Communication styles in psychology. Table, characteristics, examples

The concept of “communication style” includes norms, methods, principles, patterns of human behavior and other features. The manner of conversation is a mirror reflection of our inner world, which is why each person, putting thoughts into verbal form, chooses special means and forms of self-expression. It is very difficult to always communicate correctly and politely with people. Every day we have to express our point of view or share our impressions under different circumstances: at home, among friends and acquaintances, at work, in transport, on the street, etc.

The specific communication style we choose depends on the specific situation.

I have a very narrow circle of friends, sometimes it narrows down to fish. Zemfira Ramazanova

In the process of communication, it is important not only to express your opinion, but also to be able to convey your thoughts to your interlocutor(s), so it is very important to choose an effective manner of presenting information.

Varieties of dialogue styles

Communication styles are different, and for each individual situation the most suitable one is chosen, both in behavior and interaction. For any situation, it is common for a person to “present” himself in different ways. But with inadequate self-presentation, dialogue becomes difficult.

To bring some clarity to this issue, psychologists have proposed descriptions of four interaction styles, which consist of:

1. Ritual
   . It depends on the culture in which a person is destined to live. This could include greetings and questions asked during the meeting, as well as responses.
2. Imperative
   . It is an authoritarian, directive way of communication. The imperative style achieves control over the interlocutor’s behavior, bends his attitudes, or forces him to take certain actions and make decisions. This is achieved through orders, regulations and demands. Typically, the imperative style is used in the army, in relations between superiors and subordinates, and also in working with extreme conditions.
3. Manipulative
   . If in the imperative style everything is extremely clear and open, then in the manipulative style the interlocutor exerts a secret influence. But the goal remains the same: to take control of your opponent’s behavior and thoughts.
4. Humanistic
   . This method has all the varieties of dialogue. Here there is already equal communication, the purpose of which is to achieve mutual knowledge and self-knowledge. There is no place for imperatives, and deep mutual understanding is achieved.

Metalanguage.

As we found out earlier, on average 60–80% of personal communication occurs through nonverbal channels, but verbal communication is also extremely important. Like body language, metalanguage is based on “intuition,” “premonition,” “sixth sense,” and the understanding that the words and thoughts of the interlocutor are not at all the same thing.

The most typical annoying metawords are “you see,” “so to speak,” “well,” and the latest masterpiece of our time, “as if.” These phrases are most common among the less educated part of society, although they are very often found in the media.

If you remove all meta-expressions from speech, then the conversation will become short, sharp and exclusively semantic. We will begin to seem rude, cruel and inconsiderate to each other. Metalanguage softens the blows we strike at each other, allows us to manipulate the other person, achieve our own goals and release emotions without causing mortal offense.

Communication styles: democratic, liberal and business

The democratic style requires that before making any decision, it must be discussed. What does it mean?

1. Effective use of motivation.
2. The presence of satisfaction with the fruits of your labor.
3. Unlocking creative potential, encouraging initiative.
4. Maintaining a favorable psychological climate.

The liberal (will be described in more detail below) has one distinctive feature from the democratic one in that the interlocutor who occupies a higher status in society or at work in a given group of interlocutors is soft and flexible. As a result, people have greater ability to self-govern.

Business style is most often associated with official business, which is not entirely true, since this style is intended to be used not only within the state, but also between them. It provides for both oral and written forms with the complete exclusion of dual understanding. The official style is used by organizations with various forms of ownership, mainly in written form, and in oral form - partner communications. This style is intended for negotiating, concluding mutually beneficial deals, etc.

But the world is not focused only on business communications, because there is also a professional type of interaction. Here specialists of some industry already communicate with a set of highly specialized terms.

Artistic or literary

Artistic style is used in literature. Its task is not only to convey information, but also to create accurate visual and emotional images in the reader, to make him experience certain feelings. Divided into three substyles:

• poetic - poems, poems;
• prose - stories, novels, novellas, short stories, fables;
• dramatic - plays, dramas, comedies, tragedies, tragicomedies.

