Transcript Lecture 12 student version

Communication Climate
“The social tone of a
relationship.”
“The overall feeling, or
emotional mood, of a
relationship.”
Communication climates are constructed by the types of
messages given and received:
Confirming Messages:
• Recognition – responding to others (e.g.,
eye-contact, returning calls/e-mails, etc.)
• Acknowledgment – showing your interest in
others/attending to them (e.g., listening,
paraphrasing, etc.)
• Endorsement – showing agreement (in
whole or in part) with the other person (e.g.,
praising, nodding, stating your agreement,
etc.)
Disagreeing Messages:
• Argumentativeness – presenting/defending
your position, while arguing against others’
positions
• Complaining – expressing dissatisfaction
with others
• Aggressiveness – actively demeaning the
worth of others (e.g., name-calling, insults,
sarcasm, etc.)
Disconfirming Messages:
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Impervious Response (i.e., not responding)
Interrupting Response (i.e., interrupting)
Irrelevant Response (e.g., unrelated comments)
Tangential Response (i.e., steering the
conversation in a different direction)
• Impersonal Response (abstract, intellectual)
• Ambiguous Response (abstract & confusing)
• Incongruous Response (contradicts itself)
Disagreeing and/or
Disconfirming Messages May
Lead to Defensive Responses
We tend to get defensive when we perceive
ourselves as under attack.
Do we want to attack back, or could we
soothe our wounds and work to create an
attacking-free climate?
We can help others not respond defensively
by helping them to “save face.”
Creating Positive Climates:
Defense-Arousing & Supportive
Communication
Confirming
Disconfirming
Supportive
Defense-arousing
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Description
Problem-Orientation
Spontaneity
Empathy
Equality
Provisionalism
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Evaluation
Control
Strategy
Neutrality
Superiority
Certainty
How to Respond When You’re
Feeling Defensive…
Ask for more information:
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Ask for specifics
Guess about specifics
Paraphrase the other person’s ideas
Ask what the critic wants
Ask about the consequences of your
behavior
• Ask what else is wrong
Agree with the criticisms:
• Agree with the truth
• Agree in principle
• Agree with the other person’s perception