Archive for interpersonal communication skills
Interpersonal Communication Secrets that Work Every Time
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Interpersonal communication is something most of us do on a daily basis, although we may not be aware that is what it is called.
Interpersonal communication differs from other forms of communication in various ways. It is also very important in development.
The following list outlines what interpersonal communication is and what some of the characterizes are. It also explains why we need it.
1. What is it?
Interpersonal communication involves a close group of participants. It is basically the everyday conversations you carry on and it includes speeches, general friendly exchanges, arguments and basically anytime you speak to someone.
2. How is it different than other forms of communication?
Interpersonal communication involves face to face encounters. You are talking in person not over a computer, phone or through written information. You can get immediate responses.
You are also able to benefit from body language. You hear a voice where you can pick up on different dialects and speech patterns.
3. How does interpersonal communication vary?
The variances in interpersonal communication involve the people and situations. You communicate differently with someone you know well verses a stranger. You will have different topics of conversation when talking to your preacher or your best friend.
These variations make interpersonal communication flexibility important for difference circumstances.
4. How do we use interpersonal communication?
We use interpersonal communication for a variety of reasons. You use it to learn new information, such as when asking questions. You use it to share information, such as when telling a story. You use it to define yourself, such as when giving a speech.
You also use it to fulfill the natural need for contact with other people. Interpersonal communication is how we develop from infant to adult. We learn about different cultures and languages through interpersonal communication as well. It gives you a human element, a real nature that other forms of communication can not provide.
5. Why is interpersonal communication important?
Interpersonal communication is important because you need it to develop throughout the stages of life. You get so much from interpersonal communication.
You learn, teach and get an identity through interpersonal communication. You also share with others who you are. You need interpersonal communication to learn how to pronounce words correctly, how to speak properly in certain situations and how to communicate in general.
Interpersonal communication has taken a back seat to other forms of communication in recent years. More people than ever are using the internet to exchange information and make contact with others.
We must also be sure to keep interpersonal communication in our lives. Without it babies will never learn to talk properly and we can never expand our language abilities through learning form others speech. The spoken word should never have its importance underestimated.
Peter Murphy
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/interpersonal-communication-secrets-that-work-every-time-10453.html
How to Improve your Interpersonal Communications
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Interpersonal Communications
Very few of us never have contact with the outside world or other people, and as a result, there is a relationship that is created whenever we interact with someone else. As time goes on, that relationship can remain stagnant, or as in the case of a love or dating relationship, that relationship can grow and flourish. But the real key to any meaningful relationship is effective interpersonal communications between two people. That statement is every bit as true for interpersonal relationships as it is for business relationships, and also for the marital relationship between a husband and wife.
Effective interpersonal communications cannot be stressed enough, especially in a marriage relationship. In today’s world where both husband and wife are holding down at least full time if not part time jobs, things happen during the course of a normal day. But it is only at the end of the day when two people are relaxing that effective communications can take place. It doesn’t matter how mundane, since even in mundane conversation you can learn a lot about another person, understanding what is important to them, what irritates them, and things they find enjoyable.
Suppose your partner is depressed about something, whether financial stress, job pressures, or anything else. How much time do you give to your partner to improve the mood? If your answer is “none or not much”, you are running the risk of your relationship starting to deteriorate. The breakdown of a relationship does not happen overnight, but it is all these “missed opportunities” to show care, understanding, and support that all add up over time.
Respect is a key ingredient of any relationship. If you do not feel you can trust someone, your communications with them will be brief or nonexistent. There is no real relationship there. That type of relationship may be fine for the checkout clerk at the grocery store, but how many people have that kind of relationship with their spouse? The real answer to that question will probably scare you, but you have control over that and the fate of that relationship, even your marital relationship, rests squarely in your hands.
Trust is another key element of any relationship, which goes hand in hand with respect. You need to feel you can trust the person you are communicating with. If you don’t have a level of trust with that person, even your spouse, then your communications will reflect that lack of trust. You won’t elaborate on things you say, you won’t go into details, and you will subconsciously leave out information that may leave you vulnerable to a future rebuttal or even attack from the other person.
