Week 07 - Counterproductive Communication

A presentation at Heritage University at CBC Week 07 in October 2020 in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell

SOWK 486 Fall 2020 Planning: Class 07 — SOWK 486 Fall 2020 Planning: Class 07
Location: Online - Zoom
Time: Monday’s from 5:30-8:15
Week 07: 10/05/20
Topic and Content Area: Counterproductive Communication
Reading Assignment: Hepworth et al. (2017) chapter seven
Assignments Due:
A–02: Asynchronous Class Engagement How I have had counterproductive communication due Sunday 10/11/20 at 11:55 PM via flipgrid
A–03: Reading Quiz for chapter seven is due at 5:30 PM before class via My Heritage
A–04: Theory and Practice Integrative Paper due Friday 10/09/20 at 11:55 PM via My Heritage
Other Important Information: N/A

Big Bang Theory Video Clip — Big Bang Theory Video Clip
[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.

Agenda — Agenda
Nonverbal communication
Verbal communication
Review and practice with some furthering skills
Barriers to communication

Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior — Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior
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:
Attentive listening
Eye contact
Facial expressions
Body positioning
Paraverbal
Verbal
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

Attentive Listening — Attentive Listening
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.

Posture — Posture
Recommended
Arms and hands moderately expressive; appropriate gestures
Body leaning slightly forward; attentive but relaxed
Not Recommended
Rigid body position; arms tightly folded
Body turned at an angle to client
Fidgeting with hands
Squirming or rocking in chair
Leaning back or placing feet on desk
Hand or fingers over mouth
Pointing finger for emphasis

Eye contact — Eye contact
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
Eye contact is important in establishing rapport with clients.
Variability
It is important to remember that eye contact varies among different cultural backgrounds.
Significance
The inability to make eye contact could mean that someone is afraid or insecure, it might also imply disinterest or dishonesty.
On the other hand maintaining constant eye contact can be intimidating or make someone uncomfortable.
Eye contact is a complex nonverbal behavior.

Facial Expressions — Facial Expressions
[Activity] What emotion are each of these facial features expressing?
Like everything in SW, It’s about self evaluation
Not only are are we looking at the facial features or affect of the client, but become aware of our own.
Are our facial expressions corresponding with our other nonverbal behavior and what we are saying?
Facial expressions provide an excellent means of communication.
Facial expressions can be used to reinforce what is said verbally and emphasize the fact that you mean what you say.
We need to be concerned about if we have incongruence and leakage (e.g. feelings about client leaked out)

Facial Expressions — Facial Expressions
For both facial features and eye contact the following are the recommendations based in the Hepworth et al. (2017) text.
Recommended
Direct eye contact (except when culturally proscribed)
Warmth and concern reflected in facial expression
Eyes at same level as client’s
Appropriately varied and animated facial expressions
Mouth relaxed; occasional smiles
Not Recommended
Avoidance of eye contact
Staring or fixating on person or object
Lifting eyebrow critically
Eye level higher or lower than client’s
Nodding head excessively
Yawning
Frozen or rigid facial expressions
Inappropriate slight smile
Pursing or biting lips

Body Positioning — Body Positioning
[Activity] Class participant to demonstrate space. (Clinicians should be at the closer end of social)
Distance
The use of personal space or distance between you and the client is a part of body positioning.
Psychomotor behavior (Body Positioning)
Body movement and positioning also provide information to others.
Being tense or relaxed. This is noted in your body position.
Tension vs. Relaxed Positions
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.
Tension
Extreme tension could convey lack of confidence or excessive nervousness.
It could cause distance between you and the client and they may have a difficult time feeling comfortable or trusting you.
Relaxed
But on the other hand being too relaxed could give the impression that you do not care much about what happens
It could damage your professional credibility.

Physical Proximity — Physical Proximity
Recommended
Three to five feet between chairs
Not recommended
Excessive closeness or distance
Talking across desk or other barrier

Paraverbal Communication — Paraverbal Communication
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.
Tone
Volume
Cadence

Voice — Voice
Recommended
Clearly audible but not loud
Warmth in tone of voice
Voice modulated to reflect nuances of feeling and emotional tone of client messages
Moderate speech tempo
Not Recommended
Mumbling or speaking inaudibly
Monotonic voice
Halting speech
Frequent grammatical errors
Prolonged silences
Excessively animated speech
Slow, rapid, or staccato speech
Nervous laughter
Consistent clearing of throat
Speaking loudly

Verbal Communication — Verbal Communication
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
The client may be using words, phrases, or concepts that are not clear to you.
The client may be saying something vague, and their intent is not what you interpret.
In Environment
Thinking what your going to say next
Phones ringing
Home visits
Children
In Impact
Concerns regarding crisis
Personal problems
Biases

Example of somebody Sharing Intense Feelings — Example of somebody Sharing Intense Feelings
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.

