INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

For intrapersonal communication we use our nervous system. There are two important parts of the nervous system: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal chord. The peripheral nervous system consists of the nerves present all over our body in the form of a network. Both the PNS and the CNS are used for generating receiving and processing of the stimuli.For example, when there is pain at any part of our body, the nerve endings at that place send the message to the brain through the peripheral ervous system. The brain processes this message and instructs about the possible remedy. This type of communication occurs often without our being aware of it. But mostly the individual is aware of most of the intrapersonal communication. In case of intrapersonal communication, an individual reacts to both internal and external stimuli (Mosquito bite is an example of an external stimuli while our thoughts are internal stimuli). Intrapersonal communication reflects an individual's habits, roles, attitudes, beliefs, values. In fact, it reflects an individual's 'frame of reference'.

 CONCEPT OF SELF:

Also intrapersonal communication involves an individual's emotions and intellect. In addition, it also takes place at a physical level also. In fact, psychologists have decided an individual's 'self' in to four parts:

• Physical self,

• Emotional self,

• Intellectual self, and

• Social self.

These selves are all present within one individual. While doing physical work, the physical self is at the fore front. When it comes to love, affection, anger, fear, etc, the emotional self is at work. When we are doing mental work, it is done by the intellectual self. And finally we present our 'social self' to the outside world. Here are the detailed functions of these 'selves':

PHYSICAL SELF:

Bodily functions like digestion, breathing, circulation, elimination of waste, etc.; It includes the five senses.

EMOTIONAL SELF:

Prompts our emotional responses as in case of fight, fright and flight, and all other emotions.

INTELLECTUAL SELF:

Performs mental actions like word and sentences formation, comparison, use of logical reasoning, problem solving, decision making etc.

SOCIAL SELF:

Projects our personality and helps create our image. Understanding these four 'selves'- physical, emotional, intellectual, and social self - helps us understand ourselves better. This understanding helps us communicate better. Some other important aspects of the self concept have been illustrated

by social scientists - Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham. Luft and Ingham have created the JOHARI WINDOW to illustrate the communication relationships that individuals share with themselves and others.The 'open' part of this Johari window represents the 'self-knowledge' which an individual is aware of and willingly shares with others. The 'hidden' part is about information that the individual knows but others do not know. The 'blind' part represents information and facts that the individual does not know but others are aware of. And finally, the unknown' part is about information and facts that neither the individual nor people in close contact with him are aware of. These 'parts' or 'sections' are not of equal size. The sizes of there sections vary from relationship to relationship. In very close and intimate relationships, the 'open' part will be the largest while in a casual relationship it will be the smallest. The concept of the Johori Window can be effectively used to increase one's self-awareness. When more information and facts are added to the blind and unknown section, an individual's awareness about his or her self increases. This is turn helps in improving his or her communication with others.

 INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION PROCESS:

Intrapersonal communication is the foundation on which all other levels of communication are dependent. To be able to communicate with other (whether another individual, a group, or a mass of people), an individual first communicates with his or her self. Now coming back to the process of interpersonal communication, it starts with a stimulus. This stimulus could be an internal stimulus like an aching muscle, fever, or depression. Such stimuli originate within the individual and can be physical, emotional or mental in nature. Stimuli could also be external that originate out side the individual’s body i.e. in the environment. These stimuli, whether internal or external, are received either at the conscious level or subconscious level. The human body has two types or receptors for such stimuli. The internal receptor or nerve receive the internal stimuli. The external receptors are the five senses that receive the external stimuli. Here at the stage of reception, the human body adopts the practices of selective perception and selective reception to screen out the large number of necessary stimuli. For example in a roomful of people we listen to one or two persons voices while we screen out others' voices. The main factor in reception of stimuli is 'intensity'. This is the reason why loud sounds, bright colours, sharp smells, etc. are perceived and received while less intense stimuli are left out.

The next phase in the intrapersonal communication is the 'processing' of stimuli. This takes place at three levels - cognitive, emotional, and physiological. Cognitive processing is associated with the mental or intellectual self. It involves thinking and understanding and includes storage (memory), retrieval, sorting, and assimilation or acceptance or stimuli. Emotional processing is associated with the emotional self. This kind of processing is not related to logic. It is highly non-logical in nature. Our beliefs, attitudes, values and emotions are involved in this kind of processing. Physiological processing is associated with the physical self. This involves our bodily responses like heart rate, brain activity, muscle tension, blood pressure, body temperature, etc.

The next stage is transactions of stimuli. In intrapersonal communication, the sender and receiver being the same person, transmission of stimuli (messages) takes place through nerve impulses. The next element in intrapersonal communication is "feedback". Here again an individual

received feed back from within his or her self. This feedback is most immediate. In fact, it is instantaneous. Intrapersonal communication also involves noise (interference or barriers). But this is the least in quantum or compared to other forms of communication. This is because there is no less chance of channel failure, no or less chance of misunderstanding. But 'noise' mostly occurs at the

processing level when stimuli are processed at one level when another level is better suited to processing them. For example, many people deal with things (stimuli) emotionally when they should be dealing with such stimuli rationally. The people do it in the opposite way. They deal with stimuli rationally when they should be dealt with emotionally. This kind of stimuli understanding is also a noise or interference. 

Certain intrapersonal factors that affect communication at the basic level are:

• Personal orientation (values, attitudes, beliefs, options, prejudices, etc.) and

• Personality characteristics (self esteem, maturity, etc.).

So we can now say that intra personal communication is the most basic level of communication. It involves sending and receiving of message(s) within one individual. In other words, at this level we communicate with ourselves. Here the sender and receiver is the same person. The channel or medium used is the nervous system. The messages are in the form of stimuli (both external and internal). The messages are perceived, received, processed. There is instantaneous feed back. And there are noises or interferences too.