Essentials of Communication Skill and Skill Enhancement

11Communication Skills and Human Connection in Evolving Contexts

Scholars are quite fond of developing lists of fundamental human needs and motivations. What is particularly noteworthy, though, is that the human need for relationship (belonging, connection, closeness) always makes the cut (see Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Epstein, 1990; Maslow, 1954; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Schutz, 1958; Sheldon, Elliot, Kim, & Kasser, 2001). Indeed, one prominent social psychologist, Susan Fiske (2014), argues that the need for belonging underlies all other social motivations. This need for connection is coded in our DNA (Buss & Kenrick, 1998; Neuberg, Kenrick, & Schaller, 2010), and the mortality risk of social isolation is comparable to that of cigarette smoking ...