Many times, especially in a marriage relationship, the three key elements of a relationship (communication, trust and respect) slowly start to erode over time. It is typically not a conscious thing, but it can happen if both spouses are not aware that they need to keep all levels of these elements at peak values consistently. So what happens as these components start to degrade? That relationship can develop into an abusive relationship. This is particularly difficult in a marriage relationship – when the checkout clerk at the grocery store abuses you, you can report them to their management or you can just decide to shop somewhere else. But in a marriage relationship, it is not nearly as clear-cut at that, nor nearly as simple. The marriage equivalent of “shopping somewhere else” is divorce, which although being a very drastic step, is sometimes the best solution for both parties when the respect, the trust, and the interpersonal communications have degraded to the point where both parties are unwilling to put in enough time and effort that will be required to rebuild those elements.
Take care of your relationships and understand how you can improve them on a regular basis, and those relationships can grow and flourish over time, where you can gain comfort during the dark times and share your joys in the good times.
Jon Arnold
http://www.articlesbase.com/relationships-articles/how-to-improve-your-interpersonal-relationships-94793.html
Enhance Your Interpersonal Communication Skills With NLP
Posted by: | CommentsHere is an article on ways that you can enhance your interpersonal communication skills by By Joel Seah.
Our communication with others usually starts with our thoughts, resulting in words, tonality and body language. There are many ways to define “thoughts”, and one of them is how we use our senses internally.
We use our senses outwardly to perceive the world, and inwardly to represent experience to ourselves. When recalling experiences, such as a time you went to the beach, what appears in your mind first? Maybe a picture of the beach would appear. Perhaps you hear the sounds of the waves and children playing, or the feeling of how relaxed you were just sitting by the sea.
When you ask a group of students to describe their form teacher, you could get a variety of answers. One student might recall the hairstyle and dressing first, followed by the teacher’s voice, and how he or she feels about the teacher’s lessons. Another might first recall that the teacher has a very deep and powerful voice, followed by how the teacher always makes the class feel interesting, and lastly, how the teacher looks.
This method of taking in and storing information in our minds, through our five senses (Seeing, hearing, feeling, taste and smell) is known as Representational Systems in Neuro Linguistic Programming. Having different preferred representational systems is also one reason why we encounter difficulties in getting our messages across to others sometimes.
If you are a visual person whose dominant sense is seeing, you will likely speak in a manner that include many pictures and visual words. A kinesthetic person on the other hand, will speak with many feeling words. Also, they will find it easier to relate to feeling words as compared to visual words.
A point to remember is that representational systems are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to recall a scene, and include the sounds and feelings simultaneously, though it is quite rare for all to be used together all the time. Most of us tend to have one or two representation systems that we prefer when thinking.
Also, it is possible to develop and improve. For example, a person who is mostly visual might have difficulty learning music initially. However, with practice, they can also develop the audio aspect of their representational systems.
So to conclude, if you want to build rapport with others and get them to understand you easily, take responsibility for the way you communicate and use words that are suitable for their preferred representational systems.
By Joel Seah
Of course there is so much more to having great interpersonal communication skills and if you use what Joel has told you in this article you’ll be well on your way …
how does interpersonal conflict in a negative way affect ones life?
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It can make you better if you practice conflict resolution, but if not and you just practice conflict, it will destroy you…mind, body and soul…ultimately taking a toll on both physical and emotional health, perhaps even spiritual.
How has technology changed communication skills?
Posted by: | CommentsExamples of how it has changed our Interpersonal Skills since we rarely have to talk in person.
People can’t write a proper sentence anymore. It’s all "text speak" with abbreviated spelling and horrid grammar. It’s sad, really.
What is interpersonal communication?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is interpersonal communication? Thanks, I cant find a definition.
Interpersonal communication is the communication that takes place between two people. It can include verbal, non-verbal and expressions.
Emotional Intelligence – Skills for Business Professionals
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The roles of people participating in Emotional Intelligence (EI) training programs have ranged from executives to administrative staff. While the challenges and pressures people face at various organizational levels are quite different, the emotions they experience are the same. Developing EI skills enables people to become internally self-managed and capable of making their greatest contributions. And when employees work in that zone of peak performance, so does the organization. Below are examples of how development of EI skills can benefit business professionals such as sales people, customer service representatives and technical professionals (i.e., information technologists, analysts, engineers, scientists, etc).
Sales People:
Sales People frequently work with difficult prospects and customers. They often find themselves in adversarial situations over price, features, delivery schedules, etc. As a result of these situations, the sales person and the customer can feel anxious, fearful, frustrated and sometimes angry. This can lead to a vicious negative emotional cycle where sales decline, sales people are unmotivated, and customers are unsatisfied and leave.
