Bruce Punches set out to write a book that engages students and helps them effectively connect important concepts in interpersonal communication to their daily lives. It’s Interpersonal is the result. Using examples from real students and pop culture, It’s Interpersonal helps students understand key interpersonal communication concepts and connect those concepts to their own lives to improve their interpersonal communication skills. A new learning framework structures every chapter, making it even easier for students to learn and apply concepts and build their skills, while new features in the Norton Illumine Ebook provide low-stakes opportunities for students to check their knowledge and assess their skills.

Highlights of the Second Edition’s new content:

• NEW LAB Learning Framework—Learn, Apply, Build—uses Bloom’s Taxonomy to scaffold concepts in a way that helps your students understand key information before building their own interpersonal communication skills.
• The NEW Norton Illumine Ebook includes Check Your Understanding questions at the end of each section, authored by new lead media author Anthony Cuomo (West Los Angeles College). These multiple-choice questions cover key concepts and reinforce student learning, while low-stakes and reflective interactives give students the chance to assess their IPC skills as part of the LAB framework. Chapters report completion and can be assigned as part of a course grade.
• The Norton Illumine Ebook includes NEW NortonAI, a feature that boosts student engagement and is grounded in It’s Interpersonal’s trusted content. NortonAI uses a powerful generative AI engine with strategic guardrails to support—but not replace!—the process of learning. Features like Smart Highlight rephrase complex ideas or provide helpful examples, and on-demand questions allow students to work through important concepts in a low-stakes practice environment.
• NEW Reflect! prompts encourage students to reflect on their own relationships and communication experiences—and determine what interpersonal strategies they can use in their own lives.
• NEW Part II: Interpersonal Communication in Context is now placed before Part III: Foundations in Interpersonal Communication, helping students understand important and contemporary communication contexts that impact any communication situation—like using technology, celebrating differences, and considering ethics—before they learn more specific interpersonal strategies.
• Updated material reflects the current landscape of interpersonal communication today, including the following: Chapter 3 explores the impact of generative AI on interpersonal communication. Updated research on accents and dialects appears in Chapter 4 and Chapter 7.?? Chapter 4 includes updated and expanded discussions of important concepts like intersectionality and institutional racism.