Types of communication: 14 different ways to interact

Communicating is a vital action for human beings; in all the types of interaction we have with other people and with our environment throughout the day, we are communicating, as there is an exchange of information.

What happens is that this action of information exchange is not done only verbally or in writing as some might think; In reality, communication is a more complex process that takes many other forms beyond the verbal, so we can talk about different types of communication.

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What do we mean when we talk about communication?

Let's start by understanding how information exchange happens before telling you about the types of communication that exist. The simplest way to explain it is by taking the interaction between two people as an example.

One of them will be the transmitter, that is, the person who is transmitting the information to the other person through a set of signs and meanings (language) that the two share. The other person is the receiver, who is the one who receives that information from the transmitter and interprets it.

Behind a simple "hello" from one person to another all the steps to communicate are covered: we intend to communicate something, then we compose the message through codes that we both know, we transmit the signal and the receiving person receives that signal, decodes it and finally interprets the message.

Why is the way we communicate important?

When you are aware of the steps there are to carry the message from one side to the other, you realize how important it is to have effective communication, in which the message you want to convey is clear so that the receiving person interprets it in the way you are expressing it.

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When you are a good communicator in your personal relationships, we could say that personal and professional success is almost guaranteed.

Luckily, communication is not something you learn just once, but rather we can work on improving our communication skills such as empathy, active listening, verbal and non-verbal language, emotional validation, among others, to achieve more effective interactions in all areas.

Below we explain well the types of communication that exist so that you can take advantage of them.

The different types of communication

As I was saying, communication is much more complex than we think and takes certain forms depending on who it is. the transmitter, the message type or the channel through which that message is transmitted, as well as from the different receivers.

The types of communication that we present below cover various criteria so that you can know them all and are included in different categories.

Verbal and non-verbal communication

One of the most widespread classifications is the one that differentiates whether we convey the message verbally or non-verbally. That is, if we verbalize it explicitly or rather express it without words.

1. Verbal communication

The main characteristic of this type of communication is that we use language, in this case words, to convey to the receiver the message we want. We can express these words in two ways:

• Oral communication: when we transmit the signs in a spoken way. These are words, but also those oral "gestures" like laughing, crying, screaming, and other sounds we make when we speak. In this case, hatred and active listening are very important.
• Written communication: when we transmit the message in written form through alphabets, hieroglyphs, characters, icons and even logos. This is one of the types of communication that we have started to use more since we used new technologies such as mobile messaging and that has had several evolutions due to it.

Keep in mind that verbal communication, although it is the most obvious and explicit, It is accompanied most of the times by other types of communication such as non-verbal to reinforce the message and make it more effective.

2. Non-verbal communication

It's about the way that we express ourselves without the use of words, through body movements such as gestures, the posture we acquire, the looks, the way we walk, sit, how we move our hands, among others.

What happens with this way of communicating is that we usually do it involuntarily, unconsciously, especially when it is accompanied by the types of verbal communication. If you go back in the years to the first civilizations, you can realize how important this way of communicating was, since they lacked a learned language.

In any case, when we transmit messages through our corporate languagel, the interpretation of these messages is usually ambiguous and has a lot to do with what the receiver perceives even if it is not that the meaning that we are giving it, since we do not have conceived and learned norms, as in the case of language verbal.

Communication according to the number of participants

The following types of communication are established according to the number of people who are participating in the interaction.

3. Individual Communication

By individual communication we mean the type of interactions that occur between only two people, from one to another. These are the interactions that we have in a more private way, not necessarily with people closest to us, but also of a more general nature.

4. Intrapersonal communication

It's about the kind of communication we have with no one but ourselves. It occurs when we think, reflect or have discussions and conversations with ourselves.

5. Interpersonal or inter-individual communication

It is a type of communication a little more intimate It occurs when two close people express feelings from forms of verbal and non-verbal communication.

6. Group communication

It refers to the transmission of messages that occurs between two or more people who belong to the same group, so there are several transmitters and several receivers.

7. Intergroup communication

Here is included the interaction that occurs between two groups of people. For example the communication between two teams in a competition.

8. Collective communication

It occurs when the interaction occurs between more than two people, for example when we meet with our group of friends. In this type of communication you may be addressing a person but all those who are present also receive the message.

9. Massive communication

It takes place when we are in front of a larger audience; in this case there are usually a single sender of the message that addresses a large audience so there are multiple receivers. It is the type of communication that we see, for example, in a political speech or in a conference.

Forms of communication according to the sensory channel

They are the types of communication determined by the sense they use to transmit and receive the message.

10. Visual comunication

It consists of those ways to deliver a message visuallys, and we decode it mainly using sight, for example a magazine advertisement.

11. Auditory communication

In this case, hatred is the main sense we use to receive the message. The clearest example of this type of communication is when we listen to music, because despite the distance that there is between the artist and the listener, there is an interaction between two people and a message is being delivered.

12. Tactile communication

For example braille. In this form of communication We decode the message through touch.

13. Olfactory communication

Aromas or smells also provide information to those who perceive them through smell, which is why it is a type of communication. In this case, we cannot always locate who transmits the message.

14. Gustatory communication

It is another of the types of communication that makes use of the senses to transmit and decode the message, in this case, taste.