The difference between communication and interaction is that of response,reply and reciprocity too. In communication,the receiver may or may not respond,whereas in interaction,there is requirement of a response for it to be an 'inter'-action.

Please find an excerpt from some reference material I had and some attached.

Social Interaction is when two or more players have two-way communication between each other, i.e., the other players can respond to the individual player's communication.

Social interaction emerges from social processes

Social Interaction in Everyday Life 

A. Social Structure: Guides human behavior rather than rigidly determining it 

1. A collective reality that exists apart from individuals, constructing the 

context in which people interact. 

2. Social System: An arrangement of relationships existing apart from the specific people involved.

 Social Interaction: the process by which people act and react in relation to 

others 

1. Acts people perform toward each other and the responses they give in 

return. 

2. Personal Agency: The Ability to have an effect on one's own environment 

3. Interaction process: Ways in which partners agree on their goals, 

negotiate behavior, and distribute resources 

4. Social interaction includes a large number of behaviors, so many that in 

sociology interaction is usually divided into five categories

5. Types of Social Interaction 

a. Exchange: The process in which people transfer goods, services, and 

other items with each other. 

• Exchange is a social process whereby social behavior is exchanged 

for some type of reward for equal or greater value. 

b. Competition: Process by which two or more people/groups attempt to 

obtain the same goal 

• Scarce resources are unequally distributed. 

• This concept is very familiar and important to Americans 

considering the idea of competition is built in to our economy and 

society 

• Yet, the jury is still out whether this competition produces the 

assumed results of the “best rising to the top” 

c. Cooperation: The process in which people work together to achieved 

shared goals 

• Usually this involves the giving up of individual goals for group 

goals 

d. Conflict: The process by which people attempt to physically or 

socially conquer each other. 

• Although war is the most obvious example of this, this is done 

most often in social situations (ex. politics, threats, etc.) 

e. Coercion: Process by which people compel other people to do 

something against their will – based ultimately on force. 

• The state usually handles this through official means (police, army, 

etc.) but individuals use it in social situations as well (parents, 

friends, lovers – sex) 

f. No one type of interaction describes social reality – it involves a mix 

and match of different ones.

http://km.meme.hokudai.ac.jp/people/jantke/DigitalGamesResearch/Bjoerk_and_Holopainen_Patterns_of_Game_Design/collection/Alphabetical_Patterns/SocialInteraction.htm

The three elements are important in the process of communication: the sender, the recipient and the communique which is build in common language. In the social interaction two (or more) people could interact without communication (f.e. because of different languages or because of the lack of consciousness or other reasons)

Thank you dear Aleksander, regarding to this view point, communication is kind of social interaction (SI). Moreover, it can be concluded that there is no difference between SI and communication if SI among individuals execute in a context with common language. Am I right?

Thank you Dear Martina

Dear Moradi,

In my perception, communication, and social interaction they are very close , or have similarities  The separating them , however , is the fact that communication involves the transmission of information, while the social interaction does not reach this level , remaining even in the data field.

Beharng, if you are writing a paper, I recommend that you define Social Interaction (SI). Martina is correct: we cannot not communicate. We are always communicating with others: intentionally, unintentionally, verbally, non-verbally, and through our five senses. BUT, if for example a Teacher-Student interaction is not considered an SI, then you could start to distinguish between communication and social interaction. This would connect directly to the axioms that communication is contextual and always involves content plus relationship.

I hope this is helpful.

Dear Osmar and Dear Fiona, Thank you very much for your replies. So communication can be considered as an umbrella concept.

Best regards 

Behrang,

     Fiona Prince gave a good distinction which I agree with. 

Mary Donohue

Dear Mary, Thank you for your reply.

Best regards

It is impossible any kind of social interaction between two or more individuals (whether of the same or different species), if among them does not exist some kind of verbal or nonverbal communication.

Therefore, if two or more people do not share the same verbal communication (the same language), the only way they can interact with each other is to share some other type of communication, called "non-verbal" (gestures, movements, grunts, etc.).

A good example of this is the Jean Jacques Annaud film "Quest for Fire", in which different species of the "homo" genre are able to communicate with each other without a common language to all of them.

Hi dear Ian

Thank you very much for your reply. It helps me a lot.

Best regards

Dear Dámaso

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. So there are two kind of SI, 1) SI among individuals with verbal communication and 2) SI among individuals with non-verbal communication

 The question, I think, should be stated as follows:

The process of social interaction is unique.

The basic mechanism whereby this process may occur is communication.

Communication can use verbal codes (subject to semantic and syntactic rules, and specifics of the humankind) or nonverbal codes (other types of codes, shared by many animal species).

Social interactions can occur through verbal communication; nonverbal communication; and, what it is more common (referring to the case of humans), combining both types of codes.

Dear Dámaso

Once again, thank you very much. It is a very good point.