When sales people enhance their EI skills, they become more capable of controlling or managing themselves and thus the situation. The likelihood of the customer “pushing their buttons” diminishes. They are more able stay focused on the key issues and not “give-away-the-store”. Research shows that the more optimistic a sales person is, the higher their volume and sales dollars. Optimism leads to persistence which leads to more sales. Being able to empathize with the customer allows for faster, more effective problem-solving and better communication. Developing strong, positive relationships with customers, through thick and thin, ensures higher sales and better cooperation when problems do arise.
Customer Service Representatives:
Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) deal with angry, frustrated customers continuously throughout their day. Through no fault of their own, they can find themselves being verbally abused. The customer’s anger, frustration and rage can cause representatives to become nervous, mad, disgusted, and angry themselves. If the representative does not have a high level of EI skills, the discussion may escalate and require the intervention of the CS Supervisor. Or worse, inadequate skills may cause the company to lose that customer. When a customer becomes upset, he or she typically tells 10-15 friends about the poor treatment.
CSRs who have enhanced their EI skills can easily manage their emotional reactiveness to angry customers, maintaining a calm, polite and sincere attitude and conversation with customers in-the-moment. Loyal customers tell their friends. Higher customer loyalty leads to higher profitability.
Technical Professionals:
Technical Professionals are constantly under pressure to do more with less faster, better, and cheaper. They work long, hard hours to complete projects. They are challenged to create and innovate, interact with a multitude of people from different functions, and do tasks, in many cases, they would like to avoid. As a result, technical professionals may feel resentful, agitated, frustrated, anxious, and stressed-out much of the day. They may experience what is known as “emotional hijacking” which is a physiological response in the brain brought on by negative emotions that literally keeps people from thinking clearly. Creativity is blocked, communication is hampered, and more mistakes and errors are made.
Enhancing the Technical Professional’s EI skills provides them with what they never were taught in school. They learn how to manage their own emotional reactiveness to people and situations and how to build Interpersonal Skills that allow them to get other technical colleagues to help them when they need it. Enhancing EI skills increases the likelihood that projects are completed on schedule, using the best, innovative thinking available.
Results:
Business professionals have achieved some impressive results as a result of attending EI training programs. Participants have reported a range of 20% to 35% increase in personal productivity, 15% to 35% increased teamwork, a 20% to 40% reduction in stress and worry, and similar improvements in management of emotional reactiveness, personal motivation, creativity, work/life balance and more. These increases can translate into positive return on investment for the organization.
Byron Stock
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/emotional-intelligence-skills-for-business-professionals-688704.html
Loneliness and Life-satisfaction Among the Elderly
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INDIAN JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY, VOL.20, No.4, 2006, p:405-416.
INTRODUCTION
Electronic technology is changing our life-style to a great extent. Prevalence and excessive use of electronic products found among people, cutting across cultural differences, have set in a trend for e-culture. Electronic-culture is new. It is emerging as a transnational and global phenomenon; not confined to geographical boundaries. Internet, especially, is expected to bring in sweeping and lasting cultural transformations. For instance, terms like e-commerce, e-business, e-banking, e-mails, e-organizations, e-governance, e-journals, e-books, e-medicine, internet, web-shopping, etc have become part of the current lexicon.
The advances and breakthroughs made in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT) and electronics during the present and previous centuries have resulted in the emergence of e-culture. Though the ICT revolution started in the near past its progress towards networking is achieved only recently through the impetus provided by the Internet (Uzelac, 2003). According to Mercer (2003) it is the ICT-availability and access to Internet that provides scope for production of e-culture. However, today the emergence of e-culture is taken for granted due to prevalence of the interactive digital applications of the ICT such as Internet and mobile technologies (Mitchell, 2003).
Van Dijk (2001) identified four different types of access to ICT as conditions for the emergence of e-culture, namely, motivation, possession, use and skills. Motivation concerns psychical access to ICT: the interest in it, the will to use it and the lack of fear of new technology. Possession means, in this context, the availability of equipment and an Internet connection at home or at work, school or university. The third component of access is the actual use that people make of available possibilities. The use depends in part on the fourth form of access, namely the possession of digital skills (De Haan & Huysmans, 2002).
