Summaries of Chapters from Adler’s Looking Out Looking in

Summaries of Chapters from Adler’s Looking Out Looking In, Chapter 4 and 5

Chapter 4

Chapter five’s main topic was “Emotions: Thinking, Feeling and Communicating.” In the whole chapter I was captivated by two sub-topics pertaining to Debilitative emotions. Debilitative emotions are those which tend to have negative effects on individuals and those around them. Under this topic of debilitative emotions, section C and D stood out most for me. This is because they discuss first of all the connection between debilitative emotions and irrational thoughts. The second one discusses different strategies that can be used to minimize this and thus maintain rational decision making.

The topic of “Irrational thinking and debilitative emotions” enlightened me on the fact that an individual’s emotional make up has a direct influence on his or her thoughts (Adler and Proctor, 2010). The thoughts of an individual will also have an effect on his or her emotions. Irrational thoughts are those which do not make any sense when analyzed in context of the prevailing conditions. These thoughts have a symbiotic relationship with negative emotions and the result of this is the formation of a vicious cycle that can very easily trap an individual. The most unfortunate thing about debilitative emotions is the fact that if no deliberate intervention is initiated, the situation will only get worse and worse with the key signs being an increasing absurdity in the perceptions of such an individual. There are different errors in thinking, also known as fallacies. These fallacies fall into different categories. These are tantamount to a set of prejudices which if held, only have the possibility of skewing an individual’s judgment.

The topic of “Minimizing debilitative emotions” was particularly important to me because the applications of the material contained here extend well beyond the confines of this subject. These are mainly a set of actions which need to be implemented at an individual level. They are self-evaluative and since each and every person experiences things in their own unique way, it is crucial that they be done personally and not administered on other individuals. The management of one’s emotional reactions takes extra consciousness on the part of the individual as he or she needs to be aware of what he is doing. It is also crucial to note down the causative factors that lead to different emotional reactions. Last but not least one needs to be aware of their self-talk as well as their irrational beliefs. This way they can be easily disputed and realigned with reason (Adler and Proctor, 2010).

Chapter 5

The running head for this chapter was “Language: Barrier or Bridge” Even before embarking on the reading of this chapter, I had an idea of what was going to be discussed. These ideas had a lot to do with the potential that language has to either bring people together or draw them apart. The two parts of this chapter that intrigued me the most were the sub-topic on “Disruptive Language” and “Conversational Styles.”

Disruptive Language is can be termed as the use of communication to distort meanings thus leading to confusion occurring (Adler and Proctor, 2010). These actions can either be deliberate or unintentional/innocent. The bottom-line that was maintained throughout the topic is the fact that they will often tend to have a negative effect on one or both parties in communication. Fact-Opinion Confusion will occur in two possible ways. The first way it can occur is when things that have been established to be true are taken as opinions of those presenting them and this leads to them being denied the seriousness they deserve. It is also possible for things which are not true to be presented as if they are fact yet they are actually based on the unfounded thoughts of the communicator. The mode of presentation will heavily impact the likelihood of this occurring.

Conversational Styles on the other hand are the different ways in which people drawn from the two genders will communicate. Men and women will generally communicate in distinct patterns that may at times cause difficulties in perception if they interact due to the way the respective groups are accustomed to communicating. Men will for instance tend to be very direct in their communication. As a result, their conversation are often brief and to the point. This will lead them to discuss a variety of issues and at any one time there is a different issue being discussed. This is very much unlike women who will dwell on one topic, discussing it exhaustively. They will therefore be seen to ask a lot of questions. At the same time, their conversations will exhibit a very high level of emotional intensity. They will subconsciously put an effort towards sustaining their conversations. These differences will play a great deal in helping people from the same gender to bond and interact and at the same time cause difficulties when it comes to the interaction of people of the opposite gender because these are polar opposites (Adler and Proctor, 2010).

Reference

Adler, R. B., & Proctor, R. F. (2010). Looking out/looking in. CengageBrain. com.