INTERPERSOONLIJKE COMMUNICATIE 2024-2025
INTRODUCTION
MY COURSES
!!! NAMEN DIE MAAR 1X VOORKOMEN IN
POWERPOINT NIET KENNEN
WHY A COURSE ON IPC IN A MMC -CENTERED CURRICULUM?
1. MMC BUILDS ON IPC PROCESSES. IT EVEN OFTEN BOILS DOWN TO LITTLE MORE
THAN MEDIATED IPC.
Is it MMC or IPC?
• Fiction: e.g. watching an episode of Friends: you are there with them through the identification
with the camera viewpoint, the arrangement of the Central Perk pub, of the apartments of Monica
and Rachel, etc.!
• Non-fiction: e.g. a news anchor reading the news: regarding the camera – and thereby regarding
you – and not his sheet (cf. contrary to reading the news to a live public in the movie News of the
World).
• Non-fiction: e.g. a talk show: you are sitting at the debate table too (via the identification with
the camera) and the host is talking to you too.
! Human communication is the process of one person stimulating meaning in the mind of another
person (or persons) by means of verbal and/or nonverbal messages
→ Directly via IPC or indirectly via MMC
- IPC = a psychological meaning transfer process
, - MMC = a psychological meaning transfer process
→ MMC largely boils down to IPC
• Is MMC not just ‘mediated’ IPC (where the mediation provides some additional communication
devices such as camera angle, montage, lighting, etc.) ???
• Also, how could there be a different ‘psychology’ – since communication is first and foremost
a psychological process – we use for handling MMC compared to the psychological processes
and mechanisms we use for handling IPC? If so, then how on earth could these different
psychological mechanisms and processes have evolved into our brain so quickly, given the
extremely recent rise of modern mass media in human history (cf. chapter on the biological /
evolutionary psychological perspective on communication, infra) ?
2. THE BORDERLINES BETWEEN MMC AND IPC ARE FADING IN A CONTEXT OF EMC
(ELECTRONICALLY MEDIATED COMMUNICATION) AND ESPECIALLY MPC (MASS -
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION).
Is it MMC or IPC?
• Personal context: electronically mediated communication (EMC) of one person to one or to
many other persons via e.g. Outlook, Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, SnapChat…
• Professional context: online classes or meetings via Teams, Zoom,
• Some authors call EMC in which one sender makes his/her message available to many receivers
‘mass-personal communication’ (MPC).
- EPC / MPC = a psychological meaning transfer process
EMC
MPC
, 3. EFFECTS OF MMC CAN BE HIGHLY IMPACTED BY ASPECTS OF IPC.
My experiments on advertising:
a. Using faces (one of the main nonverbal IPC systems) in advertising helps to attract the
attention of the consumer.
Faces are used in advertising extremely often:
▪ Quantitative content analysis of 39 Flemish magazines containing 883 unique
advertisements.
▪ Trained encoders (Cohen’s Kappa = 0,682 / p = 0,00) analysed the ads.
▪ 63% of all the ads contained a face (while you don’t exactly need a face to sell bank
services, insurances, cars, cell phones, butter, gasoline, newspapers, sneakers,
educational programs, mayonaise, jelly, sugar, fruit juices, soft drinks, liquors,
cigarettes, perfumes, jewelry, furniture, …).
FACES = VISUAL MAGNETS (zie pwp voorbeeld)
Areas Of Interest (AIO)
• The relative attention that a face demands is much higher than its relative size:
- Mean size of all faces = 2,53 % of the screen surface
- Mean attention to these faces = 11,28 % of the observation time
→ Relative attention time is 4,45 times higher than relative size of the face on the screen!
FACES = VISUAL MAGNETS BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN LOTS OF CUES
- Species, age, sex, emotions, identity, personality (?), ethnicity, kin relatedness, health,…
No wonder, our brains are finetuned to pay attention to faces in an interpersonal context.
These same mechanisms make us also pay attention to faces in a mass-mediated context like
advertising, but also to facial cues in other MMC-products like movies, news, talk shows, sitcoms, etc.
b. Nonverbal IPC cues in advertising have a clear impact on ad-likeability (that is, on liking-
the-ad-more or liking-the-ad-less), one of the main predictors of the advertising
effectiveness to be expected from the ad.
