Types of communication in psychology: classification, main difficulties

Updated July 22, 2021 865 Author: Dmitry Petrov
Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. It is difficult to imagine a person’s day without at least some type of communication.

After all, this is not only necessary to resolve issues and achieve goals, but also to satisfy the needs of man as a rational being.

But what is communication: a simple exchange of words, or a more complex aspect in our lives? Is conversational skill a talent that some people have, or can it be developed? How important is it to talk to people, or can you do without it? Let's figure it out.

Content component of the communication process

Communication is a way to convey information to others. Therefore, one of the classifications is based on the content of statements.

1. Material - in addition to verbal skills, material objects are exchanged for the implementation of any activity. Material communication often occurs between close people, for example, the transfer of household items or purchases in a store. The purpose of such interaction is to satisfy urgent human needs.
2. Cognitive serves to transmit various information. Aimed at broadening horizons and sharing experiences. During the conversation, skills and abilities can be discussed. More common in professional environments.
3. Conditioning - aimed at influencing the emotional state of a person. Manifests itself as providing moral support and consolation.
4. Motivational - goal - motivating a person to perform actions, achieve goals.
5. Activity - combines communication and implementation of practical actions. In the process of such communication, experience, skills and abilities are exchanged.

Several types are often combined: it all depends on the degree of closeness of people and the type of their relationship.

What creates the desire to communicate?

People are eager to communicate, you can call it a banal desire, but a more correct term is a need.

So, with a high probability we can say that in children communication is an innate need. It is formed under the influence of the activity exhibited by adults present nearby, and often occurs around two months.

But teenagers are convinced that they experience an irresistible desire to communicate. They are also convinced that they can do this as much as they see fit. This is why most teenagers protest against adults' attempts to control their need to spend time with friends, and therefore to have friendly conversations. At this stage, we should not forget about the basic functions of communication, which play a role in the formulation of communication skills.

In adults, the need for communication is also quite strong. Many men and women, having less contact with someone than they themselves want, begin to plunge into negativity.

Communication goals

When analyzing communication, psychologists also take into account the goals that a person has set for himself.

1. Biological - satisfies the natural needs of a person, maintains the vitality of the body.
2. Social – aimed at communication with other people. This type of communication helps a person improve, increases his status in society and strengthens social contacts.

A person cannot limit himself to one of the above types of communication. Because people live in society and communication with others allows them to improve their skills and abilities, and learn new things.

Communication channels adequate to the senses:

1. Visual;
2. Auditory;
3. Tactile (touch);
4. Somatosensory (kinesthetic, feeling your body).

People have characteristics in the perception of the outside world and another person (social perception). They are divided into visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners:

1. visual people – they prefer to see everything with their own eyes, they like to tower over their partner;
2. auditory - perceive reality through auditory images: music, speech, sounds;
3. kinesthetics – experience (emotionally) through the state of their body.

Logically, we can name the following communication channels: direct, indirect, controlled indirect:

1. direct channel – transmission of information in explicit form;
2. indirect (indirect) – information obtained for the purpose of control or addition to what was previously accepted;
3. controlled indirect channel - a message perceived as unintentional is presented as completely intentional (a convincing tone in a dubious situation).

Communication means

To implement communication skills, a person uses means that become the basis for one of the classifications.

1. Direct - the organs and parts of the body that are given to a person by nature are involved - the mouth, vocal cords, arms, legs. No other available means are used.
2. Indirect - additional possibilities are used to carry out communication. This type includes the use of a mobile phone, computer and other technical devices.
3. Direct - people communicate with each other in person.
4. Indirect - interaction occurs with the participation of third parties. This is negotiation, spreading rumors or another way of transmitting information.

There is a simplified classification by means, in which psychologists distinguish two large groups:

• verbal - realized with the help of speech statements and is the leading one in a person. This method expands communicative capabilities, but it cannot completely exclude the use of pantonymic means;
• non-verbal - carried out through facial expressions, gestures and transmission through bodily or sensory contacts. This type of communication occurs in some animal species. Nonverbal communication is innate and it is aimed at achieving mutual understanding on an emotional level. An important skill is listening.

Nonverbal communication is used to communicate with deaf and mute people because they do not have the ability to use verbal means.

