Communication (U2)

Question 1

What did St. Thomas Aquinas note about communication?

Answer 1

Essential to all social relations, uniting us to a common end (universal love of God)
- Crucial for all relationships because of our desire to be loved/need to express ourselves
- Important part of being Christian

Question 2

What is the importance of communication?

Answer 2

Controls all aspects of our lives
- Helps us succeed in all parts of our lives (ex. friendships, careers)
- Central to moral consideration
- Ability communicate with others impact ability to connect with others

Question 3

Considerations for communication?

Answer 3

Good communication is not simple, layers to it that should be understood and it can be improved

Question 4

What are aspects of communication?

Answer 4

Exchange of ideas/feelings/meaning between people
- Listening, body language, words, tone
- 70% body language, 20% tone, 10% verbal

Question 5

Roadblocks to good communication?

Answer 5

Self-protection, win-lose attitude, stereotyping and judging, ‘you’ message

Question 6

What is self-protection?

Answer 6

Insisting on seeing evidence that communication will involve no risk before we attempt to relate to another person.
- Due to fear of how we will be seen, which often leads to self-fulfilling prophecies.
- People stop communicating

Question 7

What is a win-lose argument?

Answer 7

Being right becomes more important than understanding or relating. Communication is seen as competitive. We use conversation to establish that we are superior.

Question 8

What is stereotyping and judging?

Answer 8

Any statement which puts someone into a role or category denies their dignity as a Individual. Stereotyping disregards the person’s individuality and judges him/her on the basis of preconceived ideas.

Question 9

What is a ‘you’ message?

Answer 9

Tend to imply negative judgments of the other person they seem to want to annoy and/or anger the other Eg. You should listen more carefully “your messages force people to defend themselves.

Question 10

What are the good avenues to good communication?

Answer 10

Trust, hope, acceptance, and ‘I’ message

Question 11

What is trust? (good communication)

Answer 11

We act on the assumption that the other person will not hurt us or disappoint us we do not demand evidence that the other person is trustworthy and will not let us down

Question 12

What is hope? (good communication)

Answer 12

We enter into a conversation with someone because we hope it will have a desirable outcome we don’t however know what the outcome will be

Question 13

What is acceptance? (good communication)

Answer 13

We need to accept people as they are, in all their uniqueness and specialness

Question 14

What is ‘I’ message? (good communication)

Answer 14

State observation, feeling, thoughts and wishes they express the speaker’s concern, but they leave the other person free to respond

Question 15

How to resolve conflicts?

Answer 15

Golden rule, go to the source, get the facts straight, take a problem solving approach