analysis, in particular interpersonal assessments and comparisons, the behavior of people in groups, consumer behavior, etc. Thirdly, many related sciences, such as economics, sociology , political science, history, etc., demanded that psychologists explain why certain phenomena occur in society that do not find answers within the framework of general psychology, but clearly have a psychological nature. For example, questions have been raised regarding how stock market panics or ethnic and religious conflicts arise.

And finally, fourthly, some scientists have realized the fact that in the process of communication, certain objects and phenomena begin to acquire special properties for people that they did not previously possess. It has been shown that some properties of objects that play an important role in people’s lives do not exist in reality, but appear only in social conditions, during direct or indirect communication. In particular, this idea is largely reflected in the concepts symbolic interactionist theories George Herbert Mead, representative of the Chicago School of Sociology (Fig. 9.1). These properties are of a symbolic nature: they are felt, perceived and valued by some people, but not perceived or valued by others at all. For example, it was noticed that products of creative activity have similar properties. Sometimes they even become “extremely valuable” for certain groups of people, and very often regardless of the material costs that were required to create them. This is how the idea of ​​a socio-psychological phenomenon emerged, which was called supersensible properties .

Rice. 9.1.

For approximately these (and some other) reasons, a new branch of science arose - social Psychology. The objects of her study were various types, types, forms and conditions of communication and activity, as well as communication phenomena that affect the mental processes, properties and states of people.

In an effort to understand what social psychology is about, the first thing you should pay attention to is that people communicate with each other differently: there are people who are very sociable (extroverts), and there are unsociable, withdrawn people (introverts). The second thing that should attract our attention: in the process of communication, people have an impact, influence each other and change their behavior depending on the nature of communication, the degree and forms of such influence. But the most interesting thing is probably that human communication can give rise to something new in nature, something that has never existed before. Sometimes it may seem that this new thing appears out of nowhere, but in fact its source is precisely the communication of people with each other. This idea arose as a result of a theoretical analysis of the phenomenon social in a number of socio-psychological theories.

In particular, according to the theory of J. G. Mead, a person is a social product of interpersonal interaction. He takes on certain roles under the influence of other people (“generalized other”). In the process of socialization, a reflective social "I" those. his origins are entirely social. The main thing in the social “I” is the ability to become an object introspection , as a result of which external social control is transformed into self-control. To deeply describe this phenomenon, Mead used the concept of "self." This property is not innate; its origin is also purely social. To interact effectively, a person must understand other people's intentions. This is done through a process Mead called acceptance of the role. The process of taking a role assumes that an individual, using imagination, puts himself in the place of the person with whom he communicates. The key concept of symbolic interactionism is interaction (interaction ). The basis of interaction is not joint activity, but the exchange of symbols.

J. G. Mead, as well as J. Habermas, H. Blumer and others, developing the views of sociologist Georg Simmel, argued that society is built on the exchange of gestures and symbols through language. It was argued that to understand people's behavior, it is necessary to know the internal symbolic meaning, a certain language code that is understandable only to the participants in the interaction. In the process of socialization, the so-called significant others – people whose judgments and actions are the standard in the formation of a person’s own judgments, opinions and behavior.

• The biography of J. G. Mead is quite remarkable. He was born in the USA, studied at Harvard University, as well as in Leipzig and Berlin, where he became acquainted with the works of W. Wundt. Mead never had a degree, but taught social psychology in the United States at the University of Chicago. Having no scientific status, he did not publish any of his books, but he had great influence. J. G. Mead's lectures were collected and published after his death.

Social psychology: lecture notes Melnikova Nadezhda Anatolyevna

LECTURE No. 8. Communication as a socio-psychological phenomenon

1. The concept of communication

In all group activities, participants act simultaneously in two capacities: as performers of conventional roles and as unique human individuals.

When conventional roles are played, people act as units of social structure.

There is agreement on the contribution that each role holder must make.

The behavior of each participant is limited by expectations determined by cultural norms.

By engaging in such enterprises, people remain unique living beings.

The reactions of each of them turn out to be dependent on certain qualities of those with whom they come into contact.

The nature of mutual attraction or repulsion is different in each case.

The pattern of interpersonal relationships that develop between people involved in a joint action creates another matrix that places further restrictions on what each person can or cannot do.

Even in the most fleeting interactions, interpersonal reactions occur.

In most of the contacts that occur, such reactions are of little significance and are soon forgotten.

As people continue to communicate with each other, more stable orientations emerge.

The nature of these relationships in each case will depend on the personality traits included in the interaction of individuals.

Since a person expects special attention from his closest friends and is not inclined to expect good treatment from those whom he does not like, each party in the system of interpersonal relations is bound by a number of special rights and responsibilities.

Conventional roles are standardized and impersonal.

But the rights and responsibilities that are established in interpersonal roles depend entirely on the individual characteristics of the participants and their preferences.

Unlike conventional roles, most interpersonal roles are not specifically taught.

Everyone develops their own type of appeal.