E-culture though prevalent widely, is a recent phenomenon. The scientist community has not explored much of it now. De Haan and Huysmans (2002) cautions that the exploration of e-culture may only be the start of a long-term process of change taking place at a global level. Research on e-culture presently is at a rudimentary level and so is its concept. Scholars in this field have tried to define e-culture in various ways, but all being far from conclusive.
E-culture is increasingly perceived as a new digital media culture or digitalization of culture. Netherlands council for culture (2004) argues that, within the context of the ‘digitizing society,’ e-culture should be seen as the integration of ICT into the primary processes of productivity, distribution, presentation, preservation and (re)utilization of cultural expression. According to the view of De Haan and Huysmans (2002) the term ‘e-culture’ is stated to refer to the diffusion of new technology, its application for various avenues such as information and communication in addition to shifts effected in related attitudes, values and norms. Patel and Rajendran (2005) have defined “electronic culture” as “increased use of electronic goods by individuals in various areas like home, office, public places and those they carry personally with them, to fulfill their psycho-social needs.”
E-culture is both technological and a social development. There is a widespread consensus that new digital and networking technologies like the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet have the capacity to reorder the domains of everyday social and personal life (Dona Kolar-Panov, 2003). Cultural habits and participation in cultural life are changing as a corollary of e-culture. Hence, it would be pertinent here to consider briefly the concept and importance of culture in the light of a psychological focus leading to the study on the impact of e-culture.
According to Brislin (2000) one of the major assumptions of cross-cultural social psychology is that culture shapes human behavior. Numerous advanced theories of social behavior indicate that cultural factors play significant role in the determination of behavior, shaping values, self, and motivation of individuals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Lehman et al (2004) point out that culture and psychological processes influence one another and a dynamic interplay exists between them.
Culture aims to ensure a harmonious relationship between humans and their environments. Psychological well-being remains the main focus of cultural norms and practices. Myers and Diener (1995) refer to life-satisfaction as one of the three key aspects of psychological well-being, the others being positive and negative affect. Life satisfaction stands together with the affective elements to yield a relatively comprehensive picture of psychological well-being (Diener et al., 1999). Chirkov et al (2005) found ‘culture-fit’ is positively associated with life satisfaction. Adjustment to cultural demands is essential for psychological well-being and life-satisfaction. But cultures are diverse and dynamic social systems and not static monoliths (Bandura, 2002). Cultural changes are inevitable and tend to create new demands which the elderly may find difficult to fulfill. Now the dawning of e-culture emphasizes the acquiring of digital skills and demands shifts in related attitudes, values and norms. Access and usage of electronic technology will be an important determinant of life-satisfaction in this era of e-culture.
Culture also emphasize the importance of group living because from an evolutionary perspective, solitude (loneliness) is dangerous; mutually supportive collective behaviour is beneficial, both for survival and sexual reproduction. Thus, it makes sense to assume that humans have an evolved tendency toward the establishment of shared beliefs, behaviours, and normative structures that help hold social collectives together (Campbell, 1982). Loneliness is popularly viewed as a relative deficit in social relationship with others in the environment. Russell, Peplau, and Cutrona (1980) defined loneliness “as the relational deficit reflecting interpersonal and social relationships that the individual evaluates as quantitatively inadequate or too few in numbers.” It has been conceived as a problem for everyone from children to elderly, however, elderly experience more loneliness because their spouses might be deceased, their friends might have either moved away or died, their children might be in distant places/ cities or on account of physical disabilities (Peplau et al, 1982). Mullins and Mushel (1992) indicated that the elderly people desired to be part of a social network and also prefer the existence of a set of friends but not emotional commitment to a set of friends. They also pointed out that the inability to be part of a social network and lack of friends in old age results in the experience of loneliness. The rapid spread of e-culture enabling easy access to information and facilitating communication with others may help elderly reduce loneliness. Especially, the Internet provides people access to a complete new space and society known as ‘cyber society’. Anybody who enters this virtual world can expect an almost infinite number of possibilities to retrieve information, engage in social interactions and build up lasting relations. There, with the exception of the physical body, the individual can encounter almost everything which can also be found in “real society”: such as membership, role playing, emotions, work, commodities, discussions, etc. Like the conventional reality the cyber experience can also form identity (Jones, 1997). Hence the Internet is considered as an identity-based technology (Langer, 2003).But the onset of electronic culture also poses new demands which the elderly must cope with; failing may result in the experience of loneliness.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Reviews done indicate that studies on e-culture are fragmented and inadequate. Scanty information is available about the influence of e-culture, both at international and national levels. The scientist community has just begun to recognize the importance of e-culture and its influence. At present there are not much substantial empirical evidences available on the impact of e-culture. In India, unfortunately, the research efforts in understanding and investigating the status of e-culture have not yet gained momentum. The research and academic community are dormant regarding the influence of e-culture. Deplorably, many researchers belonging to various disciplines are yet to take up this issue. In particular, from a psychological perspective, e-culture still remains unexplored. India is one of the poorest countries in exposing commercial contents on the global platform using digital media. However, the scope of India’s strength in this direction is immense. The government of India as well as many NGOs stand dedicated and determined to enrich and enhance the e-status of India. Osama Manzar’s (2005) book “The Best E-contents 2005” published by ‘Digital Empowerment Foundation’ (DEF) is an eye-opener regarding the e-contents in India. India is perhaps one of the most uniquely positioned countries in the world.
