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A prolegomena to a study of theantecedents of inter personalcommunicationCharles N. Wise aa Texas Tech UniversityPublished online: 21 May 2009.

To cite this article: Charles N. Wise (1972) A prolegomena to a study of the antecedents of interpersonal communication, Today's Speech, 20:4, 59-64, DOI: 10.1080/01463377209369070

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FALL 1972 59

SPECIAL REPORT

A PROLEGOMENA TO A STUDY OF THEANTECEDENTS OF INTER PERSONAL

COMMUNICATION

AbstractAfter describing the widespread popularity enjoyed by recently estab-

lished courses in Interpersonal Communication, this article traces thegenesis of such courses to "humanistic" trends in education, contemporarytheories in psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow,and the concern for "feelings" expressed by students in the sixties.

A new area of concentration appearsto be forming in Speech Communication,apparently to be labeled "InterpersonalCommunication." J This developing areain high schools and colleges appears re-lated to a relatively new direction in edu-cation which has acquired various labels,including "psychological education,""affective," and "humanistic." 2 The newdirection purports to "balance" historicalclassroom emphasis on skills and cogni-tive information with "explicit attentionto the important areas of feelings, values,and interpersonal behavior."3 [emphasismine] In practice, this movement in edu-cation, now appearing in Speech Com-munication, seems to require closer co-operation between teachers and psycholo-gists than has been traditional in theclassroom.

Strong professional opinion and someimpressive evidence of student demandare available to a speech communicationteacher contemplating the new area interms of curriculum change. John Ste-wart, in a recent Speech Teacher article,says that:

The recent, unusually successful introduc-tion of at least three basic speech texts thatapproach the first course ffom an "inter-sonal communication" might become as,common to college freshmen and sopho-

mores of the seventies as "public speaking"has been to undergraduate students of thefifties and sixties.4

In the same issue, Joseph Ilardo con-siders the question of possible longevityof the interpersonal communicationarea and associated courses. He assertsunequivocally that " . . . I must state firstthat I don't think interpersonal com-munication is a fad. Indeed, if it turns outto be a 'flash-in-the-pan,' the speechfield will have failed to meet a challengemore significant than any it has facedin the past.";

At least one large institution, KansasUniversity, has extensively investigatedcomparative demand between a newcourse in interpersonal communicationand traditional fundamentals courses.That institution's experience has a pro-vocative message for us.

In the fall of 1967 an innovation was madein the fundamentals of speech program atthe Univenuty of Kansas. Students weregiven a choice between the traditional pub-lic speaking courses and a new courseentitled "Interpersonal Communication,"either of which would satisfy the universityspeech requirement. That fall we had 11sections of the new course and 40 sectionsof the public speaking course. Each subse-quent semester the trend has been towardmore interpersonal communication classes.

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In the fall of 1970 we had 56 such sectionscompared with six classes in public spea-ing. A 1969 survey of University of Kansasstudents conducted by the School of Edu-cation showed speech to be the most pop-ular of the required courses on our campus.The survey reflected a marked change instudent attitudes from 1966 when 50% of theseniors surveyed wanted to abolish thespeech requirement.6

Other unpublished evidence of demandis available. For example, Don Beck,North Texas State University, has forseveral years offered an interpersonalcommunication course so intense thatBeck refers to it as "systematic trainingin interpersonal relationships." Accord-ing to Beck, the course has an extensivelist of students waiting to enroll. In thepast year the author has encountered anumber of teachers, particularly at thesecondary level, who are experimentingwith interpersonal communication.Typical reports outline "heavy enroll-ment," "much talked-about in theschools," and "teacher excitement."

Development of the interpersonal com-munication area is likely to create prob-lems for some speech communicationteachers, just as the "humanistic" ap-proach to education in general has cre-ated problems for teachers. For example,the humanistic classroom downgradestraditional structure to the point thateven the word "classroom" seems in-appropriatea position approved by allinterpersonal communication teachersknown to the author.

Developmental problems notwith-standing, the area of interpersonal com-munication surely warrants the continua-tion of investigations already begun indata-gathering, theory, and pedagogy.Courses in interpersonal communicationappear to be a logical continuation of thetrend that added the word "communica-tion" to the traditional "speech." More-over, any course of study with the ap-parent student demand and teacher ex-citement of the interpersonal communi-cation area surely deserves attention.

