The Social Interaction Function of Communication is the most obvious, the most often used, and the most popular. Just think of how many times people interact with other people by talking to them, conversing with them, laughing with them, and just enjoying each other’s company.
Recall what communication activity one recently engaged in that used Social Interaction involving friends, classmates, neighbors, or even other people like vendors and jeepney/bus/tricycle drivers. Notice that one’s interaction with different people from different groups will not be the same interaction experience. Still, communication happens between you and them.
Like Regulation/Control, Social Interaction occurs when verbal and nonverbal cues are appropriately applied.
- Verbal cues are the specific words chosen and used. The Speaker and the Listener, when using verbal cues, should be respectful of each other’s culture as well as of their age, gender, social status, and religion. The words usually used are mostly informal terms and casually delivered, although Philippine society dictates certain decorum when talking to elders or figures of authority.
- Nonverbal cues include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. The Speaker and the Listener, when exhibiting nonverbal cues, should be respectful of each other’s culture as well as of their age, gender, social status, and religion. The tone used is friendly, even teasing, and the bodily action is relaxed.
Social Interaction uses the most verbal and nonverbal cues with the most adaptation for the simple reason that it occurs everyday, nearly 24 hours a day. Given the number of people interacting with each other, the verbal and nonverbal cues used, including possible combinations, make the Interactions uncountable.