The present investigation is significant because looking around one finds a number of problems in our society especially related to the elderly. The changing demographic profile of India where there is a rapid increase in the aged population, it is increasingly becoming vulnerable due to the process of urbanization and industrialization (Venkoba Rao, 1992). Chadha and Easwaramoorthy (1993) have critically evaluated the need for a comprehensive study on elderly in India.
Reviews made on psychological well-being indicate that not much is known about age-related changes in life satisfaction, most studies has focused on the role of positive and negative affect. Studies on the impact of cultural changes upon life-satisfaction among the elderly in Indian context appear negligible. Loneliness has become the subject of substantial empirical research only recently. One impetus for the new interest is the realization that loneliness is a serious and widespread problem for millions today (Weiss, 1973). Lakshminarayanan (1993) found that the elderly people feel lonelier than any other population. Research on loneliness among the elderly particularly in Indian context also appears inadequate (Patel, 1998).
Despite, a developing country, its wealth of information, resources, and knowledge capacity puts the country in the list of top 5 countries in the world. India like other nations of the world is no exception to the global process of digitization. India certainly is getting transformed into an e-society, at a faster pace (Osama Manzar, 2005). There are no substantial empirical evidences available regarding the reaction of Indian elderly to the e-cultural phenomenon. Adapting to e-culture demands the acquiring of digital skills (De Haan and Huysmans, 2002). The elderly might find this difficult which may leave them less satisfied with life and also feel lonelier. No studies relating e-culture, loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly were also found. Hence this investigation is a pioneering effort made to explore the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction in Indian context. This investigation will enlighten the academic and research fraternity throwing light on the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly.
METHOD
Sample
The sample for this study comprised of 120 elderly individuals (60 females and 60 males respectively) from Pondicherry (a Union Territory of India). The age range of the samples were between 60 to 73 years (Mean age=64.3 years). Samples were restricted to the educated segment of the elderly population, those with a minimum of a graduate degree and above were only included in this study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted.
Tools used
The research tools used in this study for data collection were the (1) e-culture Inventory, (2) UCLA Loneliness Scale, and (3) Life-Satisfaction Scale, selected after a comprehensive review of related literature.
(1) E-culture inventory
This inventory was developed by Patel and Rajendran (2005) to measure e-culture. It evaluates e-culture based on multiple electronic products people use in different areas such as home, office, public places and those that they carry personally with them. Under each area certain electronic items used by people such as (a) Personal computer, (b) Internet, (c) digital diary, (d) mobile phone, (e) micro-oven, (d) disc-man, (e) Digital cameras, (f) lap-tops, (g) automatic washing machine, (h) DVD players, and frequent visits to (i) computerized shops/ movie halls/ theme parks/ ATMs, etc were stated and verified. The inventory consists of 42 items with 2 responses, i.e., “yes” and “no” respectively for each item. The 42 items are classified into 4 areas, namely, home=16 items, office=11 items, personal=8 items and public=7 items. The score for ‘yes’ in home area is 2, in office is 1, in personal area is 3 and in public area is 1 were as the score for ‘no’ in all the areas is 0. The maximum score possible in this inventory is 74 and the minimum score is 0. High score indicates high e-culture and low score indicates low e-culture. The reliability and validity co-efficient values for this inventory were 0.72 and 0.85 respectively found significant at 0.001 levels.
