Interpersonal Communication By Adler And Proctor English Language Essay

In todays developing world, communication plays crucial role in our lives because in every minute we interact with someone or ourselves and because of the importance of interaction there are a lot of people who are interested in communication and try to find right definition. Due to different views and thoughts there are a lot of definitions for communication and the types of communication. According to Hanitzsch who is an academician and researcher about ancient languages; ”Communication is the act of conveying information for the purpose of creating a shared understanding or interaction is the transmission of information from one source to the other where feedback is given”(Thomas Hanitzsch, Communication). This is the most common explanation of communication however I think that Adler’s definition is much more comprehensible, according to his thought human communication is defined ”Human communication as the process of creating meaning through symbolic interaction”(Adler and Rodman 2). Briefly in order to understand thought of Adler and Rodman about communication, we have to know that what kind of model do we have and what are the features of transactional models of interaction which is more modern than linear model (Adler and Rodman 13). I definitely agree their claim about communication because of three reasons; interaction includes simultaneity, fluidity and rationality which is related to being trustworthiness between people and having reliable interaction. According to O’Brien, ”Having reliability between friends can helps us to create more strong relationships which is also have great impact in communication process”(O’Brien 33).

First of all, in transactional model of communication which is defended by Adler and Rodman, simultaneity has major role and it is once major differences between linear and transactional model of interaction. In communication process, there has to be sender and receiver to create transactional model and the writers who are Adler and Rodman call sender and receiver as a communicator. There are messages which are called feedbacks and in this process two people at the same time receive and send their messages (Adler and Rodman 11). That’s why it is called as being simultaneous. There are types of feedbacks which are called as oral, nonverbal and written. As an example I can say that when you ask teacher to realize one issue which can be related to lesson in more rightful way, immediately teacher will start to tell some information, which is called feedback, without any waiting. As in this example, communication has to be simultaneous because it is unrepeatable. ”If you wait to answer their partners message, his/her feeling about each other may have changed and you cannot say similar words because behavior are different each time they are spoken or performed” (Adler and Rodman 18). If we do not answer immediately, we cannot create well achieved communications. However some form of communication like e-mail and text messaging don not appear to be simultaneous (Adler and Rodman 11). By using e-mail or text messaging nobody can be simultaneous during to sending e-mail and text messages. You have to wait messages which will come from sender who is your communicator partner. In brief, simultaneity has crucial role in Adler’s and Rodman’s concept of communication which requires being simultaneous.

Secondly, fluidity also plays major role in relationship which is quite important in transactional model of communication. According to Adler and Rodman; interaction defined in this way, ”Communication is fluid, not static” (Adler and Rodman 11). It is impossible to think and fell same way like how you did in the past because ”It is difficult to isolate a discrete act of communication from the events that precede and follow it” (Adler and Rodman 11). How can we act like we did one minute ago? We cannot act or communicate every time with the similar emotion because thoughts, views and feelings can easily change. It is described in this way; ”You have a relationship between you and another one from the past and probably how you will act toward each other in the future, depends on the outcome of this conversation (Adler and Rodman 11). To sum up, there is a relationship between past and future in communication process and fluidity has some similarities like being simultaneous in interaction.

Thirdly, interaction has to be relational not individual and also there has to be at least two people who are called communicators by Adler because ”Communication depends on involvement of partners in order to create interaction like dancing with your partner” (Adler and Rodman 12). And according to psychologist Kenneth Gergen; ”One cannot be attractive without others who are attracted, a leader without other willing to follow, or loving person without others to affirm appreciation” (qtd. in Adler and Rodman 12). He wants to say that if there is no participation from other people, nobody can create and establish relationships between others. Owing to this reason involvement has undeniable role in communication process and in all kind of relationships. Adler and Rodman explain Gergen’s claim by using other way, ”Communication is transactional, it is often a mistake to suggest that just one person is responsible for a relationship” (Adler and Rodman 12). Adler and Rodman assert that communication is a social activity and due to this both partners who are sender and receiver have same responsibility to create relationship through communication. Nobody can deny that if one member of communication does not take same responsibility as well as the other does, they cannot create communication or any relational things because all kind of communication styles basically depend on how partners involve communication process. To create this communication there has to be reliability but according to O’Brien; ”One kind of successful communication involves the transmission of knowledge from speaker to hearer. First a speaker must be a reliable testifier in order to … ” (O’Brien 27). He wants to point out that ıf you are reliable within communication process, you can maintain good relationships between your social environment and ıt is clearly linked with rationality in interaction because sometimes sender who is your partner can send unreliable messages during the communication. O’Brien said that ” Content of messages which are called as reliable, impartial and evidential, also has undeniable role, because sender’s message can be unreliable” (O’Brien 28). Accordingly this, how can receiver trust sender? It is the main problem in interaction. O’Brien asserts that in this way; ”Reliable sender can send unreliable messages and also unreliable sender can reliable messages” (O’Brien 27). Briefly, I believe that in communication process, both sender and receiver have to be reliable. This is the other important necessity requirement of communication and the rationality is clearly interrelated with reliability.

If I take all these points into consideration, I can say that without any doubt communication model which is called as transactional is clearly related to simultaneity, fluidity and being relational which is also clearly related to being reliable. The thought of Adler and Rodman is strictly right because communication is also social activity which requires at least two people and these three major points. As an example I can say that creating communication in transactional model is like building new home therefore you have to do requirements of building such as adding water, send, cement at the same time and these are the indispensable materials in building process. Briefly I want to say that we have similar requirements in communication process and in order to understand why we communicate and the saying, which is undeniably right, of Adler and Rodman, we have to accomplish requirements of communication. If we do not add these there crucial things, which are called as simultaneity, fluidity and reliability, we cannot create well achieved interaction. However according to O’Brien about reliability; ”Sometimes reliable sender can send unreliable messages or unreliable sender can send reliable messages” (O’Brien 28). As we understand ıt clearly depends on the view of people. And because of all these things, communication is indispensable process for human beings. It satisfies many of our needs to be social person and there is only one and easy way, which is called as interaction, to create relationships. Owing to this, according to saying which is ”Communication is not something we do to the others rather it is something we do with them” (Adler and Rodman 2), people can only communicate ıf there are other people who tend to interact.