30 Your Interpersonal Communication Preferences
Discover Your Preferences
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this chapter, you should be able to:
- describe each of the three domains of identity as they relate to communication practice,
- explain the relationship between identity and perception, and their influence on achieving shared understanding through communication,
- describe your own communication and work habit preferences, and
- explain how key factors of diversity influence your workplace behaviours.
This chapter is all about helping you to uncover your interpersonal communication preferences. When we study interpersonal communication, we often focus on external things like the audience or environment. Those things are important here as well, but they are important in the context of their impact on you.
The chapter begins with an overview of the three core elements that make up your identity. Personal identity elements are examined using the five-factor personality trait model, on which many personality tests are built. The second element is your social identity, which would include things like identifying socially as an animal rescue volunteer, an entrepreneur, or a marathon runner. The third is your cultural identity, which can include elements such as your race, ethnicity or gender.
The next section of the chapter takes a deeper look at other elements of your identity. Some elements of your identity are things you choose, known as avowed identity, and some are elements that are put upon you, known as ascribed identity.
The focus is then turned to perception, including how selective perception can often negatively affect interpersonal communication.
The chapter wraps up with information to help you determine your preferences and work habits, a review of communication channels, and a peek at Belbin’s nine team roles that may help you understand and excel at communicating interpersonally while doing team work.
Having a better knowledge of your own interpersonal communication preferences will allow you to better understand yourself, your identity, and motivations. This awareness is a useful first step in developing your abilities to relate with and understand other people too.
Personal, Social, and Cultural Identity
We develop a sense of who we are based on what is reflected back on us from other people. Our parents, friends, teachers, and the media contribute to shaping our identities. This process begins right after we are born, but most people in Western societies reach a stage in adolescence in which maturing cognitive abilities and increased social awareness lead them to begin to reflect on who they are. This begins a lifelong process of thinking about who we are now, who we were before, and who we will become (Tatum, 2009). Our identities make up an important part of our self-concept and can be broken down into three main categories: personal, social, and cultural identity.
Our identities are formed through processes that started