Rational communication

As human beings being homo sapiens we dont really need to talk because we are capable of
living our life even without doing so. But man is a social animal. So, we do want to talk, interact,
communicate with fellow human beings. This communication can be in two ways either verbal
or non- verbal. When it comes to verbal communication, we do use our mouth to say whatever
we want to or we can write. The spoken and the written communication is included in verbal
communication Many of us are not able to say what we want to convey. Not everyone is good at
saying something what that person actually means to say. We sometimes knowingly or
unknowingly forcefully try to convince the other person or try to gain sympathy by emotional
blackmailing in order to achieve what we want. Because of these things we dont meet our goals.
There are many reasons behind this. For example, we dont have clear goal in our mind. Or we
are not sure about how to convey to the other person without manipulation.
Rational communication is a goal oriented activity which involves interaction. Rational
communication involves several things. First of all, whatever we speak must be logical. Our
speech should be meaningful. It builds up respect for the person who is speaking. If it is not
logical or there is no reasoning in whatever we are saying then it leads to irrational
communication and this irrational mindset leads to miscommunication among people. Not just
the quality of speech matters but also the quantity. Pointless sentences in the speech leads to
irrational communication. The speech may sound meaningless and boring and thus the sender
will fail to convey whatever the sender wanted to, to the receiver.
Sometimes we are biased towards something or we make some assumptions then such a
communication is also not rational. For example, particularly in India people from Gujarat are
famous for business and commerce, if a person meeting a post doctorate student who is typically
from Gujarat says, Oh a Gujarati student can study too, I never knew !! such kind of speech
is an example of irrational communication. It actually builds disrespect for the speaker. We
should avoid taunts. Also, sentences with double meaning does not lead to rational
communication.
Thus, non-ambiguity is a very important factor which contributes to rational communication. The
speaker must have clarity of thoughts as well as the goal; so that the speaker himself is also not
confused nor the person in front. The words used for conveying a particular thing must be as
simple as possible. So that the person listening to him can interpret correctly what is being said.
Too complicated words might lead to confusion or difficulty for the listener in understanding the
speech. And this might further make the listener bored.
Another important thing is expression and gestures. Wrong gestures might lead to some kind of
ambiguity in the speech. Also in case of oral communication there should be good eye contact.
The speech should be conclusive. Whatever is being said must be very precise. Also in
communication which is involved in group discussions the speaker should always give chance to
say if any person desires to say. The speaker must be non-interruptive too. Also, once the
speaker ha said any kind of words he or she cannot take them back. Another important thing is
pronunciation. If some word is pronounced in an incorrect manner the meaning of entire
sentence can get changed which should definitely be avoided in rational communication. Also,
grammatical errors can create problem. Just a change in the position of a comma might change
the meaning of the entire sentence. Thus, one must be very careful when it comes to punctuation.
The receiver may lose interest in communication with grammatical errors.
Language is also an important factor which could lead irrational communication. For example, in
India where many people actually are from vernacular medium so inability to speak in English
language may lead to difficulty in communication. Not knowing the ascent of a particular
language may also cause loss of confidence for the speaker and hence might result in
unsuccessful communication.
Thus, the basic requirements for rational communication which are intertwined can be pointed
out as quality, quantity, clarity, non-ambiguity, simplicity, relevance, logic. Rational
communication is also used in scientific experiments. It is very important to see communication
as a team work and not as competition as who wins or who loses.