(2)Revised University of California at Los Angles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale
This scale was developed by Russell et al (1980). It is a 20 item self-report on which respondents express how often their feelings and behaviours reflect perceived isolation and dissatisfaction with social relationships. This scale consists of 10 statements dealing with satisfaction of one’s social relationships and 10 statements dealing with dissatisfaction of one’s social relationships. Respondents indicated how frequently they experience each item on a scale from 1 to 4, corresponding to ‘never,’ ‘rarely,’ ‘sometimes,’ and ‘often’ respectively. Russell et al (1980) determined high internal consistency reliability for the instrument yielding a co-efficient alpha of 0.94. They also found acceptable concurrent validity and discriminant validity. Split-half reliability in Indian context was 0.71 (Jha, 1988).
(3)Life-Satisfaction Scale
This scale was constructed by Campbell et al (1976) to measure life-satisfaction. The scale consists of 7 items based on Likert-type of scaling technique with 5 responses, namely, ‘very happy,’ ‘pretty happy,’ ‘happy,’ ‘not happy,’ and ‘not too happy,’ and the scores range from 1 to 5 respectively. The maximum score possible in this scale is 35 and the minimum score is 7. The test-retest reliability reported for this scale and the validity worked out with Psychological Well-being Scale and with Index of Domain Satisfaction was found to be significant.
Procedure
The samples of this study were personally and individually contacted and data was obtained through face-to face interview. The duration of data collection were spread over a period of two months (60 days). The obtained responses were scored and statistically analyzed.
Table I: Showing the Mean, SD, SEM and t-test for e-culture score of the groups on the basis of gender.
Gender N Mean SD SEM t-value LS
Male 60 34.80 15.46 1.09 1.35 NS
Female 60 32.37 15.96 1.44
Table II: Showing the Pearson’s moment correlation co-efficient for e-culture with
loneliness and life-satisfaction.
Variables r
Loneliness -0.171**
Life-satisfaction 0.154**
** significant at 0.001 levels
*significant at 0.005 levels
Discussion
The main aim of this research study was to explore the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly. For this purpose Pearson’s product moment correlation were calculated, since no significant gender differences were found as indicated in Table I the results for both sexes are combined and given in Table II.
It is inferred from the results summarized in Table II that e-culture has a highly significant positive relationship with life-satisfaction but is negatively and significantly related to loneliness.
In this study e-culture has been conceptualized as increased use of electronic products. The outcome of the present research indicates that more use of electronic items by the elderly results in high life-satisfaction. This outcome of the present study can defended by the view that access to electronic technology and use of electronic products by elderly has multiple implications, it connotes that the elderly posses the required digital skills, is active and productive, is mentally and physically healthy, has adequate economic support and is progressive minded. Van Dijk (2001) has already identified four different types of access to information and communication technology (ICT) as conditions for the emergence of e-culture, namely, motivation, possession, use and skills. Hence, the elderly individuals who are high in e-culture may find easy to adjust to the demands of e-environment and thereby experience more life-satisfaction.
The finding of this research that e-culture is inversely related to loneliness among elderly indicates that increased use of electronic products by elderly individuals results in low level of loneliness and vice versa. The rationale for this finding might be that the preoccupation with electronic products especially multi-media technologies by the elderly may make them feel part of a social network or be a replacement for the lack of friends. The information and communication technology (ICT) championed by Internet and mobile technology ensuing in e-culture has made access to information and communication between people simple, effortless and undemanding. Loneliness which is popularly viewed as relative deficit in adequate social relations may be compromised by increased indulgence in electronic technology making contacts and communication easy for the elderly. Further the elderly individuals possessing the motivation and skills to use electronic products may have more perceived control over their environments. Patel (1998) has empirically proved that increased perceived control results in decreased loneliness among the elderly.
CONCLUSION
The present study reveals that e-culture is positively and significantly related to life-satisfaction and loneliness is negatively and significantly related to e-culture among the elderly.
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Osama Manzar (2005). “The Best of E-contents 2005.” Delhi: Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).
Patel, J.M.A. (1988). Loneliness among the elderly- The role of perceived responsibility and control. Recent researches in Education and Psychology, Vol (3) Nos I-II, pp.21-25.
