Improving Interpersonal Communication

The research question to be answered in this report is the following: How can I use interpersonal communication research principles to improve my communication? The three main ideas I am going to discuss are listening habits and skills, nonverbal cues, and resolving communication problems. In the conclusion, I evaluate my course learning and ways that I plan to improve my interpersonal communication in the future.

Introduction
Interpersonal communication is the verbal and nonverbal interactions between two or more people. Our minds, body and cultures, and play a factor in our communication, and they often affect our emotions. The main core issues in interpersonal communications are, the fundamental elements of the communication process, self-concept
When someone is talking to me and they are slouched in the chair I have a tendency to lose interest in what they are saying. Saying that, I have found myself, several times slouched in the chair as I begin to lose interest in the speaker, both in the workplace as well as in school. I would say this is my biggest fault.
Another fault, which really affected me, was maintaining eye contact in certain situations. This generally happened when I would meet new people and employees for the first time. This was due to my self-image over my front tooth. We all know England to say the least, is not known for good dentistry. I had broken my front tooth when I was a teen. While I had it temporarily repaired, I was never comfortable smiling or looking at anyone in the eyes. Once we relocated to Texas I was fortunate to meet an excellent dentist, and my teeth received a makeover. Since having this procedure completed, I have found myself more confident; I love to look at people in the eyes and
We tried to learn more about them by showing an interest in their family, as well as their interests outside the work place. Numerous times, we attempted to get them to feel more comfortable with their surroundings, and reiterate that we were there to do the same job, and at the end of the day, we all had the same goals.
We believed this attitude was a result of the coworker’s self-concept, and their regular behavior definitely influenced their behavior at work. According to DeVito (2013), self-concept includes “the way you interpret and evaluate your own thought and behaviors. (DeVito, 2013) This was evident through the coworker’s verbal aggressiveness. Many times, the coworker would verbally attack others for no reason. This definitely resulted in a loss of credibility on the coworker.
After we initiated a meeting with our coworker, it was apparent that they had issues at home, the coworkers children no longer associated with them, resulting in them not been able to spend time with the grandchildren, etc. This resulted in tensions with the family, which carried over into the work place. They felt betrayed at home, and they felt that they could not trust anyone, even though we had worked together for several years, without issues.