Reflection responses — Reflection responses
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:
Reflection of Content: emphasize the cognitive aspects of client messages, such as situations, ideas, objects, or persons (Hackney & Cormier, 2005).
Reflection of Affect: focus attention on the affective part of the communication (Cormier, Nurius, & Osborn, 2009). In reflections of affect, social workers relate with responses that accurately capture clients’ affect and help them reflect on and sort through their feelings
Sometimes you see things such as paraphrasing, parroting, etc.
Reflection can take the form of the following forms:
Simple reflections, which identify the emotions expressed by the client, are carried over from nondirective, client-centered counseling
Showing up at school that first day sounds like you were very anxious.
Complex reflections go beyond what the client has directly stated or implied, adding substantial meaning or emphasis to convey a more complex picture
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.
Reframing: is another form of adding content. Here, the social worker puts the client’s response in a different light beyond what the client had considered (Moyers et al., 2003)
When you connected people in your support system, it sounds like it helped you feel more comfortable.
The text also talks about
Double-sided reflection
Reflections with a twist
and I don’t want to focus on those today.

Following Skills: Reflective Responding — Following Skills: Reflective Responding
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:
Assign roles to group members. Observer, interviewer, and interviewee.
Pick the topic and have the interviewer guide the conversation, intentionally trying to use some reflective responding.
After 5 minutes, debrief, using the following question (you will have about thee minutes)
How did it feel as the interviewer to use the techniques
How did it feel as the interviewee
What did the observer notice
Switch roles and do it again.

Reactance Theory — Reactance Theory
Brehm (1972) talked about Reactance (well and had been writing about it since the sixties).
Importance of the freedom
Magnitude of threat to freedom
Creates Reactance
Mental Effects: Perceptual or judgmental changes
Behavioral Effects: Opposition, aggression, etc.

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (1 of 4) — Twelve Communication Roadblocks (1 of 4)
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
From 21 hours to 36 hours
Protest about governmental officials in province
People blocking the road, throwing rocks, and painting vehicles
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.

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (2 of 4) — Twelve Communication Roadblocks (2 of 4)
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.
Ordering, directing, commanding
Warning, admonishing, threatening
Exhorting, moralizing, preaching
Advising and giving solutions or suggestions
Lecturing, teaching, giving logical arguments
Judging, criticizing, disagreeing, blaming
-> For information sake, the 7 roadblocks described by Hepworth
Reassuring, sympathizing, consoling, or excusing
Advising and giving suggestions or solutions prematurely
Using sarcasm or employing humor that is distracting or makes light of clients’ problems
Judging, criticizing, or placing blame
Trying to convince the client about the right point of view through logical arguments, lecturing, instructing, or arguing
Analyzing, diagnosing, or making glib or dogmatic interpretations
Threatening, warning, or counterattacking

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (3 of 4) — Twelve Communication Roadblocks (3 of 4)
Twelve Communication Roadblocks (3 of 4)
Praising, agreeing
Name calling, ridiculing, shaming
Interpreting, analyzing, diagnosing
Reassuring, sympathizing, consoling, supporting
Probing, questioning, interrogating
Withdrawing, distracting, humoring, diverting
[Discussion] Do we ever do any of these?

Lorem Ipsum Dolor TWELVE COMMUNICATION ROADBLOCKS

Safe Topics — Safe Topics
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.
Discussion of “safe” topics may be utilized to help children or adolescents lower their defenses and risk increasing openness, thereby assisting social workers to cultivate a quasi-friend role with such clients.
Brief discussion of safe topics may be appropriate:
Getting acquainted phase
Warm-up period of sessions (can be culturally relevant)

Jacob Campbell
@campjacob

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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:

Nonverbal communication
Verbal communication
Review and practice with some furthering skills
Barriers to communication