Corrupt Chain of Communication

We are stronger when we listen, and smarter when we share.

- Rania Al Abdullah (1970)

Communication is key to the survival of humans. I believe it is one of the key reasons we are the Apex Predators on this planet. The invention of language gives us the greatest advantage over other lifeforms. In this article, I will discuss the inherent errors in communication which leads to distortion of transmitted information in the process of communicating.

Our ultimate aim is to put our views or information in front of another person, such that he or she is able to interpret the information what you had originally decided to communicate. I shall present to you this communication model which I theorized recently:

Assumption: Communication composes of 2 essential parts namely Words, Action.

 

Communicated Information is like a wave!

This is essential in understanding the part where I introduce error. However, for now, the parallel Electromagnetic wave as shown in picture can have the Electric field and Magnetic field perpendicular at any moment of time. However, in our model, there can be any angle between the Word Vector and Action Vector. We shall call them w and a  in this article. An example case of the case where the angle between w and a is 0 is when you tell someone you are gonna slap them and you slap them. Similarly for the case of 90 and 180 degrees your a would be not to do anything and kiss them respectively. Now that we have made the nomenclature clear, we can proceed to the error model.

Communication happening from person 1 to person 2 where w and a in each phase is shown

Assumptions : 

1. Thoughts are essentially a combination of Action and Word. (T = a + w)
2. Thoughts generate in the sub-conscious state of the human mind, where we mostly think of an ideal yet impractical action/speech.
3. The path traversed in communication is from the subconscious of the communicator to temporal of the same where the exact thing you do or speak is decided by your brain and then it leaves your body in the form of action and words. The end of the cycle is the reverse of the same. Sometimes reports or gossips adds a bias in Channel as depicted above.

So, there are these key errors which creep in every step of communication:

• Type I Confused Mind: When the communicator does not have clarity on the thought perceived, i.e. he thinks of something and does another thing. This error comes at the transition from Subconscious to Temporal of any human being. This error is internal to the communicator and amuses the most; how is a person not able to know what he perceived. For example, people often mistake fear for respect, care for love and vice versa.
• Type II Confused Mind: When the person at the receiving end interprets the observed action wrongly, this happens at the transition from Temporal to Subconscious. This is rather natural, as everything can be interpreted in different ways. It is always a matter of perspective. For effective communication between two people, if you know the person whom you are communicating with you can model his conversion matrix from Temporal to Subconscious and speak effectively that what you want to communicate is perceived. This error is common and usually goes undetected.
• Channel Bias: This is the noise which is introduced in the channel. This is a type of error which is only avoidable if you communicate directly with the person you want to transmit information about.
• Action Bias: When the action is perceived or done more or less than it was intended to. 
• Word Bias: When someone speaks less in accord with what he wanted to convey or do.

So, how to deal with these errors? It is not easily done than said. All you can do is try to avoid these errors by attaining clarity on what you think or do, speak directly to a person. After all, we all have to own up to our own words and action. The concept of flowing in emotion and doing things you do not want to own up to is an illusion we create to do stuff which deep down we want to do but constraints laid by societal norms hold you back from doing so. Communicate effectively, and efficiently.

The strong man
is the one
who is able
to intercept at will
the communication
between
the senses and the mind.

- Napolean Bonaparte