Interaction and communication in psychology - essence and types

Communication is a necessary component for the successful formation of a person in society. The first interaction takes place in the parents' family, where the child receives an evaluation of himself, his behavior by relatives, learns to read emotions and feelings - on the basis of this, mechanisms are formed for effective or non-constructive interaction with people.

What is an interaction?

George G. Mead - American sociologist and philosopher introduced the concept of interaction in the 1960s. Mead believed that one person to understand the other, it is important to understand what he does, what practices he does. Interaction is the interaction between people, including mutual influence during joint activities. During the interaction occurs:

Interaction in sociology

Social interaction is the interaction of people, carried out on the micro (family, friends, working collective) and the macro level (social structures and society as a whole) and involves the exchange of symbols, experience, and practical experience. The essence of the interaction lies in the contact between people and is built on the basis of the individual characteristics of each subject, the line of behavior, the contradictions that arise during communication. Pitirim Sorokin (sociologist) identified several strong points in social interaction:

  1. For interaction, at least 2 people are needed.
  2. During communication, attention is paid to everything: gestures, facial expressions, actions - this helps to feel the other person better.
  3. Thoughts, feelings, opinions should resonate with all participants in the process of interaction.

Interaction in Psychology

The first model for interacting with people for a person is the family. Within the family circle, in situations of joint activity during intercourse, the "I" of the child is becoming. The personality is formed through the prism of the perception of oneself by others and the behavioral reactions arising in response to its activities. Interaction in psychology is a concept based on the views of D.Mid and his theory of "symbolic interactionism" emerging from the framework of behaviorism. The sociologist attached great importance to the exchange of symbols (gestures, postures, facial expressions) between the interacting parties.

Types of Interaction

In joint social activities, people are oriented towards each other and effective interaction presupposes a high "significance" of the other as a person. Ineffective - every subject in the process of communication is fixated only on himself and does not try to understand, feel the other. Mutually beneficial cooperation and partnership with such an interaction are unlikely. Types of interaction can be divided according to the type of impact: verbal and nonverbal.

Verbal (speech) interaction includes mechanisms:

  1. Speech influence (timbre, tone of voice, expressiveness of speech).
  2. Transfer, exchange of information, experience.
  3. Reaction to the received information (the statement of the attitude or relation, opinion).

Nonverbal (non-verbal) interaction is caused by a sign system of communication - by proximity:

  1. Pose shown by the partner: closed-openness, relaxation-tension.
  2. Position in space is the capture of territory (lay out documents, objects around the table) or use a minimum of space.
  3. Adjustment and synchronism of the partner for interaction in gestures, facial expressions, body postures.

Interaction and communication

Communication as an interaction contains educational, regulating, evaluating functions and allows people to organize their joint activities with the achievement of their goals. Communication is closely related to interaction, is one of its components along with perception (perception) and relies on the same mechanisms (verbal, non-verbal) in the process of communication. Differences between communication and interaction:

  1. A communicator can be not only a person, but also media, any sign system (road signs) of a book.
  2. The purpose of communication is the transfer of information, without the possible receipt of feedback (feelings, opinions of others may not be taken into account)

Interaction and manipulation

Interaction in communication is always a mutual influence on each other. As a result of interpersonal interaction, a person changes, is enriched by meanings. Often, in the process of communication can not do without manipulation. In the modern world, manipulative techniques , as an instrument of influence, are common in business, the consumer market. Manipulation, in contrast to the interactions suggest: