Interpersonal Communication – Cognitive Dimensions

Abstract

Effective communication involves more than just exchanging information. There are a number of cognitive processes that underlie our ability to communicate and understand others. Some of the key cognitive dimensions of communication are attention or the ability to selectively focus on certain information in the environment and ignore distracting stimuli, perception or the way we interpret the information we receive through the senses, memory, thinking, language, through a complex system of symbols and rules that allows us to encode and decode messages but also theory of mind or the ability to understand that others have minds of their own, with thoughts, beliefs and intentions different from ours. These cognitive dimensions constantly interact to enable us to communicate effectively. By using and understanding the cognitive dimensions of communication, we can develop our concentration skills, pay more attention to details, improve our memory and think critically to correctly interpret the messages we receive. We can also use language in a clear and concise way to ensure that our messages are understood correctly.