The purpose of this paper is to examinethe antecedents of interpersonal com-munication more deeply and in more

detail than have previous studies. Theword "antecedent" is carefully chosen toreflect the high level of abstraction oc-curring occasionally, and the slipperinessof causality in such circumstances. Thepurpose might simply be stated as aquestion: From what background has thearea of interpersonal communicationemerged?

IDifferent inquiries into the broadest

antecedents for the movement wouldprobably produce both agreements anddisagreements. The author, in a graduateseminar, has suggested these importantinfluences: the gradual infusion of East-ern religions and philosophies intoAmerican culture, philosophies whichstress the importance of self-knowledgeand self-tranquility;7 twentieth centurychanges in American education, oftenreferred to as "permissive education";8the growing "Existential-Humanistic"school of thought in psychology, as typi-fied by the writings of Abraham Maslow,Carl Rogers, and contributors to themagazine Psychology Today;"9 the ex-plicit philosophy of the early "true"Hippies, which denied materialism andother values that seemed to suppressself;10 spreading acceptance and utiliza-tion of the principles and practices of thesensitivity training-encounter groupphenomenon;11 and finally, for speechcommunication, the expansion of thefield beyond the traditional public ad-dress orientation.

IIIn my introduction I connected the de-

velopment of interpersonal communica-tion to a movement in education referredto as "humanistic" education. Humanis-tic education resists formal definition,but one educator's language seems tocapture a meaning for teachers:

This book describes my attempts to reachstudents at basic personality levels, touchthem in an organized fashion. I believe thatwhat a student learns in school, and whathe eventually becomes are significantlyinfluenced by how he feels about himselfand the world outside. I think that school

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should legitimize these feelings, and shouldteach students a variety of ways to recog-nise and express them. An education withoutthis understanding of self is simply trainingin an irrelevant accumulation of facts andtheoriesirrelevant because it is not relatedto what students feel is important. The goalof the teacher should be to help each studentconstantly increase his understanding ofhis feelings, and expand that self-awarenessby utilizing the vast intellectual resourcesavailable to man.12

Certain key terms in this citation, in-cluding "reach," "touch," "feelings,"and "self-awareness," will be identifiedby readers as the language of sensitivitytraining and encounter groups. Thoseactivities should be considered as a majorimmediate antecedent of humanisticeducation and interpersonal communica-tion. Kim Giffin and Bobby Patton, intro-ducing the manual for their text in inter-personal communication, make an ex-plicit statement about ancestry whenthey write that, "although some of theexercises have been incorporated fromsensitivity groups, our classes are notT-groups. All exercises and activities arepre-structured and goals are met witheach assignment."13 This disclaimer,however, does not isolate Giffin andPatton's material and course from sen-sitivity training and milder forms ofencounter. Presence or absence of"structure" does not necessarily changethe basic nature of the elusive experi-ence found in sensitivity training. GerardEgan, a leading figure in encounterphilosophy, suggests that goals soughtin T-groups and encounter groups may,in fact, be promoted by stricter groupclarification of goals and proceduresthan has been traditional. Interestingly,Egan's current book of readings in en-counter philosophy contains two selec-tions from Keltner's recent book in inter-personal communication.14

The influence of sensitivity-encounterthought and student pressures are quiteliterally reflected in Giffin and Patton'sgeneral objectives for their course ininterpersonal communication:

A. Functional intelligence: competency inconverting personal knowledge and ex-perience into social currency; learningto translate what one knows into valueand utility for others.

B. Social decision-making: participationin the dynamic exchange of ideas; dataprocessing through confrontation anddiscussion.

C. Self-expression: development of aneffective sense of self in human encoun-ter; strengthening personal identity andsocial involvement through personalcommuniccition.15

I l l -Antecedents; for humanistic education

and interpersonal communication maybe viewed through another sequence.In this sequence, the movement is rooted,strangely enough, in psychotherapy,16beginning with the classical Freudianpsychoanalysis so graphically stereo-typed in movies, cartoons, and sophisti-cated humor. Classical analysis washighly structured, proceeding on a ther-apist-client basis. Although "normal"people underwent analysis, the typicalanalysis situation involved the analystand a client-patient "disturbed" along acontinuum form "neurotic" to "psycho-tic." The analyst listened to answersevoked by specific questions, utilizedvarious projective techniques includingthe interpretation of dreams, and thendiagnosed the patient's problem accord-ing to classical diagnostic categories.Classical analysis has been called "thera-pist-centered," meaning that the analystquestioned, told the patient what thepatient's responses and behaviors meant,and then spelled out what the patientmust do to improve or recover.17