The artistic style is expressive. It is believed that it is in it that the beauty of language is most clearly revealed. Its main features:

• expressiveness;
• constant use of artistic techniques - metaphors, comparisons, allegories, epithets, contrasts;
• figurative phrases;
• aesthetic significance;
• use of the author’s individual style;
• playing with sentence length and pacing to create emotional effect;
• the use of syntax as a means of expression;
• deviations in sentence structure;
• the use of speech means from other styles to achieve an emotional impact on the reader;
• freedom, lack of strict text structure.

Artistic style can be used in descriptions, discussions and narratives. It is considered the freest, since it practically does not limit the writer. The quality of information delivery largely depends on his talent, experience, abilities and diligence.

Conversational style

Communication styles will also include conversational and everyday styles in their list. It is characterized by informal relationships that are connected not only with everyday life, family, circle of friends, but also with the professional environment. Conversational language is used in interpersonal communication. It is because of this that its manifestation in most cases takes an oral form during spontaneous dialogues. Pre-thinking what is said during such a conversation is not always acceptable.

Colloquial speech is also used for self-expression; with its help, the individual’s individual abilities are manifested, since it has an emotional connotation.

A large role here is given to non-verbal means of interaction and expressive signals of the body. Informal communication has also found wide application in everyday vocabulary:

1. Vernacular.
2. Words that have a subjective assessment.
3. Expressive and emotional statements.
4. In the form of abbreviations.
5. In the form of colloquial and everyday phraseology.
6. Variety of particles, etc.

The use of exclamatory and incentive sentences is also widely practiced. This style of speech is used only in some specific cases.

Definition and characteristics

Speech styles are varieties of literary language, distinguished in accordance with the role (function) they perform in communication. They are used in various spheres of public life - everyday conversations, scientific works, fiction, journalistic addresses, and so on.

Each of the functional styles of the Russian language consists of both neutral and specific expressive means . Their features depend on the following factors:

• sphere of communication - everyday, political, professional, social and others;
• the goal is to briefly and succinctly convey information, awaken certain emotions, call to action and motivation, establish contact, and so on;
• method - contact, non-contact, mass, personal.

Differences in styles appear at all levels - from intonation and stress placement to the nature of grammatical and syntactic structures, spelling, and vocabulary. In practice, they often mix and interact, especially in oral communication. Incorrect use of stylistic features can create ambiguity or misinterpretation of speech, which is why it is important to avoid this. Substyles are also distinguished. They are used in specific areas of texts, mainly scientific ones.

Styles are used in different genres. They mean types of texts - from a fiction novel or poem to a scientific report, article, official order, interview. Each of them must meet certain requirements for the means of expression and the method of their organization.

Authoritarian style

Due to the authoritarian style, the leader personally makes any decisions, from orders to giving instructions. They always accurately determine the “boundaries of competence” of any person, that is, they obtain a strict definition of rank between partners and subordinates. Therefore, communication styles also include authoritarian, the use of which promotes decision-making by the upper levels of the hierarchy with subsequent flow down under the guise of directive decisions. Because of this, the style is sometimes called directive. At the same time, the leader or manager does not have the slightest desire to encourage discussion of directives: he believes that they must be strictly followed.

The leader reserves the right to control and evaluate how effective the activity is. Managers with a similar communication style usually suffer from inflated self-esteem, excessive self-confidence, aggressiveness and a tendency to stereotypical dialogue, a black-and-white perception of subordinates along with their actions.

The authoritarian style of communication is inherent in people with dogmatic thinking, as a result of which the only correct answer will be his, and everyone else may be wrong. Having a discussion with such people and analyzing the decisions they make is a waste of time, since such people, as a rule, are not encouraged to take initiative.

