Nowadays, close contact with other people every day is an inevitable part of human life. Without the exchange of information, the normal life of a person, and the process of socialization, is impossible. Due to communication with relatives, friends or strangers, one lives, eats, goes to work, earns money, relaxes, etc. It is the primary function of the life of the individual, which distinguishes man from animals and makes one a member of the human species. The main method of information exchange is interpersonal communication, which includes any data interchange between people. In addition to the fact that there are many types of interpersonal communication, it is an irreversible process. That is, one can not cancel or destroy the information that came from one individual to another. It is these features that make the method of interpersonal communication unique and relevant to further research and methodologies. Thus, the purpose of the work is to analyze interpersonal communication and its types as an irreversible process.
One should mention that feedback is an essential condition for interpersonal communication. The intercommunication process is impossible without a reaction to the incoming information and the imposition of a new one (Aloia et al., 2020). In other words, the person should evaluate and react to the information passed from one individual to another. Further, the second individual should in any way express one’s reaction to the received data and give one’s new information. It is an outline of the process of interpersonal communication in detail, and without one of these parts, this process is impossible. One should also note that in the process of interpersonal communication, the sender of information and the recipient must be two different individuals (Aloia et al., 2020). This fact is important because, in some situations, one may notice that the individual may receive information from another person without communicating with other people. It happens in cases of mental illnesses, such as split personality, depersonalization, and others. Thus, if individual claims to have received information from “another interlocutor”, that is, from another person, without communicating with other persons, this is not a case of interpersonal communication.
Speaking about interpersonal communication, it is worth noting the main feature, namely the irreversibility of this process. That is, one cannot destroy or distort any information transmitted in any way from one individual to another (West & Turner, 2018). This feature is interesting because it resembles the irreversibility of the passage of time, which equates the principles of interpersonal communication with physical ones. Moreover, any form of manifestation of human behaviour as a reaction to information is communication. There is no reaction of an individual to information that would not be interpersonal communication. In other words, even if the person does not react in any way to the provided information, one still considers it as communication, in the form of a signal about the unwillingness to communicate. The person may exhibit some defect that justifies the impossibility of communication, namely, pretending to be asleep, deaf, dumb, or not understanding the language, etc. However, all this is certain transmitted information, that is, an act of interpersonal communication.
There are three main types of interpersonal communication, namely dialogue, monologue, and polylogue. Dialogue is the most active form of communication and implies a consistent exchange of information between two persons (West & Turner, 2018). This process formulates the unity of individuals on communicative motives and interests. Moreover, the dialogue implies a turn in statements and a reaction to incoming information, followed by the transfer of new information. Monologue involves the transfer of data from one individual to another or other persons without response and without transferring further information to the individual. It articulates the process of conveying a position or information on a particular topic. As a rule, it is widely distributed at lectures, seminars, and other events aimed at obtaining data of interest to the individual. Polylogue is a form of interpersonal communication between numerous communicants and implies the active phase of the exchange and receipt of information.
There are several theories of interpersonal communication that argue some of the features of this process. One such model is the uncertainty reduction theory, which formulates certain stages of reducing the uncertainty of strangers about each other (Aloia et al., 2020). Accordingly, the only possible way to reduce uncertainty is interpersonal communication. At the same time, in order to achieve the maximum level of uncertainty reduction, interpersonal communication should occur directly with the individual. In other words, one cannot recognize a person from the stories of others or from any other source of data in the same way as if one had communicated with the individual in person. Thus, one can see that interpersonal communication is an essential and indispensable component of human life. Without the exchange of information, simple necessary processes for everyday life and socialization are impossible. Finally, interpersonal communication is important because it formulates an irreversible process.
References
Aloia, L., Denes, A., & Crowley, J. P. (2020). The oxford handbook of the physiology of interpersonal communication. Oxford University Press.
West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2018). Interpersonal communication. (4th ed.). Sage.