In the 1950's, three more or less simul-taneous developments occurred in psy-chology that altered conceptions of psy-chological treatment. First, growing prob-lems of mental health spotlighted thehigh cost of classical treatment by psy-chiatrists and psychologists on a one-to-one, therapist-patient basis. As a resultexperiments began with group psycho-therapy, in which disturbed patientsshared a trained therapist, utilizing

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group discussion of individual problemsunder the guidance of the counselor.18Secondly, Carl Rogers and others began

to enunciate and practise a new therapyconceptthat of "Non-Directive Counsel-ing," in which the patient was allowedand encouraged to self-discover thenature and meaning of his problems.19In this approach to therapy the therapistfunctions as an empathie "reflector"for the client, seldom asking direct ques-tions except as helpful paraphrasings forthe patient, and providing heavy supportfor the patient's insights into himself orherself. Rogers' approach is often called"client-centered." a familiar term tomany readers in speech pathology andaudiology. The third development wasAbraham Maslow's announcement of hisnew conception of mental health. Priorto Maslow, mental health was evaluatedin only two waysa person was either"normal" or "mentally ill," with grad-ations, of course. To Maslow, however,there was another stage, the "super-normal" or "self-actualized" person whois mentally healthy beyond the normal.Normality, to Maslow, was only an inter-mediate stage, a precarious balance,teetering often toward disturbed mentalhealth.20

These developments in psychology,particularly Maslow's theory, may beviewed as causal agents in the develop-ment of sensitivity training and encoun-ter groups. Both activities, but especiallyencounter groups, are properly labeledas "psychotherapy for the normal person"in which, centered on the Maslow theses,groups of normal people seek personalgrowth in self-awareness, awareness ofothers, and self-actualizing.21 Sinceproperly-conducted encounter screensout participants who are mentally dis-turbed or latently so, the "leader" of thegroup need not necessarily be a trainedpsychologist, although he or she is likelyto be so trained.22 The leader may simplybe a highly empathie person specificallytrained in sensitivity training or encoun-ter groups.

These developments in self theoryseem intimately connected to the human-

istic classroom and interpersonal com-munication. Although the intensity ofpursuit will vary among the four casessensitivity training, encounter groups,humanistic education, interpersonalcommunicationthe central concern ofeach is the self, self nurture, self-actual-izing. If groups of normal people maygrow in self awareness and self strengthunder trained guidance, just as groups ofmentally disturbed patients restructureselves with leadership from experiencedpsychotherapiststhen students in class-rooms, given empathie and trained teach-ers concerned with each student's selfdevelopment, may utilize the groupexperience and exercises in self-aware-ness to promote self growth, self strength.

IVCausality and chronology are difficult

to trace among the antecedents of human-istic education and interpersonal com-munication. Without specifying eithercausality or chronology, it can nonethe-less be observed that students have hada strong part in the movement. Studentsin the Sixties, articulate and inarticulatealike, were much concerned with "feel-ings, values, and interpersonal behavior."The lyrics of many songs popular amongyouth in the period both revealed andreinforced that concern; the "Age ofAquarius" is a staunchly optimistic poemof concern for the individual, for self,for feeling; and "Yesterday" is not nos-talgia, but a plea for tenderness andhumanity. Several slogans of the periodreveal the type of concern with self,awareness, and "growth" that has ledtoward humanistic education: "Don'ttell me what you think, tell me whatyou feel"; "If you haven't experienced it,you can't really know what its like";and, of course, the outcries for "rele-vance!" in 'social, political, and educa-tional institutions. The students alsopatented a procedure for humanisticclassrooms in developing the popularlylabeled "Rap" session which, in. theauthor's judgment, can often approachthe efficacy of an expensive, expertly-runsensitivity group.23

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This brief investigation of the ante-cedents of interpersonal communicationmight be summarized by saying thatinterpersonal communication has de-veloped from two broad sources: (1}changing views of desirable interper-sonal relationships; and (2) things thathave been happening, in counseling andclassrooms, to operationalize changingfeelings about interpersonal relation-ships. Changing views of interpersonalrelationships may be connected withsuch phenomena as the infusion of phi-losophies stressing the self and individ-

ual happiness, educational philosophiesbased on the "permissive classroom"concept, "humanism" in psychology(which takes H. F. Skinner as its antag-onist), and non-materialistic values de-veloped by the early "Hippies" and otheryouth. Operational definition of thesechanging values has occurred through thedevelopment of group psychotherapy,sensitivity training and encounter groups,and the humanistic classroom stressingself-perception and "growth."

