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CRITICIZING YOURSELF MATURELY: A LESSON FROM BLONDIE

Over the course of the last few weeks I presented some lessons that aim to get you to think about immature and mature ways to provide negative criticism to yourself (see CRITICIZING YOURSELF: FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY and CRITICIZING YOURSELF MATURELY: A COMIC STRIP LOVER’S GUIDE). As I’ve pointed out on many occasions, becoming a master at utilizing the higher levels of maturity takes more than just thinking about them on a single day.  It requires some practice utilizing the concepts over several occasions.  And so, from time to time, I insert a little practice session to remind you of the previously presented ideas and to give you a little practice utilizing them.  Today, we will take a look at a Blondie comic example.  There, you will find that after Dagwood gives Blondie a statue she sees as ugly, she criticizes herself.  Please take a look at her response to her self-criticism, and see if you think she handled it maturely.

blondie intra 1blondie intra 2blondie intra 3blondie intra 4blondie intra 5blondie intra 6blondie intra 7 blondie intra 8blondie intra 9

As you think about how maturely Blondie criticizes herself in this comic, perhaps it would be of help to look at the five levels of providing criticism that we discussed earlier:

  1. This level requires displaying one or more of the following:
  • Cries without stating what the crying is about
  • Physically attacks themselves
  • Damages property

    2.  This level requires displaying one or both of the following:

  • They do not explain what the offending behavior is, but instead express displeasure with glares, insults, shouting, silence, or threats that do not involve bodily harm. (For example, calling themselves a jerk”)
  • Threatens bodily harm regardless of what else is said.    

    3.  The criticizer clearly states the criticism with enough detail so the criticized person, if he or she wills, can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance, but couples it with glares, insults, shouts, or threats that are not about bodily harm.        

4.  The criticizer states the criticism without bodily attacks, damaging property, glares, insults, threats, or shouts, and with enough details so that the criticized person, if he or she wills, can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance.  If the person becomes defensive or angry, the criticizer empathizes without returning, glares, insults, threats, or shouts.        

5.  When the criticizer provides criticism, he or she does so in a manner very similar to a level four response, but beforehand, the criticizer considers the situation that he or she is in.  As a result of such considerations, the criticizer may decide to alter the criticism.

Now that you refreshed your memory of the five levels, does any one of them seem to match how Blondie criticized herself?  Think about this, if you will, and then you can have some fun comparing your thoughts with mine.

My answer:  Obviously, what we see is not meant to display Blondie’s whole response, but there is enough here to hazard a guess for our educational goal of familiarizing readers with the maturity rating system.

blondie intra 6Blondie frames her feeling as “terrible.”  It would be a sign of higher maturity if she conceptualized her experience instead as “sad” and “a valuable emotion that will lead to her thinking more deeply about something very important to her—her relationship with her husband.”

We know from what we see here and from observing her behavior over the years that Blondie is a very caring person.  So, perhaps she is the type to be compassionate toward her own limitations.  She doesn’t hit herself, so she may not be at level 1.  In the last box, she may be crying and this would indicate her response deserves a level 1 rating unless she also displays some set of responses that deserves a higher rating.

When Blondie calls herself insensitive, it comes pretty close to matching level 2.   Admittedly, this is a tricky call.  One reason for the difficulty is that she might not be really insulting herself at this point.  Instead, she might be displaying the process of thinking through the best course of action for herself.   That is, she might be laying out for her consideration the value of being considerate.

If she had obviously put herself down by calling herself a rat for example, this response would be easier to rate as a level 2.  But the descriptor, “insensitive,” is very relevant to what concerns her about her actions.  I like her concern for her husband.  I view empathy as a sign of higher levels of maturity.

blondie intra 9In the last frame, she is taking some time to deal with her challenging experience.  Maybe she is actually using the “sensory focus” technique we recently discussed (see DEALING WITH EMOTIONAL PAIN).  “Sensory focus” involves turning your attention to the physical qualities of the pain and observing the sensations you are experiencing.  This can convert challenging feelings into a search that leads to ever higher levels of truth.

I think this is where we leave Blondie in the comic we are analyzing.  Without being able to discuss this episode with her or to observe further how the events continue to unfold, I’m going to just take a very tentative guess that she is indeed trying to figure out how to respond in a sensitive way toward Dagwood, and that she will not really insult herself.  In time, she probably would have displayed a response very close to a level 4 or 5.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope to see you soon.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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CRITICIZING YOURSELF MATURELY: A COMIC STRIP LOVER’S GUIDE

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Recently I presented a post that aims to get you to think about immature and mature ways to provide negative criticism to yourself (see Criticizing Yourself: Five Levels of Maturity). In that post there is a fun practice section to help people to get familiar with the different levels. Becoming a master at utilizing the higher levels of maturity takes more than just thinking about them on a single day. It requires some practice utilizing the concepts over several occasions. So today, I’ll once again describe the five levels of maturity, and then let’s practice some more with the help of some of our favorite friends.

PROVIDING NEGATIVE CRITICISM:  FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY

Below you will find preliminary descriptions of how people at five developmental levels of maturity provide negative criticism to themselves, that is, criticism that points out what we don’t like about our actions, beliefs, or appearance.  Level one is the most immature and uses observations of babies as its starting point.  Each successive level is more mature:

    1.This level requires displaying one or more of the following:

  • Cries without stating what the crying is about.
  • Physically harms you,
  • Damages property.

    2.  This level requires displaying one or both of the following:

  • You do not explain what the offending behavior is, but instead express displeasure with glares, insults, shouting, silence, or threats that do not involve bodily harm. 
  • Threatens bodily harm regardless of what else is said.     

    3.  You clearly state the criticism with enough detail so you can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance, but couple it with glares, insults, shouts, or threats that are not about bodily harm.         

    4.  You state the criticism without bodily attacks, damaging property, glares, insults, threats, or shouts, and with enough details so that you can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance.  

   5.  When you provide criticism, you do so in a manner very similar to a level four response, but beforehand, you consider the situation that you are in.  As a result of such considerations, you may decide to alter the criticism.

