How Stuart Hall can help you avoid miscommunication
Communication isn’t as simple and automatic as it may seem. Given that most everything we do involves some form of interpersonal communication, it’s hardly surprising that we overlook the many mechanisms behind what otherwise seem like commonplace interactions. Words, facial expressions, gestures, and virtually any conceivable form of communication are really externalizations of an intended meaning that we shift out of abstraction and into our interactions with others. For deeply conscious and acutely aware beings such as ourselves, very few communicative expressions are arbitrary or random. Irrespective of how we choose to communicate, we constantly engage in symbolism, which is precisely what communication is in its most irreducible form. Much like stop signs and traffic lights provide the indications necessary to regulate your morning commute, both verbal utterances and non-verbal displays are tethered to a deliberate meaning. Pain points in communication typically arise when our sentiments or intentions are either miscommunicated, misinterpreted, or both. In fact, most inadvertent interpersonal conflicts emanate from a dissonance between one or more of the messages intended, expressed, received, and interpreted.
Persuasive communicators take it upon themselves to minimize the disparity between what Stuart Hall referred to as encoded and decoded messages. Encoding refers to how the sender formulates and delivers a message composed of various symbols, language, and contextual cues. Decoding, on the other hand, refers to the receiver's interpretation and understanding of a message. Hall posits that miscommunication, in its many forms, arises from inconsistencies between encoded and decoded messages. The sender abstracts and conveys their message on the basis of their experiences, values, and beliefs, and often presumes that the receiver will decode it in a commensurate manner. However, the receiver's decoding process is also variable, as influenced by their own unique set of experiences, biases, and cultural background.
In any communicative or social setting, it’s important to proactively consider the values, beliefs, worldviews, and interests of others in crafting messages that accurately convey an intended meaning. Take an empathetic approach, as discussed in this blog post, and leverage your understanding of others in attempting to foresee their interpretation of a certain idea, thought, or proposition. Doing so will allow you to appropriately encode your message, and as such minimize any inconsistencies in how your interlocutor receives and perceives it.