Psychology and pedagogy of communication

CONCEPT AND TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

Considering the way of life of various higher animals and humans, we notice that two aspects stand out in it: contacts with nature and contacts with living beings. We called the first type of contact activity, and it has already been discussed in Chapter. 6. The second type of contacts is characterized by the fact that the parties interacting with each other are living beings, organism with organism, exchanging information. This type of intraspecific and interspecific contact is called communication.

Communication is characteristic of all higher living beings, but at the human level it takes on the most perfect forms, becoming conscious and mediated by speech. The following aspects are distinguished in communication: content, goal and means. Content

‒ this is information that is transmitted from one living being to another in inter-individual contacts. The content of communication can be information about the internal motivational or emotional state of a living being. One person can convey information about existing needs to another, counting on potential participation in their satisfaction. Through communication, data about their emotional states (satisfaction, joy, anger, sadness, suffering, etc.) can be transmitted from one living being to another, aimed at setting up another living being for contacts in a certain way. The same information is transmitted from person to person and serves as a means of interpersonal adjustment. In relation to an angry or suffering person, for example, we behave differently than in relation to someone who is more benevolent and experiencing joy.

The content of communication can be information about the state of the external environment, transmitted from one living being to another, for example, signals about danger or the presence of positive, biologically significant factors somewhere nearby, say, food.

In humans, the content of communication is much broader than in animals. People exchange information with each other that represents knowledge about the world, rich, lifetime experience, knowledge, abilities, skills and abilities. Human communication is multi-subject, it is the most diverse in its internal content.

Target

communication is what makes a person have this type of activity. In animals, the purpose of communication may be to encourage another living being to take certain actions, or to warn that it is necessary to refrain from any action. The mother, for example, warns the baby of danger with her voice or movement; Some animals in the herd can warn others that they have perceived vital signals.

A person’s number of communication goals increases. In addition to those listed above, they include the transfer and receipt of objective knowledge about the world, training and education, coordination of reasonable actions of people in their joint activities, establishment and clarification of personal and business relationships, and much more. If in animals the goals of communication usually do not go beyond satisfying their biological needs, then in humans they are a means of satisfying many different needs: social, cultural, cognitive, creative, aesthetic, the needs of intellectual growth, moral development and a number of others.

No less significant are the differences between the means

communication. The latter can be defined as methods of encoding, transmitting, processing and decoding information transmitted in the process of communication from one living being to another.

Encoding information is a way of transmitting it from one living being to another. For example, information can be transmitted through direct bodily contacts: touching the body, hands, etc. Information can be transmitted and perceived by people at a distance, through the senses (observation by one person of the movements of another or the perception of sound signals produced by him).

Man, in addition to all these natural methods of transmitting information, has many that are invented and improved by him. This is language and other sign systems, writing in its various types and forms (texts, diagrams, drawings, drawings), technical means of recording, transmitting and storing information (radio and video technology; mechanical, magnetic, laser and other forms of recording). In terms of his ingenuity in choosing the means and methods of intraspecific communication, man is far ahead of all living creatures known to us that live on planet Earth.

Depending on the content, goals and means, communication can be divided into several types. In terms of content, it can be presented as material (exchange of objects and products of activity), cognitive (exchange of knowledge), conditional (exchange of mental or physiological states), motivational (exchange of motivations, goals, interests, motives, needs), activity (exchange of actions, operations, abilities, skills). In material communication

subjects, being engaged in individual activity, exchange its products, which, in turn, serve as a means of satisfying their actual needs.
In conditional communication,
people exert influence on each other, designed to bring each other into a certain physical or mental state. For example, to cheer you up or, on the contrary, to ruin it; excite or calm each other, and ultimately have a certain impact on each other’s well-being.

Motivational communication

has as its content the transfer to each other of certain motives, attitudes or readiness to act in a certain direction.
As an example of such communication, we can name cases when one person wants to ensure that another has a certain desire to arise or disappear, so that someone has a certain attitude towards action, a certain need is actualized. An illustration of cognitive and activity-based communication
can be communication associated with various types of cognitive or educational activities. Here, information is transmitted from subject to subject that expands horizons, improves and develops abilities.

By purpose, communication is divided into biological and social in accordance with the needs it serves. Biological

‒ this is communication necessary for the maintenance, preservation and development of the body.
It is associated with the satisfaction of basic organic needs. Social communication
pursues the goals of expanding and strengthening interpersonal contacts, establishing and developing interpersonal relationships, and personal growth of the individual. There are as many private goals of communication as there are subtypes of biological and social needs.