A PEANUTS EXAMPLE

Below, in the Peanuts comic, Lucy provides negative criticism to herself while Charlie Brown listens.  Take a shot, if you will, at rating how mature you think her criticism is on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most mature.  Think about why you gave her your rating, and then compare your answer to mine.

Self-criticism 3.pngMy answer:  I think Lucy’s actions best match the level 3 description— You clearly state the criticism with enough detail so you can, if you so choose, improve the behavior, idea, or appearance, but couple it with glares, insults, shouts, or threats that are not about bodily harm.  The main reason I have for this is that she is shouting at herself. Lucy’s actions indicate to me that she knows what her negative criticism is about; instead of becoming discouraged, she wants her life to move from one “up” to an “upper-up,” without any “downs.”  I believe her actions should be reduced by .5 because she doesn’t make it clear to herself what she should do about her expressed concern. I would have felt she at least tried to come up with a plan of action if she had said something to herself like the following:  “For the next few weeks, each time I feel discouraged, I’m going to write in a journal how I feel, what led up to how I feel, and then see if I can come up with something that leads to my feeling better.” In the end, I gave Lucy a 2.5 rating.

ANOTHER PEANUTS EXAMPLE

In this next one, Lucy again provides negative criticism to herself, and again we get the sense that she knows what the criticism is about, but she doesn’t come up with some plan to address her concern.  What rating do you think she deserves?  Also, see if you can come up with a statement that Lucy can make to herself that would indicate she has come up with a plan to address her concern.

Self-criticism 4.png

My answer:  This time Lucy doesn’t shout at herself.  She does shout at Linus about the negative criticism he provides, but our job here is not to rate that, but rather her negative criticism of her own actions.  That occurs in the last box where she says to herself, “How humiliating!”

I don’t view her comment as an insult, although in real life she would have to decide that for herself.  It seems to me that people, when they are dissatisfied with “a failure to accomplish a task,” can feel a sense of humiliation, not as an insult, but as a humbling experience that has the potential to motivate them to seek to make some improvement.  As far as I am concerned, a person can feel humiliated and still respond at level 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  If Lucy had insulted herself or shouted at herself, I would have felt that level three was the best match for what she does.  I’m giving Lucy, instead, a question mark because sometimes criticism is provided that is clear about what is not liked but useful information about improving is not provided.  If this is done in a supportive manner that does not use any insults, shouts, or threats, a question mark can be used instead of a rating.  This indicates that sometimes mature people will provide this type of feedback to gently encourage themselves to come up with a solution to the problem of how to improve. The criticizer is in essence merely asking the question, “Can I come up with a way to make some improvement in this area?”  Because asking such a question using a supportive tone of voice is not necessarily a sign of immaturity, no rating is immediately assigned, but as time goes on, some rating may become earned.

A FUNKY WINKERBEAN EXAMPLE

Let’s try rating Les in this Funky Winkerbean comic.  Below, we see that Les, the guy with the glasses, has been invited to his thirtieth high school reunion.  When he looks in the mirror he begins to evaluate how he now looks and recalls how he looked thirty years ago.  As he does so, apparently he is providing some negative criticism to himself.  Please rate how mature you think his response is.

Self-criticism 5.png.gif

My answer:  The thought of going to his thirtieth high school reunion has put Les in a deep funk.  He is saddened to see how he has aged.  He doesn’t seem to be insulting himself in any way or threatening to harm himself.  He’s also not hitting himself.  Hmmm.

Some who view themselves as “healthy-minded” say that by letting himself feel sad about something he can’t do anything about, Les is actually acting in an unhealthy manner.  These so called “healthy-minded” folks argue that Les would be far wiser to avert his attention from what is bothering him and live in the light of what is good in his life.

Admittedly, this method does seem to work for many people, and if it works for you, feel free to continue with it for as long as you like.  I promise that I won’t send the mental health police after you.

There are those of us, however, who have tried this “healthy-minded” approach and find that, when melancholy comes, the whole system quickly breaks down.  If that is your experience, perhaps the words of the brilliant psychologist, William James, might be more to your liking.  “[T]here is no doubt that healthy-mindedness is inadequate as a philosophical doctrine, because the evil facts which it refuses positively to account for are a genuine portion of reality; and may after all be the best key to life’s significance, and possibly the only openers of our eyes to the deepest levels of truth.”

Clearly, people confront events that create feelings of sadness, horror, and dread.  To James, the feelings that accompany such events can lead toward truth.  Many of the most creative people have come to believe that periods of melancholy are an essential part of their creative process.

sally forth intrapersonal

My readings of the research and my own personal experiences have led me to several tentative conclusions.  First of all, if you can learn to avoid insulting and threatening yourself during these periods of melancholy, that’s a good thing.  Some special types of insults can be especially harmful.  “I’ll never be happy again,” is one of these.  “I’ll always be a terrible person,” is another.  “All is hopeless,” may be the worst .

Practice saying at such times, “Melancholy is part of the creative process; it is a tool that most creative people have experienced, and this mood can spur me to come to a useful understanding of my life.”   “Creative” in this context means more than artistic creativity.  It encompasses all aspects of a person’s work, and interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

The melancholy that Les is experiencing will not be his whole response to his dissatisfaction with his current appearance.  He will perhaps come to realize that he has some time to still live and the years he has already lived have given him a unique perspective that can enrich the time he has left to fulfill the desires that only come about from our deepest searching.  For Les, I am going to put off any rating.  As far as I’m concerned, he has just begun to provide to himself negative criticism and some more time will be necessary to evaluate what his rating should be.

Okay, that’s our lesson for this week.  I would love to get some comments about the ideas I’ve presented.  Do you think that there are more mature ways to respond to criticism than the ideas that I’ve put forth?  Has there ever been a time when you criticize yourself in a manner that you would like to discuss?

