Communication Styles Paper

COMMUNICATION STYLES PAPER

Communicating is something that people do on a day to day basis. For this reason, recognizing different communication styles and how to adapt with those styles is so important in keeping a proper relationship. Being labeled as a Socratic style communicator on the first day of class, I understood why I fell under that category, but I could not grasp the fact that I did not have any characteristics of the other styles. With this uncertainty looming over my head, I made it a point the next few weeks to pay extra close attention to the communication styles of the people I came in contact on a daily basis. Being a Socratic, I believe communicating is the way resolve issues. I covet argumentation and will do so just for the joy of debate. In this paper, I will investigate a specific interaction I had with a person where our communication styles clashed. I will analyze each one of our behaviors and see what worked and what did not.

The Interaction

The subject I had my before mentioned interaction with was David. He is a friend of mine, and he was trying to get me to play on his intramural flag football team. In our initial contact, we had a lively discussion regarding how to run the defense of the team. I immediately noticed that he had a similar Socratic style as me. Although our debate was heated, we both relished the interaction.

Later that week, I had another encounter with Dave. Late at night on the last day of registration, I decided not to play on his team in fear that it would interfere with my school work. Since it was already late, I decided not to call Dave and let him know. The next day at a social gathering, Dave confronted me. He expressed his displeasure in me not telling him I was not playing earlier and accused me of leading him on. Instead of going back at Dave in an argumentative way, I sternly and calmly explained to him the situation of how I came about my decision of not to play and why I did not call him to let him know. We went back and forth a couple more times and ultimately I told Dave that I had explained