Barriers to Communication

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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: White Low keyed High keyed Discussion Argument Controlled / SelfSpontaneous Restrained Boasting Understanding Person Oriented Task Oriented Blacks perceive Whites perceive whites as detached, blacks as aggressive, devious, impersonal, over-emotional, condescending, angry, hypocritical, confrontational, avoiding eye interruptive, too contact, and too personal, silent showboating Black

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Gestures (misunderstood gestures are a major barrier see discussion on nonverbal 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 personal information; some want to do business without knowing the other person while others insist on full knowledge first.