The papers in this book explore the fundamental skills necessary for communication between individuals and the important benefits which improved communication could contribute to both the teaching and the practice of good clinical and administrative medicine. The papers consist of an analysis of face-to-face communicaton in terms of four systems (verbal system, intonation, paralinguistics, and kinesics) which are used for three types of communication (interaction regulation, interpersonal communication, and representational communication); a consideration of the measurement of communication, focusing on the problem of assessing whether communication has occurred; a discussion of the development and evaluation of an interviewing model and a training procedure for teaching medical students to communicate; an exploration of better doctor-to-patient communications--contributions from social and experimental psychology; and a discussion of persuasive communication--a social psychological perspective on factors influencing communication effectiveness. (JM)