Patel, J. M. A and Rajendran, K. (2005) E-culture Inventory. SCOPE- Annamalai Psychology Journal, Vol. I, pp. 1-11.
Peplau, L.A., Bikson, T.K., Rook, K.S and Goodchilds, J.D (1982). Being old and living alone. In L.A.Peplau & L.D.Perlman (Eds). Loneliness of source book of current theory, research and therapy. New York: John Wiley.
Russell, D.W., Peplau, L.A and Cutrona, C.E (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, pp. 472-480.
Uzlec, A. (2003). E-culture: Cultural Goods between Public Domain and Private Property. In S. Dragojevic., D. Dodd., B. Cvjeticanin and C. Smithuijsen (Ed)(2005): E-Culture: The European Perspective- Cultural Policy, Creative Industries, Information Lag (From the proceeding of the round table meeting, Zagreb, 24-27 April 2003). Zagreb: Institute of International Relations. pp. 31-40.
Van Dijk, J. (2001). The accessibility of ICTs and the quality of infrastructure and services. In: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands (Ed.), People in networks: A contribution to the discussion of the Ministry of Transport to the debate about the Digital Divide. The Hague: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management.
Venkoba Rao, A. (1992). The Universe of Geron. Presidential Address, 6th National Conference, Association of Gerontology, November. 1992. Aligarh, India.
Weiss, R.S. (1973). Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
asgaralipatel
http://www.articlesbase.com/psychology-articles/loneliness-and-lifesatisfaction-among-the-elderly-140418.html
Subway 52: Moving Mobile Billboard
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Waiting for “Subway 52″ and don’t know how to get on? Fear of speaking can affect business success. You will eventually lose momentum to sustain higher achievements if you settle with the every day coffee and donuts.
In November of 2004, I launched OCI3MEDIA solely depending on online communication; such as email or instant messaging, to build clientele and maintain business growth. While triumphing over closing multiple contracts and a semi-successful year, I realize the fear of speaking was causing me to lose valuable opportunities for visibility in the business community. Stepping up to the plate and using vocal power only seemed like a dead end turn I needed to face. Conducting business phone calls even left my limbs shaking. Sooner than later I had to find a solution to transform fear of speaking into a “moving mobile billboard”.
Keep in mind that future profit potential of any business is assessed through effective speaking. You demonstrate verbally to potential customers what you can do and how you can help them. Having a professional visible presence is valued more than just sounding good on paper.
The Boiling Pot…
One day I received a call from the Executive Director, Shirlene Anderson of the Atlanta Fulton Family Connection who asked me to speak at one of their collaborative meetings and deliver an effective Web presentation that we worked so hard on for the organization. At that moment, the thought of speaking in front of a group of 60 partners caused my heart to beat rapidly and I broke out in pure sweat. Does this sound familiar? Fear had taken its toll on me.
Point Taken…
It can pose a major detriment to career advancement or to promoting your business
Finding You…
There are many excellent programs offered that assist individuals needing help to overcome this fear. One particular program I would like to mention is “Toastmasters” (www.toastmasters.org). At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. From my own experience to reduce the fear of speaking and improve business communications skills, a spiritual rodeo was in order. I had to seek a more profound level of guidance and focus on my walk with God in business along with a few reminders and steps you may find useful listed below:
1. Nervousness is natural and to be expected.
2. Learn to recognize the symptoms and manage them.
3. Be the expert – know your business.
4. Boost your self-confidence and motivation.
5. Gain experience – step out and just do it.
Returned Benefits…
1. New found confidence in business
2. A successful career
Ms L. Benjamin
http://www.articlesbase.com/ask-an-expert-articles/subway-52-moving-mobile-billboard-61540.html
Success & Happiness
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Every day we go into the world to create and make our way, be it to a job or a business. We enter each day with the attitude of accomplishment and achievement. However, for most people, during the day we meet some sort of obstacles or roadblocks. It could be a customer who changes the scope of the project that you just completed the night before, the bank who needs just one more piece of information to complete the loan you needed yesterday or the guy who cut us off in traffic, caused us to run off the road and miss the most important business meeting of our career. We rise to the occasion as each monster rears its ugly head. Each time, we expend just a little bit more of our energy that we had planned to use on another objective. By the end of the day we are usually one, two or even three steps behind where we wanted to be, worn out and ready to retreat to a place where we have peace and serenity. This also holds true for our children today. They encounter as much stress, be it different, in the their worlds as we adults do. They are stressed by peer pressure to act and be different than they are taught at home and by television and the media to become something that they are not. These stresses can be overwhelming and we are all looking for a place where we can escape from these pressures. If this description sounds familiar Feng Shui may be for you.