My Best, Jeff

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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CRITICIZING YOURSELF: FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY

Earlier, I wrote a post titled “Providing Negative Criticism: Five Levels of Maturity.”  When I gave examples of people using the five levels, they typically involved someone providing criticism to someone else.  And yet, if you think about it, you probably criticize yourself at least as much as you criticize others.

Charlie13

So, it is time that we begin to take a good hard look to see if the five levels of maturity apply equally well when we think about providing negative criticism to ourselves? To do so, please take another look at the five levels that have now been rewritten so they can be used to rate the way you criticize yourself.. As you do, imagine a recent time that you criticized yourself and see which of the levels best matches your style of criticizing yourself.

PROVIDING NEGATIVE CRITICISM TO YOURSELF: FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY

Below you will find preliminary descriptions of how people at five developmental levels of maturity provide negative criticism to themselves.  Level one is the most immature and uses observations of babies as its starting point.  Each successive level is more mature.     

   1.This level requires displaying one or more of the following:

  • Cries without stating what the crying is about.
  • Physically harms you,
  • Damages property.

    2.  This level requires displaying one or both of the following:

  • You do not explain what the offending behavior is, but instead express displeasure with glares, insults, shouting, silence, or threats that do not involve bodily harm. 
  • Threatens bodily harm regardless of what else is said.     

    3.  You clearly state the criticism with enough detail so you can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance, but couple it with glares, insults, shouts, or threats that are not about bodily harm.         

    4.  You state the criticism without bodily attacks, damaging property, glares, insults, threats, or shouts, and with enough details so that you can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance.  

   5.  When you provide criticism, you do so in a manner very similar to a level four response, but beforehand, you consider the situation that you are in.  As a result of such considerations, you may decide to alter the criticism.

APPLYING THE FIVE LEVELS TO SELF-CRITICISM

One of the last times I criticized myself, I was playing golf, and when I swung at the ball, I missed it.

Golf insult 2

I found myself crying out, “Man, that was stupid!” As I saw myself doing this, I quickly realized that such a response was not very helpful.  I moved away from any more insults and just took a moment to experience the frustration within me.  After about five seconds of this, I then realized that I was with other golfers, and they had just seen me calling myself stupid.  I looked each of them in their eyes and smiled. Then, I reviewed in my mind what a perfect swing in that situation is suppose to look like.  Finally, I stepped into position and took another swing.

How Did I Do?

Well, at least I didn’t break my club slamming it to the ground, as I had done a few times when I first began to learn the game. A couple of times when I did slam the clubs down, I broke the club and had to go buy a new one–thus, it was a costly mistake.  If I had acted that way–that is, by breaking my club–I would have acted at level 2. It has been years since the last time I slammed a club down, a clear sign that I matured in this domain.

The way I acted the last time was a little more mature than a level two.

You might have noticed as I was describing my recent incident of self-criticism that my criticism and my response to the criticism seems to have merged together, and it is not easy to tell at what point “providing criticism” and “responding to criticism” is actually taking place.  Therefore, it is a good idea, as we think about these issues to spend some time reviewing the lesson I presented earlier about responding to criticism (see HERE).

As I recall what happened the last time I was out on the golf course, I’m going to say that I initially responded at level 3, but then quickly recovered and then responded at level 5.

Another Example

Our next example of self-criticism is from the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes by the brilliant Bill Watterson.  Calvin’s stuffed tiger, Hobbes, is criticizing Calvin’s remark about his summer vacation coming to an end.  We understand, of course, that what Hobbes says to Calvin is, in actuality, what Calvin is saying to himself.  After Hobbes criticizes Calvin’s remark (“Oh come on, you spent half the summer complaining how bored you were.”) Calvin responds.  Please study his response, and then see if you can rate what level of maturity it is at.           

Calvin intrapersonal
My answer: Hobbes has criticized Calvin for exaggerating about how awful life will be now that summer vacation is over since he often complained of being bored.  “I did?” he responds.  It seems to me that Calvin is really asking this of himself.  He then curls his pointer finger and puts it on his lip.  This is a classic pose indicating deep thought.  While he is doing this, he says to himself, “How strange.  I must have been delirious from having so much fun.”  In the next scene, we see Calvin imagining the type of fun he had had over the summer.  It depicts Calvin and Hobbes watching TV with the sound blasting, eating Sugar Bombs, with Calvin’s eyes in a delirious, hypnotized stare.

I’m leaning toward giving Calvin a level 4 rating because he is showing me that he is giving some real thought to the criticism, and I like his apparent sense of humor as he imagines in an almost burlesque type of way his wasting all of his time over the summer.

Now, I understand that some might look at this image of Calvin wasting his summer in front of a TV and think he is mocking his choice of summer activities, thus insulting himself.  When people use humor while responding to criticism, it can be taken as an insult, or as a good-natured way to smooth over some rough parts of the processing that goes along with criticism.  Only Calvin, in this scenario, would be able to say if he felt it as an insult, or as something comical.

Let’s Try Another One

Here’s a young teenager who provides self-criticism at a pretty obvious level 2.

basketball player 1Here, the young lady kinda tells herself what her criticism is about–She recalls missing an important basketball shot and she declares that she let her team down.  But she doesn’t say how she can begin to improve the situation.  Instead, she begins to insult herself.

What if she had handled the situation a little differently:

basketball player 2Notice I blackened out what level I think this self-criticism is at.  That’s because I would like you to decide if this is a more mature level or not.

There’s Some Controversy About this Example

Some of my students argue that the example in which the girl insults herself should be given a higher rating then the second example.  Here’s their reason. If you insult yourself, they claim, it will more likely prod you into doing something constructive than if you ignore it.  Therefore it should be viewed as at least as high a level as the example in which the girl decides to take some time to calm down before deciding what next steps she might take.

Here are two quick explanations for why insulting yourself deserves a lower rating than the taking some time to calm down approach.  First, just because someone takes some time out to calm down doesn’t mean they will forget what happened. It is possible that their efforts to take some time to calm down will lead to calming down sooner than throwing insults at themselves, and within that calmness a more reasoned approach may come about.

