Chapter 9: Developing Psychological Skills

Part 3: Specific Skills: Communication

Specific skills

1. Specific skills and competencies are required for a very specialized professional functioning.

2. Relevant specific skills and competencies can be classified as follows:

i) Communication skills

• Speaking
• Active listening
• Body language or non verbal skills

ii) Psychological testing skills

iii) Interviewing skills

iv) Counselling skills

• Empathy
• Positive regard
• Authenticity 

Communication skills

1. Communication is a conscious or unconscious intentional or unintentional process in which feelings and ideas are expressed as verbal and nonverbal messages that are sent, received and comprehended.

2. The process of communication can be accidental (Having no intent), expressive (Resulting from the emotional state of the person), or rhetorical (Resulting from the specific goal of the communicator).

3. Levels of human communication

• Intrapersonal communication involves communicating with yourself . It encompasses activities like thought processes, personal decision making and focusing on the self.
• Enter personal communication refers to the communication that takes place baetween two or more persons who establish a communicative relationship. It includes face to face, or mediated conversations
• Public communication is characterized by a speaker sending a message to an audience. It may be direct like face to face messages, or in direct like messages relayed over television.

Characteristics of communication

• Communication is dynamic because the process is constantly in a state of change. The nature of communication changes as expectations, attitudes, feelings and emotions of people communicating changes.
• Communication is continuous because it never stops whether we are asleep or awake. We are always processing ideas or thoughts.
• Communication is irreversible because once we send a message, we cannot take it back
• Communication is interactive because we are constantly in contact with other people and with ourselves.The cycle of action and reaction is the basis of communication.
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• Components of human communication
• When we communicate, we communicate selectively by choosing the repertory of words, actions available to us.
• We encode or give meaning to messages and put them in message forms and send the idea through a channel. It is composed of our primary signal system based on our senses.
• The message is sent to someone who receives it using their primary signal system. They decode or translate the message into understandable forms.
• The effectiveness of communication depends on the communicator's mutual understanding of the signals or codes.
• Communication is not just a speech which is a biological act and utterance of sound.It is a broader concept, which includes in a relationship among two or more people in which they attempt to share meaning, so that the intent of message received is the same as the intent of message sent.

Speaking

• One important component of communication is speaking with the use of language.
• A communicator must know how to use language appropriately, because it is symbolic and necessary to be clear and precise.
• Communication takes place within a context. It is important to consider others' frame of reference or context used by the sender to say something.
• It is important to adjust your vocabulary level and choice of words to fit the level of the listener.
• Slang expressions, unique words or euphemisms can sometimes become obstacles in good communication.

Listening

• Academic success, employment achievement and personal happiness depend upon the ability to listen effectively.
• Listening requires a person to be attentive and patient with a non judgmental attitude. They should have the capacity to analyze and respond
• Hearing and listening are not the same. Hearing is a biological activity that involves reception of a message through sensory channels. It is only a part of listening which is a process that involves reception attention, assignment of meaning and listener’s response to the message.

Reception

• The initial step in the listening process is the reception of a stimulus or message. A message could be auditory or visual.
• Hearing mechanism involves the complex processes of the ear and brain. People observe a person's special expression, posture, movement and appearance to understand a message through the visual system.

Attention

• After the stimulus is received, it reaches the attention stage of the human processing system.
• The other stimuli receipts so that we can concentrate on specific words or visual symbols.
• Attention is divided into what you are attempting to listen to, What is happening around you and what is going on in your mind.

Paraphrasing

• Paraphrasing refers to restating the listened sentences by summarizing the ideas received.
• It allows one to understand how much someone has understood what is communicated.
• Incorrect paraphrasing results in miscommunication.

Assignment of meaning

• The process of putting the stimulus we have received into some predetermined category develops as we acquire language.
• We develop mental categories for interpreting the message we receive.

Role of culture in listening

• The culture in which we have been brought up also influences our listening and learning abilities.
• Asian cultures like India emphasize on listening by being a silent communicator when receiving messages from seniors or elders.
• Some cultures focus on controlling attention. For example, Buddhism has a notion of mindfulness, which means devoting your complete attention to whatever you are doing.

Body language

• Nonverbal acts are part of body language, which is composed of all those messages that people exchange besides words.
• Factors like gestures, posture, eye contact, clothing style and body movement must be considered together as a cluster to understand body language.
• In verbal Communication, non verbal signs can have many different meanings.For example, crossing arms over the chest may suggest that a person likes to keep aloof, but cross arms accompanied by an erect poster, tightened body muscles may communicate anger.
• A person's background and past patterns of behavior are also considered when we analyze body language.
• The consistency between current and past patterns of behavior, as well as harmony between verbal and nonverbal communication, is termed as congruency.
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Tips to improve listening skills

• Recognize that both the sender and receiver have equal responsibility in making effective communication.
• Refrain from forming an early judgment about information that is being communicated. Be open to all ideas.
• Be a patient listener and do not be in a hurry to respond.
• Avoid ego speak, that is, do not talk only about what you want to talk about. Give consider action to others also.
• Be careful of the emotional responses, which certain words are likely to bring about.
• Be aware that your posture affects your listening.
• Control distractions.
• If in doubt try to paraphrase. Also check with the sender whether they have been correctly understood by you.
• Visualize what is being said and try to translate the message in the form of a concrete action.