Overcoming Barriers to Effective Communications
Everyone has experienced, at one time or another the frustration of feeling misunderstood and being unable to make ourselves understood by another person. Anything which, blocks the meaning of a communication, is a barrier to communication. Effective communication is like a house built one block at a time. First to build a house trust must be built; trust is not a group process it is created in one to one connections with each individual. Second, be bold and open, better communications are clear, direct, respect, reflective and frequent. And finally, strive to continually overcome the barriers to effective communication, challenge others to grow and educate your self. There are many barriers to effective communication, we will examine four of the main ones, stereotyping, language, showing approval or disapproval, and becoming defensive.
One of the greatest barriers to communication is stereotyping. A stereotype is defined as "A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image"(www.dictonary.com). When an individual has a preconception about another individual, it makes it difficult for the individual not to view the other individual's communication with prejudice. Within stereotyping there are many facets in which one hold's bias views to another individuals message. Of these there are stereotypes for race, religion, and gender. To better understand how stereotyping can hinder effective communication each area needs to be scrutinized in greater detail.
To this day, some people are still judging others by the color of their skin. Racial stereotyping is an extremely detrimental facet of stereotyping. It can very well pave the road to out right racism. R...
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...uickly bringing any major conflicts into the open and resolves them as a team; build common ground.
Since there has been many different examples expressed of barriers related to everyday communication, whether at home, or at work, you now have the tools to overcome these barriers. Just remember to be patient, listen and make yourself more effective at communicating. What it is you want to say? Build a house strong and others will follow.
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http://www.health.ufl.edu/nursing/fall99/nur3065c/hx/tsld014.htm 10/12/2000
www.dictonary.com
Everyday we experience stereotyping in one way or another. Over the years stereotyping has become such a large part of our society that it is a vital part of our everyday communication. It has caused many of us to not really think about who a person really is, or what they are about, but to accept instead a certain stereotype that has already been created by our society and given to an individual. Stephanie Ericsson makes an excellent point in her essay when she says “they take a single tree, and make it into a landscape.” The statement she was trying to make by saying this is that many times, a stereotype is made by an individual because of something done by one particular person in a certain group, but is then given to the whole group as a result. Our society has given a stereotype to practically every form of human being out there. Some examples of this are the blond that is said to be dumb, the kid with glasse...
Stereotyping is an action we all do, it is programmed in us specially when it comes to peoples race and culture, it helps us ant...
Question No 2 Answer: Following are some of communication barriers: The utilization of language. Over-muddled, new and/or specialized terms.
Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.
Fred Edmund Jandt (2003), the word “stereotype” was first used to show the judgments made about individuals on the origin of their racial background. Today the expression is more commonly used to pass on to events made on the basis of a groups association. Psychologists have attempted to give explanations of stereotyping as errors that our brains make in the judgment of other people that are related to those mistakes our brains make in the view of illustration illusions. When information is blurred, the brain frequently reaches the incorrect conclusion. (p.77)
Stereotyping is something that occurs on a regular basis in every culture in which I have been privileged to encounter. Sometimes it can be neutral in a preliminary assessment of someone, and at other times can be very harmful to the person being stereotyped. To stereotype people often demonstrates ones’ own ignorance and foolishness.
People often subject others to a variety of stereotypes, accusing them of being a certain way without regard to what kind of person they actually are. Stereotypes are one or many generalizations of a group of people, whether negative or positive, founded on the basis that a majority of them share said characteristic (McLeod). Though people have come to realize the dastardly consequences of labeling, stereotypes have persisted in our culture, unrelentingly. Why? Stereotypes, whether racial, gender-based, religion-based, age-based, etc., continually permeate our society because it is difficult to undermine the psychological aspects of stereotyping, because of the media, and because it’s easier for people to cope with certain situations when they can generalize a group of people.
“Stereotype” and “stereotyping” are words that are frequently used as synonyms to “prejudice” and “discrimination”; however, according to Lee Jussim and Rachel Rubinstein, social psychologists state that there are distinctions between these three concepts. Stereotype “is the contents of people’s beliefs about groups” and stereotyping is “the process by which people—consciously or not—use their stereotypes to make sense of the world”. Prejudice is defined as evaluation of or attitude toward a specific group; and discrimination is defined as behavior that systematically advantages or disadvantages a group. These are hot topics which have been researched for many years by social psychologists. (Jussim & Rubinstein)
In many circles of the world, various groups of people distinguish themselves from one another through religion, language, culture, and sometimes gender. People also develop stereotypes about a particular group of people in order to identify them. However, most of the time, these stereotypes hold true for only some members of a group. Sometimes, these stereotypes are just plain misconceptions that do not even apply to the group it claims to. Stereotypes are placed on people because it is a way to easily identify what type of person or ethnicity an individual is. At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is being perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate. Some hardly even apply to the particular group people it claims to. It is true that how people are perceived has a big impact on how other individuals interact with them; however, people are not perceiving these groups correctly.
In today’s society, it seems though as if everywhere you go you’re either being stereotyped or you might find yourself stereotyping. While this is a very negative habit, it has somehow managed to weasel its way to become socially acceptable. Hence, we can find ourselves in a dangerous path when stereotyping is becoming acceptable. The affects of stereotyping can lead to many false assumptions. There are many other reasons why society should move away from stereotyping each other.
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.
Communication is something we all humans use. Communication “is the sharing of information between individuals by using speech”. People have ways of communicating some have their weaknesses in conversations and others have their strengths. When I communicate with others I feel that some things I say I do not verbalize right. I have two strengths and three weaknesses in my communicating. My three weakens in my communication are, check nonverbal feedback, to make people wrong and recognize that people understand information in different ways and my two strengths in my communication are being flexible, and take responsibility for the communication.
Barriers to communication need to be avoided and in order to avoid communication barriers your voice should be projected and clear without hesitation. You should face your listen if you are talking face to face. There are ways to reduce barriers in communication, for example, by making sure there is not a loud background noise which can avert the attention of your audience. Having mobile turned off so it does not distract the audience. Make sure you are concentrated so that you don’t forget what you are going to say.
Use communication skills effectively, use active listening by listening to the other person and paying close attention to what they are saying, asking questions and rephrasing what the person says to ensure understanding.
One of the main aspects in communicating is listening. An effective listener is one who, not only comprehends how the speaker feels but, also understands what they are stating. Building a strong connection between the speaker and the listener is one of the first steps to become a good listener. By building this connection speakers should first be in an environment with open minded listeners, it makes them feel more comfortable to state their opinions, feelings and ideas. Listeners should avoid being judgmental. The individual does not have to agree with the ideas, values or opinions of the speaker; however, to fully understand them, one must put aside their criticism. Speakers will believe that they can trust the listeners with their information when they know that they will not be judged. Miscommunication happens frequently, listene...