Interpersonal Communication Blog

“Interpersonal communication skills are the skills we use every day when we communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups” (Sharma).

“Interpersonal communication skills are the skills we use every day when we communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups” (LaMarco 2018). This quote is written by Nicky LaMarco and she described why I wanted to attend a communications class to improve on my communication skills to make sure I’m successful in my everyday life. In this blog I’m strictly reflecting on the course material that talked about emotional expression with your personality, culture and gender. “Emotional expression refers to how one conveys emotional experience through both verbal and nonverbal behavior” (Gross 1999). Emotional expression should be distinguished from emotional experience in that it is possible to experience emotions without expressing them.

I learned that your personality has a huge influence on your emotional expression and how others view you in the workplace. “Science has established an increasingly clear relationship between personality and the way people experience and communicate emotions” (Adler 232). For example, extroverted people report more positive emotions in everyday life than more introverted individuals. However, those with a tendency to worry, be anxious, and feel apprehensive usually result in more negative emotions than individuals that don’t feel those types of emotions. This makes me want to reevaluate my attitude and personality as a whole to be better at communicating all the time.

I learned from the course that culture is a huge part of the way you handle emotional expressions. Although people around the world experience the same emotions, the same events can generate quite different feelings in different cultures. The notion of eating snails might bring a smile of delight to some residents of France, although it would cause many North Americans to be grossed out by it (Adler 233). How you react to other cultures can portray your emotional expression on them. For example, “Members of collectivistic cultures, such as Japan and India, prize harmony among members of their “in-group” and discourage expression of any negative emotions that might upset relationships among people who belong to it. However, members of highly individualistic cultures, such as the United States and Canada, feel comfortable revealing their feelings to people with whom they are close” (Adler 233). The same words can have many different meanings in other cultures. The meaning of a word in a America be good but if you said it France they could view it as negative or harsh. You have to be very careful and educated on on the way you handle your emotional communication expressions in every culture to have a positive outcome in the end.

Lastly, in interpersonal communications I learned that gender one of the most important expressions on emotional communications. “Even within a culture, gender roles often shape the ways in which men and women experience and express their emotions” (Adler 234). For example, men and women generally experience the same emotions, but there are some significant differences in the ways they read and express them. One study showed that research on emotional expression suggests that there is also some truth in the cultural stereotype of the inexpressive male and the more demonstrative female. Women seem more likely than men to verbally and non verbally express a wide range of feelings (Adler 235). Men are more likely to experience a reluctance to talk about feelings, which can lead to relational challenges. As I reflect on interpersonal communication I recollect learning about the emotional expressions of personality, culture and gender that I will use in my everyday life to better myself as a whole.

Before I went into interpersonal communications, I knew a little about emotional expressions but I had no idea about the details and how important your personality, culture and gender could effect your emotional communication in your everyday life. From here on out I’m going to think deeply before i communication and most importantly with my emotional expressions to be more successful. I hope now I’ll be a better communicator no matter the circumstance.

Works Cited

Adler, Ronald B., Rosenfeld, Lawrence B., Proctor II, Russell F. Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal Communication. 14th ed., Oxford University Press, 2018.

LaMarco, Nicky. “The Effects of Interpersonal Communication in an Organization.”effects-interpersonal-communication-organization-12 March 2019.

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