Conversation and Communication

2022 Reprint of the 1952 First Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Modern psychology is able to give new impetus to the study of language and understanding. The psychoanalyst, especially, has many opportunities each day to study the manifold ways of human expression and need for contact. This book is based on twenty-five years of such experience in a daily "word laboratory." The author combines linguistic, psychoanalytic, and social-psychological concepts to investigate the various tools which man uses in his search for mutual understanding. Specific topics of discussion include emotional expressions, gesture language, picture language, telepathy, organ language, sound language, baby language, word magic and symbolism; the riddle of semantics and the manifold functions of the word; the perversions of communication; the role of unconscious communication; the art of silence and listening; the various misuse of the tools of communication; and the different patterns of conversation. In applying the "multiple-tool" approach to the many-faceted problem of communication, the author, a psychiatrist, psychologist, and well-known writer, makes a valuable contribution to the enhancement of mutual understanding.