Second, theoretically those people who get into the habit of insulting themselves when they criticize themselves are at an increased risk of insulting someone else who criticizes them.  This is oftentimes not a good thing because when people are insulted it increases the likelihood they will do something that is harmful to the insulter.  It is, therefore, a good idea to practice not insulting yourself when you criticize yourself because that practice will make it easier to avoid criticizing others when they criticize you.

Well, there’s your lesson for today.  It was designed to begin the process of thinking about the most mature way to criticize yourself.  I will have a lot more to say about this in future posts.

For those of you who seek to become masters at dealing with name calling, insults and teasing, here’s an important exercise to do over the next week.  Put aside three five-minute periods to do the following:

Think about the last time you criticized yourself.  Recall what led to the criticism and how you felt.  Spend a full minute just observing the feelings that come up as you recall the incident.  Then write down what you said to yourself as you provided the criticism.  Finally, write down what you think would have been a maturer way to handle that situation.

Thanks for visiting this week, and I hope you come back  soon.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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THE CREATION OF THE COOL STEVE STORIES

Coney Island HospitalIt was way back in 1972 on a pleasant autumn day.  As I stepped out of the sparkling sunshine into the shadowy confines of the Coney Island Child Psychiatric Clinic, I was greeted by three people who could have been movie actors.  One was a beautiful social worker in her late twenties, with flowing brunette hair; another, a tall, handsome psychologist in his early thirties; and the third, a psychiatrist who looked like he was trying out for a part as Sigmund Freud, with his long, graying beard and pipe.   Initially they were warm and friendly but, within a few minutes, switched to more earnest expressions.  The psychiatrist took charge at this point, informing me that I would be working with eight very troubled male teenagers—two individually, and six in a group.  My first job teaching conflict resolution under the auspices of a real life professional organization had begun.

It was a period of time before the current practice of converting the psychological concerns of all children brought to a psychiatric clinic into a language of illness believed to be due to chemical imbalances.  The prescribing of pills as the main—oftentimes only—action offered was something I had never dreamed of.  Instead, a staff of professionals and several advanced psychology students from Brooklyn College sought to provide empathic emotional support, understand the conflicts the children were experiencing, and guide them toward more mature coping.  I was one of the Brooklyn College students.

Achieving the first two goals proved to be a breeze.  The kids’ hunger for attention made it easy to develop genuinely enjoyable relationships.  And the way the boys spoke and interacted readily revealed volumes on the topic of conflicts with which they struggled on a daily basis.  Guiding the boys toward more mature coping, however, tripped me up.

Counseling boy 1I remember one of my first attempts.  A burly thirteen-year old boy with wild, unkempt hair began to express his anger about a kid at school who had called him a jerk.

“Called you a jerk!?” I replied. “Yikes!  What did you do about it?”

“I shoved him.”

“How’d that work out?”

“I got sent to the principal.”

“Do you like to get sent to the principal?”

“NO!”

“Hmm, if you don’t like it, maybe we can figure out how to respond to a name caller in a better way.”

“If someone puts me down, I ain’t gonna let him get away with it.”

“I can understand that.  Let’s discuss a few ways to deal with name calling that doesn’t let the other guy get away with anything and yet won’t get you sent to the principal’s office.”

“Na.  If that guy calls me a name again, I’m really gonna let him have it!  He better not start with me again!”

“I can see just thinking about this is really making you angry.”

“Yeah, it is!”

“Well, I have good news for you.  I think I can help you to come up with some ways that you can handle name calling that you would respect but won’t get you in trouble.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

“Listen, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore!”

At this point, I realized that, for now, to pursue this any longer would be counterproductive.

Shortly after this, I noticed that the two black kids in the group I was working with were frequently being put down by the four white kids.

 Whites ganging up on blacks

Some words got thrown back and forth that could have made a Brooklyn boy blush.  Well, okay, maybe not a Brooklyn boy, but most people.  Anyway, my efforts to address this were, unfortunately, met with the boys shouting over me as their anger flamed into rage.

“You’re doing just fine,” my supervisor assured me.  “Working with kids requires great patience.”

I would have preferred specific suggestions on how to better teach.  Still, his comments at least temporarily took some pressure off of me.

But as time went on, my patience waned, and I began to have difficulty falling asleep.  In the wee hours of the morning my mind kept going over and over incidents in which my efforts to teach something to the kids ended without success.  And then, during one such night, amidst an experience of what felt like endless tossing and turning and excruciating frustration, suddenly I recalled an incident that happened to me in fifth grade.  Back then I had recently seen the movie, The Pride of the Yankees, with Gary Cooper starring as the New York Yankees’ great baseball player, Lou Gehrig.  Nicknamed “The Iron Horse,” Gehrig had his Hall-of-Fame career cut short at 36 years of age when he was stricken with a fatal disease.  As the film comes to an end, it reenacts Gehrig’s farewell address in front of a packed, tearful crowd at Yankee Stadium.  I’ll never forget his parting words.  “People all say that I’ve had a bad break.  But today…today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

Shortly after seeing the film, I decided to read a Lou Gehrig biography and learned that his parents were from Germany.  Because I had grown up on war movies that depicted Germans as the vicious enemy, I had, at that time, come to hate Germans.  But, when I began to read Lou Gehrig’s biography, I found my hatred undergoing a dramatic change.  The story tells us that Lou’s parents were from Germany, spoke with a German accent, and this led the kids in his neighborhood to incessantly torment him.

Gehrig as boySomehow, my heart went out to Lou, and from that day on, I came to believe that it wasn’t right to judge a person by their nationality.

Lying in bed recalling having read that biography so many years ago, my mind, at one point, returned to thinking about teaching kids coping skills.   It seemed to me that there was something about that Lou Gehrig story that enabled me to reconsider attitudes that I had firmly held for so long.  Perhaps if I could tell the kids at the clinic stories about a hero who portrayed higher levels of maturity, they might identify with the hero.  I figured that kids like to try out the behaviors of their heroes.  I know I did.  Criticizing the actions of characters in the story would produce less defensiveness than when I had directly criticized the actions of the kids at the clinic.  If I told the stories when the clinic kids weren’t already in a defensive state, maybe they would be open to a real discussion.  Once they had thought the issues through, perhaps then they would be better able to integrate what they had learned into their own lives.

