Get to know the principles of effective communication, and how to use them

In conversation analysis, the cooperative principle is the hypothesis that participants in a conversation typically try to be informative, truthful, relevant, and clear. 

The concept was introduced in 1975 by the philosopher Herbert Paul Grice, in one of his articles called “Logic and Conversation”, in which he argued that “talk exchanges” were not a “succession of disconnected remarks”, and would not be rational if they were.

Grice was one of the precursors of the first works related to the science of Pragmatics. The philosopher also suggested that natural communication can inform implicit contents, capable of provoking the violation of one of his conversational maxims that govern the principle of cooperation.

Noting that there is a frequent divergence between the meaning of sentences and the meaning of the utterance and that, therefore, certain utterances communicate much more than the elements that compose them, Grice formulates the notion of implicature, or inferences which are drawn from utterances.

He does not use the term “implication”, but rather the broader notion of “implicature”, since the former can only be provoked by a linguistic expression, while the latter can be provoked by linguistic expressions and by the context or by the speaker’s previous knowledge.

In simple terms, Grice’s maxims of conversation describe principles that people intuitively follow in order to guide their conversations and to make their communicative efforts effective.

The principle of cooperation is based on a general formula and is stated as follows: make your contribution at the required time, aiming for common and immediate purposes, in a consistent way in relation to the established conversational commitments.

There are four main maxims in total, which revolve around the quantity, quality, and relevance of what people say, as well as the manner in which they say it.

What are the four maxims, and how can I use them?

1 – Maxim of quantity (be informative):

The maxim of quantity states that information needs to be supplied in sufficient quantity for the text to be understood. For example, when we invite someone to a party, we must provide the information required for them to attend. What would this information be?

The reason for the party is one aspect. Knowing the reason for the celebration, the guest will be able to choose the right gift, and even decide whether or not they should turn up.

The date and time of the party are important for the guest to update their schedule. The location is also important for the guest to be present and dress accordingly. This procedure is known as cooperative effort.

Your contribution should contain as much information as necessary, and no more. Take advantage of an online diagram tool to help you organize this process.

2 – Maxim of quality (be true):

Grice believed that verbal interactions should only allocate information which is important for the maintenance of this interaction. In this context,  interlocutors are expected to present truthful information.

Therefore, you should look to exclude all falsehoods, and all claims whose veracity you are unsure of. Violation of the quality maxim can adversely affect the final result of the interaction, which will certainly diverge from what was expected. In other words, don’t say anything which you can’t back up with proof.

3 – Maxim of relation (be relevant):

The maxim of relevance – or relation, in Grice’s words – concerns the adequacy of information in the context of each interaction. Interlocutors should be relevant to the conversational event, withhold information which might confuse the reader’s understanding, and be direct when speaking.

Stick to what is relevant to the subject being addressed, and related to its central themes.

4 – Maxim of manner (be clear):

The maxim of manner addresses forms of expressing ideas and information. Interlocutors should use language in a clear, precise, concise and orderly manner, with the aim of achieving understanding over the course of the interaction.

Grice highlights four ways in which the maxim of manner can be violated:

• Obscurity: use of words or expressions which complicate the meaning of the text; which are difficult, technical and unknown and, as a result, incomprehensible to the interlocutor;
• Ambiguity: use of language elements that allow for multiple interpretations, or reference to more than one explanation;
• Verbosity: use of many words to say something very simple, which could be stated more concisely;
• Disorder: placement of information in a non-sequential way, giving the impression that each sentence is unrelated and unorganized.

Violation of principles

In Grice’s model, these maxims may or may not be violated when we construct a text. When we obey these maxims, we are more effective in our conversation and in conveying what we want to communicate to other people. When we don’t, our message risks being misunderstood.

According to Grice, obedience to the maxims is essential for productive communication between individuals in a society, aiming at cooperation between author and reader to obtain a good understanding of the text.

Behind these stated infractions, a whole inferential deductive mechanism is at work. These mechanisms, denominated by Grice as “particularized conversational implications”, refer to the cooperative principle and the maxims mentioned above.

The most important thing to understand about these maxims of conversation is that they are a set of observations which describe how people communicate when they want to be fully understood by others; and you can use the cooperative principle as a guiding tool to make your communication as effective as possible.