CHARLES N. WISETexas Tech University

Notes1 The label is increasingly appearing in texts, convention programs, and the SCA

Placement Bulletin. For texts, see Kim Giffin and Bobby R. Patton, Fundamentalsof Interpersonal Communication (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), and John W.Keltner, Interpersonal Speech-Communication (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub-lishing Company, Inc., 1970). For a recent theoretical article in the area, see CarlE. Larson and Robert D. Gratz, "Problem-Solving Discussion Training and T-GroupTraining: An Experimental Comparision," The Speech Teacher, XIX (Jan., 1970),no. 1, 54-57.

2 Terry Borton, Reach, Touch, and Teach: Student Concerns and Process Edu-

cation (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970), p. 125. The most exhaus-tive analysis behind the movement may be found in Charles E. Silberman's Crisisin the Classroom: The Remaking of American Education (New York: BallantineBooks, 1971). See especially Chs. 11 and 12, concerning teacher education andreeducation.

3 Borton, p. vii.

4 "An Interpersonal Approach to the Basic Course," The Speech Teacher, XXI

(Jan., 1972), 7.5 "Why Interpersonal Communication?"The Speech Teacher, XXI (Jan., 1972), 2.

6 Kim Giffin and Bobby R. Patton, Instructor's Manual for Fundamentals of Inter-

personal Communication (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), p. vii.7 One source is the book Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, a fictional account of the

life of Buddha, which is frequently assigned reading for students in Philosophy,English, and Psychology. Readers will also recall the popularity on college cam-puses of "Yoga" and "Meditation" prophets, probably sparked by the Easternpilgrimages of the "Beatles" and other public entertainment figures.

8 William Boyd and Wyatt Rawson present an excellent summary in The Story

of the New Education (London: Heinemann, 1965).9 The "Genesis" book would probably be agreed upon as Abraham Maslow, To-

ward a Psychology of Being (Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1968).10

See Leonard Wolfe, Voices from the Love Generation (Boston: Little & Brown,1968).

11 Egan, Encounter, pp. 1-3, and reader's knowledge of many reinforcements

in counseling, religion, education, and industry.12

Borton, p. vii.13

Giffin and Patton, Manual, p. vii.

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For Egan's concepts of structure, see Gerard Egan, Encounter: Group Processesfor Interpersonal Growth (Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Inc.,1970). pp. 25-103. For Keltner's contributions, see Egan's Encounter Groups: BasicReadings (Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, Inc., 1971).

15 Giffin and Patton, Manual, p. ix.

16 Ilardo takes as his major point the idea that "ages of anxiety" have arisen in

many historical periods, promoting in our own age "widespread" desire for "ther-apy" of many kinds, formal and informal. In his mind, the development of inter-personal communication is primarily a response to demand for therapy in theclassroom. The generalization is obviously acceptable to this author. However,this investigation and Stewart's article both stress the underlying theoretical basisof the changing approach to the first course. Students (and teachers) may derivehelpful catharsis from the typical exercises in interpersonal communication classeswhich, depending on your point of view, is proper and useful or not proper anduseful. However, to this author, Stewart has made the crucial point: "On the otherhand, interpersonal communication is also not simply a 'content' or theory ap-proach, because it emphasizes the need for the student to experience the applica-tion of concepts. We operate on the assumption that Carl Rogers is at least partlyright when he says that any learning of consequence must be self-discovered, self-appropriated learning." (p. 8). This author has often generalized that "a conceptnot experienced is a concept not acquired."

17 Franz G. Alexander, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy: Developments in

Theory, Technique, and Training (New York: W. W. Norton, 1956).18

George M. Gazda, Basic Approaches to Group Psychotherapy and Group Coun-seling (Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1968).

19 Carl R. Rogers, Client-Centered Therapy (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1951).

Another pioneer was Jurgen Ruesch, Therapeutic Communication (New York:Norton, 1961).

20 Maslow, Toward A Psychology of Being.

21 Egan, Encounter, pp. 11-17.

22 Ibid. pp. 22-23.

23 The author's experience in sensitivity training dates back to the early 1960's,

beginning with special projects at the Kellog Center for Continuing Education,Norman, Oklahoma.

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