Soon afterwards, each time I saw the kids at the clinic dealing with a different conflict in a way that struck me as immature, a story dealing with the conflict in a more mature way just came to me in some strange, effortless manner.  The hero of the stories, Cool Steve, has many of the attributes that the clinic kids admired.

I made it a point to tell each story at some point in our session when things were relatively calm.  And it turned out that the kids loved them.  When I told the stories to the group of kids I worked with—kids well known for their rambunctiousness—they settled right down and you could hear a pin drop as the tale unfolded.  They discussed them, grappled with the issues, and oftentimes came to agree that Cool Steve had handled the conflict in a way they respected.

An interesting discovery that I made when I was teaching conflict management to graduate students at the University of Minnesota was that the adult students there enjoyed the stories every bit as much as teenagers. And so, with that encouragement, the stories grew and grew so that they now comprise a series of three novels collectively called The Cool Steve Stories that you can learn about HERE.

hero coverLove cover

Readers of this blog know that as I provide lessons on conflict management, I often illustrate the ideas with newspaper comic strips. Although these comics are very helpful for introducing basic ideas, to really learn the subtleties of applying the ideas of conflict management in actual situations it is hard to beat the longer narratives that novels provide.

The first novel in the trilogy is A Hero Grows in Brooklyn.  Most of the action occurs when the main characters are junior high school students.  If it was a movie, it would likely be rated “PG.”  Fights in the Streets, Tears in the Sand, the second novel in the trilogy, deals with some more mature themes.  The main characters are now beginning an urban high school and there is a modest amount of cursing, and some talk about sexual feelings and fantasies.  It would probably be rated “PG13” if it was a movie. Love, Sex and Respect, the final novel in the trilogy, takes the main characters through to their high school graduation. If the book was a movie, it might be rated “R.”

You can learn more about the novels at this blog’s NOVELS page toward the top of this page.  There you will find that the first novel in the series can be downloaded for free on any iPad, Nook, Kindle or computer, or you can order a paperback version HERE.

I encourage my students to check these books out because they provide memorable adventures that are not only fun and exciting, but teach some profound lessons as well.

Have a great week!

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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THE ABCs OF POWER: THE LETTER E

https://www.frominsultstorespect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/personal-power.jpgOn this blog we have been discussing personal power.  We have noted that the reason why people use insults is to try to achieve their desires.  This strategy often backfires.  Therefore, we have been learning plans to increase our skill to achieve our desires without launching insults at others.

Learning the sources of power greatly enhances our skills to achieve our desires.  And once we become confident that we have a variety of effective ways to achieve our desires, we begin to feel more self assured and less likely to become defensive when others begin to criticize us.

After introducing these basic ideas, I  began to build a list of sources of power.  This list is in alphabetical order.  So far, it looks like this:

THE ABCs OF POWER

A=Advancing Skill (see The ABCs of Power: The letter “A”)

B=Breaking Down a Conflict into its Three Conditions:  Desire, Interference and Guilt (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “B”)

C=Coalitions (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “C”).

D=Discussions or Debates (see The ABCs of Power: The letter “D”)

When the list is completed, there will be sources of power all the way up to the letter “F.”  Today we add to our list a source of power that begins with the letter “E.”

E is For Encouraging Caring

One way to achieve your desire is to make a request.  For example, suppose Judy, whenever she criticizes me, does so by shouting and calling me names.  I find that I have a desire to maintain a good relationship with Judy but the way she goes about criticizing me is leading me to consider ending it.  What can I do about this?  Well, one thing I could do is to wait until Judy is in a relatively good mood, and then make the following request.

ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC SAILER
ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC SAILER

By making my request in this way to Judy there is a better chance that my desire to continue to have a good relationship with Judy will occur than if I just end my relationship with her without making my request.

There are, of course, several ways to go about making a request–some are more likely to achieve your desires than others.  For example, imagine what might happen if I asked Judy to stop shouting and insulting me while she is in the middle of shouting and insulting me.  And let’s say that as I made this request, I began to shout at her while calling her a pile of garbage for shouting and insulting me.

Illustration by Eric Sailer
Illustration by Eric Sailer

Using that style of making a request can actually make it harder for me to achieve my desire.  Rather than making me more powerful, it can lead to my becoming a weaker individual.  It can increase the chances that Judy will become angry with me and she may end up storming away.  She may begin to talk about me behind my back in a way that leads others to lose respect for me.  All of this is the very opposite of what I desire.

So, as these two examples demonstrate, your style of making a request  can either increase, or decrease your power.

Interestingly, even if I make my request in a way that is respectful to Judy, as in the first of the two above examples, if she learns that whenever she refuses any of my requests I then begin to shout and insult her, she can still end up losing respect for me.  For example, consider the following scenario:

GUILTING1 Notice that when John first makes his request, he does not shout or insult Pete in any way.  It is only when Pete turns down his request that John begins to shout and insult him.

When turned down, John angrily conveys his belief that Pete is selfish and uncaring.  This pattern of responding when a request is turned down is often referred to as “guilting.” “Laying a guilt trip on someone” and “seeking to impose guilt on someone” are other expressions that may be used to refer to this pattern.  Guilting is a very common way to respond when a request is turned down.

Contrast this guilting approach to the following:

encouraging caring illustration

In this comic, Diane expresses sadness about coming to class late and requests that Tom pick her up on time.  As she makes the request, it is very similar to how John asks for help in the previous example.  Neither John or Dianne insults the person to whom the request is made while they make their request.  But when John is turned down, he begins to use guilting.  When Dianne sees that Tom has refused her request, she remains supportive.  We will be calling Diane’s style of making a request “encouraging caring.”