By means of communication, communication can be direct and indirect, direct and indirect. Direct communication

carried out with the help of natural organs given to a living being by nature: arms, head, torso, vocal cords, etc.
Indirect communication
is associated with the use of special means and tools for organizing communication and exchanging information. These are either natural objects (a stick, a thrown stone, a footprint on the ground, etc.), or cultural ones (sign systems, recordings of symbols on various media, print, radio, television, etc.).

Direct communication

involves personal contacts and direct perception of each other by communicating people in the very act of communication, for example, bodily contacts, conversations of people with each other, their communication in cases where they see and directly react to each other’s actions.

Indirect communication

carried out through intermediaries, who can be other people (for example, negotiations between conflicting parties at the interstate, interethnic, group, family levels).

Man differs from animals in that he has a special, vital need for communication, and also in the fact that he spends most of his time communicating with other people.

Among the types of communication, one can also distinguish business and personal, instrumental and targeted. Business conversation

usually included as a private moment in any joint productive activity of people and serves as a means of improving the quality of this activity.
Its content is what people are doing, and not the problems that affect their inner world. Unlike business, personal communication
, on the contrary, is focused mainly around psychological problems of an internal nature, those interests and needs that deeply and intimately affect a person’s personality: searching for the meaning of life, determining one’s attitude towards a significant person, to what is happening around, resolution any internal conflict, etc.

Instrumental

we can call communication, which is not an end in itself, is not stimulated by an independent need, but pursues some other goal other than obtaining satisfaction from the very act of communication.
Target
communication is communication, which in itself serves as a means of satisfying a specific need, in this case the need for communication.

In human life, communication does not exist as a separate process or an independent form of activity. It is included in individual or group practical activity, which can neither arise nor be realized without intensive and versatile communication.

There are differences between activity and communication as types of human activity. The result of an activity is usually the creation of some material or ideal object or product (for example, the formulation of an idea, thought, statement). The result of communication is the mutual influence of people on each other. Activity is mainly a form of activity that develops a person intellectually, and communication is a type of activity that mainly shapes and develops him as a person. But activity can also participate in a person’s personal transformation, just as communication can participate in his intellectual development. Both activity and communication should therefore be considered as interconnected aspects of social activity developing a person.

The most important types of communication among people are verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal communication

does not involve the use of sound speech or natural language as a means of communication. Nonverbal is communication through facial expressions, gestures and pantomime, through direct sensory or bodily contact. These are tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory and other sensations and images received from another person. Most nonverbal forms and means of communication in humans are innate and allow him to interact, achieving mutual understanding at the emotional and behavioral levels, not only with his own kind, but also with other living beings. Many of the higher animals, including most notably dogs, monkeys and dolphins, are given the ability to communicate non-verbally with each other and with humans.

Verbal communication

is inherent only to humans and presupposes the acquisition of language as a prerequisite. In terms of its communicative capabilities, it is much richer than all types and forms of nonverbal communication, although in life it cannot completely replace it. And the very development of verbal communication initially certainly relies on nonverbal means of communication.

The role of communication in human mental development

Communication is of great importance in the formation of the human psyche, its development and the formation of reasonable, cultural behavior. Through communication with psychologically developed people, thanks to ample opportunities for learning, a person acquires all his higher cognitive abilities and qualities. Through active communication with developed personalities, he himself turns into a personality.

If from birth a person was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with people, he would never become a civilized, culturally and morally developed citizen, and would be doomed to remain a half-animal until the end of his life, only externally, anatomically and physiologically resembling a person. This is evidenced by numerous facts described in the literature and showing that, being deprived of communication with his own kind, the human individual, even if he, as an organism, is completely preserved, nevertheless remains a biological being in his mental development. As an example, we can cite the conditions of people who are found from time to time among animals and who for a long period, especially in childhood, lived in isolation from civilized people or, already as adults, as a result of an accident found themselves alone, isolated for a long time from their own kind ( for example, after a shipwreck).

Communication with adults in the early stages of ontogenesis is especially important for the mental development of a child. At this time, he acquires all his human, mental and behavioral qualities almost exclusively through communication, since until the start of school, and even more definitely before adolescence, he is deprived of the ability for self-education and self-education.

