communicating Across boundaries
Boundaries are everywhere. Boundaries surround careers, streets, property and especially people. They are social, political, cultural and professional. One of the first things we learn as children is to stay within the lines; never overstep our boundaries. Communicating within one's boundaries can be difficult. Even more complicated however, is attempting to communicate across those boundaries. Miscommunication and misunderstanding are common when members of different groups converse (Mulac, Erlandson, Farrer, & Hallettet, 1998). Uncertainty in communication occurs especially with communication across gender boundaries. Men and women must follow boundary rules when communicating. Boundary rules are social conventions that protect the primary activities of a relationship...(Wilson, Roloff & Carey, 1998). Men and women also have certain roles in society that can affect these boundaries. When people communicate in a way that is not congruent with their role, then miscommunication may occur. At the core of many of these miscommunication instances is the problem that the exact same two words can carry different meaning for those involved in the conversation. When this occurs, it is as if the participants possess differe
People deal with communication boundaries every single day. When an individual is in an intimate relationship, they must cross not only the gender boundary, but the romantic boundary as well. Typically, children learn appropriate patterns of communication between the ages of 5 and 15 (Mulac et. al, 1998). They learn to distinguish their own behavior, with the behavior of the opposite sex. Stereotypically, masculinity and femininity are the norms. For instance, when a boy is trying to communicate his opinion with another boy who disagrees, the boy who disagrees will immediately stand up and argue that point. When boys are together there is a tendency for competition to come about and hierarchies to form, as well as many attempts to gain superiority. When girls are together there is a tendency to lean towards group agreement and harmony. It is because of this social contrast between groups of boys and girls we can see many differences in communication. Ellemers, N., Gallois, C., Giles, H., Petronio, S. (1998). (Mis)communicating across boundaries: Interpersonal and intergroup considerations. Communication Research, 25, pp 571-595. nt dictionaries, providing them with conflicting denotative meanings for the same words and gestures (Mulac et. al, 1998).
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1544
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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