Our list of research topics on interpersonal communication is available. Interpersonal communication studies the social interaction of people. Theory and research on interpersonal communication seeks to understand how people use nonverbal and verbal communication to accomplish various communication and instrumental goals. Traditional interpersonal communication was a relationship between people who meet face-to-face. Interpersonal communication is increasingly being achieved through interactive media. Interpersonal communication can be sub-fielded of communication. The six related areas of study are described below.
INTERPERSONAL COMUNICATION RESEARCH TOPICS
– Reassuring Interaction
– Relationship and Communication Rules
– Communication Apprehension
– Communicator Style
Connections between people who are romantically involved
– Deception Detection Accuracy
Production of deceptive messages
– Disclosure in interpersonal communication
– Environmental Influence on Social Interaction
– Expectancy Violation
– Sight Actions
– Facial Gestures
– Friendship and peer interaction
Gestures and Kinematics
– Imagined interactions
Management of Impression
– Affinity and Ingratiation Seeking
– Initial interaction
Interaction Modification Theory
– The draw of one person to another
– Interpersonal Communication Competences, Social Skills
– Interpersonal conflict
– Long Distance Relationships
– Interaction between Spouses
– Marital Typologies
– Mediated social interaction
– Negotiation & Bargaining
Interacting with people on the internet.
– Vocal communication that accompanies speech, such as tone of voice, volume, and intonation.
– The concept of Politeness Theory suggests that people use language to minimize confrontation.
– Social interaction, power, dominance
Proxemics is the study of the use of physical space and the effect it has on communication.
– Interaction: Compensation and Reciprocity
– Relational control
– Relational dialectics
– Relational maintenance
– Structures that show relationships between different elements of a database
– Relational termination
– Relational uncertainty
– Relationship development
Schemas and Knowledge Structures. Social Interaction
– Self-Presentation
– Differences between gender and sex in interpersonal communication
– The way siblings interact with each other
– Social Aspects Of Goals
– Interaction between two or more individuals that involves an exchange of resources.
– Social interaction structure
– Social support in interpersonal communication
Management of Uncertainty
– The Uncertainty Reduction Theory explores how people interact and communicate with one another in order to reduce uncertainty.
– Verbal Aggressiveness
UNCERTAINTY IN INTERPERSONAL COMUNICATION
People cannot know what their conversation partners are thinking, feeling, wishing for, and planning for. Uncertainties about the behavior of a partner can also be a problem. These uncertainties are greatest when strangers come into contact, but they can also be present in relationships that last a long time. Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT: Berger & Calabrese 1995) suggests that individuals need to reduce their uncertainty to some extent in order to communicate and take actions that are effective for their interactions goals.
URT can be used to explain social interaction between people in different communication contexts (Gudykunst 1995, Kramer 2004). Individuals can feel uncertainty about their relationships and may not want to change it.
INTERPERSONAL APPROVAL
Individuals are inclined to reciprocate the other’s verbal or nonverbal behavior when they converse. Although reciprocity is a fundamental principle of social interaction, there may be situations in which individuals can offer compensation for one another’s actions. If one person’s behavior does not match another’s, then compensation is achieved. There are many theories that can be used to explain the conditions in which compensation and reciprocity may occur, particularly with regard to nonverbal behavior. Although these theories differ in terms of their explanations for reciprocity/compensation, they share a common assumption that when expectations for nonverbal behavior are violated, individuals tend to experience arousal. Interaction Adaptation Theory was developed by Burgoon et.al. after research comparing the theories failed to produce conclusive results. 2010).
MESSAGE PERFORMANCE
Social interaction can be used to achieve goals. Language is just a tool. This idea is consistent with constructivist research. They have tried to find the characteristics that messages that are most effective in reaching various goals. To explain how individuals create actions and discourse, Action Assembly Theory (Greene 1997) is a more detailed and abstract theory of message production.
Berger 1997 also suggests theories that use scripts, plans and knowledge structures. These Goal-Plan-Action theory (GPA) are based on Dillard et.al. 2002), scripts or plans are hierarchically organised knowledge structures that represent the sequences of actions that will achieve goals. These knowledge structures provide guidance for actions that lead to the attainment of goals after they have been activated.
RELATIONSHIP PERFORMANCE
Personal communication is crucial in maintaining and building personal and social relationships. Researchers have been trying to figure out why certain relationships grow closer and others become distant over time. Roloff 1981 explains why there is a difference between relationship growth or decline. These theories claim that people experience both benefits and costs when they are in relationships with one another. Relationship growth can be fueled by positive relative reward/cost rates, while relationships that suffer from unfavorable outcomes are more likely to fail. Researchers in relationship dialectics believe that relationships are fraught by dialectical tensions, which can pull people in different directions simultaneously (Baxter & Montgomery 2016). These tensions can change over time and cause relationships to be in constant flux.
DECEPTIVE COMUNICATION
Many interpersonal communication experts recognize the importance of deception in social interaction. “White lies” are often used to protect co-interlocutors’ faces from embarrassing situations in social interactions. There are two fundamental questions that deceive communication has attracted a lot of research. The first is how deception affects nonverbal behavior. Does truth tellers’ behavior differ from lies-told individuals? Although certain behaviors can be used to diagnose deceptive communication, not all deceptive communication is visible. A second question that remains is how skilled individuals are at deceiving others. Research shows that many people, even law enforcement professionals, are not skilled at deception detection.
Interacting with others through a third-party intermediary.
Social interaction via various communication technology is becoming more common. Research has increased to explore their potential social and individual effects. Researchers have examined the differences between computer-mediated communication and face to face (FtF) interaction in terms of their outcomes (Walther 2010). Text-based CMC eliminates many nonverbal cues that are available to FtF interaction participants. This makes it possible for text-based CMC to be more task-focused than FtF communication. Although text-based CMC venues offer a way to meet and screen potential partners for friendship and romance, they lack sufficient information to allow for the development of close relationships. Individuals who meet initially in text-based CMC venues often prefer to communicate via phone or FtF.
