Self in Communication & Listening

Self in Communication & Listening

SPH 106

Chapters 3 & 4

The Self and Perception

Who you are and how you see yourself influence not only the way you communicate but how you respond to other.

Self in Communication

Course objectives

Today we will see how self-awareness and listening influence communication. Module 1 Journal Assignment

Your self concept influences how you perceive people from other cultures.

Think of a time you misread someone because of cultural or personal differences. What happened?

Listening with cultural sensitivity often determines whether communication succeeds or fails.

Were you actively listening across cultural differences or relying on assumptions?

The Self in Communication

How do we develop our self concept?

Others image of you. Looking glass self - the image of yourself that others reveal to you through the way they communicate with you. Comparisons with others. Cultural teachings Self-interpretations (your reconstruction of the incident and your understanding of it) and self-evaluations (the value - good or bad - that you place on the behavior.

Self-Awareness

Johari Window

Represents all the information, behaviors, attitudes and feelings about yourself that you know and that others also know.

Represents knowledge about you that others have but you do not.

Open Self

Blind Self

Represents all of the knowledge you have of yourself but keep secret from others.

Represents those parts of yourself that neither you nor others know.

Unknown Self

Hidden Self

Self in Communication

How to we grow in Self-Awareness

How to be more self-aware

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Think about when you describe your journal experience, think about what part of your "self" you were showing, hiding or blind to.

Self in Communication

Perception Process

When analyzing your interculutral moment, ask: Was I perceiving fairly or through bias/enthnocentrism?

Interpretation

Selective Attention & Selective Exposure

Organization

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Stage 1 in the perception process is Stimulation where selective attention and selective exposure occur. Think about how we use our senses to hear and see what we want to in order to fit the narrative we believe.

Stages 3,4 & 5 in perception formation include Interpretation/Evaluation, Memor & Recall Meaning is filtered by culture and assumptions.

Stage 2 is Organization: using shortcuts, but can reinforce stereotypes. We use schemas and scripts to paint the picture of how we want to see things/people.

Listening & Distractions

Stages of the Listening Process

Receiving (Hearing, Attending)

Remembering (recalling, retaining)

Responding

Evaluating

Understanding (decoding)

Benefits to Listening:

Learning, Relating, Influencing & Helping

Listening & Culture

Be mindful that cultural display rules may shape your interactions and how you listen.

Display Rules - govern what nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to indicate attentive listening. Language and Speech - different variations in meanings and accent influence listening process. Feedback - should be interpreted culturally. Gender differences - rapport vs report talk. Women are more likely to provide listening cues than men.

Empathetic & Active Listening

Polite Listening. People believe that politness is the exclusive right of the speaker, but we know this is not true. Avoid interupting the speaker. Give supporitive listening cues that show empathy. Maintain eye contact and avoid using the cell phone where not appropriate.

Active listening is the process of sending back to the speaker what you as a listener think the speaker meant, both in content and in feelings. This technique allows you to paraphrase the speaker's meaning. Express understandin of their feelings and ask questions for understanding.

Empathetic listening focuses on understanding thoughts and feelings. The ability to feel what others feel and see thw world as they see it. Objective listening: measure against reality.

Do you have questions?

This week's journal assignment asks you to connect these concepts - self awareness, perception and listening - to your own cultural experience.

1. Describe the interaction. 2. Analyze it using three intercultural principles. 3. Reflect on your self-awarness

5. Responding

This is answering and giving feedback through both verbal and nonverbal communication - backchanneling cues.

2. Understanding

This is when you try to relate new information to old to make that connection. See the speaker's message from the speaker's point of view; avoid judging incomplete messages. Ask questions for clarification and paraphrase the speaker's ideas.

3. Remembering

Focus on the main idea - and the major support. Try to summarize the message in your own words and repeat names and key concepts aloud. Ask questions when in doubt.

4. Evaluating

This is when you decide if you agree or disagree with the message. Resist evaluation until you full understand the speaker's point of view. Assume goodwill of the speaker. Distinguish between facts and opinions or inferences and identify any biases, self-interests or prejudices.

1. Receiving

It's important to focus attention on the speaker's verbal and nonverbal messages. Look for feedback and avoid distranctions in the environment. Maintain your role as listening until the speaker is finished.

Selective Attention

• you attend to those things that you anticiapte will fulfill your needs or will prove enjoyable.

Selective Exposure

• you tend to expose yourself to information that will confirm your existing beliefs, that will contribue to your objectives or that will prove satisfying in some way.

Grow in Self-Awareness

• Listen to others.
• Increase your open self. By doing this, often others will reveal more about you.
• Seek information about yourself. In moderation.
• Dialogue with yourself.

Stage 2: Organization

Scripts

Schema

Mental template or structures that help you organize information. Groups of people (Religion, Politics, Careers)

Type of schema; organized body of information that includes an action, event or procedures that provices an idea of how a specific event should unfold.

Recall

• You recall information that is consistent with your schema.
• You fail to recall information that is inconsistent with your schema.
• You recall information only when it drastically contradicts your schema.