Transmitters and Receivers

A Theory of Social Intercommunication

For the purposes of this theory, people may be divided into two categories: Transmitters and Receivers. As we shall see, there are variations on this theme but by nature people will be more inclined either to transmit or receive information. In extreme cases a transmitter is never so happy as when he or she is holding forth without interruption on a subject of his or her choosing. Conversation in such cases is perilously close to a monologue with the other party doing little more than nodding assent, expressing astonishment etc. at strategic intervals. If this other party is one of nature's receivers no harm is done and the exchange continues along its pre-ordained path.

If, on the other hand, the other person should also be a transmitter, or if, without necessarily being a transmitter, he or she has something truly momentous to say, we may have a problem.  Let us imagine a hypothetical situation in which you announce to a rabid transmitter that your house has just been burnt to the ground and that all your possessions have perished in the fire. You notice the look of blind panic in the transmitter's eyes as he fights to come to terms with what to his way of thinking is a blatant piece of upstaging, but pretty soon he is back on an even keel and regaling you with stories of other fires he has known.

A transmitter is not really happy in the company of other transmitters and a hiking holiday with two transmitters can turn into a perilous undertaking, just as a dialogue between two people specialising in holiness, for example Benedict and Francis, can prove a daunting and tense confrontation.

I myself am by nature and inclination a receiver, but it should not be thought that receivers are in any way "better" than transmitters. A mixture of shyness, innate laziness and slow-wittedness means that I will always prefer someone else to make the running in conversation. Exchanges between receivers can lead to embarrassment just as exchanges between transmitters can lead to conflict.

Fortunately for the harmony of nations, only a small minority of us are pure transmitters or pure receivers. Most of us are transceivers, capable of speaking or listening as the occasion demands, even though we may be naturally drawn towards one or other of the two extremes. I would therefore classify myself today as a transceiver.

Keywords: Transmitter - Receiver - Transceiver

© Barnaby Capel-Dunn / The Lancet