Who Am I As A Communicator?

When I think about the similarities and differences between how I evaluate myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me, I can honestly say I was quite pleased with the results! With the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale and the Listening Styles Profile, I was surprised that others evaluated me closely to how I saw myself. It is my opinion that, at times, we can have a "one-track" viewpoint about ourselves which makes it harder  to accept others opinions of what they perceive us to be. But, could it be  "perceptions of your self-efficacy may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy--a prediction that causes you to change your behavior in a way that makes the prediction more likely to occur ...self-efficacy and self-fulfilling prophecy are thus related (O'Hair, 2015, p. 50-51)"? For example, the reason why others came to the same results as I did because I believe in certain traits about myself and my communication abilities and in return I "fulfill" or physically present this belief to those around me to the extent that they also believe?

This experience this week has told me that my evaluation of certain individuals is subconsciously based on the perceptions I have of myself and in return either encourage me to engage into communication with others or avoid the interaction all together. “…you have an overall view of all aspects of yourself (self-concept), as well as an evaluation of how you feel about yourself in a particular area at any given moment in time (self-esteem). Based on this information, you approach a communication situation with an eye toward the likelihood of presenting yourself effectively…these assessments of self are important before, during, and after you have communicated. You evaluate your expectations, execution, and outcomes in three ways: self-actualization, self-adequacy, and self-denigration (O’Hair, 2015, p. 450-51)”.

                                    
Monique Woodard

Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real 
communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. Chapter 2, "Perceiving the Self and Others" (pp. 45-62, beginning with "Cognitions About Ourselves").