The mental development of a child begins with communication. This is the first type of social activity that arises in ontogenesis and thanks to which the baby receives the information necessary for its individual development. As for objective activity, which also acts as a condition and means of mental development, it appears much later - in the second, third year of life.

In communication, first through direct imitation ( vicarious learning

), and then through verbal instructions (
verbal learning
) the child's basic life experience is acquired. The people with whom he communicates are the bearers of this experience for the child, and this experience cannot be acquired in any other way than communicating with them. The intensity of communication, the diversity of its content, goals and means are the most important factors determining the development of children.

The types of communication highlighted above serve the development of various aspects of human psychology and behavior. Thus, business communication forms and develops his abilities and serves as a means of acquiring knowledge and skills.

In it, a person improves the ability to interact with people, developing the necessary business and organizational skills for this.

Personal communication

shapes a person as a personality, gives him the opportunity to acquire certain character traits, interests, habits, inclinations, learn norms and forms of moral behavior, determine the goals of life and choose the means of realizing them.

Communication, varied in content, goals and means, also performs a specific function in the mental development of the individual. For example, material communication

allows a person to receive the objects of material and spiritual culture necessary for a normal life, which, as we found out in the chapter on activity, act as a condition for individual development.
Cognitive communication
directly acts as a factor in intellectual development, since communicating individuals exchange and, therefore, mutually enrich themselves with knowledge.

Conditional communication

creates a state of readiness for learning, formulates the attitudes necessary to optimize other types of communication.
Thus, it indirectly contributes to the individual intellectual and personal development of a person. Motivational communication
serves as a source of additional energy for a person, a kind of “recharge”.
By acquiring new interests, motives and goals of activity as a result of such communication, a person increases his psychoenergetic potential, which develops himself. Activity communication
, which we defined as the interpersonal exchange of actions, operations, skills and abilities, has a direct developmental effect for the individual, as it improves and enriches his own activities.

Biological communication

serves the self-preservation of the body as the most important condition for the maintenance and development of its vital functions.
Social communication
serves the social needs of people and is a factor contributing to the development of forms of social life: groups, collectives, organizations, nations, states, and the human world as a whole.

Direct communication

necessary for a person in order to learn and be educated as a result of the widespread use in practice of the simplest and most effective means and methods of learning given to him from birth: conditioned reflex, vicarious and verbal.
Indirect communication
helps to master the means of communication and improve it on the basis of their ability for self-education and self-education of a person, as well as for the conscious management of communication itself.

Thanks to non-verbal communication

a person gets the opportunity to develop psychologically even before he has mastered and learned to use speech (about 2-3 years).
In addition, nonverbal communication itself contributes to the development and improvement of a person’s communication capabilities, as a result of which he becomes more capable of interpersonal contacts and opens up greater opportunities for development. As for verbal communication
and its role in the mental development of an individual, it is difficult to overestimate it. It is associated with the assimilation of speech, and it, as is known, underlies the entire development of a person, both intellectual and personal.

Communication techniques and techniques

The content and goals of communication are its relatively unchanged components, depending on human needs, which are not always amenable to conscious control. The same can be said about cash means of communication. This can be learned, but to a much lesser extent than technology and communication techniques. The means of communication is understood as the way in which a person realizes certain contents and goals of communication. They depend on a person’s culture, level of development, upbringing and education. When we talk about the development of a person’s abilities, skills and communication skills, we primarily mean technology and means of communication.

Communication technique

‒ these are ways of pre-setting a person to communicate with people, his behavior in the process of communication, and
techniques
are the preferred means of communication, including verbal and non-verbal.

Before entering into communication with another person, you need to determine your interests, correlate them with the interests of your communication partner, evaluate him as a person, and choose the most appropriate technique and methods of communication. Then, already in the process of communication, it is necessary to control its progress and results, be able to correctly complete the act of communication, leaving the partner with an appropriate, favorable or unfavorable, impression of himself and making sure that in the future he has or does not have (if this desire is not present) ) desire to continue communication.

At the initial stage of communication, his technique includes such elements as the adoption of a certain facial expression, posture, choice of initial words and tone of utterance, movements and gestures, attracting the partner’s attention, actions aimed at pre-setting him for a certain perception of the message being communicated (transmitted information).