Experiment pwp → two versions of the same ad → notice:
• Some of these IPC cues are just unintentional cues, some are truly intentional signals:
communication can therefore be both intentional and/or unintentional.
, • Meaning of the IPC cues/signals (e.g. cues of high fertility like waist-to-hip ratio or cues of good
genes like symmetry) is often unconscious or unknown: communication can therefore be both
explicit (conscious) and/or implicit (unconscious).
• Many IPC cues are used as signals in deceptive ways (e.g. push-up bras, aesthetic surgery, hair
dying, etc.): communication can therefore be both informative (honest, truthful) or manipulative
(dishonest, mendacious).
• To understand why some IPC cues ‘work’ (e.g. black versus gray hair), and some don’t ‘work’ (e.g.
black versus brown hair) we will need evolutionary psychology (the ‘new science of the mind’)
as a new perspective on communication processes.
Conclusion: a course on IPC is essential in a curriculum dominated by MMC !
1. MMC builds on IPC processes. It even often boils down to little more than mediated IPC.
2. The borderlines between MMC and IPC are fading in a context of EMC (electronically mediated
communication) and especially MPC (mass-personal communication).
3. Effects of MMC can be highly impacted by aspects of IPC.
LEARNING OBECTIVES OF THE COURSE
Intellectual competences:
-Being able to analyze new and complex questions regarding interpersonal communication from a critical
stance (cf. contrary to e.g. many popular books on so-called ‘body language’).
-Being able to develop personal and scientifically sound opinions regarding these questions.
Attitudes:
-An attitude which focuses on self-study and lifelong learning (e.g. via plenty of books mentioned on the
slides).
-An attitude of respect for diversity, pluralism and tolerance (e.g. via the attention we will pay throughout
the course to both culture and gender issues).
Focus on a social scientific approach to IPC:
-Theoretical concepts, models, insights, … regarding IPC
-Mindfulness based on those theoretical concepts, models, insights, … may turn you into a better
communicator
Not a course with endless lists of “tips & tricks”:
-Other courses provide tips & tricks.
-However, remember that tips & tricks are not absolute: there is no single best way to communicate
across different contexts.
-Interesting to read/consult, difficult to teach/study.
INTRODUCTION
MY COURSES
!!! NAMEN DIE MAAR 1X VOORKOMEN IN
POWERPOINT NIET KENNEN
WHY A COURSE ON IPC IN A MMC -CENTERED CURRICULUM?
1. MMC BUILDS ON IPC PROCESSES. IT EVEN OFTEN BOILS DOWN TO LITTLE MORE
THAN MEDIATED IPC.
Is it MMC or IPC?
• Fiction: e.g. watching an episode of Friends: you are there with them through the identification
with the camera viewpoint, the arrangement of the Central Perk pub, of the apartments of Monica
and Rachel, etc.!
• Non-fiction: e.g. a news anchor reading the news: regarding the camera – and thereby regarding
you – and not his sheet (cf. contrary to reading the news to a live public in the movie News of the
World).
• Non-fiction: e.g. a talk show: you are sitting at the debate table too (via the identification with
the camera) and the host is talking to you too.
! Human communication is the process of one person stimulating meaning in the mind of another
person (or persons) by means of verbal and/or nonverbal messages
→ Directly via IPC or indirectly via MMC
- IPC = a psychological meaning transfer process
, - MMC = a psychological meaning transfer process
→ MMC largely boils down to IPC
• Is MMC not just ‘mediated’ IPC (where the mediation provides some additional communication
devices such as camera angle, montage, lighting, etc.) ???
• Also, how could there be a different ‘psychology’ – since communication is first and foremost
a psychological process – we use for handling MMC compared to the psychological processes
and mechanisms we use for handling IPC? If so, then how on earth could these different
psychological mechanisms and processes have evolved into our brain so quickly, given the
extremely recent rise of modern mass media in human history (cf. chapter on the biological /
evolutionary psychological perspective on communication, infra) ?
2. THE BORDERLINES BETWEEN MMC AND IPC ARE FADING IN A CONTEXT OF EMC
(ELECTRONICALLY MEDIATED COMMUNICATION) AND ESPECIALLY MPC (MASS -
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION).
Is it MMC or IPC?
