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Psychological interference refers to our desire to participate in communication, our
likes and dislikes that may hinder our involvement. Egotism, defensiveness, hostility,
preoccupation, fear – all these and more constitute psychological noises.
Semantic interference occurs when the receiver does not attribute the same meaning
to the signal that the sender does. No two people attribute exactly the same meaning to
any word and that it is also possible to attribute different meanings to nonverbal messages.
Interference can exist in the context of the communication, in the channel, in the
sender of the message, or in the receiver.
Feedback
Most communication is a two-way affair. The discernible response of a receiver to a
sender’s message is called feedback. Some feedback is nonverbal – gestures, nods, sighs,
smiles, and so on. Feedback can be both oral (questions or comments on your collegue’s
ideas) and written (a response to a memo). Silence can also be a kind of feedback.
Luft (1969) calls feedback “the return to you of behaviour you have generated” (p
116). Feedback reinforces some behaviours and extinguishes others as – according to
Weiner (1967) – “the information which proceeds backward from the performance is able to
change the general method and pattern of performance” (p. 84). Feedback is an essential
characteristic of relationships as well as an important source of information about yourself.
According to Knapp [ , ], communicators who recognize their interdependence also
recognize that communication problems are the result of mutual contribution.
Time
As communicative interaction progresses in time, exchanges between communicators
entail communication cycles. The presence of time is conveyed by representing
communication in the form of a spiral, like an uncoiled spring. Some writers prefer to
symbolize time as a helix: the only difference between these forms is that the spiral is
generally regarded as two-dimensional whereas helix is thought of as three-dimensional.
Spiral (or helical) models emphasize the effect of the past on present or future
behaviour. The communication process, like the helix, is constantly moving forward and is
always to some degree dependent upon the past, which informs the present and the future.
The spiral also illustrates that participants in the communication process can never
return to the point at which they started. The relationship must undergo change as a result
of each interaction.
EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION
Communication is effective when the stimulus as it was initiated and intended by the
sender, or source, corresponds closely with the stimulus as it is perceived and responded
to by the receiver.
Communication is whole and complete when
R _ receiver's meaning =1
S sender's meaning
1 is rarely reached. The greater the correspondence between our intention and the
response we receive, the more effective we are in communicating.
In general, communication is effective when it brings about one or more of several
possible outcomes:
1. understanding, 4. improved relationships;