Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

As the definition from Bochner in the previous paragraph noted, most scholars agree that interpersonal
communication involves “at least two communicators.” Although a helpful tool to separate interpersonal
communication from small group or organizational communication, some scholars argue that looking
specifically at one dyad is an accurate representation of interpersonal. For example, if you and your
dating partner are talking about what a future together might look like, you cannot exclude all relational
baggage that comes into that discussion. You might be influenced by your own family, friends, coworkers,
and other associates. So although there may be only two people interacting at one point, there are strong
influences that are happening in the background.
In a lot of early writing on the subject of interpersonal communication, the discussion of the importance
of physical proximity was a common one. Researchers argued that interpersonal communication is a
face-to-face endeavor. However, with the range of mediated technologies we have in the 21 st Century,
we often communicate interpersonally with people through social networking sites, text messaging,
email, the phone, and a range of
other technologies. Is the interaction
between two lovers as they break
up via text messages any less
“interpersonal” than when the break
up happens face-to-face? The issue
of proximity is an interesting one, but
we argue that in the 21 st Century, so
much of our interpersonal interactions
do use some kind of technology.
Figure 1.1 Interpersonal Communication
“Interpersonal Communication.” by Bovee and Thill. This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Unported license.
Units
One of our primary reasons for
communicating with other people
is trying to understand them and
how and why they communicate. As
such, some messages may help us
understand and predict how people
will behave and communicate, so
do those interactions have a higher
degree of “interpersonalness?”
Imagine you and your boyfriend
or girlfriend just fought. You are not sure what caused the fight in the first place. During the ensuing
conversation (once things have settled down), you realize that your boyfriend/girlfriend feels that
when you flirt with others in public, it diminishes your relationship. Through this conversation, you
learn how your behavior causes your boyfriend/girlfriend to get upset and react angrily. You now have
more information about how your boyfriend/girlfriend communicates and what your behavior does
to cause these types of interactions. Some would argue this type of conversation has a high degree of
Interpersonal Communication 2