Communication styles: liberal style

Let's consider the liberal genre of dialogue using the example of a teacher. It differs from other styles in its lack of initiative, irresponsibility, inconsistency in making decisions and actions, and indecision in difficult situational moments. Such an interlocutor tends to allegedly forget his previous statements, and after some time he can load his interlocutors with completely opposite statements regarding the previously given statements. Can let the dialogue take its course, overestimating the capabilities of the interlocutors.

A liberal gives an assessment to his listeners depending on his mood: if he is in a good mood, then a positive assessment will follow, if he is in a bad mood, a negative assessment will follow. This approach to dialogue undermines the reputation of a liberal in the eyes of his interlocutors. But there is also a positive side to the nature of such a dialogue: he does not want to completely spoil relations with opponents, showing goodwill towards everyone during the conversation; the interlocutors are perceived as sociable, proactive, truthful and independent.

Business style of dialogue

Communication styles do not exclude business-like dialogue. This is when people interact with each other within the framework of their professional functions. Business dialogue always pursues a specific goal towards which the participants in the conversation move during the conversation. Also, this course of conversation promotes not only information exchange, but also certain skills, experience and knowledge.

An example of a business conversation can be relationships with partners, management, subordinates, including business partners, competitors, heads of other organizations and company owners, etc. Any business dialogue has its own style, which determines the ways and methods of conversation in order to achieve the final goal during a conversation.

A business conversation is like a mask or a chosen model of behavior that helps the participant in the dialogue to move towards the intended goal, as well as to show himself as a good leader and a highly qualified specialist.

Journalistic texts

The task of this functional style of literary language is not only to convey information to the reader or listener, but also to have a certain psychological impact on him and to arouse public interest . It is divided into five substyles:

• newspaper and journalistic - informational articles, notes and reports, interviews;
• propaganda - leaflets, posters, appeals;
• political-ideological - official substyle used in party resolutions;
• mass political - used at rallies, public speeches and other public events of a similar nature.

In the classification table, the journalistic style occupies an intermediate place between official and artistic everyday styles. From the former he adopted standardization and rigor, from the latter - expressiveness and emotionality. Other features of this style:

• information saturation;
• simplicity and accessibility of presentation, targeting the general public;
• elements of appeal, declarativeness;
• a combination of imagery and brevity in the expression of thoughts;
• constant use of emotional amplifiers;
• commitment to a certain position or idea, value judgments;
• motivational words and phrases;
• the presence of speech cliches characteristic of business and newspaper language;
• use of socio-political terminology, including labels (pseudo-democrats, fascists);
• first person presentation;
• addressing the reader directly;
• use of rhetorical questions and exclamatory sentences;
• reverse order of parts of speech in sentences;
• minimal use of negative words;
• an attempt to play on the reader’s feelings, an attempt to hurt his emotions.

Journalistic texts must interact with the reader and motivate him to action. Therefore, all information posted must be understandable and accessible to a wide audience.

Choosing the right speaking style is important to convey information completely and accurately to readers. The use of syntactic and morphological structures, intonation, speech stamps, artistic means and other language tools is necessary to fulfill the main task of the text.

Teacher communication styles

The teacher’s manner of dialogue is determined by how he relates to the students. It is also largely determined by his personal qualities and the communicative situation in the atmosphere of which interaction takes place. The most important personal quality of a teacher during a conversation is nothing other than the ability to organize. The way a teacher treats students can be expressed in:

1. Passively positive.
2. Persistent negative.
3. Situational-negative.
4. Actively positive.

The first type is characterized by rudeness with the active use of expressions of a humiliating nature, insults are manifested, and the ethical professional rules of the teacher are very seriously violated.

The second type is characterized by excessive demands on the part of the teacher and consists in the desire to build exclusively formal, business relationships. It harms students, since the official tone and low emotionality of communications have a negative impact on the creative development of children.

The third type is strongly dependent on the mood of the teacher, and in connection with this, strong variations are observed. As a result of such hesitation, students become withdrawn and distrustful.

The most favorable is the active positive type, which causes a business reaction to the active behavior of students, where informal communication can help them realize their needs.

Stereotypes of perception.

