Approaches to the Definition of Communication Competency in Psychology
The phenomenon of communication competency, as well as its structure is characterized by ambiguity and multiplicity of interpretations. This is connected with the fact that this concept is the object of analysis of various sciences: psychology, pedagogy, linguistics, sociology and others. The term itself emerged to describe the issues of effectiveness of communication and speech activity. The interdisciplinary nature of this phenomenon indicates the natural interest of scientists to the problem of communication effectiveness. However, researchers from various fields of scientific knowledge put emphasis on different aspects of the phenomenon of communication competency, which causes difficulties with the definition of its concept.The aim of the article is to clarify and operationalize the concept of communication competency within psychology.Material and methods. The material of the study was the works of domestic and foreign authors, devoted to the phenomenon of communication competency. The method of theoretical analysis and the comparative method were used as research methods.Findings and their discussion. The article presents a theoretical review of approaches to defining the concept of communication competency in psychological and pedagogical research. It is possible to distinguish two most different from each other approaches to the understanding of the phenomenon: situational and dispositional. The situational approach considers communication competency as a subjective impression of the effectiveness and appropriateness of communicative behavior of the communicant in a particular situation. In the dispositional approach communication competency is understood as an integrative, relatively stable psychological formation or personal quality that contributes to the achievement of the subject's communicative goals.Conclusion. Communication competency is appropriate to consider in terms of capacities, as it has a more dynamic nature than personal qualities and traits. This phenomenon can be defined as follows: communication competency is formed on the basis of communicative capacities integrative system of knowledge and skills in the field of interpersonal interaction, which provides situational flexibility and adaptability of communicative behavior of the subject and contribute to the achievement of their communicative purposes.