As
O’Hair and Wiemann (2012) explain, your self-concept is “your awareness and
understanding of who you are-as interpreted and influenced by your thoughts,
actions, abilities, values, goals, and ideals” (p.47). Having the opportunity
this week to become more in-tune with my own self-concept has allowed for me to
learn how much harder I am on myself then what others perceive me to be.
After reflecting on the scoring on
verbal aggressiveness, listening styles, and communication anxiety from my
husband, coworker/friend and self, I was surprised how similar our scoring was
with each other’s scores. For verbal aggression and listening styles, each of
the scores indicated I was a people-oriented listener and had moderate verbal aggression.
I guess I felt as if my husband would rate me as more aggressive than my
coworker/friend due to the amount of venting I do sometimes within our
household, yet both found me to maintain a good balance between respect and
other’s viewpoints (Rubin, Palmgreen & Sypher, 2009).
One insight I gained about communication
this week was how different you may perceive yourself in relation to how others
view your communication. For example, in the communication anxiety scores I received,
I scored myself as having moderate anxiety, my husband scored me with mild
anxiety, and my friend/coworker scored me with low anxiety. I was impressed to
find out how I present myself in a more professional and composed state when communicating,
allowing me to hide any fears I may have when communicating across various contexts
(Rubin, Palmgreen & Sypher, 2009). Knowing this information will inform my
professional and personal life as I hope to maintain my communication style
while being able to feel more self-esteem, leading to less personal anxiety and
more confidence in my communication skills.
Another insight I gained this week was
how much of our perception of ourselves influences our communication and listening.
I had not taken into account how much managing my own identities and technology
influences our personal communications. The more I learn about how to reflect
and adapt my communication skills in order to feel more confident in myself, as
well as others, hopefully the more affluent I will become in communicating with
the diverse individuals within our society.
Reference
O'Hair,
D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New
York:
Bedford/St. Martin's.
Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., &
Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures:
A sourcebook. New York: Routledge. Retrieved
from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_communication/index.html.
Becca,
ReplyDeleteThis week's assignment had be very nervous. I was very nervous when asking colleagues to take the questionnaire and use it to rate my communication skills. I am a communicator by nature but did not realize that I rated pretty high on the verbal aggression section. As for my anxiety during communication they both rated me just as I had very low on this. I typically do not have any shyness when going into a meeting, I like to have all of my facts before meeting with anyone and that may lower my anxiety. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, Becca.
ReplyDeleteI like the way this exercise showed you how others perceive you as being more professional and well spoken than you perceive yourself.As I was answering the questions about communication anxiety I found myself thinking about how my current answers are very different from the answers I would have given just a few years ago. A mild level of communication is something I grew into as I gained practice with public speaking. When I was in high school and college I had a very high level of anxiety and would have never thought that I would be comfortable with presenting to an audience of 20 to 100 adults! Realizing how much communication styles and skills can change over time is one of the insights that I have gained this week.
Your insight you gained this week is also something that I gained. It was amazing to see how others view me. Opposite of you, the two friends that I had take the quizzes scored me with high anxiety which was a surprising thing for me to discover. Great post.
ReplyDeleteAloha,
ReplyDeleteI think we all add to our abilities to communicate with a ever so expanding diverse community by using self assessments like the one this week. I enjoyed your post, I too had similar scores from friends and family.