• Personal context: electronically mediated communication (EMC) of one person to one or to
many other persons via e.g. Outlook, Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, SnapChat…
• Professional context: online classes or meetings via Teams, Zoom,
• Some authors call EMC in which one sender makes his/her message available to many receivers
‘mass-personal communication’ (MPC).
- EPC / MPC = a psychological meaning transfer process
EMC
MPC
, 3. EFFECTS OF MMC CAN BE HIGHLY IMPACTED BY ASPECTS OF IPC.
My experiments on advertising:
a. Using faces (one of the main nonverbal IPC systems) in advertising helps to attract the
attention of the consumer.
Faces are used in advertising extremely often:
▪ Quantitative content analysis of 39 Flemish magazines containing 883 unique
advertisements.
▪ Trained encoders (Cohen’s Kappa = 0,682 / p = 0,00) analysed the ads.
▪ 63% of all the ads contained a face (while you don’t exactly need a face to sell bank
services, insurances, cars, cell phones, butter, gasoline, newspapers, sneakers,
educational programs, mayonaise, jelly, sugar, fruit juices, soft drinks, liquors,
cigarettes, perfumes, jewelry, furniture, …).
FACES = VISUAL MAGNETS (zie pwp voorbeeld)
Areas Of Interest (AIO)
• The relative attention that a face demands is much higher than its relative size:
- Mean size of all faces = 2,53 % of the screen surface
- Mean attention to these faces = 11,28 % of the observation time
→ Relative attention time is 4,45 times higher than relative size of the face on the screen!
FACES = VISUAL MAGNETS BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN LOTS OF CUES
- Species, age, sex, emotions, identity, personality (?), ethnicity, kin relatedness, health,…
No wonder, our brains are finetuned to pay attention to faces in an interpersonal context.
These same mechanisms make us also pay attention to faces in a mass-mediated context like
advertising, but also to facial cues in other MMC-products like movies, news, talk shows, sitcoms, etc.
b. Nonverbal IPC cues in advertising have a clear impact on ad-likeability (that is, on liking-
the-ad-more or liking-the-ad-less), one of the main predictors of the advertising
effectiveness to be expected from the ad.
Experiment pwp → two versions of the same ad → notice:
• Some of these IPC cues are just unintentional cues, some are truly intentional signals:
communication can therefore be both intentional and/or unintentional.
, • Meaning of the IPC cues/signals (e.g. cues of high fertility like waist-to-hip ratio or cues of good
genes like symmetry) is often unconscious or unknown: communication can therefore be both
explicit (conscious) and/or implicit (unconscious).
• Many IPC cues are used as signals in deceptive ways (e.g. push-up bras, aesthetic surgery, hair
dying, etc.): communication can therefore be both informative (honest, truthful) or manipulative
(dishonest, mendacious).
• To understand why some IPC cues ‘work’ (e.g. black versus gray hair), and some don’t ‘work’ (e.g.
black versus brown hair) we will need evolutionary psychology (the ‘new science of the mind’)
as a new perspective on communication processes.
Conclusion: a course on IPC is essential in a curriculum dominated by MMC !
1. MMC builds on IPC processes. It even often boils down to little more than mediated IPC.
2. The borderlines between MMC and IPC are fading in a context of EMC (electronically mediated
communication) and especially MPC (mass-personal communication).
3. Effects of MMC can be highly impacted by aspects of IPC.
LEARNING OBECTIVES OF THE COURSE
Intellectual competences:
-Being able to analyze new and complex questions regarding interpersonal communication from a critical
stance (cf. contrary to e.g. many popular books on so-called ‘body language’).
-Being able to develop personal and scientifically sound opinions regarding these questions.
Attitudes:
-An attitude which focuses on self-study and lifelong learning (e.g. via plenty of books mentioned on the
slides).
-An attitude of respect for diversity, pluralism and tolerance (e.g. via the attention we will pay throughout
the course to both culture and gender issues).
Focus on a social scientific approach to IPC:
-Theoretical concepts, models, insights, … regarding IPC
-Mindfulness based on those theoretical concepts, models, insights, … may turn you into a better
communicator
Not a course with endless lists of “tips & tricks”:
-Other courses provide tips & tricks.
-However, remember that tips & tricks are not absolute: there is no single best way to communicate
across different contexts.
-Interesting to read/consult, difficult to teach/study.
