8: Communication Climate
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- 8.1: Introduction to Communication Climate
- Do you feel organized or claustrophobic in a small workspace? Are you more of a morning person who is productive earlier in the day, or are you a night-owl whose productivity increases after sundown? Just as factors like physical space and the weather impact us, communication climate can influence our interpersonal interactions. Communication climate is the "overall feeling or emotional mood between people" (Wood, 218).
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- 8.2: Confirming and Disconfirming Climates
- Confirming climates occur when we receive messages that show we are valued from those with whom we have a relationship. Conversely, we feel disconfirming climates when we receive messages that suggest we are devalued and unimportant. Obviously, most of us like to be in confirming climates, because they foster emotional safety as well as personal and relational growth. However, it is likely that our relationships fall somewhere between the two extremes.
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- 8.3: Context Can Play a Role in Identifying Confirming and Disconfirming Responses
- This idea of high context communication and low context communication can also be used to discuss the characteristics of in-group and out-group communication within a culture as well. Context plays a major role in our interpretation of the communication climate of a situation and whether we feel confirmed or disconfirmed by our conversation partner.
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- 8.4: Supportive versus Defensive Communication
- Defensive communicators focus on protecting ourselves and our interests and supportive climates create more calm and productive communication outcomes. In 1965, psychologist Jack Gibb came up with six pairs of supportive and defensive behaviors to help provide a better context for learning about and understanding communication climate. Here, we examine each climate pair and consider its potential behaviors and outcomes.
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