Instructor Wrap Up - Wood Chapter 8

Communication Climate:  The Foundation of Personal Relationships

"In a full heart there is no room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing."

Antonio Porchia

Key Concepts in this Chapter:

Assertion

Commitment

Ethnocentrism

Interpersonal Climate

Investment

Relational Dialectics

Self-Disclosure

Trust

What a great chapter, wouldn't you agree?  I'm sure you have learned some of these principles in other classes, however, evaluating your own interactions with other people can really solidify these concepts.  In the second discussion question this week, I've asked you the following question:

"Think of an interaction in which you felt disconfirmed or defensive.  Describe how others in the situation communicated toward you.  How many of Gibb's defensiveness-producing communication behaviors can you identify as present in the situation?"

"Communication researcher Jack Gibb studied the relationship between communication and communication climates.  He began by noting that with some people we feel disconfirmed and on guard, so we are unlikely to communication openly with them.  Gibb called these defensive climates.  Gibb also noted that with other people we feel supported and confirmed, so we are likely to communicate freely with them.  Gibb called these supportive climates.  Even in the healthiest and most supportive relationships, there are usually some defensive moments and some situations in which we don't feel comfortable.  Yet, in most satisfying relationships, the overall climate is generally supportive and confirming.

Gibb believed that the different communication climates result largely from communication that promotes feeling defensive for feeling supportive.  Gibb identified six types of communication that promote defensive climates and six opposite types of communication that foster supportive climates, as show in Table 8.3." (Wood, 2010, p. 207).

Table 8.3 shows Communication and Climate

Defensive Communication  /   Supportive Communication 

Evaluation                          /   Description 

Certainty                            /   Provisionalism

Strategy                             /   Spontaneity

Control                              /   Problem orientation

Neutrality                           /   Empathy

Superiority                         /   Equality

 You can read more about the different types of Defensive and Supportive Communication beginning on page 207, and ending on page 210.

There are many other aspects of this chapter which are useful to you in your personal relationships.  When you read through the chapter (not just this chapter, but all chapters in this book), try to think of situations where you have encountered some of these ideas.  Bringing theory and practice together will really help you to understand concepts, and ultimately retain the ideas we cover in this class.