Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

Abstract

Human communication is sometimes quite miraculous. We are often surprised when seemingly simple human encounters escalate unpredictably or when situations that seem complex at first glance suddenly resolve themselves. We want to understand what is behind this and how we can harness this knowledge to improve our communication. In order to obtain the tools that we need for communication about communication, in this chapter we take a closer look at some well-known approaches and models of communication that are frequently used in practice. These include, among others, the axioms of communication according to Watzlawick et al., the four-sided model of a message by Schulz von Thun or transactional analysis according to Eric Berne. These form the theoretical basis for us to analyse practical communication in the following chapters.