Arizona State University's Hugh Down's Human Communication website defines human communication as "the understanding of message-related human behavior for the purpose of improving communicative interactions."  Human communication interrelates with interpersonal skills, such as the ability to speak, write and listen clearly and effectively, the talent to persuade, inform and relate ideas, and being self-motivated and detail minded.  I have chosen an essay about a conflict pattern called demand/withdrawal for my COM 316, Conflict Negotiation, class and a newsletter I created for a synchronized swimming team to reflect these interpersonal skills.

 

The Demand/Withdrawal conflict paper reflects my ability to comprehend ideas and perspectives and write about them clearly and effectively in order to inform and relate ideas to the audience.  Lets first define demand/withdraw conflicts as "a pattern of conflict in which one partner communicates in 'demanding' ways while the other withdraws" (Caughlin & Vangelisti, p.66).  

 

Although the strategy of demand/withdrawal occurs in all types of relationships, I focused on marriages where it is quite prominent.  I analyzed 15 scholastic articles to create an essay detailing sex differences in demand/withdrawal marital interactions, the emotional state and well-being of husbands and wives who engage in this behavior and how both physical and emotional violence interplays with demand/withdrawal patterns.

 

I found that couples who engage in demand/withdrawal conflicts either become closer or further away depending on how they perceive these issues.  There are a couple of theories relating to this type of behavior including the social structure hypothesis and the individual difference perspective.  Demand/withdrawal conflict patterns also have emotional and even physical health consequences to both parties.  Please read the document to learn more about this type of conflict behavior.

 

The second work sample I chose to best represent my human communication skills is a synchronized swimming newsletter for the Chandler SynchroCats called "The Cat's Meow."  This document utilizes my skills to reach a specific audience creatively and efficiently with informative information and detailed artistic computer skills.  I used Adobe InDesign to create this document, which was the first of five newsletters for the synchronized swimming team.