Sunday, September 30, 2012

Communication Style

As I learned more about myself as a communicator it was surprising to learn that others scored me within the same range. I scored myself to have moderate communication anxiety, moderate verbal aggression and as a people-oriented listener. As I used my mother and a colleague, they scored me to have mild communication anxiety, moderate verbal aggression and as a people-oriented listener. I feel that I was scored less by my mother and colleague as they are unaware of the physical anxiety that I experience when I communicate with others; such as my heart pounding and I also begin to break out in hives. This usually happens when I speak in front of a large group of people. As I communicate better in one-on-one situations and in small groups.

Also, as I learned more about communication this week the communication aspects that I found most interesting are that our self-concept affects how we communicate and interact with other. I have been able to realize the value of self-concept. Considering the discussion assignment, I was surprised to see how much of the things that I identify with I instantly attributed to someone else just based from a picture. Another insight, that will assist me in both my professional and personal life is self-efficacy. Which is the predicting one's success based on one's self-concept and self-esteem (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). Self-efficacy also plays a vital part in communication with others as it assists with choosing how one will communicate. Using these two communication methods will better assist me personally and professionally by allowing me to remain mindful of myself and how I behave during communication with others.

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

2 comments:

  1. I also found it interesting that our self-concept affects the way we communicate. I was aware that self-esteem would play a role in how much confidence you have when communicating but never gave any thought to how self-concept played a role. I am learning a lot about communication and myself during this course.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Before this course I had not realized that self-concept played such a large role in how we communicate, though self-efficacy made sense to me (particularly the self-fulfilling prophecy) as I have observed that in interactions between adults and children- if children hear negative messages from adults often enough they seem to "grow" into those negative messages- it is very sad! I think it is important to always keep in mind these two concepts when thinking of ourselves and others, so we can foster strong communication skills within ourselves and the children we work with. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete