Nature and Types of Communication Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Communication is a soft skill.

Soft skills are the personal and interpersonal abilities that govern how a person works with others: communication, teamwork, time management, adaptability and the like. Hard skills are the technical, job-specific abilities that can be taught and measured directly, such as typing speed, accounting or operating a machine.

Communication is about how one deals with people, so it is classed as a soft skill. 'Short' and 'Good' are not categories of skill at all; they are distractors built from ordinary adjectives.

Answer: D

The method to use is E-mail.

A leave application is a formal, one-to-one message to a supervisor that needs a written record, and e-mail gives exactly that: it reaches the right person directly, can be answered, and leaves a dated copy for both sides.

Posters, blogs and newsletters are one-to-many channels meant for a general audience. A leave request is neither public nor of interest to others, so none of them suits it.

Answer: C

An upright body posture conveys confidence.

Standing or sitting straight, with the shoulders back and the head up, is the standard example of confident body language, signalling that a person is alert, at ease and sure of themselves. Slouching or a bowed head signals the opposite.

Pride is a feeling of self-satisfaction, not what posture alone conveys. Professionalism depends on conduct, dress and competence, not posture only, and humility is shown by modest conduct rather than by standing tall.

Answer: A

The communication that involves 'treating people like objects' is impersonal communication.

In impersonal communication we deal with people only in their roles, as a clerk, a customer or a caller, and not as unique individuals with their own thoughts and feelings. That is what the phrase 'treating people like objects' describes.

Interpersonal communication is the opposite: it treats the other person as a unique individual. 'Human' communication is not a recognised type, and 'objective' describes communication that is free of bias, not one that treats people as objects.

Answer: C

Connotative words are Cultural.

A word's denotation is its literal, dictionary meaning; its connotation is the extra meaning it carries from the associations, emotions and values that a culture attaches to it. Home denotes a dwelling but connotes warmth and belonging, and the same word can carry different connotations in different communities. Because those associations are learned within a culture, connotative meaning is described as cultural.

'Explicit' and 'simple' describe denotation, the plain stated meaning, which is the opposite of connotation. 'Abstract' refers to words for ideas rather than things, a different distinction, since concrete words also have connotations.

Answer: B

Communication becomes circular when the decoder becomes an encoder.

In the linear model, a message flows one way from source to receiver. In circular models such as that of Osgood and Schramm, each participant both encodes and decodes: the receiver interprets the message and then responds, becoming the sender of a new message. That exchange of roles, through feedback, turns the line into a loop.

If feedback is absent the process stays one-way, so the first option describes the opposite. A channel is the medium, which is not itself circular, and the credibility of the source affects how a message is received, not whether the process is circular.

Answer: A

It is called Mass communication.

Mass communication is the process by which one source, usually an organisation such as a newspaper, a broadcaster or a website, sends the same message through a medium to a large, scattered and anonymous audience at the same time. Feedback is limited and delayed.

Interpersonal communication takes place between two or a few people face to face, and intrapersonal communication happens within one person, as in thinking or self-talk. Strategic communication is purposeful communication by an organisation to achieve its goals; it describes intent rather than the one-to-many mode.

Answer: D

Haptics signifies Tactile communication.

Haptics is the study of communication through touch, a branch of non-verbal communication. A handshake, a pat on the back, a hug or a push all convey meaning such as greeting, reassurance, affection or aggression, and the norms for touch vary across cultures.

Communication through space and distance is proxemics, and communication through the use of time, such as punctuality and waiting, is chronemics; these are what 'spatial' and 'temporal' communication refer to. 'Staggered' communication is not a recognised category of non-verbal communication.

Answer: B

The technique is called Mentoring.

In mentoring, an experienced person guides, advises and encourages a less experienced colleague over a period of time, sharing knowledge, helping with career decisions and building confidence. It is a developmental relationship rather than a formal instruction.

Dictation means giving orders or reading text aloud for someone to write down. Networking is building a wide set of professional contacts for mutual benefit, and evaluation is judging performance. None of these is the leader's act of nurturing younger colleagues.

Answer: A

They are forms of Realistic thinking.

Psychology divides thinking into realistic (directed) thinking, which is aimed at a goal and checked against reality, and autistic (undirected) thinking, which follows personal wishes and fantasy, as in daydreaming. Reasoning, problem solving and creative thinking are all directed at producing a workable result, so they are forms of realistic thinking.

Autistic thinking is the fantasy-driven type, so it is the opposite. 'Knave thinking' is not a category of thinking, and a mirage is an optical illusion, not a form of thought.