Although no systems of interpersonal relationships are exactly alike, there are repeated situations and similar individuals react in the same way to the same type of treatment.

Typical patterns of interpersonal relationships are observed and typical interpersonal roles can be named.

Interpersonal roles that arise when people compete over similar interests include rival, enemy, conspirator, and ally.

In every organized group there is a common understanding of how members are supposed to feel towards each other.

In a family, for example, the relationship between mother and sons is conventionally defined.

People participating in a coordinated action simultaneously interact in the language of two sign systems.

As performers of conventional roles, they use conventional symbols, which are the object of social control.

At the same time, the special personal orientation of each character is manifested in the style of his performance, in what he does when the situation is not sufficiently defined and he has some freedom of choice.

The manifestation of personality traits, in turn, causes responses, often unconscious.

These two forms of interaction imperceptibly transform into one another.

Communication– the process of interrelation and interaction of social subjects (individuals, groups), characterized by the exchange of activities, information, experience, abilities, skills and abilities, as well as the results of activities, which is one of the necessary and universal conditions for the formation and development of society and the individual.

At the social level, communication is a necessary condition for the transmission of social experience and cultural heritage from one generation to another.

In a psychological sense, communication is understood as the process and result of establishing contacts between people or the interaction of subjects through various sign systems.

There are three aspects of communication, such as the transfer of information ( communicative aspect of communication); interaction ( interactive aspect of communication); people's understanding and knowledge of each other ( perceptual aspect of communication).

The key words in understanding the essence of communication are: contact, communication, interaction, exchange, method of unification.

There are various types of communication, which are most often determined by the specifics of feedback.

Communication can be direct and indirect, interpersonal and mass.

Direct communication– this is direct natural communication face to face, when the subjects of interaction are nearby and not only verbal communication occurs, but also communication using non-verbal means.

Direct communication is the most complete type of interaction because individuals receive maximum information.

Direct communication can be formal And interpersonal.

It can also be carried out between subjects and simultaneously between several subjects in a group.

However, direct communication is only possible for a small group, i.e. one in which all subjects of interaction personally know each other.

Direct face-to-face communication is two-way and characterized by complete and immediate feedback.

Indirect or indirect communication occurs in situations where individuals are separated from each other by time or distance, for example, if subjects talk on the phone or write letters to each other.

A special type of communication is mass communication, defining social communication processes.

Mass communication represents multiple contacts of strangers, as well as communication mediated by various types of media.

Mass communication can be direct and indirect.

Direct mass communication occurs at various rallies, in all large social groups: crowd, public, audience.

Indirect mass communication is most often one-way in nature and is associated with mass culture and the means of mass communication.

Since many media communicate information to large numbers of people at the same time, feedback is very difficult, but it does exist.

People, under the influence of the content of information transmitted by such sources, form motives and attitudes that subsequently determine their social actions.

Levels of communication are determined by the general culture of interacting subjects, their individual and personal characteristics, characteristics of the situation, social control and many other factors.

The dominant ones are the value orientations of those communicating and their attitude towards each other.

The most primitive level of communication is phatic(from Latin fatuus - “stupid”), involving a simple exchange of remarks to maintain a conversation in conditions where the communicants are not particularly interested in interaction, but are forced to communicate.

Its primitiveness lies not in the fact that the remarks are simple, but in the fact that there is no deep meaning or content behind them.

Sometimes this level is designated as conventional(convention – “agreement”).

The next level of communication is informational.

There is an exchange of information that is interesting to the interlocutors, which is the source of some type of human activity (mental, emotional, behavioral).

The information level of communication is usually stimulating in nature and prevails in conditions of joint activities or when old friends meet.

Personal the level of communication characterizes such interaction in which subjects are capable of the deepest self-disclosure and comprehension of the essence of another person.

The personal, or spiritual, level characterizes only such communication, which is aimed at activating the positive attitude of the subjects of interaction themselves towards themselves, other people and the world around them as a whole.

The functions of communication are determined according to various criteria: emotional, informational, socializing, connecting, self-knowledge ( A. V. Mudrik ); establishment of community, instrumental, awareness, self-determination ( A. B. Dobrovich ); cohesion, instrumental, translational, self-expression ( A. A. Brudny ); contact, information, incentive, coordination, understanding, emotive, establishing relationships, exerting influence ( L. A. Karpenko ) and etc.

If we consider communication in a certain system of relations, we can identify a set of groups of functions.

1. Psychological functions determine the development of man as an individual and personality.

In conditions of communication, many mental processes proceed differently than in conditions of isolated individual activity.

Communication stimulates the development of thought processes (cognitive activity), volitional processes (activity), and emotional processes (efficiency).

2. Social features determine the development of society as a social system and the development of groups as constituent units of this system.

Integration of society is possible only if there is communication in all its types, types and forms.

3. Instrumental functions define numerous connections between man and the world in the broadest sense of the word; between different social groups.

The conceptual idea of ​​such a division of functions lies in the idea of ​​the relationship between man and society and the world in accordance with a simple model of relations: man – activity – society.

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