If everyday was like the one described above and you were not able to rebuild your energy, you would begin to find yourself running on reserves, feeling exhausted like you can never get ahead of the game. Running on reserves can work for a while if you are still in your 20’s and maybe even your 30’s but eventually your reserves can be depleted and you are as the song goes +running on empty¦. The stresses of each day are piled upon the stresses of the day before and the day before that, until you no longer have the patience and tolerance to deal with seemingly insignificant issues as they arise. These stresses also can make us feel less then capable, which makes dealing with situations even more difficult. This level of stress when not dealt with can start to impact your performance at work and your ability to nurture and grow interpersonal relationships, leaving you feeling like you are in a rut with no way out.
If your energy levels are at their peak you have a greater chance of successfully creating new opportunities and dealing with the day to day experiences and pressures. Feng Shui can help you. You can have the ability to clearly see and deal with each issue as it is and not through the filter of stress, frustration and feeling less than. This clarity when added to peak performance can assist you in achieving what ever you desire. We all have had those rare days when everything came together, when you were in the right place at the right time, when the answer to all of your bosses questions were on the tip of your tongue. But how did that happen? How can we create this on a daily basis?
To achieve this level of clarity and performance you must have an environment away from the demands and chaos of the everyday world, where you can go to rejuvenate, rebuild your energy and find clarity. Many people think that they can find this state of being on a vacation in Hawaii or some place similar. But, usually this state of being is only temporary. This level of being that you seek must be nurtured on a daily basis in an environment without stress, tension and conflict. A successful environment for nurturing your level of clarity, and performance will be calming, uplifting and healing.
For most, this environment will be your home. The balance and harmony in your home is a critical factor in dealing with these stresses and are important for your success and happiness. When a home feels calming and nurturing, with no distractions, you can quiet the mind and sort out what is important and what is not. You can create new ideas on how to proceed and how to handle obstacles. You can start to see clearly what actions need to be taken. When life is full of complications it is often hard to distinguish the forest from the trees. If you have clarity, you can sort out all of the issues and deal with them one at a time, making clear decisions on each issue instead of complicating each issue with other issues. This type of clarity will also give you the ability to see solutions that you could not see before.
Unfortunately because of the pressures of society to achieve at all costs, some houses today have become purely investments and places to impress clients, customers and friends. These houses have been designed strictly for the purpose of business and that is the master that they serve. In these situations the home is completely ignored, leaving no refuge for the soul to rejuvenate. Notice the usage of the words house and home. A house is just a physical structure, where a home is a physical structure that has been created for the purpose of nurturing the soul. Ironically, if the house were used for the purpose of nurturing and healing the soul, success in the outside world would come much easier. In today’s fast pace world it is even more important to create homes instead of houses. Homes designed for business, investment and to keep up with the Jones’s, also ignore family identity and intimacy. This loss of family identity undermines the stability of the family and the role models set for children. The loss of intimacy starts to breakdown communication and the core of family relationships. These problems just add to the stress level in the home, complicating our lives.
If we are to be successful in life we must start to address the environment where our ability to succeed is created. As many psychologists have said and most people would agree, +we are products of our environment¦. But what parts of that environment shape us? How is it that some children who come from the worst of neighborhoods are able to rise above the circumstances of their external environment of crime and poverty? How is it that some children who come from homes that are in the best of neighborhoods and have ideal external environments end up with drug or alcohol problems? Are the external factors in our environment like the location that we live in or the size of the home the factors that shape us? No, it has to do with the internal environment we live in. That child rises out of the ghetto because somewhere he/she received a nurturing environment that allowed them to rise above the circumstances.
It is the internal environment we live in that plays an integral part in creating the external aspects of our lives. If your internal environment is one of balance and harmony, a space that is nurturing, where you feel safe, secure and at peace, you can let go of the days challenges and come back to your source of power. Then you can start each new day refreshed and rejuvenated.
ArtOfFengShuiInc.com
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/success-happiness-128228.html