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PFA 105BASIC COMMUNICATION

THEORY

Introduction to

Communication: Definitionand Importance

Thompson Ewata EU Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria

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Introduction to Communication 

• Man has done nothing all his life butcommunicate.

• He communicates his feelings, ideas, opinions,

impressions, fears, aspirations, joy, worries toother people around him one way or the other –   through words, action, gestures, signs,symbols etc.

• Communication helped man conquered hisimmediate and distance environments.

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Intro Cont.

• When man finds himself in the field of life,what kept him going was his ability to relate toother members of the human community.

• In relating with other members of the humancommunity he interacted (exchange ideas,opinion etc) with them.

•

He learnt to do things that had been done byothers and helped others do what he did  – allthese happened through communication

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Cont.

• He was able to learn from others the fruits or

food that was edible and those not good for

human consumption, where and how to find

food, shelter, protect himself against attack fromother humans, animals and natural elements.

• All these was done or made possible through

communicating with other humans and payingattention to the communication of others around

him.

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Cont

• We can see that but for communication  – either directly, through interacting with othersor indirectly; merely paying attention to

others –

 man would not have been where heis today.

• With communication, he has grown taller thanother animals in the animal kingdom and theentire planet.

• What then is communication?

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Communication Defined 

• We can view communication in different

lights. That is what accounts for why there are

different definitions of communication.

i. Communication is  the process of passing or

sharing ideas, opinions, experiences,

worries, joy and feelings from one person to

another.

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Communication Defined

ii. Communication is the process of exchanginginformation, usually through a system ofsymbols (Raman & Singh, 2006, p. 1)

iii. Communication  is the process of sharingideas, information, and messages withothers in a particular time and place

(Lievrouw, 2007).

iv. Communication is not just what we say ordo: it is also what we hear and see.

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Importance of Communication

• We communicate to:

o to inform and be informed  

o

to  persuade  –

  information that is used tochange attitudes and/or behaviour

o to entertain

o to satisfy our physical, identity and socialneeds

o to build a context of understanding

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Importance Cont

o to keep people in the general picture

o to get people involved with the organisation

o

for better relationships and understandingbetween the parties

o helps in reducing conflicts whether in

interpersonal or business communicationo to control  the behaviour of members of a

society

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 1st Assignment

• Without communication, man would not have

survived on planet earth. Discuss. (Due

29/11/2013)