The Importance of Communication in Psychology

In conversation, as in life, little things mean a lot.

The importance of communication in psychology is clear: How you speak can make or break your success. In fact, there is an entire field of science devoted to improving face-to-face communication, and it suggests that flawed communication is a major source of stress in relationships.

In Is Your Communication Style Affecting Your Relationship for Better or for Worse?, Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter suggests that conversational styles and patterns in relationships are a major source of clandestine stress. Dr. Bourg Carter contends that many relationships and communications involve parties who are essentially speaking “a different language” depending on their level of directness, assertiveness, and compassion.

Dr. Bourg Carter is among many psychologists who suggest the importance of effective face-to-face communication for relationships and interpersonal fulfillment. It’s long been suggested that communication depends on the “skill sets” or “talk habits” in one’s conversational repertoire.

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6 Tips For More Successful Communication

In The Talk Book: The Intimate Science of Communicating in Close Relationships, author Gerald Goodman, Ph.D., explores the skill sets needed for improved communication, transformed relationships, and fulfilled interpersonal relations. Dr. Goodman writes that adopting or changing the following six talking habits can transform many facets of your life.

Disclosures

Disclosure is at the heart of good relationships and can transform communications. Disclosures support  greater intimacy when done properly. Facilitating disclosure in conversations and relationships involves a process of gradually increasing the degree of risk over time, decreasing  restrictive control and increasing  trust and vulnerability. Put simply, don’t say too much too soon.

Reflections

Reflection is a lesser-known communication skill. It’s simple and fairly natural. It involves no pragmatism but simply requires extending an empathic ear and heart. It’s accomplished by reiterating the speaker’s essential feelings and thoughts back to them. It’s irreplaceable and effective.

Interpretations

Interpretation is what many of us do in conversations—too soon, too quick, and too ineffective. When effective, interpretation brings new meaning. When unsuccessful, interpretations can be insulting assumptions. Avoid conversational interpretations that “interpret” the self-image or personhood of another. Instead, stick to proverbs or generalized sayings; they are the most innocent and safe interpretations

Advisements

Easy to overuse and abuse, advice must be carefully woven into conversations—always with respect for the self-determination of the “other” in the conversation. When used correctly, advice can be  a respectful suggestion that honors the autonomy of the other person.

Questions

Questions are the building blocks of all conversations. They allow both people in a relationship to get to know or keep up with one another. When questioning someone you’re in a relationship with, check your motives. Make sure you are trying to gather information; and not covertly giving advice, interpreting, or disclosing things about yourself too soon.

Silences

Silence is by far the easiest—and least used— communication tool.. Also referred to as “conversational allowing,” silence paves the way for good communication, putting pauses between listening and talking for us to regulate our powerful thinking and feeling mechanisms. In short, increasing your awareness and use of silence in your conversations and relationships can make a real difference. You won’t be dissatisfied!

These simple tips will help you achieve deeper, more successful, and more fulfilling communication.

“When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on,” said humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers.

— Liz Schreiber

Our Humanistic and Clinical Psychology department offers multiple programs for those wishing to explore how psychology and communication intersect. Learn more about the various humanistic psychology programs offeredor request more information via the form below. You can also apply now through our application portal.