“Like a sculptor, if necessary, carve a friend out of stone.
Realize that your inner sight is blind and try to see a treasure in everyone.”
-Rumi
What Are Social Relations?
In simple terms, ‘Social Relations’ may be considered as having strong communication, good communication skills and being social in general. But the point is that this expression has a more complicated background. If you look up the term social relations, its definition will tell you that the combination of social policy and social management techniques will eventually lead you to a skill called social relations.
On the other hand, social communication may be true with the same simple definition that we have in mind! Every morning when people wake up, they review their daily schedule in their mind, organize their work appointments, talk to strangers in the subway or bus, and generally prepare themselves to be in society and establish social relationships. Many people think that social interaction is a simple and everyday task, but the question here is whether everyone is successful in establishing their social relationships beyond a limited interaction?
Let’s merge the two definitions together and have a single definition, from the point of view, for social communication! Therefore, social communication is a set of social policies and managements that cause different social behaviors to occur in different situations, whether simple daily interactions or work interactions. (Of course, these relationships have different types according to the conditions that were mentioned.)
Types of social relationships
In total, 6 different types of social relations have been defined, which are described in detail below:
1. Emotional Communication
Emotive communication, as its name suggests, refers to those types of social communication in which one of the communicating parties assumes the role of the person who arouses emotions in the other party. For example, if you have participated in motivational conferences, generally the speaker of the conference is in charge of arousing your emotions by establishing a social relationship.
Some people may have the ability to use these techniques naturally, but others can also learn and use them.
2. Reflexive Communication
Reflexive social communication happens when you communicate with the other party without any previous mentality and only in reaction to the behavior of the other party. This social communication may be a daily conversation with your colleague while drinking tea, or even with a passenger who is traveling with you in a taxi, and the same old woman who asks you for help and… in fact, your response in this type of social communication is completely dependent on the communication of the other party. and will be a reflection of his behavior or words.
Establishing this type of communication, like all types of social communication, requires social intelligence. As Daniel Goleman rightly explains in his book Social Intelligence, our brain is influenced by our social relationships with others and in many cases, it actually acts like a mirror. In this book, Golman points out some features in our brain that show that it is organized for social life.
3. Global Communication
Global communication has a long history. Whether in the past, when this communication was established with the help of tools such as telegraph and sending letters, or now, with a few clicks on a personal computer or by activating an option called Wi-Fi on your smartphone, your global communication will be established. It should be said that these days, due to the ease of global communication, almost everyone uses it.
4. Movement Communication
Movement communication, as its name suggests, refers to a set of body movements that lead to communication. In other words, body language is exactly the definition of movement communication in which you convey a message to the opposite party with different movements consciously or unconsciously. Decoding the real message of people through body language is a wonderful world that undoubtedly helps to improve your mutual relations with others and get to know them. For example, by using body language techniques, you will find out when someone is really telling you the truth, and by what gestures you can use without saying a word, you can gain the trust of the other party.
5. Direct Communication
This type of social communication directly refers to person-to-person (or group-to-group, here the number of people is not considered) relationship and there is no need for an intermediary in communication. Of course, it should be said that this type of communication is not limited to face-to-face relationships and digital tools may be involved in creating it today. A direct social connection like a working connection between two colleagues to complete a single project!
6. Goal-Oriented Communication
In this type of social communication, people engage in social relations with each other with a specific purpose. Suppose you are the CEO of an international company and you have an appointment with a potential customer. The goal of both of you in setting up a business meeting is to achieve benefits that can make you a good profit. Therefore, your social communication will be goal-oriented. It is interesting to know that this type of communication is completely opposite to reflective communication.
But how to achieve this goal? You should know that this type of relationship requires its own special skills. The most important principle of establishing a successful negotiation with the customer is your familiarity with professional negotiation techniques.
Psychology Of Social Relations
Since social relations can be defined as communication between two people or several groups, these relations include all interactions, conversations and meetings that are established with other members of the society. These relationships can be positive and constructive like friendship or negative and destructive like enmity.
On the one hand, due to the fact that social communication is presented as a primary need and people are involved with this need from the first stage of their development, i.e. infancy, and also psychology is a science that examines human needs, in recent years the subject of psychology of communication Social has been raised more than before.
The psychology of social communication is a science that seeks to discover the strengths and weaknesses of these relationships by examining interpersonal relationships and social relationships and provides solutions to strengthen and weaken them. In this way, by improving their social relations, people take a step towards success in their careers and social relations. Also, the psychology of social communication helps to strengthen the society’s culture and makes people aware of social damage in their relationships.
