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The Intentional and Unintentional Features of Communication Essay

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Communication as intentional and unintentional
Introduction
John (2008) defines communication as an act whereby one person gives to, or receives from another individual, information about his or her needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other models. This paper discusses the intentional and unintentional features of communication.
Intentional Communication
According to Peter and Carolyn (2002), intentional communication, also called conscious communication refers to the display of communicative signals or signalling behaviour in which the …show more content…

It can also be a message that the person was unaware was sent. Unintentional communication may be intrapersonal or interpersonal and may be conveyed in either verbal form, for instance, speech patterns, physical activity while speaking, or in nonverbal form, for example, facial expressions and body language.
Owen (1997) says unintentional communication may result in negative feelings. This may occur as a result of the following; lack of feedback and clarification, individual differences in encoding and decoding messages and differences in perception among individuals. An example of unintentional communication is crossing your arms in front of you. This is a non-verbal cutting off of communication and informing the other party that you are not interested in what they are saying.
In order to avoid avoiding unintentional communication, it is vital to do the following; Think before speaking and this can be achieved by being mindful of what you say, where and when you say it. Secondly, unintentional communication may be avoided by developing skills around body language habits especially the tone of one’s voice. In addition, individuals should always watch their words, and always notice their feelings in all of their communication.
Conclusion
Communication is both intentional and unintentional; therefore, the ability of the receiver to interpret

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