Perspectives in Communication
Mr and Mrs Sharma have just shifted to a new neighbourhood with their son Vivaan. Vivaan has Down's syndrome (a genetic disorder, which cause a person to have distinct physical features and mental ability). Mrs Sharma takes her son to the park every evening. No child interacts with her son except Rohan. All the mothers except Rohan's mother have told their children not to play or talk with Vivaan fearing that he might get violent with their children. Rohan's mother has read a lot about children with this Syndrome. While all the mothers think that children with special needs are prone to violence, Rohan's mother knows that this is not true. So without knowing Vivaan all the mothers have formed the wrong perspective about him. This wrong perspective is affecting their communication with Sharma family.
Let us learn about what 'perspective' is, how it is formed, and how it affects our daily life.
PERSPECTIVE IN COMMUNICATION
Perspective is an individual's point of view through which we are interpret and understand every communication and event happening around us.
Different peoples have different perspectives as everyone sees differently from others. we convey and interpret messages through the filters of our knowledge, beliefs and motives. These filters form the basis of our perspective and reflect the way we see the world, the way we think about the persons we are communicating with, the way we communicate with them.
FACTORS AFFECTING PERSPECTIVES IN COMMUNICATION
VISUAL PERSPECTIVE
Our brain processes the information seen through the eyes and interprets it. Visual perspectives refers to our tendency to focus only on the parts of a scenario that we are most inclined to notice.
Let us understand the concept of visual perspective from the examples given below:
Look at the given figure. What do you see?
The figure has two visual perspectives. One is of two black faces in the foreground with a white background. The other is of a white vase in the front with a black background. We usually see only one of the perspectives at first. The second perspective is visible either after some time or when someone tells us to observe more carefully.
Thus, we see that both the perspectives are valid. Similarly, you must have heard people say, 'Beauty lies in the eye of beholder.' It is not the eyes but the brain that tells us to think of something as beautiful or not. Most of our visual perceptions are judgements that we make about people we are communicating with. Some of the judgements that we make about are:
- Qualification of the person
- Mental capability of the person
- Position and the financial status of the person
LANGUAGE
Perspectives play a role in the interpretation of world as well. Some words can have very different meanings depending how we interpret it.
Most of the times we think out intended meaning may be clear, but we cannot always be sure that other person will read or hear the statements in the same way as we meant it.
The interpretation depends upon the meaning or connotation that the receiver associates with the word. Therefore, it is advisable to use words and synonyms that express the exact thought or emotions and least to interpretation.
PAST EXPERIENCES
We enter a situation or communication with certain expectations of what will happen and behave accordingly. These are based on the filters or perspectives that we have developed due to our past experiences. For example, you are incredibly nervous at the first time when your perform on a stage, but after you teacher and classmates appreciated your performance, you are more comfortable and confident next time you step on the stage.
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| More examples of how past experiences affect our behaviour. |
All of us have positive as well as negative experiences throughout our lives. However, we must take care that our past experiences don't effect our behaviour or the way we communicate with others. Some negative experiences, however, also serve as a caution, and helps us to protect ourselves from dangerous situations.
ATTITUDE
Attitude is a mindset that decides how an individual perceives an idea or a situation and responds to it. The following example illustrates how our attitude influences our perception.
Look at the glass of water, is it half-filled (half empty) or half empty?
When looking at the glass of water, there are two opinions - one starting it as half-full, while the others considering it as half empty. These opinions or perceptions depends upon the person's state of mind and his attitude. This example is often used as a metaphor for life to distinguish optimistic people from the pessimistic. Some people focus on the opportunities provided to them and feel grateful, while others choose to focus on the lack of facilities and complain about their life. Thus, people's attitude defines what they perceive and what they experience.
PREJUDICE
Prejudice is an idea or opinion that is not based on fact, logic or experience. Prejudice is considered as negative attitude, especially when it is related to hatred or intolerance for certain groups of people. Prejudices are partly due to culture and partly due to personal preferences. When we act on our prejudices, then it becomes discrimination. When we discriminate, we make decisions without trying to find all necessary information about the person or the group that we are judging.
Some examples of prejudices are social status, gender bias, our attitude towards specially abled people, and antipathy towards a particular religion, or a cultural group.
When we categorise people, we do not consider them as individuals. We overlook their individual qualities and therefore fail to understand and appeal to them. Communicating with a person based on our prejudices reduces our chances of having successful communication and producing desired results. Therefore, while talking, the goal should be to view every person or situation with a new perspective, in spite of the preconceived notions about them.
ENVIRONMENT
Do you speak to your parents in the same way that you do to your friend? Are you formal while talking to the people you know well? The answer to these questions would be a 'No'. All of us communicate differently in different environments. For example, some students hesitate to voice their opinions in the classroom, while others thrive on the attention of their classmates. Therefore, while some students enjoy and learn more from classroom discussion, the shy students do not speak up in the class. If the teacher talks to shy students personally, they are better able to convey their opinions and problems. Recognising how the environment affects your communication with others helps you to understand why someone might be communicating in a particular way. This understanding helps you to create or choose an environment that is conductive for the specific communication.
For instance, in the above example, if the teacher knows her student's personality, she can hold fruitful decisions in the class and also give personal attention to the shy students.
FEELINGS
There are two ways in which your feelings can influence communication with other person:
- The first one refers to the way how you feel on a specific way. If you are feeling well, you will communicate as usual, and if you are feeling sick or in a bad mood, you will talk differently. Since your wellbeing changes, it transforms your way of communication on a particular day. Imagine, your teacher snubs you and your friends come to discuss her weekend plans with you. How would you react, Do you respond the same way to such requests from your friends? Your friend may, however, may end up feeling hurt. Therefore, if you are finding it to communicate due to illness or other physical or mental stress, acknowledge it. It will help others to understand that the change in your communication style is due to your illness or stress.
- The second aspect related to feelings refers to how you feel about a specific person. When you genuinely like someone, you communicate with him in a very positive way. However, when you interact with someone you do not like. your style and body language changes.
BELIEFS
Our beliefs from a vicious cycle. Our unique perspectives, with which we interpret and message or event, stems from our beliefs system. Beliefs shape our behaviour, which in turn affects our communication style. Our communication style elicits response from others and determines the result of an interaction, and the reaction further reinforce our beliefs.
Therefore, the belief system is a vicious cycle that repeats itself, unless we make a conscious decision and put in disciplined efforts to change it, so that we can think, behave and communicate in a better way.
Moreover, a change in how we act and communicate will change the way the other people treats us.
Dr Eric Berne's theory on Transactional Analysis aptly describes the efforts of our beliefs system on our behaviour. This theory outlines how we treat ourselves, how we relate and communicate with others. Dr Berne has proposed four 'life positions' that each of us may take in approaching any interaction.
The four positions are: 'I am OK: You are not OK', 'I am OK: You are OK', 'I am not OK: You are not OK', 'I am not OK: You are OK'.
These life positions represent combination of one's attitude about oneself and the other people with whom he is interacting. For example,
I'm not OK - I do not believe in my opinions and decisions.
You're OK - I think you are superior and have better judgement than me.
Therefore, when you approach a situation with the life-position, "I'm not OK - You're OK", you begin putting yourself in an inferior position. You hesitate to express your opinion or refute others' claims, thereby not contributing to the process in any meaningful way. The following diagram depicts the communication style, behaviour and possible outcomes of interactions when we approaches interpersonal situations with each one of the life-positions.
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