But the most important role of the psychology of social communication is to guide these relationships, especially in young people and teenagers, in the path of healthy social communication. Raising healthy teenagers strengthens the future of countries in all economic, social, cultural and other aspects.
Treatment Of Weak Social Relationships:
Strengthening social skills is essential for the success and development of each person’s abilities. Today, these relationships are taught under the title of life skills, and many organizations have considered this training vital.
To increase social relations, having a neat appearance, observing politeness and respect in interactions with others, and being aware of body language are the first and important points that observing them is the first step to strengthen social skills. Usually, people who are well-spoken are more successful in establishing social relationships. Try to increase your vocabulary. For this, reading a useful book is very helpful.
Avoid very long or very short answers in your conversations. Try to be humorous, of course, it is important to observe points such as knowing the other person’s personality, the degree of intimacy and the appropriateness of humor, as well as observing limits and boundaries in order not to spoil social relations.
To be successful in your social communication, strengthen your self-awareness and self-confidence (to the normal extent). Speak confidently and smile, but at the same time be critical. Self-confident people are often more attractive and acceptable in society. Know your body language, try to match your body language with your words so that the message you intend to send to your audience is not violated by your body language.
At the beginning of every relationship, before people get to know you enough, observing a set of points will significantly increase people’s desire to continue communicating with you.
But note that one of the things that prevent social communication is mental disorders. These problems keep a person away from society and make his social relations difficult. Therefore, before trying to establish social relations, seek help from a psychologist or counselor to solve your mental problems.
Important Points In Social Relations
If you want to have successful social communication, I recommend that you take the following points seriously:
- If this relationship is predetermined, try to get information about the other parties of the relationship or invite them to introduce themselves.
- Look into the other person’s eyes in time, don’t stare constantly, don’t steal your gaze.
- Never underestimate the power of body language. If you have the opportunity, before establishing different social relationships, study the appropriate body language for that type of relationship.
- The higher your self-esteem, the better you will perform in establishing a successful social relationship.
- Be the one who invites others to the next meetings!
- Take care of your feelings. Don’t express your feelings too much, don’t try to hide them.
- Focus more on the positive points of your counterpart.
7 Ways To Strengthen Social Relationships
If you feel that you don’t have any method in mind to strengthen your social connections, these 7 methods, or rather 7 steps, will help to make you a very social person.
First Step: Increasing Knowledge And Personal Information
When you have information about different topics, you will participate in discussions and conversations with more confidence and express your opinion. Therefore, try to read about the subject of the conversation if you know it before participating in a social interaction with others.
The Second Step: Strengthening The Power Of Hearing
Being a good speaker is not always a sign of having strong social connections, but being a good listener is also an art. If you want to be remembered as a powerful person in social relations, remember to listen at the right time and speak at the right time.
The Third Step: Expansion Of Connections
If you want to have better social connections, try to participate more in groups. Avoid being isolated and introverted so that you can take an important step in increasing and strengthening your social relationships.
The Fourth Step: The Natural Progression Of The Communication Process
Let the whole process of your social communication, no matter how important and formal, proceed naturally. Never force yourself or the other party to do something. This will gradually make you witness social growth in your next relationships.
The Fifth Step: Being Friendly
Being friendly is important in establishing social relations with the people around you. If you think you didn’t have a good day and you can’t be nice, it’s better to postpone your appointment to another day so that you don’t have a negative effect on establishing proper communication.
The Sixth Step: Understanding And Empathy
Even if you think you don’t understand what the other person is saying, it’s better to show sympathy even if it doesn’t seem like it. This will make the other person feel better about talking with you and will not regret your choice to establish a social relationship!
Seventh Step: Read Useful Books
Try to read the best books in the world that have been published in the field of strengthening social relations. Of course, reading books on body language and negotiation principles will also help you.
In the following, you will learn more about some of the best books in this field.
You can easily familiarize yourself with the prose of books on strengthening social communication before reading it. If you are in doubt in choosing the title of social relations books, the following list can help you:
- How to Talk to Anyone BY Leil Lowndes
- The Art of Influence by Chris Widener
- The Charisma Myth BY Olivia Fox Cabane
- The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Remember that books will play an important role in improving the quality of your social relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are high social relations?
A person who can be successful in establishing communication with different people is called a person with high social skills. In this context, a proper balance between politics and social management and techniques should be established.
How to have strong social relations?
In order to strengthen your social relationships, in addition to the 7 techniques for strengthening social relationships, you should take help from important points in this field. Of course, reading books related to this field will be very effective.
How to have better social relations?
First, you should make sure that your social connections are good! Then, to have better social relations you can start learning the methods from many sources such as the help of books, online courses, and use the techniques and tips mentioned in this article.
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