Communication Case

The article "Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication." is an interesting article. Before I read the article I thought that people that had close relationships had much better communication than they did with strangers. After all you usually talk a lot to those people who are close to you like friends, family and significant others. I found the the test that was mentioned in the article to be very eye opening. It asked twenty four married couples to take part in an experiment in which two sets of couples sat in chairs, with their backs to each other. They tried to figure out the meaning of phrases whose meaning isn't entirely clear. The spouses thought they communicated better than they actually did. When the results were compared to tests done with complete strangers the results were almost identical. The study was carried out by co-authors Kenneth Savitsky, professor of psychology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass, and Nicholas Epley a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Professor Epley statement "Our problem in communicating with friends and spouses is that we have an illusion of insight. Getting close to someone appears to create the illusion of understanding more than actual understanding." What the article doesn't mention is what makes our communication skills poor with those close to us in the first place?

There are several reasons for poor communication with those close to us, such as spouses and friends. One key item is listening skills and how most people have had little education on how to be an effective listener. Most people don't understand that effective communication requires a lot of work on both the sender and listener's part. Outside interference know as noise plays a role in poor communication, this can come in many forms. How many times has the cell phone gone off while we were talking with someone or we have been interrupted by someone while we were having a conversation with someone else. The list of noises can be a long one. Another issue that keeps us from being effective listeners with those close to us is understanding the message. We hear the message but we don't verify what we believe the message to mean with the sender, this of course leads to misunderstandings. The method in which we communicate can also lead to poor communication with those close to us. Today's world is filled with so much technology like cell phones, how many times have you had a long conversation with a friend or spouse via text message on your cell phone. More than likely what you were trying to communicate with the other person wasn't understood by them. So as we can see there are several reasons why there is poor communication with those close to us. I have had poor communication with a close friend. While we were on the phone we had discussed and agreed that we would have lunch