This week, I took the Communication Anxiety Inventory, Verbal Aggressiveness Scale,
and Listening Styles Profile. I scored moderately one the first two scales. The scores were 61 for communication anxiety and 64 for verbal agressiveness. I was categorized in group one for listening styles. This information showed me that I was a people person. I am a moderately anxious during speaking, and I moderately agressive. I agreed with these results because I tend to be mildly anxious when speaking in public and I do not like agression.
After reviewing the reactions and responses of my two participants, I was shocked that they both scored me high in aggression and low in anxiety. They perceive me as a strong speaker who is willing to speak her mind. However, this is not how I perceive myself. I found it odd that they rated me high on the agression scale. This showed me that I may be more agressive than I thought.
I will use this information for my personal and professional development. I like being a people oriented speaker. However, I will evaluate my future speeches and conversations for aggression. Based on what I have learned, I may be more aggressive in my personal life due to my level of comfort with friends and family. However, I am well aware that I am anxious when speaking in professional settings.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteYou sounded like me. I love your honesty about the view others hold about your communication style. It is possible to be aggressive without us knowing the extent to which it affects other people. In our attempt to be frank and say the truth, we may be sounding aggressive and most people are uncomfortable with that. This was my experience with my friends and co-workers. Communication is a skill and learning to do it the right way is a major key to our success as early childhood professionals. I believe this course and the exercise is putting us on the ladder to becoming efficient and good communicators.
Hi Debra,
ReplyDeleteBeing comfortable with who you are speaking to can affect how you react to them and you are right you could come across differently with those you know well than with those who know you only in work situations. It is good that you know that you get anxious when you are speaking in a professional setting because this will help you to prepare more and emphasize on the areas that you know well and are passionate about. I find that when I do this I forget about my anxiety and speak from the heart.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised at the confidence my husband and friend had about me speaking in public. Their views of my aggression were also slightly higher than my self- assessment. This was an area I identified some needs of improvement. This was a very interesting survey to see how the people in my life view me as a communicator. Overall, I was pleased with the results and for the most part I agreed with the results.
When I was asking others to do this questionnaire for me I was worried about this happening but I think even just the thought that they might perceive me as aggressive was enough to get me to reflect. Although this information may have been shocking for you to hear, it sounds like you really have the intention of continuing to be honest (which is always good) but to maybe be more aware of the context. I think that is such a wonderful achievement in that you are really open to the feedback that you receive.
ReplyDeleteDebra,
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to see how others viewed you. I also perceived myself differently from how my others respondents viewed me. In the area of verbal aggression my husband viewed me as having no aggression where as my girlfriend and I saw me as one with moderate aggression. I think the varying results is attributed to the different type of encounters that occur in various environments.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone realized that the more comfortable we are around others, the more aggressive we tend to be.