Communication Climate
Tamara Arrington
COM 252
UK & BCTC

Today we’ll talk about…
• What is a communication climate?
• Disconfirming & confirming messages
• Defensiveness
• Supporting behaviors
• Your response to criticism

Is this what the communication in your relationships is like?
Or, is this more like it?

What is a communication climate?
• The term communication climate refers to the emotional or social tone of a relationship.
• It involves the way people feel about each other.
• It is a relational climate.
• Communication climates affects/reflects relationships.
• Every context has a climate – this class, your workplace, and your home.

Communication Climates and
Conflict
• Communication climate is an extremely significant factor when people have conflicts.

Factors That Affect The
Communication Climate
• Disconfirming and confirming messages
• Defensiveness
• Your response to criticism

Confirming and Disconfirming
Communication
Developing positive and negative communication climates

Confirming Communication
• Messages that convey valuing other people
• Recognition (making contact)
• Acknowledgment (listening)
• Endorsement (agreement)

Disconfirming Communication
• Messages show lack of regard for other
• Verbal aggression & verbal abuse
• Complaining
• Interrupting
• Impervious responses
(ignoring other person’s attempt to communicate)

What is
Defensiveness?
• Protecting oneself from attack
• Increased defensiveness creates/reflects negative communication climates.
• Decreased defensiveness creates/reflects more positive communication climates.

Gibb Categories of Defensive and Supportive Behaviors
Increasing and Decreasing
Defensiveness

Evaluation Vs. Description
• Evaluative communication involves the listener perceiving judgmental statements that show lack of regard for the listener.
• “You” language one form of evaluative communication
• “You are the most disorganized person
I’ve ever met.”

Evaluation Vs. Description
• Descriptive communication focuses on the speaker’s thoughts and feelings.
• Descriptive messages often expressed as
“I” language.
• “When you don’t put tax information in the proper file, it makes it difficult for us at tax time.”

Control Vs. Problem Orientation
(Non-controlling)
• Controlling communication when speaker seems to be imposing solution on listener with no regard for listener.
• Non-controlling communication focuses on finding a solution that takes into consideration both communicators.

Strategy Vs.
Spontaneity
• The terms dishonesty and manipulation capture the essence of strategy.
• Spontaneity means expressing yourself honestly.

Neutrality (Indifference) Vs.
Empathy
• Neutrality (indifference) implies other person is not important to you.
• Empathy shows care for the feelings and thoughts of others.

Superiority Vs.
Equality
• People who act superior communicate they don’t want to relate on equal terms with others.
• Communicating superiority encourages others to feel defensive.
• Best to project feelings of equality.

Certainty (Know It All) Vs.
Provisionalism (Open-minded)
• A know it all (certainty) regards his/her opinions with certainty while disregarding the ideas of others.
• Demonstrate a lack of regard for the thoughts and opinions of others.
• Open-minded (provisionalism) communicators no corner on the truth and willing to change with new information.

Responding Nondefensively to
Criticism

Seek More Information
• Ask more information
• Ask for specifics
• Guess about specifics
• Paraphrase the speaker’s ideas
• Ask what the critic wants
• Ask about the consequences of your behavior and ask what else is wrong

Agree With The Critic
• Agree with the truth
• Agree with the odds
• Agree in principle
• Agree with the critic’s perception