Human Communication Issues
Intrapersonal communication can be described as self-talk, or the conversation that people have with themselves, depending on the set of circumstances that they find themselves within. Sometimes it happens when people need to make an important decision or learn something about them.
Some may state that it is a form of thought, and in a way this theory may be correct, because it is a form of thinking that goes within the individual to reason on what is going on within their mind. In the Shakespeare’s plays, the methodology is used quite often where a character engages in monologue to reason with the events that have occurred. Thus, it is an effective cognitive process. This is an effective form of communication, though it is within the individual and does not include a sender or a receiver. The relation of intrapersonal communication with general communication is deeper than perceived. Most researches conducted recently show that the first step towards effective communication with others is a successful communication with the self.
The self is a concept mostly used to describe who and what people think they are, which in other words, relates to their identity. Some researchers define the self into 2 dimensions (Steinberg, 2007). The self can be described as an internal thing made up of a combination of characteristics, which are the individual’s personality, values and beliefs and habits that distinguish them from any other person (Steinberg, 2007). Similarly, it is a social thing, growing out of the contacts formed with other people, and the main function it serves is to guide communication. There is an even closer relationship between the self and the communication where the self is shaped by the relationships formed by others, such as family and friends built on communication, the self-guides, the communication and relationships formed by others (Steinberg, 2007).
This information adequately states the parameters set for communication and shows that people do not have to be actively conscious to communicate. Rather, if the person can communicate by themselves, there does have to be an intention, because it is a cognitive process initially. All cognitive processes are not conscious and, thus, one does not have to try, but communication requires an objective and, thus, it is a conscious process; therefore, one does have to try to communicate. Intrapersonal communication for one is highly connected to concepts of the self, because the whole basis is the ability of an individual to communicate without aid. Intrapersonal communication relates to self-talk, or self-imaging.
The term self-concept relates to how the individuals think and feel about their identities (Steinberg, 2007). In this way, it involves the way they view their appearance, physical, as well as their mental abilities, strengths and weaknesses. It is the picture that one sends to others by the way that one behaves in a certain situation. This is the basic looking glass that people use when evaluating themselves, and it comes up against self-comparison with others. This is important in intrapersonal communication, because during the monologues used in Shakespeare some of the characters used their perceptions of other people to gauge their personal behaviours and reactions to a certain situation, which would be essential in how they viewed their characters henceforth.
The example given if a woman is sleeping and her husband walks into the room is not an example of interpersonal communication. Body language is a form of communication; however, it is not a form of intrapersonal communication or general verbal communication, because that would require the actual use of speech. This does not take away from the importance of body language, which is still perceived a better communication form than in speech in some instances.
