Owen Hargie

Ulster University, Jordanstown · School of Communication & Media

The contribution of effective interpersonal communication to success in both personal and professional contexts is now widely recognised. Interpersonal training programmes are a component part of the training for all professional groups, and the contribution of communication to social and personal well-being has been extensively researched. It is clear that the ability to communicate effectively at an interpersonal level is a vital part of the human condition. As such, knowledge of various types of skills and of their effects in social interaction, play a pivotal role in interpersonal functioning. It is for this reason that interest in the study of skilled communication has grown so rapidly. The function of the book is to provide a key reference for the study of interpersonal communication per se. It is concerned with the identification, analysis and evaluation of a range of skills that are employed widely in interaction. As such, this text will be of interest both to students of interpersonal communication in general, and to qualified personnel and trainees in many fields in particular. The book examines the central features of a range of core interpersonal skills. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a foundation for the text by examining the nature of interpersonal communication and interpersonal skill. Fourteen main skill areas are covered in the remaining chapters, beginning with nonverbal communication in Chapter 3. This aspect of interaction is the first to be examined, since all of the areas that follow contain nonverbal elements and so an understanding of the main facets of this channel facilitates the examination of the other skills. Chapter 4 incorporates an analysis of the skilled use of rewards and reinforcement, while the skill of questioning is reviewed in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6, an alternative strategy to questioning, namely reflecting, is investigated. Reflection consists of concentrating on what others saying and reformulating back to them the central elements of their message. The skill of listening is explored in Chapter 7, where its active nature is emphasised, while explaining is focused upon in Chapter 8. In Chapter 9, self-disclosure is examined from two perspectives; firstly, the appropriateness of personal self-disclosure, and secondly, methods for promoting maximum self-disclosure from others. Two important episodes in any action - the opening and closing sequences - are reviewed in Chapter 10. Techniques for protecting personal rights are discussed in Chapter 11 in terms of the skill of assertiveness. The skill area of influencing and persuading has attracted growing interest in recent years and this is covered in Chapter 12, while the related skill of negotiation is addressed in Chapter 13. Finally, in Chapter 14 the skills involved in interacting in, and leading, small group discussions are examined. One striking difference between this seventh edition and the first edition of the book over four decades ago is that in the latter edition my problem was finding research studies into skilled interpersonal communication to include, whereas for the current edition my main difficulty was in deciding what to leave out. There is a mountain of research in this field and it is expanding exponentially. Academics across a wide range of disciplines are contributing to the growing body of work on interpersonal skills. It is simply impossible to reference all of this material. The filter method I have used therefore is to select what I consider to be key publications in each area and cite these for readers to pursue. While I would have liked to describe many of the interesting research studies in more detail, space simply does not permit this. There is also a large corpus of work on the application of many of these skills in mediated communication, especially via social media. However, while I mention some of this, it is not the focus of this text. Indeed, we need to be wary of under-rating the human moment and over-rating technology. As Rodham (2018) argues, technology cannot substitute for human interaction: it cannot show warmth and empathy, give a reassuring hug, react humanely, share laughter, and so on. Skilled Interpersonal Communication remains firmly centred on what occurs during face-to-face communication.

I am preparing a new (4th) edition of The Handbook of Communication Skills. It will be published by Routledge in late 2018. [For information about the current 3rd edition of this text, see: https://www.routledge.com/The-Handbook-of-Communication-Skills-3rd-Edition/Hargie-Hargie/p/book/9780415359115] The Handbook of Communication Skills is recognised as one of the core texts in the field of communication. This thoroughly revised and updated fourth edition arrives at a time of considerable growing interest in this area, with recent research showing the importance of communication skills for success in all walks of life. The book’s core principle, that interpersonal communication can be conceptualised as a form of skilled activity, is examined in detail and a comprehensive transactional model of skilled communication presented, which takes into account current conceptual and research perspectives. This book, which contains 21 chapters, provides a comprehensive analysis of research, theory and practice in the key skill areas of communication, such as nonverbal communication, persuasion, group interaction, assertiveness, self-disclosure, explaining, questioning, reinforcement, listening, and negotiation. It also includes chapters on relationships, counselling & therapy, and humour & laughter. There is a section devoted to types on interviewing, including employment, appraisal and cognitive interviews. Each chapter is written by a recognised authority in that particular specialism, among them world leaders in their particular fields. A large volume of research has been published in the interim years since the last edition, and the new edition has been comprehensively updated to include extensive reviews of this data. In addition, two new chapters in the fields of cognitive behaviour therapy and mentoring/coaching are added – as these are areas that have witnessed major growth in research and practice in recent years. The Handbook of Communication Skills represents the most significant single contribution to the literature in this domain. It will be of continued interest to researchers and students in psychology and communication, as well as in a variety of other contexts, such as health care, business and management, and education, where the day-to-day work of practitioners is dependent on effective interpersonal skills.