Encryption in human communication:image production in emotionally charged interactions

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the range and nature of infonnation contained within the verbal communications of individuals participating in a T-group class session in a university setting. We begin with the assumption that with human beings, as with other creatures, immediate interpersonal context exerts a powerful and continuing influence on perception, information processing, emotion, behavior, and communication. Most of this influence occurs outside of the awareness of the individuals involved. The specific components of every context carry the potential for importance, meaning and consequence. Some contexts have such special, and even extraordinary, implications that it matters greatly how one behaves or communicates within them. Therefore, we assume that every behavior and communication is the product of a chain of continuous ongoing conscious and unconscious monitoring, processing, and adapting to those particular characteristics of the environments that have significance for the individuals involved.