Interpersonal Communication

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Interpersonal communication is the process of people exchanging messages in relationships. Ranging from role relationships, to interpersonal relationships, to close and intimate relationships, each one of our interactions contribute to the formation, strengthening or weakening of relationships. Through these interactions and relationships, people fulfill the main interpersonal needs, consisting of social inclusion, affection and behavioral control. By exploring communication theories, such as social identity theory, self-expansion theory, uncertainty reduction theory and expectancy violation theory, I learned more about myself, as well as my relationships and surroundings.
Through communication, we socially construct our identities; how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. Our identity, from a young age through present age, constantly alters and changes through various interactions with different people and surroundings (Hall & LaFrance). As humans, it is in our nature to want to define our individual identities and discover how we fit into the world around us. Identity is defined as the “person we think we are and communicate to others.” The more people interact with others, the more they discover about their own identities and who they really are. Along with constantly changing interactions, “people form their identities through group association,” as explained in the social identity theory (Hall & LaFrance). This theory describes how individuals maintain self-view with association to different groups, ranging from general, such as gender, to more defined social groups, such as family and friends. Human nature drives the need for belonging to these various social groups, where people can continue constructing their perso...

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...ay, my sister is still my sister and our sibling relationship itself will not change. She may have a new identity that she will now portray openly to the world, but on the inside, she is still the same person I have known and loved for the past seventeen years.

Works Cited

Burgoon, J. (2009). Expectancy violations theory. In S. Littlejohn, & K. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory. (pp. 368-370). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412959384.n137.

Cohen, E. L. (2010). Expectancy Violations in Relationships with Friends and Media Figures.Communication Research Reports, 27(2), 97-111. doi:10.1080/08824091003737836.

Hall, J., & LaFrance, B. (2012). “That's Gay”: Sexual Prejudice, Gender Identity, Norms, and Homophobic Communication. Communication Quarterly, 60(1), 35-58. doi:10.1080/01463373.2012.641833.

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