Facial expression must correspond to three points: the purpose of the message, the desired result of communication and the demonstrated attitude towards the partner. The posture taken, like facial expression, also serves as a means of demonstrating a certain attitude either to the communication partner or to the content of what is being communicated. Sometimes the subject of communication consciously controls the posture in order to facilitate or, on the contrary, complicate the act of communication. For example, talking with an interlocutor face to face from a close distance facilitates communication and indicates a friendly attitude towards him, and talking while looking to the side, standing half-turned or with his back and at a considerable distance from the interlocutor, usually makes communication difficult and indicates an unfriendly attitude towards him. Let us note that posture and facial expression can be controlled consciously and developed unconsciously and, despite the will and desire of the person himself, demonstrate his attitude to the content of the conversation or the interlocutor.

The choice of initial words and tone that initiate the act of communication also has a certain impression on the partner. For example, a formal tone means that the communication partner is not in the mood to establish friendly personal relationships. The same purpose is served by emphasizing the “you” address to a familiar person. On the contrary, the initial address on “you” and the transition to a friendly, informal tone of communication are a sign of a friendly attitude, the partner’s willingness to establish informal personal relationships. Approximately the same is evidenced by the presence or absence of a friendly smile on the face at the initial moment of communication.

The first gestures that attract the attention of a communication partner, as well as facial expressions (facial expressions), are often involuntary, so communicating people, in order to hide their condition or attitude towards their partner, look away and hide their hands. In these same situations, difficulties often arise in choosing the first words, slips of the tongue, speech errors, and difficulties often occur, the nature of which S. Freud spoke a lot and interestingly about.

In the process of communication, some other types of techniques and conversation techniques are used, based on the use of so-called feedback

. In communication, it is understood as the technique and methods of obtaining information about a communication partner, used by interlocutors to correct their own behavior during the communication process.

Feedback includes conscious control of communicative actions, observation of the partner and assessment of his reactions, and subsequent changes in one’s own behavior in accordance with this. Feedback presupposes the ability to see oneself from the outside and correctly judge how a partner perceives himself in communication. Inexperienced interlocutors most often forget about feedback and do not know how to use it.

The feedback mechanism presupposes the partner’s ability to correlate his reactions with assessments of his own actions and draw a conclusion about what caused a certain reaction of the interlocutor to the words spoken. Feedback also includes corrections that the communicating person makes to his own behavior, depending on how he perceives and evaluates the actions of his partner. The ability to use feedback in communication is one of the most important aspects of the communication process and the structure of a person’s communicative abilities.

Communication skills

‒ these are the skills and abilities of communicating with people on which his success depends.
People of different ages, education, culture, different levels of psychological development, having different life and professional experiences, differ from each other in their communication abilities. Educated and cultured people have more pronounced communication abilities than uneducated and uncultured people. The richness and diversity of a person's life experience, as a rule, is positively correlated with the development of his communication abilities. People whose professions require not only frequent and intensive communication, but also the performance of certain roles
(actors, doctors, teachers, politicians, managers) often have more developed communication abilities than representatives of other professions.

The techniques and methods of communication used in practice have age-related characteristics. Thus, in children they are different from adults, and preschoolers communicate with surrounding adults and peers differently than older schoolchildren do. The communication techniques and techniques of older people, as a rule, differ from those of young people.

Children are more impulsive and spontaneous in communication; their technique is dominated by non-verbal means. Children have poorly developed feedback, and communication itself is often overly emotional. With age, these features of communication gradually disappear and it becomes more balanced, verbal, rational, and expressively economical. Feedback is also being improved.

Professional communication is manifested at the pre-tuning stage in the choice of tone of expression and in specific reactions to the actions of the communication partner. Actors are characterized by a playful (in the sense of acting) style of communication with others, since they get used to frequently playing different roles and often get used to them, as if continuing the game in real human relationships. Teachers and managers, due to established undemocratic traditions in the field of business and pedagogical communication, are often characterized by an arrogant, mentoring tone. Doctors, especially psychotherapists, usually show increased attention and empathy when communicating with people.

Development of communication

Communication of living beings develops in phylo- and ontogenesis. This development covers all the main aspects of the process: content, goals and means. The phylogenetic development of communication is associated with changes in its content and is manifested in the following aspects:

1. Enrichment of the content of communication with new information transmitted from one being to another. First, this is information about the biological, internal states of the body; then - information about the vital properties of the external environment. Following this, the content of communication includes information of a cognitive nature, expressing objective knowledge about the world, independent of the actual needs of a living being, presented in the form of concepts. The latter occurs already at the human level, and the first two stages of the evolutionary development of communication take place at the animal level. The development of communication in human ontogenesis follows approximately the same path, reaching the third stage already by preschool age.

