Human communication is the field dedicated to understanding how people communicate:

• with themselves Intrapersonal communication is communication that a person has with him or herself. Although some might take the position that no communication is needed if only one party is involved, we communicate with ourselves all the time. Intrapersonal communication can encompass: Sense-making (see Karl Weick) e.g. interpreting maps, texts... intrapersonal communication
• another person Interpersonal communication refers to communication with another person. This kind of communication is subdivided into dyadic communication, public communication, and small-group communication. The Johari window model focuses on the balance of interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication encompasses: Speech Nonverbal communication Unconscious communication summarizing paraphrasing Having good interpersonal communication skills support... interpersonal communication
• within groups The term group dynamics implies that individual behaviours may differ depending on individuals current or prospective connections to a sociological group. Urges to belong or to identify may make for distinctly different attitudes (recognised or unrecognised), and the influence of a group may rapidly become strong, influencing or overwhelming individual... group dynamics
• within organizations Organizational communication refers to the study of how people communicate within an organizational context. Organizational communication can include: Flow of Communication, e.g. formal, informal internal, external upward, downward, horizontal networks Induction, e.g. new hire orientation policies & procedures employee benefits Channels, e.g. electronic media such as e... organizational communication
• across cultures Cross-cultural communication looks at how people, from differing cultural backgrounds, endeavor to communicate. Cross-cultural communication tries to bring together such relatively unrelated areas as cultural anthropology and established areas of communication. Its core is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate with each other. Its... cross-cultural communication

The study of human communication is known as anthroposemiotics.

Important Figures

• David Berlo
• Brent Ruben
• Psychologist and author Wendell Johnson was a proponent of General Semantics (or GS). His book Living With Change, a collection of various pieces he wrote over many years, is a good introduction to GS. Three Questions Johnson counselled others to solve problems by utilizing these three questions: What do you... Wendell Johnson
• Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 - March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician, known as the founder of cybernetics. He created the term in his book Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (MIT Press, 1948). Norbert Wiener He was born in Columbia, Missouri, the first child... Norbert Weiner
• Marshal McLuhan
• Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 _ February 4, 1987) was a psychologist who was instrumental in the development of non-directive psychotherapy (Rogerian psychotherapy, also known as Person centred psychotherapy). His basic tenets were unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathic understanding demonstrated by the counselor are necessary and sufficient... Carl Rogers
• Albert Mehrabian

Related topics

• Communication is the process of exchanging information usually via a common system of symbols. Communication is the academic discipline which studies communication. Forms of communication Animal communications Interpersonal communications Marketing Propaganda Public affairs Public relations Intrapersonal communications Nonverbal communications Speech communications Cross-cultural communication Telecommunications Computer-mediated communications Forms and... Communication
• These should be the most basic topics in the field--topics about which wed like to have articles soon. Please see the most basic encyclopedia article topics for general instructions on constructing this list, and consult complete list of encyclopedia topics. General Advertising -- Alphabet -- Communication -- Communication theory -- Corporate communications... Communication basic topics
• General Semantics is a school of thought founded by Alfred Korzybski in about 1933 in response to his observations that most people had difficulty defining human and social discussions and problems and could almost never predictably resolve them into elements that were responsive to successful intervention or correction. In contrast... General semantics
• Semiotics (also spelled Semeiotics) is the study of signs and sign systems. Scope and main concepts General theories of signs are called semiotics. Semiotics is the investigation of apprehension, prediction and meaning: how it is that we apprehend the world, make predictions, and develop meaning. Semiosis or semeiosis is the... Semiotics
• For other uses of the word Media see media (disambiguation). Mass media is the term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). It... Mass communication
• For other uses of the word Media see media (disambiguation). Mass media is the term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). It... Mass media

For more info

• Richard Budd & Brent Ruben (http://www.fetchbook.info/search_Brent_D._Ruben/searchBy_Author.html), Human Communication Handbook.
• Budd & Ruben, Approaches to Human Communication.