The concept of communication style has been defined by Rober Norton as "the way one verbally, nonverbally, and para verbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or understood"(1996.p.229) In this, Norton has identified nine communicator styles. A persons style may be dominant, dramatic, contentious, animated ,impression leaving, relaxed, open, or friendly. These dimensions measure how you interact in various situations. For example, if I speak frequently and try to control the converstaion, you might assume that I am dominant in my communicator style.
In determining my own commuication style I had a questionnaire completed by both a friend, acquaintance , as well as completing one myself. The friend that I chose was my room mate
Ryan Seslow. . Ryan and I have been friends since highschool so he knows me very well. The person that I chose to complete the acquaintance section was my friend Leslie Margasak. Leslie is my girlfriends roommate therefore our communication is somewhat limited. Through the following research and analysis I have created a table (Table:1) that shows the means for my friend aquaitance, and myself.
The summaries and findings in which I calculated provided me with insight of my dominant yet friendly communication style. It also provided me with a different perspective as to how other people interpret my communication habits. For example, the mean for myself on the category "relaxed" scored a 1.3. However, my friends mean was 3.1 and my acquaintance was 5.1. Through the text of Interpersonal Communication, I was able to determine that this fluctuation has to do with the self concept theory. "Self -concept is defined as each person's own subjective view or image of him or herself as a person" (tremont p.213) In my opinion I do not see myself as relaxed(1.3), but my friend does as well as acquaintance. I do not see as relaxed as the others indicated in the table. Usually I feel rather more stressed and even a little nervous rather than relaxed when communicating.
One calculation in which which I noticed to have simmialr realuts was based on the means for being dramtic. I scored high in this category on all three surveys.(see table:1) When a person is classified as dramatic it refers that the person "likes to act out the point physically and vocally. Tells jokes and stories and often eaggerates to make the point.Speech tends to be picturesque" .(willmont,p.230) In my opinion this is an acurate calculation. This is a characterisitic of my communication stly which is both dramatic and firendly. The dramtic side is often seen when I choose to tell a story or when I am in confilct.
There were other noticeable simmilarities which were calculated about my communication style, For example, on "dominant" category the means were all relatively high marks. A dominant person means the person "tends to come on strong, take control of social situations, speak frequently, and otherwise control conversations" (Tremont,p.121) An example of this could be seen through my one-up messages. These are messages which " indicate a desire to take control or limit the action of others"(tremont,P.121). Through my verbal and nonverbal cues I seem to signal to people that I want to take control. This is evident in alll three scores.
Other simmilarities of this analysis were also found in the sub category "perception" Tese simmilaritie were between my friend and aquaitance. The mean in this are all relatively high and although i scored high in this category myself I was surprised that my score was lower than that of Ryan and Leslie. Impression leaving can be explianed as "a person who repeatedly turns a clever phrase or states his/her observations in offbeat ways"(Willmont,p.229) Through this estimation i can see that my dramatic styles of communication are do leave a strong impact and effect on people.
In contrast, there are also noticeable clusters of differences that i noticed. The most noticeable difference between means was on the category "relax" I scored myself relativel low and both Ryan and Leslie scored me low in this means. Relaxed is defined as "calm and collected durring interactin, especially under pressure. The rhythym and flow of speech is rarely affected by feelings of nrevousness"(ilmont,p.230) Through this analysis it is obvious that I see myself as nervous in contrast as to how my peers percieve me. This trend of fluctuaion of means sis also evident in the categoryopen. Here, I scored myself a low means while Ryan and Lesly gave me highe scores.
Communication is one of the most intricate and under looked areas of human beings. By completing this assignment I learned a great deatil about my self and how other percieve me. Though I do feel that I am an a good communicator I now realize what aspects of my communications skill that I need to fix. The areas I would like to change are to tr7y to be more open with others. I will attempt to do so by staying relaxed. I scored a relatively low mean in the openess category and this is an area I would like to change. The means showed that I am not open nor am I percieved to be a very open person.
Overall my communication style is very dominant, dramatic and friendly. Howvevr, despite this though Im not a very open person. I feel that my communication style does allow me to get people to listen to me closely becayse of my dramatics or ability to tell srotires in vivid detail and picturesqe. I am animated and expressive when I feel the need to emphasize a point or statement. This also helps my communication confidence since I know now that what I say often does an considerable impact on those who I am communicating with.
In conclusion I am very pleased with the dataz which I recorded. I now understand my communciation style better yet at the same time have located areas in which I can begin to improve on. Through this assignment I learned a great deal about how I communcate as well as how others percieve my communication style.
References
1.)Trenholm and Jensen, (1996). Intterpersonal Communication. Belmont, CA:Wadsworth Publishing Company.
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