This essay will start with an explanation of communication, specifically interpersonal communication. It will then go on to describe Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a way to explain why and to what degree individuals use interpersonal communication. Next, it will explore personal identity and interpersonal communication with particular and generalized others. It will end with an explanation of perception as the perception of interpersonal communication shapes personal identity.
Communication is so much more than the simple exchange of words between people. Wood (2020) writes that it is estimated that 65-93% of communication is communicated through nonverbal behaviors, such as body language, touch, and paralanguage like mummers and gasps. The words that we use to communicate are symbols, which Wood (2020, p.110) describes as being arbitrary, ambiguous, abstract representations of other phenomena. Words are not intrinsically connected to what they represent, and their meaning is not always clear cut. Words are tangible and stand for ideas, people, and feelings, but they are not the things they represent (Wood, 2020). One-persons’ perspective of beauty can be far from another’s perspective. The field of communication has expanded over the last 2000 years to encompass many kinds of interactions, including nonverbal and verbal communication, group discussions, and interpersonal communication (Wood, 2020). Interpersonal communication is the art of learning to interact and communicate meaning and emotions effectively in everyday interpersonal encounters.
Abraham Maslow (1968) created a Hierarchy of Needs as a way to explain why and to what degree humans use interpersonal communication. According to Maslow, basic needs must be satisfied before we can focus on more abstract needs (Wood, 2020). The most basic need that communication helps individuals meet is the physical needs for survival (Wood, 2020). Individuals communicate symptoms to doctors when they are sick, and babies cry when they are hungry as way to get their needs met. Individuals then use communication to meet their safety and protection needs (Wood,2020). If an individual was scared and hurt, they would communicate this to authorities to gain protection and safety. The third level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the need to communicate feeling of belonging (Wood, 2020). When you are feeling lonely you communicate this to your friends or family to gain their companionship and affection. Further up the hierarchy is self esteem needs. Maslow believed people use communication as a way to figure out who they are and who they are capable of being (Wood, 2020). At the top of the hierarchy is self-actualization needs. Maslow believed individuals use communication as a way to assist themselves in fully developing and in using unique and personal talents, potential and capabilities (Wood, 2020). Maslow’s latter levels of communicating to meet needs of inclusion, self-esteem, and self-actualization, align with using communication to understand and develop ones’ identity (Wood, 2020).
Gudykunst, Lee, Nishida & Ogawa (2005) write about how an individual’ expressed personal identity can differ from their self-concept, and how interpersonal communication assists this discrepancy. Because the more one communicates, the more ones’ identity is formed and understood (Wood, 2020). Wood (2020) refers to personal identity as the Self and describes it as a process that evolves throughout ones’ life course. The Self develops, the more an individual interacts and communicates with others. Individuals internalize the perspectives of particular others and generalized others to form their Self (Wood, 2020).
Particular others are family members and people that are important to ones’ life. They communicate their perceptions of oneself through 4 different ways (Wood, 2020). The first is a direct definition, which communicates how others see and label’s oneself and their behaviors. The second way particular others communicate their perceptions is through reflected appraisals. Wood (2020) describes reflected appraisals as our perception of another’s view of us. Wood (2020) also conveys that ones’ particular others are mirrors to oneself, like when a mother is upset with a child, the child can sense that they let their mother down and acts apologetically. The third way perception is communicated through is identity scripts, like ‘a good person always helps those in need.’ Identity scripts are the fundamental understandings of oneself and on how one is meant to live, formed in the early years of life. (Wood, 2020). The final way particular others communicate their views of oneself is through attachment styles (Wood, 2020). Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991, p.226) explain John Bowlby’s theory of attachment as children over time, internalize their experiences with caretakers in such a way that early attachment relations come to form a prototype for later relationships outside of the family. Bowlby created four prototypes of attachment styles, first being, secure attachment style, which consists of children having constant and loving parental attention (Wood, 2020). Next is a fearful attachment style, which cultivates when the caregiver is negative or unavailable to the child (Wood, 2020). The following prototype is a dismissive attachment style. Children end up with a dismissive attachment style when their caregivers are disinterested in or rejecting of said child (Wood, 2020). The final prototype is the anxious attachment style and is the most complex (Wood, 2020). Children develop an anxious attachment style when their caregiver is inconsistent and unpredictable in their parenting (Wood, 2020). Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991) write about the continuity of adults representing their childhood attachment prototypes within relationships with particular others.
When Wood (2020) talks about ones’ identity being influenced by generalized other perspectives, she means the ways that general society influences individuals. General society can project strong influence through cultural views, norms and interactions, racial views, sexual and gender identity views, and socioeconomic class views (Wood, 2020). The views of generalized others are not unchangeable. Individuals have the personal power to change and challenge norms that they perceive as unworthy.
Since personal identity is influence by interpersonal communication with particular others and the influenced views of generalized others, it is essential to highlight that it is the perception of these communications that shape the Self.
Individual perception is the process of creating meaning by selecting, organizing, and interpreting different experiences, and will always be different for every individual what each notice affects what they interpret and evaluate (Wood, 2020). Individuals select certain stimuli to attend to for several different factors. For instance, individuals’ motives and needs affect what they do and do not see. Individuals will notice bold, large writing, or strange phenomena because it is odd and will stand out. Culture changes the way individuals may select what information to notice as well once individuals select what is worth noticing. They then organizing this by applying the experience to a cognitive schema (Wood, 2020). MacBlain (2018) describes cognitive schemas as internal mental representations, stating that it is like a way of labeling consistent patterns of action. Wood (2020) believes that individuals rely on four different types of cognitive schemas to help make sense of interpersonal phenomena. The first is prototypes, which defines the most precise or most representative example of a category (Wood, 2020). Most individuals will have a prototype of what they think a good friend is, or what a good relationship looks like. Next is personal constructs that Wood (2020, p.82) describes as a use to measure a person or situation along a bipolar dimension of judgment. The third schema, Wood (2020) describes, is stereotypes, which are a predicted generalized assumption of a person or situation. The last schema is scripts, which are a guide to action (Wood, 2020). Scripts consist of sequences of responses and actions that are expected of individuals in particular situations (Wood, 2020). When someone sneezes, it is a script to say, ‘bless you’ just as it is a script to subconsciously respond ‘thank you.’
In conclusion, the better an individual’s interpersonal communication skills are, the more effective in the formation and understanding of the Self. Personal identity is ultimately shaped by effectively understanding the perceptions of interpersonal communications with generalized and particular others.
References
Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment Styles Among Young Adults: A Test of a Four-Category Model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 61(2), 226- 244. Doi 0022-3514/91/$3/00
Gudykunst, W. B., Lee, C. M., Nishida, T., & Ogawa, N. (2005). Theorizing About Intercultural Communication. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=E12VSljBmvAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA25 7&dq=communication+and+personal+identity&ots=FxWJOHxU3b&sig=FzuUcQaMbKl YHH9txkttqo5Vgpk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=communication%20and%20personal %20identity&f=true
MacBlain, S. (2018) Learning Theories for Early Year Practice. Jean Piaget: An Enduring Legacy. London. Sage.
Wood, J. T. (2020). Interpersonal Communication. Everyday Encounters. 9th edn, Boston, Cengage.
Comments