1. The halo effect is the tendency to judge positive character traits based on the perception of appearance. Attribution of negative properties is the anti-halo effect.
2. Attitude is an unconscious desire to think in a certain way about a person or treat him under the influence of someone else’s opinion or one’s own experience.
3. Causal attribution is the attribution of motives for behavior based on attitudes.

In order to get rid of stereotypes or patterns of perception, it is important to have reflection - to be able to reflect yourself.

Ritual communication

Communication styles include ritual dialogue. He solves the main problem of maintaining a relationship with society, as well as presenting himself as a member of this community. What is important here is the presence of a partner during the dialogue as a necessary attribute to perform the ritual. Real life is filled with a huge number of different kinds of rituals, in which everyone’s participation is implied in the form of a kind of “mask”, which has certain properties preset. In such rituals, only one thing is required from their participants - familiarization with the rules of the game.

This style is distinguished by many contacts, in which, looking from the outside, and in some cases from the inside, there is no meaning or content, because at the first impression they do not carry any useful information and will not be able to achieve a certain result.

It seems that precious time is being wasted pointlessly, causing only irritability. But there are times when people enjoy such meetings.

The concept of communication and its role in the development of humanity

The psychology of communication is a huge layer of theoretical and practical knowledge accumulated thanks to the work of many psychologists and sociologists. Scientists have identified and continue to study the features, types, forms and structure of communication.

There are many theories and points of view on communication problems. Soviet scientists made a significant contribution to the study of this phenomenon, as well as to social psychology in general. Their experiments and experiences, carried out in the middle and second half of the last century, became classic examples of the peculiarities of communication and people’s perception of each other, as well as the scientific basis for subsequent scientific research.

Interpersonal and intergroup interaction is the area of ​​human activity in which psychological difficulties most often arise. It is extremely important for every person to be able to interact competently and effectively with the people around them.

Communication is a mutual action of two or more people with the goal of exchanging information, as well as a necessary component of work, educational, and play activities.

In addition, it can act as a separate, relatively independent occupation. After all, people do not always talk to each other with the goal of inventing, controlling, and carrying out a joint action.

The transmitted verbal or nonverbal signal can be both informational and affective-evaluative in nature. It is believed that it was the need of our distant ancestors to transfer knowledge to each other, not only through signs and shouts, that served as the main reason for the development of human speech. Animals interact with each other, but speech is unique to humans.

The characteristics of communication between different people and groups depend on the extent to which the subjects of interaction have a pressing need for social contacts. The need to be involved, to belong and to interact developed in the process of phylogenesis, the socio-historical development of humanity.

Interestingly, satisfying the need for social contact supposedly led to the birth of such a wonderful feeling as joy. Joy is still the leading motive that motivates people to interact with each other.

Features of communication that can bring pleasure and joy are its humanity and democracy. Rude, disrespectful interaction, ignoring and manipulation are immoral and do not fit into the principles of communication that usually guide a cultured person.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION:

• self-esteem;
• respect for the interlocutor, recognition of his rights and interests;
• tolerance, tolerance;
• justice, honesty;
• unbiased attitude towards people.

Communication styles: detachment

It is very difficult to attribute this manner to dialogue. Most likely this is a way of avoiding interaction. There are cases. When we have to have a conversation with a person who is unpleasant to us. He could be a client, a boss, or a random fellow passenger on a plane. The detached style has its own peculiarity - to reduce dialogue to a minimum. Below are examples of some simple tips on how to conduct dialogue “distantly”:

1. Don't initiate the conversation. Whoever needs it will ask.
2. Make a stone mask on your face. Emotions, facial expressions and gestures will be superfluous here. If anything, practice in front of a mirror.
3. There should be extremely dry speech, excluding adjectives, jargon and diminutive expressions.
4. Form monosyllabic answers like, yeah, yes, we’ll see, no, etc.
5. Don't try to use this style with people who are of any importance to you. Although, if you want to get rid of them, then yes.