2. The enrichment of goals is associated with the change and development of the needs of communicating organisms: the more diverse and higher these needs, the more differentiated and perfect the target aspect of communication.

The development of means of communication in phylology and ontogenesis proceeds in several directions. Firstly, this is the identification of special organs that are a means of communication, for example hands. Secondly, the breakdown of expressive forms of movements (gestures, facial expressions, pantomimes). Thirdly, the invention and use of sign systems as means of encoding and transmitting information. Fourthly, the development and improvement of technical means of storing, converting and transmitting information used in human communication (print, radio, television, telephone, telefax, magnetic, laser and other methods of technical recording, etc.).

End of introductory fragment.

Other types of communication

There are types of social interaction that are not included in these classifications:

• business - found in a professional environment. During it, issues of career and specific skills are addressed. Through business communication, people make business contacts or successfully negotiate;
• educational - in the process a person tries to influence the behavior of the interlocutor. A common example is the raising of a child by parents;
• diagnostic - a person tries to form a certain opinion about a person or obtain the necessary information. An example of such interaction is a conversation between a doctor and a patient;
• instrumental - its participants pursue the achievement of a specific goal, in addition to receiving pleasant emotions from the communication process itself;
• personal - people touch on topics that are personally interesting to the interlocutor. The goal is to strengthen personal relationships or realize your own goals.

A person uses all types of communication to develop in all areas of life. Then he will feel contentment and inner harmony.

Why does a person need communication?

It doesn’t matter whether you are a sociable person or a withdrawn introvert who is used to being alone, everyone needs communication. The social need to talk with others like oneself is a natural need, and without its satisfaction it is impossible to feel complete.

Communication plays a vital role in human life. The difference may lie only in its quantity and frequency. So, for someone it will be enough to go somewhere with friends once or twice a week and talk with them in order to cheer up and improve their well-being, and for the rest of the days such a person may well be alone. But for some, communication plays a more important role - such a person cannot spend even 20 minutes alone with himself, begins to suffer from boredom and experiences an irresistible desire to contact someone. By the way, such a desire is more aimed at the process itself, and not at its final result.

Number of participants in the communication process

Several people can take part in a conversation, but not all participants will communicate with each other.

1. Personal-group or socially oriented - the initiator interacts with each member of the group. In the process, personal and group goals and objectives are formulated and reviewed. An example of personal-group communication is communication between a boss and his subordinates.
2. Interpersonal or person-oriented - in the process of interaction with a person, the interlocutor seeks to get to know him better or obtain the necessary information. Participants in communication may view each other as equal partners or tools to achieve their goals.
3. Intergroup - contact between two groups. Their goals and objectives may coincide, which will allow them to solve large-scale problems. Or the views are opposite, which will result in conflict. Examples of intergroup communication are sports fan meetings or graduation discussions between several classes. Each team member is the bearer of a group task and can defend the interests of all its members.

A person can interact with one interlocutor or a couple of people, or with a large number of others. Everything is determined by the goals and objectives of communication and the social status of the interlocutors.

The concept of communication and its role in the development of humanity

The psychology of communication is a huge layer of theoretical and practical knowledge accumulated thanks to the work of many psychologists and sociologists. Scientists have identified and continue to study the features, types, forms and structure of communication.

There are many theories and points of view on communication problems. Soviet scientists made a significant contribution to the study of this phenomenon, as well as to social psychology in general. Their experiments and experiences, carried out in the middle and second half of the last century, became classic examples of the peculiarities of communication and people’s perception of each other, as well as the scientific basis for subsequent scientific research.

Interpersonal and intergroup interaction is the area of ​​human activity in which psychological difficulties most often arise. It is extremely important for every person to be able to interact competently and effectively with the people around them.

Communication is a mutual action of two or more people with the goal of exchanging information, as well as a necessary component of work, educational, and play activities.

In addition, it can act as a separate, relatively independent occupation. After all, people do not always talk to each other with the goal of inventing, controlling, and carrying out a joint action.

