Communication
24 evidence-labeled concepts on Communication, drawn from the Shrink Atlas. Each concept is a short lesson: what it is, why it matters, how to work with it. Explore the list, or start with the one that fits your question today.
Active Constructive Responding
How you respond to someone's good news shapes the relationship as much as how you handle their bad news.
Active Listening
Understanding begins with listening.
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is stating your needs honestly without trampling or hiding.
Conflict Avoidance
Conflict avoidance trades short-term calm for long-term buildup.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is turning disagreement into understanding and a workable path.
Contempt
Contempt is disrespect that communicates you're beneath me.
Criticism vs Complaint
Complaints target a behavior, criticism targets the person.
Defensiveness
Defensiveness protects the self at the expense of the conversation.
Emotional Bids Response
Connection is built or lost in how we answer each other's small bids.
Emotional Invalidation
Invalidation is dismissing or minimizing what another person feels.
Emotional Validation
Validation is treating another person's feeling as understandable.
Gottman Four Horsemen
Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling are the recurring signs of conflict going wrong.
Health Literacy
Understanding supports better care.
Micro-Aggressions
Brief, subtle slights that add up and wear on the person receiving them.
Mirroring
Subtly matching another's posture and rhythm signals and builds rapport.
Motivational Interviewing
Guide motivation rather than force it.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is the meaning we send through tone, face, and body.
Patient-Centered Care
Care should fit the person.
Repair Attempts
A repair attempt is a small gesture that interrupts conflict and invites reconnection.
Risk Communication
Clear explanations improve informed decisions.
Self-Disclosure
Sharing yourself, in turns and at the right pace, builds closeness.
Shared Decision-Making
Evidence guides decisions. Values personalize them.
Social Penetration Theory
Closeness grows through steady, mutual disclosure from surface to core.
Stonewalling
Stonewalling is shutting down and withdrawing when conflict feels overwhelming.
How this library is organized
Every concept in Communication lives in one of six realms of the Shrink Atlas and carries an honest evidence label. This page is a navigation aid; the concept pages are where the lessons are. Follow one, or come back tomorrow for the daily concept.
See the whole Atlas · See the frameworks that use these concepts · See guided pathways