COM200: Interpersonal Communication

Letter of Advice Jessica Piazza COM200: Interpersonal Communication Instructor: Kathleen Serra March 2, 2015

Dear Sara and Tim, My advice to you for a successful relationship is to know the ins and outs, to be open minded of everything that a relationship has to offer along with the changes. The things that you will need to learn and know will be interpersonal interactions, knowing about self-concept and how to maintain it, know about the appropriate levels of self-disclosure in a relationship and how to manage interpersonal conflicts. With all of this information you should be able to have a successful marriage. Interpersonal Interactions
Interpersonal communication (IPC) is the most important thing
In the article, Can We Talk? By N. Schoenberg is states that there was a review in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy and found that “higher rates of self-disclosure were tied with higher rates of martial satisfaction. Expressions of love and support was also linked to happy marriages.” (N. Schoenberg, 2011). There are appropriate levels of self-disclosure, if you self-disclose too much information and the other person is not then the one partner will feel that you are not on the same page. For example, my boyfriend and I have communication problems all the time and we also communicate in different ways. He is very blunt and holds onto how he feels about things for a long time, and with me I am more quiet and shy and also to scared to bring things up because it can cause an argument or feel like there is a disconnect. After four years we have talked about our issues and how bad our communication was and we have slowly worked on it, but it take time and it takes effort from both sides in order for things to work. I realized that I have to be more open and disclose more information to about anything I feel is important or what my views are on things. If I do not do this then he feels that I just do not care about things, he tells me all the time, “I ask you questions all the time because I care what you think, if I didn’t care about you or what you
To be mindful can help you to be a successful communicator. "When people are mindful, they can identify both their own and their partners ' thoughts and feelings, can express their cognitions and emotions clearly, and are sensitive to what their partner is thinking and feeling during an interaction” (Bevan, J.L. & Sole, K. 2014). There are many positive things that we can do to help manage our interpersonal conflict, one reason is being positive because if you are positive it can help keep your mind on the right track and have the willingness to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work. Openness is the balance of self-disclosures and honest communication about the relationship and can help as well. Assurance is very important in a relationship, it helps by expressing commitment, love, faithfulness, emotional support, and messages that imply that the relationship has a future. Conflict management which is using constructive and positive behaviors such as cooperating, listening, and apologizing when in conflict or disagreements with the partner can be extremely helpful. Sharing tasks in your relationship is important because if you are not able to complete tasks as a team how do you think you would be able to deal with conflict when it arises? You two should always be able to lean on each other whether it is a good or a bad situation. We