Communication creates a sur-plus
The Theodor Schulz von Thun claims among other psychologists, that in communication one plus one equals three.
The oversummativity equation: 1 + 1 = 3
”In every communication, a kind of sur-plus emerges, a momentum that cannot be explained solely by the sum of the contributions of the individual communication partners.”
(Brunner u.a. 1978, S 52)1
There is always a new part which is created by the two unique identities/entities (systems) as soon as they exchange information.
Although Information itself is quantized, one can never know the quality (the benefit, the worth, the impact) of one piece of information. One can never anticipate in which way the new information will change the receiving system.
Footnotes
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”In jeder Kommunikation entsteht eine Art sur-plus, eine Eigendynamik, die nicht nur aus der Summe der Anteile der einzelnen Kommunikationspartner zu erklären ist.” - Brunner et al. (1978) Gestörte Kommunikation in der Schule - Analyse un d Konzept eines Interaktionstrainings ↩