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Part 1: Self-Assessment
NICOLE SMITH
How am I as a listener?
According to the Listening Assessment, I listen well. I have very real issues with focusing
because I have ADD and I am not on medication for it. When there is a lot of action going on
around me, I have to try very hard to focus. How hard I try to focus is very dependent on how
invested I am with the conversation. As far as my biases, I do not let those get in the way of
hearing out another person’s side of something. I personally find other people’s reasoning for
their beliefs very interesting and tend to be very attentive when such a conversation is occurring.
I am open to changing my opinion if someone is able to present a different opinion that makes
sense to me. Overall, I am great at retaining information that someone tells me and open to
changing my opinion, but I have a hard time with distractions sometimes.
What aspects of my nonverbal behavior are effective?
What can be improved?
My facial expressions deserve a little more attention from myself. I am kind of lazy with
them; lots of people have expressed offense due to my “glaring” at them. My resting face does
not appear very happy, I guess. At the same time, I excel with my use of vocal cues and my use
of gestures. People generally perceive me as animated because I aspire to be engaging enough
that even I would listen to myself. When it comes to the “zones” at which standing is appropriate
in communication, I tend to be closer to people in general when I talk. This may be
uncomfortable for people, so I should be more aware of my distance from people. I suppose I do
this because I may be subconsciously trying to maintain the attention of myself and my
communicating partner— especially if I am in a dramatically different environment from my
everyday activities.
When I am in a very different environment, it’s harder for me to focus on
communication; I am more inclined to observe my surroundings. I can work to give the people
around me more of my undivided attention by keeping my eyes on them instead of looking
around the area. This will be an adjustment at times, because my eyes are drawn to movement or
anything new to the scene. Lastly, I am pretty touch-inclined and most of the U.S. is not. This
hasn’t really been a problem for me because I am often aware if someone around me is not a
touchy person and I refrain from invading their space. When I find out that someone does not
appreciate touches, I apologize for my invasion and back-off.