My blog post this week
focuses on my communication skills. The
purpose of this blog is to disclose myself to you, my readers, so that you will
know a little more about me and how I communicate. “When you reveal yourself to others by
sharing information about yourself, you engage in self-disclosure.” (O’Hair and Wiemann, 2012, p. 56) Therefore
today, I am disclosing the results of the three screenings I took that rated my
communication anxiety, listening style and verbal aggressiveness. I am also disclosing how my son and boyfriend’s
daughter rated me as they completed the same screenings to determine how others
viewed me and how I communicate with others.
To my surprise, all
results of the screenings fell within the same perimeters. I was expecting my son to rate higher for the
verbal aggressiveness since I seem to have to yell at him more now that he
feels he is grown and can make his own decisions or not listen to what I have
to say.
However, I was more
surprised to learn that my boyfriend’s daughter had the same exact results as
my son on all three screenings. But in
the end, they both rated me the same as I rated myself.
The results showed that I
have a mild level of communication anxiety.
I completely agree with this result because I am used to public speaking
and having conversations with people; including those that I have just
met. However, I do feel nervous sometimes when I have to speak publicly as the man in the picture above is feeling. I always want others to understand what I am saying so I often feel uncomfortable until I start speaking.
The verbal aggressiveness scale
revealed that I have moderate aggression.
I agree with this because I have the ability to communicate when I have
a problem with a situation but not attack the person in which I disagree with
in a situation. I basically present the
facts of the situation and stand my ground on what is right without making the
person feel that I am personally attacking them. I chose the picture above because as an Early Childhood professional, we must make sure that we do not verbally attack the children although we might not be happy with their behavior.
My listen style showed that I was a
people-oriented listener. I am very
empathetic and that helps me build relationships easily. However, I can be very trusting and have a
poor judgment of others. I have had many
situations in which this has proven to be true.
I also declare that I will change but I never do and therefore I become
hurt by the untruthful actions of others.
Resource
O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction (2nd Ed.). New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.
Janine,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading your posts!!! I feel the same as you when it came to other's perception of my communication skills. It is amazing how we judge our own communication skills more harass than others. Thank you for sharing your post.
Chere'e
Great thoughtful post! And thank you for suggesting that my husband give me specific examples of when I am too aggressive, I think it should work at lessening my verbal aggressiveness. You give many examples of how effective you are at communicating. I commend you on having even communication skills across the board (everyone including yourself rating you the same) Great post, keep up the hard work!
ReplyDeleteHey Janine,
ReplyDeleteI love those pictures in illustrations of the ideas that your verbal is explaining. The anxiety man in the picture demonstrates the feeling sometime when your start a public speaking. The verbal aggressive teacher in the picture reminds us as professional we should never attack children verbally. You did a great job that discloses whom you are as a communicator. Thanks for sharing.
Janine,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how you shared your results on the evaluations. The pictures and illustrations are a good representation of how your style reflects your personality and communication style. I also chose my son and he evaluated me the same as I evaluated myself. I was surprised also, we disagree a lot and it is usually based on listening to each other. I think that is a given when they are 17 and teenagers, mom's are always wrong. I agree with what you said to on how a self screening or evaluation can tell us so much about ourselves. Self reflection is important and I think these evaluations did that. Melissa
Hi Janine!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post!! I too was evaluated as a people oriented listener. I am empathetic sometimes to my own demise. This is the area I will be working on for myself. I love all of your pictures and I can really relate to the way our older children perceive us as a little more aggressive communicators than others. I shared that my two older children would probably evaluate my communication skills as very aggressive when they were growing up however, my two younger children probably perceive my communication skills as being more mild.
Thank you for another great post!
Berdetta