10 Laws of Human Communication

WHS for Health and Safety Committees – NSW Edition

Lesson 3 – Topic 3: The 10 Laws of Human Communication

From: Why don’t people listen? by Hugh Mackay, originally published in 1994: revised and republished
in 2013 as a Macmillan e-book.  Used in this course with permission.

The 10 Laws of Human Communication

By Hugh Mackay, psychologist, sociologist, social researcher, author.  Professor and honorary professor. Australian.

1. First Law of Human Communication:
   It’s not what our message does to the listener, but what the listener does with the message, that determines our success as communicators.
2. Second Law of Human Communication:
   Listeners generally interpret messages in ways which make them feel comfortable and secure.
3. Third Law of Communication:
   When people’s attitudes are attacked head-on, they are likely to defend those attitudes and, in the process, to reinforce them.
4. Fourth Law of Communication:
   People pay most attention to messages which are relevant to their own circumstances and point of view.
5. Fifth Law of Human Communication:
   People who feel insecure in a relationship are unlikely to be good listeners.
6. Sixth Law of Human Communication:
   People are more likely to listen to us if we also listen to them.
7. Seventh Law of Human Communication:
   People are more likely to change in response to a combination of new experience and communication than in response to communication alone.
8. Eighth Law of Human Communication:
   People are more likely to support a change which affects them if they are consulted before the change is made.
9. Ninth Law of Human Communication:
   The message in what is said will be interpreted in the light of “how”, “where” and by “whom” it is said.
10. Tenth Law of Human Communication:
    Lack of self knowledge and an unwillingness to resolve our own internal conflicts make it harder for us to communicate with other people.