In the development approach communications are viewed as existing on a perpetuity ranging from impersonal at one end to intimate at the other. Interpersonal communication occupies a broad area on this continuum. Interpersonal communication is distinguished from impersonal communication by three factors. In interpersonal interactions, people base their predictions about each other, on psychological data that is, the ways in which a person differs from the members of his or her group. In impersonal event counters, people respond to each other chiefly as members of the class or group to which each belongs. Initially you respond to a particular college professor as you respond to college professor in general. Similarly the college professor responds to you as he or she responds to students generally. As your relationship becomes more personal, however, both of you begin to respond to each other not as members of groups' but as unique individuals. Put differently, in impersonal encounters, the social or cultural role of person governs your interaction, while in personal or interpersonal encounters; the psychological uniqueness of the person tells you how to interact. This general move from social data to psychological data is true in the U.S.A and in most European countries
