Socio-Psychological Where shall we go to eat?

You are sitting around with

your friends discussing where to go to eat. You have
Barriers to your heart set on Lebanese, but they are all into Italian.

Communication A spirited debate ensues, and in the end, you find

yourself agreeing that Italian is the way to go. What
has happened here? Did you simply cave in to
pressure – you were coerced, and still much prefer
Lebanese but complied to keep the peace? Or did you
feel persuaded in such a way that Italian seemed
exactly what you’d like, and on reflection, this group
that you belong to more often than not goes out for
Italian food? Would the outcome or associated
feelings about the decision have been different if the
group was not one that you felt deeply grounded in?
What is Socio-
Psychological Barriers ?
● Social psychology was defined by Gordon Allport (1954a) as ‘an attempt to understand and explain how the
thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence
of others’
● When two or more individuals are communicating with each other, in some cases, their beliefs, viewpoints
as well as interests do not match with each other. When these do not match, the communication process
cannot take place in an effective manner and mostly individuals do not feel interested in communicating.
When they do not feel interested in communicating, they do not pay attention and this gives rise to socio-
psychological barriers.
● Socio-psychological barriers to communication can be described as the cause of problems within the
course of implementation of the communication processes
 Types of Socio-
Psychological Barriers
1) Attitudes and Opinions – The attitudes and opinions of the individuals play an important role in influencing the
communication process. When the attitudes and opinions are positive, the communication process takes place in a
favourable manner. On the other hand, when the individuals possess unpleasant attitudes and opinions, they are usually
unable to put into operation the communication processes in an effective manner.

2) Emotions – Negative emotions such as, fear, anger, frustration, depression, stress and anxiety have effects upon the
psychological well-being of the individuals.When the individuals communicate with others in an angry manner, they experience
problems in organizing the messages in an appropriate manner and when the messages are not organized, they cannot be
understood by the individuals in a manageable manner.

3) Status Difference – The differences in the status of the individuals is regarded as one of the crucial socio-psychological
barriers to communication. Research has indicated that in various organizations, the subordinates do not feel comfortable in
communicating with their superiors.They only communicate with them, when they are doubtful in terms of implementation of
job duties and have questions related to them. Therefore, it can be stated, status differences is an indispensable socio-
psychological barrier within the course of implementation of effective communication.
 nattention – In some cases, when the individuals are communicating with others, they are engaged in
4) I

other tasks. For example, in organizations, the individuals may check their phone or are working on their
computers and communicating with others. When the individuals feel that they need to communicate and
others are not paying attention to them, they feel frustrated and are unable to impart or acquire information.

5) Closed Mind – Closed mind is the narrow minded person. When the individuals are closed minded, they
are against the other individuals and do not consider other ideas and perspectives.When the person is
closed minded, he depicts disinterest in communicating with others and listening to their ideas and opinions.
Closed mind is a negative attitude and prevents the individuals from communicating with others in a well-
organized manner.

6) Distrust – Distrust is referred to disbelief, doubt and mistrust.When the individuals have faith and believe
others, they are able to carry out their tasks and activities well and the communication processes also takes
place among the individuals in a well-organized manner otherwise the feeling of distrust will not only impede
terms and relationships among individuals, but they will experience problems in the implementation of tasks
and activities satisfactorily as well as in the achievement of personal and professional goals.
7) Poor Retention – Poor retention is regarded as one of the major socio-psychological barriers in terms
of message. When the message is important, the individuals need to retain it. They need to ensure that
they do not forget the message.In some cases, within the organizations, when the message is to pass
through number of channels, it may get misplaced.Therefore, it is understood that when the message is
not delivered appropriately due to poor retention, it is regarded as a socio-psychological barrier.

8) Premature Evaluation – Premature evaluation is primarily influenced by the prevalence of negative

viewpoints among the individuals regarding others.Within organizations, the supervisors are the ones,
who evaluate the employees in terms of their conduct and performance of job duties.Therefore due to
premature evaluation, the communication process cannot take place appropriately between supervisors
and employees
Clarify ideas before communication :Effective
communication depends on the clarity of the
message.The person sending the communication
should be very clear in his mind about what he wants
to say. He should know the objective of his message
and, therefore, he should arrange his thoughts in a
proper order.

Be aware of the language , tone and content of the

message : For effective communication, the language
should be accurate. Also, the grammar and syntax
should be correct. It increases the authenticity and
credibility of the message. Any errors can degrade the
clarity of your message, cause vagueness, and raise
doubts. They may also have an adverse effect on the
overall interpretation of the message. This may give a
clumsy or negligent impression to your receiver.