Barriers to Communication

 

Barriers to Communication

People in the world are not exactly alike. Cultures or countries are not the same. These differences, however, can cause problems in conveying your meanings. Each person’s mind is different from others. As a result, message sender’s meanings and the receiver’s response are affected by many factors, such as:

·         Semantic barriers

·         Physical Barrier

·         Psychological barriers

·         Emotional barriers

·         Perceptual barriers

·         Barriers involving values attitudes etc.

 

a)     Semantic Barrier

A basic principle of communication is that the symbols the sender uses to communicate messages must have the same meaning in both the sender’s and receiver’s minds. You can never be sure that the message in your mind will be clearly sent to your receiver. The world is full with errors, as a result of differences in semantic (meaning) understanding.

If someone talks to you in Italian, and you don’t know Italian, this is semantic barrier. Meaning exists in the minds, not in the words.

 

Problem in Conventions of Meaning

Denotation

A denotation is usually the dictionary definition of a word. Denotative meanings name Objects, people or events without indicating positive or negative qualities. Such words as car, desk, book, house, and water convey denotative meanings. The receiver has a similar Understanding of the thing in which the word is used.

 

Connotation

A connotation is an implication of a word or a suggestion separate from the usual definition. Some words have connotative meanings, that is, qualitative judgments and personal reactions.

The word man is denotative, father, prophet, brother is connotative. Some words have positive connotations in some contexts and negative meanings in others. For example, slim girl and slim chances.

The denotation of this example is a red rose with a green stem. The connotation is that it is a symbol of passion and love - this is what the rose represents. The denotation is a brown cross. The connotation is a symbol of religion, according to the media connotation. However, to be more specific this is a symbol of Christianity.

 

Stop Sign

Denotation—Stop (even without words, we recognize the meaning from the shape and color) Connotation—Risk (accident or ticket)

 

b)    Physical Barriers

Communication does not consist of words alone. Another set of barriers is caused by your own physical appearance, your audience, or the context of the document or the presentation. Your ideas, however good and however skillfully imparted, are at the mercy of various potential physical barriers.

·         For Writing: There is a whole barrage of possible physical blocks, jammed or jagged margins, fingerprints or smudges, unclear photocopies, unreadable word processor Printout, water or coffee, tea spots etc.

·         For Speaking: Mumbling, not enunciating, speaking too quickly, noises become of hissing ventilation.

c)     Psychological Barriers

Because of the changing world, everyone has his own concept of reality. Also, human beings, sensory perceptions – touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste are limited, and each person’s mental filter is unique. In our daily interaction with others, we make various abstractions, inferences and evaluations of the world around us.

 

d)    Emotional Barriers

One possible psychological block is emotional; you may be emotionally block if you are announcing a new policy you may become popular or unpopular:

 

e)     Perception of Reality: The perceptual problem is that people think differently

    Slanting -Is unfair in factual reporting. When presenting some particular facts, you include your own biased ideas into it, you make slanting statement. Try not to let personal preferences affect your factual reporting of information.

 

Inferring- Conclusions made by reasoning from evidence are called inferences. We make assumptions and draw conclusions even though we are not able to immediately verify the evidence. Some inferences are both necessary and desirable; others are risky, even dangerous.

 

Necessary Inferences- When we reach a foreign country, we are sure that we will be treated politely. When we post a letter, we infer that it will reach its destination. Conclusions we make about things we have not observed directly can often be against our wishes.

 

f)     Barriers Involving Values, Attitudes etc.

Both personality and attitude are complex cognitive process. The difference is that personality usually is thought of as the whole person whereas attitude may make up the personality. The term attitude describes people and explains their behavior. More precisely an attitude can be defined as a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some object.

For example: Namei does not like night shift, so his attitude is negative towards his work assignment.

A receiver’s attitude toward a message can determine whether it is accepted or rejected. The effectiveness is influenced also by the values, attitudes, and opinions of the communicators.

People react favorably when they receive agreeable message. Receivers’ views of the information will affect their response. This response could be what the sender desires or just the opposite. Occasionally people react according to their attitudes toward a situation rather than to the facts.

    Closed Mind-Some people hold rigid views on certain subjects. They maintain their rigid views regardless of the circumstances. Such a closed minded person is very difficult to communicate to.

Sender’s Credibility

Other factors affecting attitudes, opinions and responses are;

·         Environmental stresses

·         Personal problems

·         Sensitivity

A barrier to communication is anything that distorts the process of communication. It makes one miss parts of a message or the whole message or creates misunderstanding of a message or information. There are many barriers to communication. However, in this context they will be categorized as follows:

a) Internal barriers: such as those inhabited by the people in the process of communication e.g.   

their moods, preoccupations, attitude, taste and preferences, one who stammers etc.

 b) External barriers: this is anything in the communication environment that distorts the process of communication e.g. noise. Noise can be physical such as breakdown in computers, telephone etc. It could be from unwanted music, children shouting etc.

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