Communication is an essential factor in human interaction and social life. It promotes understanding among people. Therefore, effective interpersonal communication skills are critical in developing operative and comprehensible communication. When it comes to interpersonal communication, language responsibility is a central factor. The element focuses on individuals taking account of their feelings and actions during communication. It entails speaking directly and using an active first-person approach while communicating (Adler et al. 12). As a result, in the attached conversation titled “Grandma, please, not now, Ok?” Jamal and Iris engage in a series of discussions about curfew and Daniela. Therefore, the essay will discuss language responsibility, poor listening habits, and response. The paper will also discuss how to express emotions and irrational thinking fallacies effectively.
“It” statements are phrases individuals use during communication to avoid responsibility and ownership of actions, opinions, beliefs, and messages. For instance, in the case study, Jamal used an “It” statement by answering, “It was sometime after midnight.” Jamal uses “it” to avoid the responsibility and blame for coming late. The information affects the conversation as he is portrayed as a liar. The other incident of the “it” statement is demonstrated by Jamal’s answers, “Maybe it’s just one of those things that couples go through,” the use of it in the sentence negatively impacts the conversation as it shows the uncertainty of Jamal in the relationship with Daniela. On the other hand, “You” statements are used to pass judgment on others. For example, the comment by Iris, “did you have a good time last night: is meant to pass judgment for Jamal coming home late. Similarly, Iris’s “You don’t need to lie to me” a statement is a form of judging Jamal as a liar, hence making Jamal speak the truth (Adler et al. 144).
A “But” statement is used during conversation to cancel an initial thought. For instance, “I’m trying to tell her that I need some breathing space, but she doesn’t seem to understand that.” But has been used to cancel the previous thought. Its usage impacts the conversation by shifting all the blame to Daniela. Likewise, “No matter what I offered to do, it didn’t please her, but she just kept saying that’s not the point.” It is a but statement that impacts the conversation by demanding Jamal give more information about the relationship (Adler et al. 146).
Using a “we” statement implies mutual concern accountability for the speaker and the receiver. Daniela failed to use the “we” statement when she said Jamal should please himself and not worry about her. Failure to use it meant she does not care anymore about Jamal.
Pseudo listening is one of the poor listening habits that entails listeners faking attention and pretending to listen while deliberately thinking about something else. In the case study, Jamal demonstrates pseudo listening by pretending to be listening to his grandmother while he was thinking about relationship issues with Daniela. The conversation effectively establishes this when Jamal tells Iris that he has other things on his mind. Consequently, selective listening is when one party is only interested in some section of the story and responds to the parts that interest them. For instance, Iris demonstrated selective listening by only answering Jamal and Daniel’s relationship stories that interest her. For example, when Jamal explained how Daniela loved him and saw him as reliable, this interests Iris and she answers, “go on.” This leads to Jamal giving more details about that part that interests her (Adler et al. 153).
Questioning is a listening response that entails asking the speaker questions for additional information and clarification. While other questions might be genuine to increase the lister’s understanding of the topic, others might be counterfeit. Iris demonstrated the questioning listening response by asking Jamal questions regarding the relationship situation with Daniel. For instance, when Jamal tells Iris that h has other things on his mind, Iris asks whether he wants to talk about them now. The supporting response includes the lister showing solidarity and unison with the speaker. This type of response reflects the listers feeling toward the speaker and the situation. Such listeners usually provide help diversion, praises, or reassurance. The grandmother demonstrates a supporting response by agreeing with most Jamal’s ideas (Adler et al. 143). For example, when Jamal said he would call Daniela and try to see her, Iris answered by reassuring him that it was a good idea.
The fallacy of causation entails believing that one’s emotion is caused by another person rather than themselves. In the above case, Iris believes that Jamal is upset because of Daniella’s message of wanting to break up with him. On the other hand, the fallacy of catastrophic expectation includes individuals providing room for the possibility of something going wrong, although it will be only for a certain moment. In the conversation above, Jamal demonstrated this kind of fallacy by arguing that their indifference with Daniela is what every average couple goes through (Adler et al. 246).
Happiness is a critical emotion that people demonstrate when they hear something pleasant. In the future, Iris should demonstrate happiness when she hears about his son returning home. On the other side, fear is an emotion demonstrated when things do not go as planned. Jamal should show fear in the future when coming home late (Adler et al. 249).
From the above discussion, it is clear that intercommunication skills play an essential role in human interaction. Language responsibility, poor listening habits, listening responses, irrational thinking fallacies, and expression of emotion are critical in a conversation. Thus, individuals should adopt good skills to enhance their communication.
Works cited
Ronald B. Adler, Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, and Russell F. Proctor. Interplay. The Process of Interpersonal Communication 12th Edition. Oxford University Press. Pp 140-244
write