Chapter 7

Self-Concept and Communication

Person to Person

What is self-concept?

Self-concept is your picture of yourself, based on your own perceptions and experiences and on the reactions of others.

Self-concept is difficult to change once it is formed

unless you work hard to change it.

Self-concept is built on

Information from ourselves

Information from others

To explore your perceptions of

yourself, you have to get down to

“Who are you?”

And, to better understand the

factors that make up you, you need to know the needs all people

have.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow

Shows people have to satisfy very basic needs before they can satisfy higher needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Is often depicted as a pyramid.

Shows that needs start with obvious things (ex. food and shelter), then move to higher needs (ex. relationships and fulfillment)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The following slide shows a typical representation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

http://www.timlebon.com/maslow_files/image002.gif

Remember

To be a fully satisfied person, all needs should be met, but you can’t meet the higher level needs until the more basic ones

have been met.

Now is the time to think about your communication

style.

How would you describe your communication

skillswith your family and friends?

How would you describe your communication

skillswith your family and friends?

on a job application?

How would you describe your communication

skillswith your family and friends?

on a job application?to a teacher, counselor or school administrator?

How does your national, racial or religious background

affect your communication?

Very often, people find “parts” of themselves are more important in different situationsat different timeswith different people

Some of the information you have about yourself comes from the way you talk

to yourself.

Intrapersonal communication is self-talk or internal dialogue.

Every time you talk to yourself, you are putting meanings on things based on your past experiences.

Part of your self-concept is based on words you use to describe yourself.

If you think of yourself with a label, you will probably act in a way that communicates that image about yourself.

Sources of Behavior

The way you communicate to other people is through your behavior, which supposedly reflects your values, beliefs, attitudes and feelings.

Sources of Behavior

Values refer to your relatively permanent ideas of what is good or bad, worthless or worthwhile.

Sources of Behavior

You place values on such things as principlesobjectsexperiencespeople

Sources of Behavior

Beliefs refer to what you think is true.

Sources of Behavior

Beliefs may not be based on total logic but may bewhat you wish to believewhat you are taught to believe

what you think ought to be true.

Sources of Behavior

Attitudes refer to more specific applications of values.

Sources of Behavior

Attitudes depend on your values and are demonstrated by your tendency to respond in a particular way.

Sources of Behavior

Feelings refer to your emotional responses to things such aseventspeopleplaces

A receiver can learn about a sender only through the sender’s verbal and nonverbal behavior.

You have to express your feelings or discuss the attitude for another person to know it exists; thus, behavior is the key.

What a receiver “sees” as he or she tries to

understand you. feeling attitude (values and beliefs) behavior

Part of the self-concept you use in your communication experiences depends on how you think others see you.

There are sides of each person that become more or less important in different situations.

Very often other people have a great influence on how you see yourself and how you act.

Usually people change their communication behavior in response to the situation in which they find themselves.

The ability to adapt to change is critical to our communication effectiveness.

As you think of yourself in different roles, you can begin to see how your communication behavior changes due to the feedback of other people.

Individuals and groups of people can affect the way people act in certain situations.

Information from ourselves and information from others can help you to understand yourself as a communicator.