Transcript Chapter 7

Chapter 7
Self-Concept and Communication
Person to Person
What is self-concept?
 Self-concept is your picture of
yourself, based on your own
perceptions and experiences
and on the reactions of others.
 Self-concept is difficult to
change once it is formed
unless you work hard to
change it.
Self-concept is built on
 Information from ourselves
 Information from others
 To explore your perceptions
of yourself, you have to get
down to
“Who are you?”
 And, to better understand
the factors that make up
you, you need to know the
needs all people have.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Developed by psychologist
Abraham Maslow
 Shows people have to satisfy
very basic needs before they
can satisfy higher needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Is often depicted as a pyramid.
 Shows that needs start with
obvious things (ex. food and
shelter), then move to higher
needs (ex. relationships and
fulfillment)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The following slide shows a
typical representation of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
http://www.timlebon.com/maslow_files/image002.gif
Remember
To be a fully satisfied
person, all needs should be
met, but you can’t meet the
higher level needs until the
more basic ones have been
met.
 Now is the time to think
about your communication
style.
How would you describe your
communication skills
 with your family and friends?
How would you describe your
communication skills
 with your family and friends?
 on a job application?
How would you describe your
communication skills
 with your family and friends?
 on a job application?
 to a teacher, counselor or
school administrator?
 How does your national,
racial or religious
background affect your
communication?
 Very often, people find “parts”
of themselves are more
important
 in different situations
 at different times
 with different people
 Some of the information you
have about yourself comes
from the way you talk to
yourself.
 Intrapersonal
communication is self-talk
or internal dialogue.
 Every time you talk to
yourself, you are putting
meanings on things based on
your past experiences.
 Part of your self-concept is
based on words you use to
describe yourself.
 If you think of yourself with
a label, you will probably act
in a way that communicates
that image about yourself.
Sources of Behavior
 The way you communicate
to other people is through
your behavior, which
supposedly reflects your
values, beliefs, attitudes and
feelings.
Sources of Behavior
 Values refer to your relatively
permanent ideas of what is
good or bad, worthless or
worthwhile.
Sources of Behavior
 You place values on such
things as
 principles
 objects
 experiences
 people
Sources of Behavior
 Beliefs refer to what you
think is true.
Sources of Behavior
 Beliefs may not be based on
total logic but may be
 what you wish to believe
 what you are taught to believe
 what you think ought to be true.
Sources of Behavior
 Attitudes refer to more
specific applications of
values.
Sources of Behavior
 Attitudes depend on your
values and are demonstrated
by your tendency to respond
in a particular way.
Sources of Behavior
 Feelings refer to your
emotional responses to
things such as
 events
 people
 places
 A receiver can learn about a
sender only through the
sender’s verbal and
nonverbal behavior.
 You have to express your
feelings or discuss the
attitude for another person
to know it exists; thus,
behavior is the key.
What a receiver “sees” as he or
she tries to understand you.
 feeling
 attitude (values and beliefs)
 behavior
 Part of the self-concept you
use in your communication
experiences depends on how
you think others see you.
 There are sides of each
person that become more or
less important in different
situations.
 Very often other people have
a great influence on how you
see yourself and how you
act.
 Usually people change their
communication behavior in
response to the situation in
which they find themselves.
 The ability to adapt to
change is critical to our
communication
effectiveness.
 As you think of yourself in
different roles, you can begin
to see how your
communication behavior
changes due to the feedback
of other people.
 Individuals and groups of
people can affect the way
people act in certain
situations.
 Information from ourselves
and information from others
can help you to understand
yourself as a communicator.