It’s crucial to point out here that even with all that Diane does in this comic, a slight change in the end could turn it into guilting.  For example, suppose that after becoming convinced that Tom will not do as she asks, she gets up to leave and yells at him, red faced, “You’re a selfish creep!”  Then she would have used guilting and Tom would consequently begin to develop an expectation that this will be her pattern of reacting whenever he turns down her requests.

When someone makes a request in a manner consistent with encouraging caring, they do the following:

When we ask others to help, it is acceptable to express sadness at the current state of affairs and to seek a mutually satisfying solution.  If our request is turned down, it is not acceptable to view the refuser as evil.  To seek to humiliate those who turn down our requests is forbidden, while showing empathy and support are essential.  Some people make the mistake of thinking that to use encouraging caring effectively, people must learn to resign themselves to doing nothing else but graciously accepting it when a person turns down their requests.   In many situations that is the wisest choice.  But there are many alternatives that can be considered that are consistent with the supportive encouraging caring source of power.

In two earlier posts, I gave some examples of people using encouraging caring and guilting (see AN INTRODUCTION TO GUILTING and GUILTING VERSUS ENCOURAGING CARING).  I also described in those posts the research indicating that those who use encouraging caring instead of guilting are more likely to enhance their reputation and in the long run are more likely to achieve compliance to their requests.  Those posts are worth taking a look at.  For now, let’s take a look at a fresh example of someone making a request.

charlie brown making request

Here Charlie Brown asks Lucy to trade her Joe Shlabotnik baseball card for some of his cards.  He makes the request in a sincere manner, and when Lucy refuses, he remains respectful, avoids any insults, and offers her some additional choices to entice her to trade.  Again she refuses, and although he is clearly disappointed, he walks away without insulting Lucy.  Is this a case of encouraging caring?

Encouraging caring requires that the requester remains supportive and respectful throughout the request, even when it becomes quite clear that the other party will not comply.

What appears missing in Charlie Brown’s efforts to acquire the card is showing empathy and support for Lucy’s position.  He doesn’t seem to care why Lucy wants to hold onto the card.

Charlie Brown could have provided us a clearer demonstration of encouraging caring if he had taken more time to ask her more about why the card was valuable to her, and then listened carefully to what she had to say.  He could have summarized her position in a kind tone of voice that showed he understands and empathizes with her position.  In the end, he could have said: “I understand that you think Joe is cute.  Well, Lucy, it’s your baseball card.  If you don’t want to trade it, that’s your right.”  To show Lucy that he is able to put himself in her shoes, he might mention a time when someone wanted to trade with him, but he refused.

Charlie Brown 2 making a request.png

When we think about encouraging caring as a source of power, it is important to remember that when someone does turn down your request it doesn’t mean that your only option is to graciously accept it and resign yourself to not having your desire fulfilled.  As long as you remain supportive, there are other things that you can do that are consistent with encouraging caring.

In our example of Charlie Brown’s efforts to obtain a baseball card, what are some other things he could have done to persuade Lucy to make a trade with him while remaining supportive?

Well, at one point, Lucy explains why she doesn’t want to make the trade.

Charlie trade

If Lucy wants the baseball card because Joe Shlabotnik is cute, perhaps Charlie Brown could find some used sports magazines that have several pictures of Joe’s cute face.  Charlie could offer them as part of his trade.  Or he could offer to take a picture of the baseball card with his camera, have the picture blown up, and put in a 9 X 12 inch frame.  These ideas come from thinking about why Lucy desires to have the card and trying to come up with a way that fulfills her desire in a manner that does not interfere with Charlie’s desire to have the baseball card for his collection.

Lucy may have another motive for not trading with Charlie Brown than her stated reason—“Joe Shlabotnik is cute.”  Perhaps it is because she is after power.  By refusing to trade with him, Lucy is demonstrating that she has the power to refuse his offer.  If Charlie Brown were to ask her what she believes would be a fair trade for the card, it empowers her to make an offer.  Notice that Charlie does not do this.  Instead, he keeps trying to come up with offers.  If Lucy does come up with an idea for a fair trade, Charlie can then either accept her offer, or use it as a basis for coming up with a counter offer.

These are just some of the possible approaches that are open to Charlie as he seeks ways to have his desire fulfilled while remaining consistent with encouraging caring.  When used with the other sources of power, people have the capacity to find numerous ways to fulfill their desires.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed today’s lesson.  I hope to see you again real soon.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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THE ABCs OF POWER: THE LETTER D

personal powerA few weeks ago I began to discuss personal power.  Let’s begin today’s lesson with a quick review of some key points.

Quick Review

Personal power has several definitions.  We’ll be focusing on the one that states that it is the ability to achieve your desires.

Power is related to name calling, insults and teasing.  The reason that people use name calling, insults and teasing is to try to achieve their desires. In my blog post titled “INSULTS: A COMIC STRIP LOVER’S GUIDE” I provide readers with eight typical desires that people seek to achieve by using name calling, insults and teasing.  One example that we covered is the desire to get someone to improve.

http://drjeffreyrubin.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/teaching-children-picture-1.jpgTo illustrate this, we looked at a mother who sees her young boy misbehaving.  She desires to get him to improve, so she yells at him, “You little brat, stop that right now!”

If the plans that this mother uses typically achieve her desires, we say that she is a powerful person, or she has a great deal of power.  If the plans that she uses make it harder for her to achieve her desires, we picture her as weak and ineffective.

Readers of this blog have been learning plans to increase their skill when they are tempted to launch insults at others or when they find that someone is trying to insult them.  Learning the sources of power will greatly enhance these skills.

People who are powerful at achieving their desires create effective plans.  The term, “plan,” when used here refers to a series of steps that are described in enough detail so that any reasonable person can immediately implement them.  Because there are so many different types of situations in which you find you have a desire, at times you will feel stuck in coming up with a plan.

A “source of power,” as used here, refers to an idea that can help you to come up with a plan even when you feel stuck.  Such sources of power, although not specific enough to implement without some creative problem solving, are helpful in fulfilling a wider range of desires than specific plans.  Knowledge of the sources of power can turn a feeling of hopelessness into a feeling of challenge.

