Barriers to Communication

Barriers to Communication
• Physical   (time, environment, comfort, needs, physical medium)
• Cultural   (ethnic, religious, and social differences)
• Perceptional   (viewing what is said from your own mindset)
• Motivational   (mental inertia)
• Experiential   (lack of similar experience)
• Emotional   (personal feelings at the moment)
• Linguistic   (different languages or vocabulary)
• Non-verbal   (non-word messages)
• Competition   (noise, doing other things besides listening)
• Words (we assign a meaning to a word often because of culture -- note the difference in the meaning of "police" (contrast Berrien Springs versus Benton Harbor or any inner city perspective) or   "boy" (contrast white male with black male perspectives)
• Context (high / low)
• Purpose (example:   note the difference in communication between men versus women;   for men it's report-talk versus rapport-talk or information versus bonding
• Mode (differences in way a message is sent).   Note the black versus white modes:
Black White
High keyed
Argument
Spontaneous
Boasting
Person Oriented Low keyed
Discussion
Controlled / Self-Restrained
Understanding
Task Oriented
Blacks perceive whites as detached, devious, impersonal, condescending, hypocritical, avoiding eye contact, and too silent Whites perceive blacks as aggressive, over-emotional, angry, confrontational, interruptive, too personal, showboating
• Gestures   (misunderstood gestures are a major barrier see discussion on non-verbal language)
• Variations in language – accent, dialect
• Slang - jargon - colloquialism
• Different forms or reasons for verbal interaction
Dueling – seeing who can get the upper hand (playing the dozens)
Repartee conversation – taking short turns rather than monologue
Ritual conversation – standard replies with little meaning to words themselves (i.e. most US greetings)
Self-disclosure.   The level of self-disclosure is culturally determined.   Not all cultures wish to give... [continues]

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