The Interpersonal
Communication Book
FIFTEENTH EDITION
Joseph A. DeVito
Hunter College of the City University of New York
,Director, Portfolio Management: Karon Bowers
Content Producer: Barbara Cappuccio
Content Developer: Angela Kao
Portfolio Manager Assistant: Dea Barbieri
Product Marketer: Christopher Brown
Field Marketer: Kelly Ross
Content Producer Manager: Melissa Feimer
Content Development Manager: Sharon Geary
Managing Editor: Maggie Barbieri
Content Developer, Learning Tools: Amy Wetzel
Designer: Kathryn Foot
Digital Studio Course Producer: Amanda Smith
Full-Service Project Manager: SPi Global
Compositor: SPi Global
Printer/Binder: LSC Communications, Inc.
Cover Printer: Phoenix Color/Hagerstown
Cover Designer: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Cover Images: 4x6/GettyImages; drbimages/GettyImages
Acknowledgments of third party content appear on pages 398–400, which constitutes an extension of this copyright page.
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of
America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any pro-
hibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho-
tocopying, recording, or otherwise. For information regarding permissions, request forms and the appropriate contacts within
the Pearson Education Global Rights & Permissions department, please visit www.pearsoned.com/permissions/.
PEARSON, ALWAYS LEARNING, and Revel are exclusive trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries owned by Pearson
Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, any third-party trademarks that may appear in this work are the property of their respective
owners and any references to third-party trademarks, logos or other trade dress are for demonstrative or descriptive purposes
only. Such references are not intended to imply any sponsorship, endorsement, authorization, or promotion of Pearson’s prod-
ucts by the owners of such marks, or any relationship between the owner and Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates, authors,
licensees or distributors.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: DeVito, Joseph A., author.
Title: The interpersonal communication book / Joseph A. DeVito, Hunter
College of the City University of New York.
Description: 15th edition. | Boston : Pearson Education, Inc., 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017037905 | ISBN 9780134623108 | ISBN 013462310X
Subjects: LCSH: Interpersonal communication.
Classification: LCC BF637.C45 D49 2017 | DDC 302.2--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017037905
1 18
Instructor’s Review Copy:
ISBN-10:0-13-462446-7
ISBN-13:978-0-13-462446-4
Access Code Card:
ISBN 10: 0-13-462444-0
ISBN 13:978-0-13-462444-0
à la carte Edition:
ISBN-10:0-13-462439-4
ISBN-13:978-0-13-462439-6
Student Rental Edition:
ISBN 10: 0-13-462310-X
ISBN 13:978-0-13-462310-8
, Brief Contents
PART ONE Preliminaries to Interpersonal Communication 1
1 Foundations of Interpersonal Communication 1
2 Culture and Interpersonal Communication 29
3 Perception of the Self and Others 55
PART TWO Interpersonal Messages 87
4 Verbal Messages 87
5 Nonverbal Messages 116
6 Listening 157
7 Emotional Messages 181
8 Conversational Messages 205
PART THREE Interpersonal Relationships 236
9 Interpersonal Relationship Stages, Communication, and
Theories 236
10 Interpersonal Relationship Types 267
11 Interpersonal Conflict and Conflict Management 303
12 Interpersonal Power and Influence 327