COMMUNICATION CLIMATE
Communication climate refers to the social tone of a relationship and involves the
way people feel about each other as they carry out activities. Communication
climates develop by the degree to which people see themselves as valued.
(A) Confirming communication refers to the three positive types of messages that
have the best chance of being perceived as confirming.
1. Recognition is the most fundamental act of confirmation, to recognize the
other person.
2. Acknowledging the ideas and feelings of others is a stronger form of
confirmation than simple recognition.
3. Endorsement means you agree with the speaker and is the highest form of
confirming.
(B) Disagreeing messages lie between confirming and disconfirming and
communicate that the other person is wrong; there are three types of
disagreement.
1. Argumentativeness is presenting and defending positions on issues while
attacking positions taken by others.
2. Complaining is a way to register dissatisfaction without arguing.
3. Aggressiveness is the most destructive way to disagree with another person.
(C) Disconfirming communication dismisses the value of a person; there are seven
types of disconfirming response.
1. Invulnerable responses fail to acknowledge the other person's
communicative attempt.
2. Interrupting responses occur when one person begins to speak before the
other is through making a point.
3. Irrelevant responses are totally unrelated to what the other person was
saying.
4. Tangential responses acknowledge the other person's communication, but
the acknowledgement is used to steer the conversation in a new direction.
5. Impersonal responses are monologues filled with impersonal,
intellectualized, and generalized statements so the speaker never interacts
with the other individual on a personal level.
1
6. Ambiguous responses contain a message with more than one meaning.
7. Incongruous responses contain two messages that seem to deny or
contradict each other, one at the verbal level and one at the nonverbal level.
(D) Defensiveness is the process of protecting our presenting self.
1. Presenting self consists of all of the parts of the image you want
to present to the world.
2. Our face is the side of ourselves we try to project to others.
3. Face-threatening acts are messages that seem to challenge the
image we want to project.
(E)Climate patterns occur, and once a communication climate is formed, it can
take on a life of its own, which can be represented as a spiral.
Creating positive climates can be achieved through the use of strategies that can
increase the odds of expressing yourself in ways that lead to positive relational
climates.
(A) Reducing defensiveness can occur by sending supportive rather than defense-
provoking messages, as explained by Gibb's categories.
1. Description, rather than evaluation, is a way to offer your thoughts,
feelings, and wants without judging the listener.
2. Controlling communication versus problem orientation—Controlling
communication occurs when a sender seems to be imposing a solution on
the receiver with little regard for the receiver's needs or interests, while in
problem orientation, communicators focus on finding a solution that satisfies
both their own needs and those of others involved.
3. Strategy versus spontaneity—Strategy can be used to characterize defense-
arousing messages in which speakers hide their ulterior motives, while
spontaneity contrasts this behavior by being honest with others rather than
manipulating them.
4. Neutrality versus empathy—Neutrality describes a behavior that arouses
defensiveness due to its lack of concern for the welfare of another, while
empathy provides support by accepting another's feelings.
2
5. Superiority versus equality—Patronizing messages are conveyed by people
who feel superior due to possessing more talent or knowledge, and that
irritates receivers, whereas speakers can achieve equality by communicating
that although they may have greater talent in certain areas, they see others as
having just as much worth as themselves.
6. Certainty versus provisionalism—Individuals who insist that they are right
project the defense-arousing behavior of certainty, while provisionalism is
when people may have strong opinions but are willing to acknowledge that
they may not be right.
When offering constructive criticism, there are certain attitudes and skills that are
especially helpful.
1. Check your motives. There are times when telling others what
you think, feel, or want is primarily for your own good, not theirs.
2. Choose a good time. Ideally, it is best to wait for a time or
arrange one when both parties can calmly and rationally discuss the issue of
concern.
3. Buffer negatives with positives using the sandwich method,
which buffers criticism with praise and is effective because it helps the
recipient perceive the comments as constructive and well-intentioned.
4. Follow-up is important to acknowledge positive changes that
resulted from constructive criticism.
To transform a negative climate, there are two alternating ways of reacting to
negative communication.
(A) First, seek more information.
1. Ask for specifics. Request more specific information from the sender.
2. Guess about the specifics. When the critic is unable to provide specific details,
guess at the specifics, asking the critic if your guesses are correct.
3. Paraphrase the speaker's ideas using reflective listening skills; this is
especially good in helping others solve their problems.
4. Ask what the critic wants. If the critic's demand is not obvious, you will need
to do some investigating.
3
5. Ask about the consequences of your behavior to find out exactly what
troublesome consequences your behavior has for the critic.
6. Ask what else is wrong; by asking about other complaints, actual problems
can be uncovered.
(B) Agreeing with the critic is another strategy. There is virtually no situation in
which you cannot honestly accept the other person's point of view and still
maintain your position, as there are several different types of agreement.
1. Agree with the truth when the person's criticism is factually correct.
2. Agree with the positive odds of expression, which brings hidden agendas into
the open for resolution and also helps you become aware of some possibly
previously unconsidered consequences of your actions.
3. Agree in principle, which allows you to accept the principle upon which the
criticism is based and still behave as you have been.
4. Agree with the critic's perception by agreeing with the critic's right to perceive
things their way; you acknowledge the reasonableness of their perceptions
even though you don't agree or wish to change your behavior.