Best regards

An interview is both a communication and a social interaction. But what can be said when the interviewer and interviewee speak different languages requiring an interpreter/translator?

Dear Cara

Nonverbal communication is used to express and communicate thoughts, feelings, and emotions, to establish and maintain relationships, and to influence others (Ambadi, N & Rosenthal, R, 1998); And social interaction is included all acts, actions, and practices that implicate more than two agents and influence or take account of other agents’ activities, experiences, or knowledge states (Nguyen & Katarzyniak, 2008). So, I think in the situation that you explained, this interview is social interaction through non-verbal communication.

Regards

Dear Behrang

Thanks for your definition of the interview that I described - "social interaction through non-verbal communication". Can you also explain the ethics of such an interaction in the medical research context?

I'm sorry to disagree with the statement made by Mr. Behrang, but the case brought by Ms. Jeppe remains an interaction based on both types of communication (verbal and nonverbal).

The only difference in the case under examination is that, according to the "Mathematical Model of Communication" proposed by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949), the source and the transmitter, and the receiver and the destination (recipient) of verbal communication are different people.

Thus, the effects of social interaction on the behavior of the parties involved in the process (interviewer and interviewee) should be caused both by a mechanism of direct non-verbal communication between them as by a verbal communication mechanism "mediated" by the interpreters/translators.

Thank you very much dear Dr. Dámaso for your comment.

Dear Cara, I am sorry because I don't have any idea regarding ethics of such an interaction in the medical research context. please refer to what Dr. Dámaso explained. He is an expert person in this field.

Best regards

The difference between communication and interaction is that of response,reply and reciprocity too. In communication,the receiver may or may not respond,whereas in interaction,there is requirement of a response for it to be an 'inter'-action.

Please find an excerpt from some reference material I had and some attached.

Social Interaction is when two or more players have two-way communication between each other, i.e., the other players can respond to the individual player's communication.

Social interaction emerges from social processes

Social Interaction in Everyday Life 

A. Social Structure: Guides human behavior rather than rigidly determining it 

1. A collective reality that exists apart from individuals, constructing the 

context in which people interact. 

2. Social System: An arrangement of relationships existing apart from the specific people involved.

 Social Interaction: the process by which people act and react in relation to 

others 

1. Acts people perform toward each other and the responses they give in 

return. 

2. Personal Agency: The Ability to have an effect on one's own environment 

3. Interaction process: Ways in which partners agree on their goals, 

negotiate behavior, and distribute resources 

4. Social interaction includes a large number of behaviors, so many that in 

sociology interaction is usually divided into five categories

5. Types of Social Interaction 

a. Exchange: The process in which people transfer goods, services, and 

other items with each other. 

• Exchange is a social process whereby social behavior is exchanged 

for some type of reward for equal or greater value. 

b. Competition: Process by which two or more people/groups attempt to 

obtain the same goal 

• Scarce resources are unequally distributed. 

• This concept is very familiar and important to Americans 

considering the idea of competition is built in to our economy and 

society 

• Yet, the jury is still out whether this competition produces the 

assumed results of the “best rising to the top” 

c. Cooperation: The process in which people work together to achieved 

shared goals 

• Usually this involves the giving up of individual goals for group 

goals 

d. Conflict: The process by which people attempt to physically or 

socially conquer each other. 

• Although war is the most obvious example of this, this is done 

most often in social situations (ex. politics, threats, etc.) 

e. Coercion: Process by which people compel other people to do 

something against their will – based ultimately on force. 

• The state usually handles this through official means (police, army, 

etc.) but individuals use it in social situations as well (parents, 

friends, lovers – sex) 

f. No one type of interaction describes social reality – it involves a mix 

and match of different ones.

http://km.meme.hokudai.ac.jp/people/jantke/DigitalGamesResearch/Bjoerk_and_Holopainen_Patterns_of_Game_Design/collection/Alphabetical_Patterns/SocialInteraction.htm

Thank you very much dear Sumitra.

Best regards

I think that social interaction is a richer phenomenon than communication. Moreover it may take place even without direct communication. Let us look at definition here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relation : "In social science, a social relation or social interaction is any relationship between two or more individuals." Clearly, not only communication. Sumitra was correct in her examples, but definitions can vary.

Although economics is a part of social sciences, I would consider social interaction apart from economic transaction. But even if we include economic transaction, it may take place without direct communication. Like I give money to a person speaking different language and show what good I want to buy. Maybe it is called non-verbal communication.

Clearly, social interactions include some actions between two (or more) individuals that may differ from communication. It can be a conflict (not necessarily direct fight but maybe economic competition of two rivals) or joint action (like visiting dance party). In both cases people may even not see each other but interact via intermediaries (consumers of joint friends who will later tell then something).

Social interaction often takes form as an externality. Suppose somebody has spilled cola on a floor of a train; I do not know and even have not seen him, but  feel discomfort. Or when somebody is smoking when I hate this.