After introducing these basic ideas, I  began to build a list of sources of power.  This list is in alphabetical order, beginning with the letter “A.”  Once we are done, by keeping the list readily available whenever you feel stuck about how to achieve your desire, you will be able to retrieve the list, and as you go through it, you will find that it can often serve as an aid for creating a promising plan.  By spending time familiarizing yourself with the list, you will find that even when you don’t have the list at your fingertips its alphabetical arrangement will aid your recall.

So far, the list looks like this:

THE ABCs OF POWER

A=Advancing Skill (see The ABCs of Power: The letter “A”)

B=Breaking Down a Conflict into its Three Conditions:  Desire, Interference and Guilt (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “B”)

C=Coalitions (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “C”).

When the list is completed, there will be sources of power all the way up to the letter “F.”  Today we add to our list a source of power that begins with the letter “D.”

D is for Discussion or Debate

If you find yourself having trouble coming up with a plan to achieve one of your desires, inviting a variety of people to participate in a discussion about this can often be very helpful.

There are a variety of ways to use this strategy of getting a wide range of perspectives on a difficult issue.

 Dilbert debate

In the above comic, Dilbert decides to participate in a discussion with himself.  Although this certainly can be helpful at times, involving others has some benefits as well.

Here’s an approach that I think is particularly helpful.  Describe your difficulty to two people who are not embroiled in it.  Do this by first providing your perspective.  Then flip a coin to find out which of the two individuals will pretend to be using your perspective while trying to come up with a useful plan. The other person is asked to be free to take any perspective he or she wants.

Depending on how complicated the situation is, put what strikes you as a reasonable period of time aside for the first round of the discussion.  Once that time expires, ask your helpers to reverse roles.  That is, the person who had been taking your perspective now is to be free to take any other perspective.  The person who had been free to take any perspective now is to be restricted to take your perspective.

It is often very valuable to set up these types of discussions on multiple occasions.  On each occasion, you would be wise to seek out very different types of people to participate.

How can you get people to discuss your problem?  One option is to call family members or other people that you know.  Begin by asking them how they are doing, listen intently, and then ask them either to meet you and the other family member in person for the type of discussion you have in mind, or for them to engage in the debate using an exchange through email.

Another option is to use the search engines on the internet.  In search engines such as Google, you can just put your problem in the search bar and numerous ideas may be retrieved.

There are also numerous blogs on the internet, some that target very general problems, and some that focus on pretty much every conceivable type of issue.  Consider joining one or more of these, and then throw out your problem to the subscribers and see what they come up with.

An Example of Using the “Discussion” Source of Power

shyLeroy, a shy seventeen-year old boy, has been feeling pretty lonely lately.  He moved into a new city with his parents and is having trouble finding new friends.

He’s tried to start up conversations at school, but just can’t really get himself to do it.  He has a few cousins in the city he used to live in who are about his age, so he asks them to discuss this through an email exchange.

One cousin, Ty, takes the perspective of a very shy boy, just like Leroy.  The other cousin, Rodney, takes the perspective of any one he wants.

“There’s nothing wrong with being shy,” writes Ty.  “If you don’t have any friends, then you don’t have to put up with a bunch of jerks.  You get to do whatever you want when you want to.  With friends, one guy wants to go to one movie, another wants to go to a different movie, neither of which you want to see.  You don’t need friends, they’re just a stupid hassle.”

“It’s great having friends,” Rodney replies.  “If your friends don’t want to go to a movie you want to see, then you can still go alone.  But sometimes they do want to go to a movie you want to go see, and then you got some company.”

“I just can’t make friends,” writes Ty.

“Sure you can,” Rodney comes back.  “Hey, listen, I got an idea. On the internet, there are a bunch of groups that have been formed with the purpose of achieving a common goal.  Meetup.com and websites like it include national groups and tons of local ones as well.  You type in your area code and a list of the meetup groups in your area come up.  You can also search by activity.

“Sometimes the groups in your area do not deal with the exact thing you are interested in.  You can still meet with one that comes closest, take some time to get to know the people, and then propose setting up another group that addresses more directly your specific interest.”

After this discussion, Leroy decides to give the Meetup.com idea a try.  He goes to its webpage, and because there is no one right there in person to reject him, he finds that he can look around the site with pretty much no anxiety.

He has always been interested in vintage cars.  He types that into the site’s search engine and discovers that his city does have a group that meets regularly.  Not only that, but they are putting together a vintage car show on the edge of town and they are looking for volunteers to help out.

vintage car showLeroy signs up to be a volunteer, and finds that the folks that he meets are eager to discuss with him their common interests.  Before long, he meets a few people who become his friends.

At the Meetup.com website, he also finds a group for “shy people.”  They meet once a month as a support group.  He gives that group a try and finds that he is learning to deal better with his shyness from the group’s weekly discussions and he enjoys their company.  He ends up no longer feeling so lonely.

Well, that’s today’s lesson.  Have a great week.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

Categories
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PROVIDING NEGATIVE CRITICISM: A LUANN COMIC STRIP LESSON

In last week’s post, I presented a lesson on responding to negative criticism that utilized a Luann comic strip.  It was so popular that I decided to once again have Luann help us out; but this time, rather than focusing on the most mature ways to respond to negative criticism, let’s focus on the most mature ways to provide negative criticism.  For those of you who are new to this blog, you may want to first review a couple of my earlier posts that introduce some key ideas (see PROVIDING NEGATIVE CRITICISM: FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY and PROVIDING NEGATIVE CRITICISM: DEFENDING THE FIVE LEVELS OF MATURITY.)

First Example

Let’s begin by first taking another look at the same Luann comic that we used last week.

Luann1Luann2

Last week we mentioned that in the above comic Luann appears to have become a little defensive at Bernice’s criticism.  We went on from there to answer the question, “What could Luann do differently to better match a more mature response?”

