Hugh slogan

"In the information age, the most valuable thing is the ability to express and understand. How accurately can you express yourself and to what extent can you influence others to achieve your goals? "

This is a sentence I wrote in my notebook when I was still in college. I even remember that the teacher who was lecturing at that time said, "You said, whether others are willing to listen, whether they understand, and how much they can understand. This seemingly short process is a complicated learning. "

A few days ago, I was reading "Preliminary Communication" by American writer Em Griffin, which gave a very simple and easy-to-understand definition of communication:

Communication is the process of establishing and explaining relationships that can stimulate response information. If information can't arouse anyone's emotion, emotion or behavior response, it can't be called communication.

Imagine the following example:

How many times have you tried to persuade your boyfriend/husband/father to give up smoking?

How many times have you bought clothes/books/bags that you don't like because of the recommendation of your friends?

What do you think of the word "hehe" and what do your elders think of it?

Establishing information, transmitting information, explaining and processing information are the most valuable parts of communication science. However, communication is not only the study of information, but also includes psychology, socioculturology, rhetoric and so on. The general contents provided by the initial communication are as follows. It is precisely because of its various theoretical contents that we can find the shadow of communication in daily communication, public speech, sales promotion and company decision-making.

1. Berger's theory of diminishing uncertainty

"Don't talk, buy buy buys"&; "Obviously, I don't want to watch advertisements. As long as I see friends around me using them, I will want them immediately. "

This is a common "endorsement effect" in daily life. When you recommend something to a friend or accept the recommendation of the other party, it is not only the product itself, but also the "relationship" between you and the other party that affects the other party's purchase decision. The more you trust each other, the more likely you are to accept their recommendation. The farther apart you are, the more objective you will be about your products.

In many cases, your familiarity with the advertising spokesperson will also affect your desire to buy. Although you don't know Hugh, is the advertisement he endorsed just supporting idols? Unconsciously, you have been hired by the exchange.

In the first communication, the theory of diminishing uncertainty mentioned can explain this psychological phenomenon. In short, the more familiar you are with a person, the more verbal communication and non-verbal communication. The increase of self-exposure, similarity and * * * sharing network will reduce each other's strangeness and distance, thus promoting the exchange of information.

In the endorsement effect, the product takes advantage of the "diminishing uncertainty" between you and your friends and idols, integrates the characteristics and "relationship" of the product itself, and transfers your trust and cognition of your friends and idols to the recognition of the product, thus achieving the purpose of "persuading you to buy".

What's the use of this theory for you?

Make friends with Amway before you think about it. The more information you disclose, the better, and improve the trust of the other party. Minimize uncertainty and make the other person more willing to listen to you.

I can only help you here.

2. Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory

"You know smoking is bad, why don't you listen to me?" Persuading children to do their homework before watching TV is simply more difficult than going to heaven.

Why does the other person insist on his own opinion and even refute you when he is clearly right?

In 1990s, psychologists did an experiment to divide a group of old smokers into two groups. One group showed photos of cancer, brown teeth, blackened lungs and dying patients caused by smoking, so as to bring psychological shock to smokers. The other group showed ordinary promotional videos, and people of different ages and countries held up smoking cessation slogans to promote smoking cessation.

Guess which group will have better effect?

Psychologists are surprised to find that when smokers watch the first set of promotional videos, the first thing they do is to take out a cigarette and smoke it first to curb this impact. On the contrary, people in the second group who were not stimulated showed a stronger desire to quit smoking.

This is the first practical presentation of the theory of "cognitive disharmony" in communication:

1. People instinctively avoid ideas that conflict with existing cognition.

When a certain behavior conforms to the minimum rationalization, people will change their views to cater to public habits.

Seeing this, do you know what to do if you want to persuade others to do something that TA doesn't like?

Don't create direct conflict, gently package your own views and change each other through subtle forms, instead of forcing each other to yield through simple preaching and threats. It is uncertain that a person will not change his point of view, but once his existing cognition directly conflicts with the point of view you want to instill, no matter how correct you are, you can't convince others.

Don't push, just be soft and wide.

3. Fisher's narrative paradigm

I often see friends who are also writing lament that we write almost all the stories of people around us. Classmate, friend, ex-boyfriend, cousin, small colleague, best friend's sister, cousin's dry sister, menstrual daughter, classmate's boyfriend. ...

Why does everyone need to tell stories? Why do some people tell stories that you can't wait to read, while others don't?

The theory put forward by British statistician Fisher is:

Almost all forms of interpersonal communication are narrative, and the audience uses ideal standards to judge the story, that is, whether it is consistent before and after and whether it sounds true.

Communication is not a result, but a process, and how far this process can go is closely related to the listener's will and acceptance. Story is undoubtedly the most economical form of cognitive ability. It is easier to stimulate the sense of identity through the idea of story packaging, and the sense of identity directly determines whether the other party is willing to take action or generate arguments because of your words, thus psychologically accepting your point of view.

If you want to attract the attention of the goddess and win enough attention in the after-dinner chat, in addition to presenting a bunch of dry information, maybe you can try to build a relaxed and interesting story to express your views.

4. What is the effect of communication related to?

The book Initial Communication provides us with 32 theories related to communication. Due to space reasons, I won't give examples here. But these 32 theories from different fields are just to help us understand one thing, that is: what is the effect of communication related to?

Why do people need information dissemination, and through what factors to complete information dissemination?

From the above picture, we can easily find that although the media of communication depends on language, what really gives communication meaning is people's interpretation of communication events.

Whether the information you send is credible, how relevant it is to the recipients, whether it is different from their expectations, whether it can make them feel a sense of identity and share it, and whether it can sort out the problems for the other party and solve them in an acceptable way. Is the form of communication oral or written, monologue or dialogue? Whether the information you convey is ambiguous, and whether the other party can understand the image or rhetoric you use.

Whether it is a daily chat or a public lecture, understanding some basic communication principles will help us build a better information bridge.

The most perfect communication in the world is that I speak clearly and you can understand.