Forms of communication: different, but interrelated

What is communication? Can a person live without it? What is it for? What are the goals of communication? These questions are of interest to many people, they are studied in psychology. Let's try to figure it all out.

The concept of communication implies the process of interaction that occurs between people and is aimed at establishing and developing relationships, knowledge of each other. Communication involves the mutual influence of the participants in the process on the formation of each other's views, the regulation of behavior, the formation of joint activities.

Simply put, interpersonal communication is a relationship between people relating to all kinds of human activities.

Scientists have different views on the relationship between communication and activity.

Some psychological schools believe that communication and activity are two equivalent aspects of the existence (being) of a person. Others view activity as a condition of interpersonal communication, and communication itself is a necessary element of activity. Still others are sure that this is a special, specific type of activity.

Every opinion has its justification, therefore it has the right to exist. In everyday life, activity and communication usually appear in unity, but in some situations they can take place independently of each other.

Communication, like any kind of human relations, has its purpose, content, forms, types, sides, barriers, functions.

The content of communication is multi-disciplinary. It can be:

• Material, based on the exchange of products of activity.
• Cognitive, conveying knowledge.
• Active, during which there is an exchange of skills or skills.
• Conditional, aimed at changing the psychoemotional state of the interlocutor.
• Motivational, implying the creation of certain motives, motivations for action.

Content largely determines the forms of communication. They also ensure the success of the communication process, help to achieve the goal.

All forms of communication can be divided into two main types: mediated and immediate.

Today, the first type of communication occupies more and more time (it is also called indirect communication). The transmission of business information via fax, data transmission over the phone or over the Internet, and the involvement of intermediaries in the resolution of issues is indirect, indirect communication. The most striking example is social networks. Spending hours of communication with remote interlocutors, a person can never see his counterpart.

The choice of another form of communication, contact or direct, is not always possible, but psychologists consider it to be the most productive. Communication "eye to eye" allows you to monitor the immediate reaction of the parties, use verbal (speech) and non-verbal means of interaction. The latter include facial expressions, gestures, intonations, etc. It is nonverbal communication that helps convince the audience, assess the intentions of the interlocutor, his sincerity. Verbal and non-verbal forms of communication with personal contact are one. We can say that they are inseparable.

Psychologists today share the concept of communication in a variety of forms, the main of which are:

• Anonymous. Communication between strangers, not requiring continuation. Examples: passengers in transport, passers-by on the street, spectators at concerts. Having received the necessary information or spending a short time together, people diverge.
• Formally-role (functional). This communication is a type of "boss-subordinate", "buyer-seller", "employee-employee." The most lengthy and informative here will be service relations. Employees usually spend a lot of time together and know quite a lot about each other.
• Informal. All types of off-site and out-of-office relations:

- Ritual (for example, the military at the meeting "take a visor", acquaintances ask a short answer to the question of how things are, etc.).

- Intimate, meaning contact of loving people with their own set of verbal and non-verbal techniques.

- Other forms of communication.

Today, more and more time is occupied by functional-role communication and communication with the help of technical means. With the passage of time, the forms of communication, its types and means change.