The transmitted verbal or nonverbal signal can be both informational and affective-evaluative in nature. It is believed that it was the need of our distant ancestors to transfer knowledge to each other, not only through signs and shouts, that served as the main reason for the development of human speech. Animals interact with each other, but speech is unique to humans.

The characteristics of communication between different people and groups depend on the extent to which the subjects of interaction have a pressing need for social contacts. The need to be involved, to belong and to interact developed in the process of phylogenesis, the socio-historical development of humanity.

Interestingly, satisfying the need for social contact supposedly led to the birth of such a wonderful feeling as joy. Joy is still the leading motive that motivates people to interact with each other.

Features of communication that can bring pleasure and joy are its humanity and democracy. Rude, disrespectful interaction, ignoring and manipulation are immoral and do not fit into the principles of communication that usually guide a cultured person.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION:

• self-esteem;
• respect for the interlocutor, recognition of his rights and interests;
• tolerance, tolerance;
• justice, honesty;
• unbiased attitude towards people.

Classification according to E.I. Rogov

E.I. Rogov identifies 3 dominant types of social interaction: imperative, manipulative and dialogical.

Imperative

In the psychology of communication it is called authoritarian or directive. It is based on the desire of one person to subjugate another. This manifests itself in the desire to control his thoughts and behavior in order to perform the necessary actions.

An authoritarian personality does not view their partner as a person with their own opinions and emotions. In imperative communication, a person does not hide his desire to subjugate another.

Manipulative

It has similar features to directive. His goal is similar, but the manipulator hides his true intentions. The partner is perceived as a person who has the necessary skills and qualities.

Manipulators often become victims of the communication they choose. He begins to perceive himself as one of the participants and his actions are assessed from the outside. A person becomes confused in his intentions and loses his inner core. The manipulator is characterized by deceit, constant self-control, loss of interest in the environment, a cynical attitude, mistrust and boredom.

Psychologists distinguish 4 types of manipulative communication:

• active - management is carried out through active influence. A person takes advantage of his social status. His main life principle is to be in charge everywhere and manage everyone;
• passive - the manipulator plays the role of the helpless, allowing people to provide him with help and support. Adheres to the principle of not annoying others;
• competitive - for a person, life is associated with constant competition, a chain of victories and defeats. He sees himself as a fighter, so those around him are perceived as potential rivals and enemies. His main life goal is to win at any cost;
• indifferent - the manipulator portrays detachment, indifference, and therefore tries to avoid social contacts. Uses alternately active and passive means. Tries to reject the care of others.

Psychologists classify imperative and manipulative types of communication as monologue. A person views his interlocutor as a tool to achieve a goal, ignoring his emotions and desires. Therefore, the manipulator communicates with his own tasks and goals.

Dialogical

This form is the opposite of the imperative and malipulative options, because it is based on the equality of its participants. It is based on humanistic principles and in dialogue the interlocutors try to achieve mutual understanding and get to know the other person better. To implement a dialogic form of communication, a number of conditions must be met:

• attuned to the emotions and psychological state of oneself and the interlocutor;
• trust in the interlocutor without assessing his personality;
• participants in the dialogue perceive each other as equal interlocutors with the right to their own opinion. Each of them recognizes the other's right to make decisions;
• during the conversation, participants look for common problems and unresolved issues;
• communicating with a person on one’s own behalf, expressing one’s thoughts and feelings.

Dialogue is considered the perfect form of communication, which allows you to reveal a person’s character and establish trusting relationships on a deep level. A person must be psychologically prepared for such interaction and perceive the interlocutor as an equal participant in the dialogue.

Personality formation

At the stage of a person’s development as an individual, that is, from school years, communication with parents plays a particularly important role. Ideally, you should try to talk with them as much and as often as possible, share news and current events. It is extremely important when talking with parents not to deceive them, to be frank, sincere and honest. These are the goals of communication and their basic rules at this stage.

What seems incomprehensible to schoolchildren, for example, a parental ban, in most cases turns out to be the right decision. Just imagine if in our teenage years we were allowed absolutely everything. Probably, troubles would have followed us at every step, and we, being still children, would have had no idea how to get out of them.

The period of adolescence is especially important in the development of a person and his communication skills, in parallel with which the psyche develops. A person learns the essence of communication while he is growing up, studying at school, university. During this time, life’s baggage is replenished not only with scientific knowledge, but also with ordinary life skills, experience, both other people’s and one’s own. At this stage, for the most part, you have to be in contact with peers, but this incredibly helps the formation of personality. True, if only you adhere to the basic rules of human communication.

