A presentation at Heritage University @ CBC Week 07 in in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell
Week 07: 10/06/21 Content: Counterproductive Communication Reading: Hepworth et al. (2017) chapter seven Due:
[Whole Class Activity] Watch the video clip.
Sheldon uses some counterproductive communication patterns. While, with the relationship that Sheldon has with Penny, he seems to be effective. Today we are spending time talking about some of the what not to do.
How we manage and deal with verbal and non verbal behavior has a lot to do with how we are able to communicate. > [Discussion] Who has seen Lie to Me?
[Activity] Watch Lie to Me Intro video
Lie to Me is not actually exactly accurate, but there is some truth.
Any aspect of a person’s presence that conveys ideas or information without being spoken is nonverbal communication. In communication in general, there are six basic parts of communication:
As we think about these verbal and non verbal aspects, we should also be thinking about this threefold task:
(1) to assess your repetitive nonverbal behaviors (2) to eliminate nonverbal styles that hinder effective communication (3) to sustain and perhaps increase desirable nonverbal behaviors
The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. ~ Fran Lebowitz
Attentive listening implies more than just audio reception of the words that are said. It focuses on comprehending the meaning of what is said. This can be called physical attending.
It takes really focusing on the person that you are talking to.
Recommended
Not Recommended
We don’t want to have no eye contact and we don’t want to have constant eye contact. We want to have moderate eye contact, which is somewhere in between no eye contact and constant eye contact.
Not extremes…
No Eye Contact
Constant Eye Contact
Moderate Eye Contact
Purpose
Variability
Significance
[Activity] What emotion are each of these facial features expressing?
For both facial features and eye contact the following are the recommendations based in the Hepworth et al. (2017) text.
Recommended
Not Recommended
[Activity] Class participant to demonstrate space. (Clinicians should be at the closer end of social)
When working with clients it is important how you present yourself nonverbally.
[Activity] Have a student act out what it might look like to be tense vs. relaxed.
Recommended
Not recommended
Paraverbal communication is the how we say the things we say, not the words we use.
[Discussion] What is each
[Whole Class Activity] “How can I help you?” Have class members repeat the phrase with varying emphasis.
[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”
Recommended
Not Recommended
There can be barriers to verbal communication through the messages we try to send in our verbal communication.
Every time we communicate a message with another person or group of people, there is an intent and an impact. At both of these levels, there can be barriers.
Message
Barriers in …
Intent
Impact
In Intent
In Environment
In Impact
in the LaGravenese (2007) the Freedom Writers this character shares an intense story from his journal. We are going to watch this short video clip and then talk about reflective responding as an activity. I want to use this clip as a way of considering responding
[Whole Class Activity] Watch the video clip
We will often have clients that just share really difficult things such as this. Often there is no best response… and our best response might vary depending. It might be as simple as “thank you for sharing…”
Reference: LaGravenese, R. (2007, January 5). Freedom Writers [Drama]. Paramount Pictures.
One way of responding to a difficult story, such as the freedom writer clip we watch is through reflective responding. Lets talk about what each of these are:
There are two basic types of of reflection:
Sometimes you see things such as paraphrasing, parroting, etc.
Reflection can take the form of the following forms:
Showing up at school that first day sounds like you were very anxious.
Showing up at school that first day it sounds like you were very anxious, but that you had a lot of determination to go regardless.
When you connected people in your support system, it sounds like it helped you feel more comfortable.
The text also talks about
and I don’t want to focus on those today.
I want to spend some time today practicing reflecting responding. You can also be thinking about the other furthering responses in addition to this, but I want you to be thinking specifically about these.
[Small Group Activity] In groups of 3 (maybe four) you will have the opportunity to have a dialog. Talk about any topic that you would like. You will need to be able to talk about the topic for about 5 minutes minimum. It should be something that you are at least somewhat passionate about or has some sort of emotion tied to it. It could be a hobby, an interest, a story. Do the following:
Brehm (1972) talked about Reactance (well and had been writing about it since the sixties).
Creates Reactance
Communication is one area of constant and incremental improvement for everybody. I had an interesting experience when I was living in South America. I had gone down to Lima to get my camera fixed, and on my bus ride I ran into some problems.
Story about trip from Lima to Cusco
Generally our clients don’t throw rocks at us, but our communication, rapport, and ability to work with our clients will be improved when we reduce our roadblocks to effective communication.
Gordon, T (2003) Teacher effectiveness training. First Revised Edition. New York: Three Rivers Press
While Hepworth lays out 7 different road blocks, Gordon (2003) describes 12 different ones. They are all incorporated in parts of the the ones described by the book. I wanted to spend some time discussing these.
[Whole Class Activity] Discuss what each roadblock might look like in communication.
-> For information sake, the 7 roadblocks described by Hepworth
[Discussion] Do we ever do any of these?
[Small Group Activity] Talk with a partner about how you sometimes fall into counter productive communication patters. You do not need to be overly personal, but it is helpful for everybody to recognize that we can improve our communication patterns. Please consider sharing any of the following, you do not have to go though all of the points:
It can be very easy to be in a comfort zone of “safe” topics. These can include social chit chat which tends to foster a social rather than therapeutic relationship.
Brief discussion of safe topics may be appropriate:
Week seven and the topic of counterproductive communication builds on week six, which generally looks at just skills related to communication. Communication happens all of the time, and through both verbal and nonverbal patterns. As social workers, we have an obligation to look at how we are communicating and make an attempt to not be putting up barriers to have communication flow freely. The agenda for class this week is as follows: