Question

Difficulty: EasyBarriers to Effective Communication

During an administrative training program on effective public service delivery, participants evaluate different communication breakdowns occurring in government offices. Which of the following statements correctly classify the specific barriers to effective communication? Select all correct options.

  1. Pre-existing mistrust between a speaker and the audience acts as a psychological barrier to communication.Answer
  2. B
    Loud machinery noise outside a community hall during an official briefing is classified as an internal psychological barrier.
  3. Excessive technical jargon used in public administrative notices that confuses citizens constitutes a semantic barrier.Answer
  4. D
    A speaker raising their vocal pitch and modulation to emphasize urgency is classified as a kinesic barrier.

Answer

The correct options are those stating that pre-existing mistrust acts as a psychological barrier and that excessive technical jargon constitutes a semantic barrier.
Pre-existing mistrust is correctly identified as a psychological barrier because it involves internal mental and emotional attitudes that obstruct objective listening. Similarly, using specialized technical jargon in public communication creates a semantic barrier because the receiver cannot decode the encoded linguistic symbols.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate the statement regarding mistrust as a barrier type.
Mistrust is an emotional/attitudinal state within the communicators, which correctly categorizes it as a psychological barrier.
Internal cognitive and emotional states belong to psychological barriers.
2
Evaluate the statement regarding loud machinery noise.
Machinery noise is an external environmental factor, making it a physical barrier rather than a psychological one.
Environmental disturbers of signal transmission are classified as physical noise.
3
Evaluate the statement regarding technical jargon.
Jargon distorts the meaning of words for non-expert receivers, which is a textbook example of a semantic barrier.
Barriers related to vocabulary, symbols, and language interpretation are semantic barriers.
4
Evaluate the statement regarding vocal pitch and modulation.
Vocal attributes like pitch and volume represent paralinguistics, whereas kinesics involves body language and gestures.
Vocalics/paralinguistics must not be confused with kinesic body movements.

Key Concept

Classification of Communication Barriers (Psychological, Physical, Semantic, and Paralinguistic)
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