Pedagogical communication

This is a special type of interaction because it requires a more subtle psychological approach and increased empathy - the ability to sensitively respond to a person’s emotional state. Pedagogical communication is one of the effective ways to transmit information and educate children. It is understood as the interaction between a teacher and a student, the creation of a favorable environment in a class or group and conditions for the harmonious all-round development of a child’s personality.

There are several communication styles:

• based on interest in a common cause;
• communication is based on the principle of forming friendly relationships;
• form of dialogue;
• keeping a distance - the teacher is subordinate and tries to stay somewhat distant from the children, without crossing the boundaries of formal communication;
• intimidation - to achieve results, the teacher/educator uses authoritarian methods of education and his pedagogical status;
• flirting - an adult tries to gain authority through flattery, imitation of interest in the student’s personality, and the establishment of informal relationships that go beyond the scope of pedagogical communication.

Acceptable forms of interaction between a teacher/educator and children are passion for a common cause, friendly relationships and dialogue. An proactive teacher with a creative approach to the educational process is respected by children and is able to more effectively transfer knowledge to students.

Distancing is appropriate if this style is caused by the peculiarities of the pedagogical process. Intimidation and flirtation are unacceptable forms of pedagogical communication. In an authoritarian style, the teacher does not respect the child’s personality; the educational process is built without taking into account the child’s individual characteristics.

Flirting is based on the formation of familiar relations. With this type, the teacher does not enjoy authority among the children, because they perceive them as equals. And lowering expectations for students does not contribute to effective learning.

In modern society, the listed types of communication in a “pure” form are rare. This is due to the development of information technology and the emergence of the opportunity to interact with a large audience. But all types of interaction with others are needed to form a harmonious personality and establish social contacts.

Communication barriers may arise during the communication process, as you can read about in the next article.

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The importance of communication in ontogenesis

In ontogenesis (individual human development), the role and characteristics of communication are no less important than in phylogenesis. The development of an individual is impossible without interaction with other people.

Newborn babies, not knowing how to speak, already react to the voice and affection of an adult, and later begin to smile back at him. Later, the so-called revitalization complex appears - the first form of interaction of a new person with his own kind.

Forms of communication that arise in the process of ontogenesis:

• Directly emotional

When a baby develops a revival complex, he does not yet interact with his parents as an equal partner, but expresses his attitude through facial expressions and gestures: he cries and laughs, is surprised and frightened, and so on. Such forms of communication are characteristic of infants up to the first year of life.

• Subject-effective

The child interacts with people by manipulating objects and playing. The baby extends his hand when he wants to take or give something, and understands that in order to establish contact he needs to get closer to the person. This form of interaction undergoes significant changes, but is generally maintained during the first six years of life.

• Extra-situational intimate-personal

It appears by the end of preschool age, but the main forms of this communication develop already in the puberty period (puberty).

Forms of communication undergo changes as an individual grows and matures; they are combined and complemented differently in different individuals.

Without a child's contact with adults, he will not be able to develop as a person. The importance and necessity of communication between a child and his parents cannot be overestimated. Relationships with parents are the foundation, guideline and measure by which all subsequent connections of a person with people, society, and himself will be measured.

Correctly chosen methods of communicating and raising a child are the key to his successful socialization and self-realization.

Types and forms of communication are formed especially intensively in adolescence. This is the age of active interaction with peers, the time of first love and the formation of the self-concept.

The teenager’s activities become multifaceted, the content of communications and actions is enriched. A qualitatively new level of forms and types of interaction between young people contributes to the development of awareness, responsibility, independence and personality as a whole.

The structure of communication affects the structure of personality. Violation or lack of interaction with people invariably leads to a transformation of the individual’s “I”. Personality changes that are not for the better (including pathological ones) cannot but affect the ability to interact and understand other people and oneself.

Summing up

It should be noted that the above types of communication can very rarely occur in life in a solitary form. They mix with each other, forming a new species. Each type of communication is necessary for the proper formation of human society. While in society, a person must be able to communicate correctly with others and behave like a full-fledged, healthy person.

In order to find a common language with the outside world, you need to be aware of what type of communication is acceptable in a particular area.