Most persons view communication as an evolutionary tool that facilitates coordination and organization. As a result, communication is viewed in terms of skill and technique, and we seek to acquire the skills and techniques that would allow us to convey our thoughts and emotions with precision and control. But in many ways, this popular view of communication downplays the vital role that communication plays in creating our social worlds. For without communication, misperception happens. Without communication, aggression happens. In short, without communication, no opportunity exists for peoples to demystify and understand each other. We are devoid of any means to become less afraid of each other and lessen the threat of our differences. In other words, without communication, all that remains is our misperception and distortion of each other.

Thus the lack of communication ferments suspicion, distrust, and, ultimately, hostility. Its absence puts us at each other’s throats and thereby of social worlds that are more prone to violent conflict and strife. As such, what is the value of devices, practices, and arrangements that limit and even end communication between different peoples--especially in our global and multicultural world where our distances and spaces are collapsing and pushing us to reckon with all manner of diversity? For instance, what is ultimately the usefulness of walls and fences in an increasingly plural, global, and multicultural world? That is, what is the value of the walls that the US is constructing in Iraq to separate Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods? What is the value of the wall that the US is building on the border with Mexico? Or the wall the Israelis are constructing between Israel and Palestine? Or the wall Thailand is proposing to build on its border with Malaysia? Or the wall The United Arab Emirates is building on its border with Oman? Or the wall Saudi Arabia is building on its border with Yemen? Or the wall Botswana is building on its border with Zimbabwe? Or the wall Brunei is building on its border with Limbang? Or the wall Iran is building on its border with Pakistan? Or the wall Russia is proposing to build on its border with Chechnya? Read more>

Brant Burleson: Good communication matters. It matters fundamentally in terms of the individual’s success personally, in terms of their personal relationships, it matters maybe even more in terms of their success professionally. There are a lot of studies that show that employers want good communication skills in their employees first and foremost, and by that, they mean in addition to being able to read and write effectively, to be able to orally communicate with others effectively, to participate in teams. And in fact, there is a large body of research that shows that effective communication skills are one of the major predictors of upward mobility in the organization, that is, people who have good communication skills are more likely to get promoted, they’re more likely to get raises, they’re more likely to end up getting positions that they want. People with good communication skills are not only more effective in informing others and persuading others, they’re also more effective at getting support from others and acquiring information from others, they’re acquiring emotional support from others and getting others to believe in them and what they’re doing. And as you can imagine, those are tremendously important skills in virtually any aspect of professional life.

Then, in the personal sector, good communication skills matter so fundamentally in terms of the quality of your family relationships, the relationship with your close partner. Good communication is part and parcel of being a good parent, communicating effectively with your child, communicating effectively with your neighbors, and communicating effectively with others in your community. And the real truth of the matter is, we’re not taught how to do that. We may be exposed to good models here and there, but that’s really happenstance. For the most part, we’re not really ever taught how to be good persuaders, provide information, provide support, even entertain each other, and that’s why you want to take Communication classes in college, because that’s where you should be learning those kinds of communication skills, skills that are going to make a difference in the quality of your life.

Lynn Harter: Communication is an integral part of a liberal studies education because what communication helps students to focus on how they use symbolic resources at hand to create and maintain relationships, to participate as a citizen in the public sphere, whether that’s attending a city council meeting and exercising their voice about a local initiative or petition. Or maybe it’s being involved on a board of directors for a local non-profit organization and being the person who’s responsible for communicating with various stakeholders of that organization.

What are the common misperceptions people have about communicating and how do those lead to mistakes when they communicate?

Kevin Barge: Most people think that communication is about getting your point across clearly. Regardless of the context, regardless of who you’re talking to, regardless of the situation, you need to be clear in your communication. I think that’s a misperception because I think there are times at which being ambiguous can be very effective in your communication. Think about for example organizations when they issue PR statements during a crisis. They want to be as clear as possible about what they’re doing. They also want to be a little ambiguous sometimes so that they give themselves some wiggle room in case they have to adjust their strategy. I think one of the reasons that this is a misperception—that we need to be clear—is that our dominant way of thinking about communication is that it’s about getting your point across, or what some people call transferring information.

I think we need to think about communication differently and change the perception of what communication is, that communication is about creating relationships, whether that’s creating romantic relationships, whether that’s creating relationships in a team, whether that’s creating relationships in the workplace, say between an employee and his or her boss, or whether that’s creating relationships among nations or countries. You’ve got to think about communication creates a relationship. So how we communicate creates different things. A simple example is what happens when you call me Dr. Barge. What relationship do you create?  Read more>