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23 CHAPTER 2 Principles of Human Communication It is obvious that communication is a conditio sine quo non of human life and social order. It is equally obvious that from the beginning of his (her) existence a human being is involved in the complex process of acquiring the rules of communication, with only minimal awareness of what this body of rules, this calculus of communication, consists of. —Paul Watzlawick, Janet H. Beavin, and Don D. Jackson CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ☛ Identify and describe the sensory modalities. ☛ Describe the process of sensory awareness and sensory receptivity. ☛ Describe how the sensory modalities transmit messages to the brain. ☛ Describe ways in which perceptions affect the emotional experience of individuals. ☛ Describe how learning is a stimulus-processing activity. ☛ Discuss the function or utility value of interpersonal communication. ☛ Discuss ways in which communication is an outcome of interpersonal processes. ☛ Discuss the principle of the multidimensionality of communication (i.e., the levels of communication). ☛ Describe how human communication is inevitable. ☛ Identify how punctuation functions in the delivery of interpersonal messages. ☛ Discuss how interpersonal communication may be either symmetrical or comple- mentary. Human communication is the product of a combination of numerous physio- logical, psychological, and environmental influences. Patterns of communica- tion are indeed difficult to understand without knowing the origins and intricacies of communication in their relationship to neurological functioning— particularly the workings of the central nervous system but also the dynamics of communication in the interpersonal context. Several principles and concepts of human communication increase our knowl- edge of this high-level capability. From the standpoint of biophysiology, these include how sensory reception of information occurs, the basis for distortions of sensory experience, the processing function of the brain, and sensory and feed- back mechanisms and learning. Axioms of human communication that address the origins of communication in interpersonal interactions are also discussed. SENSORY AWARENESS AND SENSORY RECEPTIVITY The Sensory Modalities Recognition that sensory awareness and sensory processing is critical to understanding human communication leads us to consider basic concepts and © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION.
