The first most surprising result of the communication evaluations that I took and compared with others' assessments of me came from my brother's evaluation of my level of verbal aggression, "Significant", far above scores from two other evaluators. When he saw the description of the score he earned for me, he became concerned that the assessment was too harsh. Together we reconstructed the test and answers, and he explained his reason for each one, still scoring in the "Significant" range. He then took the test to evaluate his own verbal aggression level, and scored also in the "Significant" range. He believed that the answers he gave did not add up to the description of a significantly aggressive verbal communication style. That his was the only score difference among the evaluators was the first part of the surprise, but that he evaluated himself in the same range as how he evaluated me also caused me to take a closer look at why such a disparity had occurred. I project that the difference in score came from two schemas that were not possessed by the other evaluators; He is a male, and he is a self-employed businessman. I had considered that perhaps I change my communication style to match his when we converse or debate issues, but I believe that the results came from his perception of my verbal style based on his experiences with me as a colleague in business, his business partner schema. The other participants were younger females in non-business roles, and evaluated me almost exactly the same as my personal assessment. Because my current colleagues are mostly younger females in non-business roles, I am unconcerned with being perceived as verbally aggressive. If I return to a business career, or if I have the opportunity to communicate with early childhood education funders who are business people, I may possess an adequately aggressive style to be noticed and heard by men who may perceive aggression in communication with a different schematic lens.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Who Am I as a Communicator?
The first most surprising result of the communication evaluations that I took and compared with others' assessments of me came from my brother's evaluation of my level of verbal aggression, "Significant", far above scores from two other evaluators. When he saw the description of the score he earned for me, he became concerned that the assessment was too harsh. Together we reconstructed the test and answers, and he explained his reason for each one, still scoring in the "Significant" range. He then took the test to evaluate his own verbal aggression level, and scored also in the "Significant" range. He believed that the answers he gave did not add up to the description of a significantly aggressive verbal communication style. That his was the only score difference among the evaluators was the first part of the surprise, but that he evaluated himself in the same range as how he evaluated me also caused me to take a closer look at why such a disparity had occurred. I project that the difference in score came from two schemas that were not possessed by the other evaluators; He is a male, and he is a self-employed businessman. I had considered that perhaps I change my communication style to match his when we converse or debate issues, but I believe that the results came from his perception of my verbal style based on his experiences with me as a colleague in business, his business partner schema. The other participants were younger females in non-business roles, and evaluated me almost exactly the same as my personal assessment. Because my current colleagues are mostly younger females in non-business roles, I am unconcerned with being perceived as verbally aggressive. If I return to a business career, or if I have the opportunity to communicate with early childhood education funders who are business people, I may possess an adequately aggressive style to be noticed and heard by men who may perceive aggression in communication with a different schematic lens.
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I found my verbal aggression somewhat suprising. When I evaluated myself and other women evaluated me the score was about the same. When a male evaluated me he rated me as more verbally aggressive. I think that I may feel that I have to be more verbally aggressive with men to make sure they know I am serious.
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