This week, I evaluated myself as a
communicator by learning about my listening style, communication anxiety, and
verbal aggressiveness. I then compared
my personal view to that of my mother and a personal friend. While all three of us scored me the same on
my listening style and verbal aggressiveness, I was surprised that both my
friend and mom scored me about the same on my communication anxiety. I scored myself at a 53, which is considered
moderate. My mom and friend scored me at
a 35 and 38, which is fairly mild. I
guess this is can be a good thing because I can obviously hide my anxiety.
After reading our text this week,
I realized that the thoughts I have about myself are a combination of my
self-concept (knowledge of myself), my self-esteem (feelings about myself), and
my self-efficacy (prediction of success for myself). Before reading this, I never really thought about the fact that I
do insert my feelings of success into how I view myself. There are times where I think about my past mistakes or I let insecurities creep in and I starting having bad thoughts about myself. It is after I think about my accomplishments that I begin to feel better about myself. That all makes sense now.
Our text also provided another
insight about communication this week: “we are more willing to interact in
situations where we feel we have strengths, and our self concept is confirmed
or changed by responses from others” (O’Hair & Wienmann, 2012, p. 63). I admit that there are situations where I
completely clam up and do not want to talk or I am intimidated and feel very
nervous to speak. This explains why I have these feelings and why there are situations in which I would speak up and some I wouldn't.
Melinda,
ReplyDeleteI know there are times when I have been very nervous for training large groups and have been given feedback that I did wonderful and look to have no nerves what so ever. I think good speakers and trainers have the ability to hide or mask nerves. I tend to be nervous before the start of training and then the nerves wear off shortly into it. I agree with you that the thought of past accomplishments helps in the aide of future accomplishments. It boasts our self-esteem.
I have never had the opportunity to speak in front of a group of people and not looking forward for it. I hate speaking in public and it showed in my undergraduate course in communication where I received a C in the class. I found myself communicating more comfortably with children then adults. I get so nervous when I speak to adult one to one basic. With that said I agree with you when you stated “we are more willing to interact in situations where we feel we have strengths, and our self concept is confirmed or changed by responses from others” (O’Hair & Wienmann, 2012, p. 63).
ReplyDeleteYes, of course we are more active communicators in settings where we feel very comfortable. However, I can't help but think of times or settings where I did not do a good enough job of reading the situation and have put my foot in the mouth! In my last job I did a lot of public speaking and I think that helped to increase my comfort level in that role. I think it is like anything else in life, the more often you practice, the better you become.
ReplyDeleteHi Melinda,
ReplyDeleteEnjoying reading you blog! My coworker and I evaluated myself about the same, however my cousin was different except for the Listening Style. However, I do not agree with some of the results. I believe I am a great communicator and I am great with building relationships.