Communication can be defined as any act by which one gives or obtains information from the other (DeVito 2009). For communication to occur there must be a sender, the message and a receiver. Communication can be verbal or non-verbal where in non-verbal communication the message is conveyed in terms of non-word messages. The thesis statement in this essay argues that effective communication occurs where the desired message intentionally or unintentionally flows from the sender to the receiver (DeVito 2009).
There are several things that one can wear that can give him/her comfort. These can include headphones from one’s player, earrings or a T-shirt to a place someone has visited. One may not wear all of them at once as each one has its function. Headphones are music listening accessories and can also tell people that the person wearing them has an interest in music. If someone sees another person putting on headphones, he/she might be interested in knowing what genre of music that person likes. By putting on earrings, one may want to express beauty or feel beautiful. Ladies mostly get excited by uniquely designed earrings and may want to know where one purchased them. A T-shirt with names or pictures of places that one has visited is a good starter to a conversation. Someone may like to know whether the other person liked the place if he/she had visited that place, a conversation may start where the two persons may share their experiences.
One may contact many people in his/her lifetime. This can be likened to someone who met a friend in kindergarten (contact stage). Later they started playing together and even talked more (involvement stage). After a few days, they become best of friends and not only played together but also talked about their likes and dislikes and also about their teachers (intimacy stage). Like many other kids they fought mostly for reasons not known (deterioration stage). Their teachers and parents them together and resolved all their disputes (repair stage). Unfortunately, they could not stay in the same school together as one of them had to go away, and they could not accept it. As little kids, they did not understand why people move while they never wanted to be apart. They ended up getting mad at each other as they knew they would not be able to keep contact. Unfortunately, that was the end of their very good friendship (dissolution stage).
Two close friends had a conflict over a simple misunderstanding; they agreed to meet in a certain place However, one never showed up and the other waited for over an hour. Moreover, she did not pick her friend calls. The other friend got furious with her and when they met the next day they almost lost contacts. Nevertheless, she listened to her friend’s story and found out that she had waited for her the same time too. The cause of misunderstanding between them was the place where one was waiting at a court while the other at a street with exactly the same name. The friend’s phone was off as her battery had died while she tried to find the agreed meeting location. They resolved the conflict between them as they realized that it was just a simple misunderstanding.
In conclusion, messages can be expressed verbally or non-verbally in the communication process. One for instance can communicate through what he wears without necessarily revealing a verbal message. The six stages of relational development are usually experienced among persons who have been in long term relationships. Distortion of the communication process where the desired information does not flow from the sender to the receiver can lead to conflict.
References
DeVito, J. A. (2009). The interpersonal communication book. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