Now, if you will, think about Bernice’s style of providing negative criticism to Luann.  Is there anything that she could have done differently that would have led you to think she is more mature than how she comes across in the comic strip?

My Answer

Here’s my approach to answering this question. For the most part, Bernice’s actions seem to me to best match the level 4 description—The criticizer states the criticism without bodily attacks, damaging property, insults, threats, or shouts, and with enough details so that the criticized person, if he or she wills, can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance.  If the person receiving the criticism becomes defensive or angry, the criticizer empathizes without returning insults, threats, or shouts.

Luann3The first time Bernice speaks, she provides the same negative criticism to Luann that Luann had provided to herself—“You should drop 10 pounds and grow your bust line.”  This can seem insulting, but Bernice was invited by Luann to give her an opinion and I’m not sure Bernice means it as an insult.

Nevertheless, Luann does become a little defensive as a result of Bernice’s comment, leaning over and with her mouth depicted as open wide, she appears to be shouting.  Luann1 If Bernice was to earn full credit for being at level 4, she would show some empathy at this point.

What exactly would  “show some empathy” look like in this situation?  There are a number of styles for this, but here’s one approach for your consideration.

“Luann,” says Bernice, “I know you agreed to wear this outfit in front of a lot of people and you’re worried about how you’re going to look.  Are you OK?”

Then, Bernice listens in a caring manner without interrupting Luann.  Once Luann clearly finishes what she has to say, Bernice summarizes Luann’s comments.  Then she says, “Luann, regardless of whether you decide to wear this costume or not, I, for one, am going to still like you.  I consider you my dearest friend.”

If Bernice would have responded in this manner, I think Luann would have very much appreciated it.

Overall, I think that Bernice, in the comic, does not intend to insult her friend but instead intends to provide her some honest feedback.  Although level 4 does not quite match all that I observed in Bernice’s style of providing criticism, it is a better match than level 3 which requires an obvious attempt at providing an insult.


In rating Bernice’s style of providing criticism to Luann, I gave Bernice 4 points because her actions best matched the level 4 description.  I then subtracted .2 because of her lack of empathy, and her final response about the skimpy outfit had her coming off as slightly insulting. Thus I gave Bernice’s style of providing criticism a 3.8.

Now, this type of rating system, it is important to note, is designed for those people who are providing negative criticism because they hope to encourage some improvement.  In the above comic, it seems to me that the improvement that Bernice is pulling for is to get Luann to change her mind about wearing the demeaning costume. But, perhaps I’m wrong.  There are other reasons why people provide negative criticism besides seeking to encourage some improvement.

In my post, INSULTS: A COMIC STRIP LOVER’S GUIDE, I provide readers a list of eight major reasons why people provide negative criticism.  In the above comic strip, rather than trying to encourage Luann to make some improvement, Bernice may, instead, have been feeling jealous.  After all, Luann had been asked to wear the costume by someone who is going to put on a big Zeye promotion.  Nobody asks Bernice to wear the costume.

Illustration by Eric Sailer

If jealousy was  the motivation for Bernice’s negative criticism, then my advice to her would be different than if I thought she was motivated to help Luann to make some improvement.  I think I would have suggested that she consider waiting at least a week before providing any negative criticism, thus giving her some time to find a way to sail out of the stormy region of anger on the great sea of conflict.

Second Example

Let’s continue with Luann’s costume story.  Despite Bernice’s comments, Luann decides to go ahead and wear the Zeye outfit at one of the stores in the local mall to promote Zeye Games. Tiffany arrives at the promotion with this cute guy, Quill.  Tiffany and Luann are both very much attracted to him.  In the comic below, you’ll notice that Tiffany begins to provide some negative criticism to Luann.  What rating do you think she deserves?

Luannzeya2

My Answer

When I first read the comic I thought Tiffany’s actions best matched the level 3 description— The criticizer clearly states the criticism with enough detail so the criticized person, if he or she wills, can improve the behavior, idea, or appearance, but couples it with glares, insults, shouts, or threats that are not about bodily harm. The comments Tiffany makes to Luann in front of Quill, are obviously designed to be insulting.  For example, when Tiffany says, “…I’ve grown past wearing cheesy outfits,” her clear intent is to indicate that she thinks Luann is not as mature as she.

Tiffany’s comments are even more insulting because she is saying it in front of Quill.

As I mentioned above, those of us who had been following the Luann comic strip during the period of time these particular comics appeared, learned that Quill has shown some interest in Luann, and Tiffany is jealous.  As I interpret Tiffany’s negative criticism of Luann, it is not really about the cheesy outfit and how Luann looks in it—it’s about her jealousy.

But, for educational reasons, let’s say Tiffany, in this situation really did want to provide some helpful negative criticism to Luann.  What actions would Tiffany have had to carry out under this set of circumstances in order for her to match the highest level of maturity–level 5?

5.  When the criticizer provides criticism, he or she does so in a manner very similar to a level four response, but beforehand, the criticizer considers the person who is the target of the criticism, and the situation that he or she is in.  As a result of such considerations, the criticizer may decide to alter the criticism.

To match this level of maturity, Tiffany, as she begins to feel the desire to provide negative criticism with the intention to encourage improvement, she would start to consider situational and personal variables that are present.  In doing so, she would realize that to negatively criticize Luann in front of Quill could very likely come off as immature, especially if Quill is mature enough to recognize what is obvious to most of the readers of the Luann comic.  She would have had to say to herself, “If I put down Luann in front of Quill, there’s a good chance Quill will see that I’m being mean and that I’m the type of person who does mean things when I get jealous.  If I really think Luann would be better off not wearing the Zeye costume and I really cared about her, I’d ask to speak to her about this in private.”

Third Example

Let’s try one more for now.  Please see what level of providing criticism best matches Quill’s effort to provide Luann a singing tip.

Luannsing1Luannsing2Luannsing3

My Answer 

Quill begins his negative criticism with some positive criticism.  I like that.  Before providing his negative criticism, he first asks Luann if he can give her a tip.  Nice!  After Luann agrees to hear it, Quill gives her very specific instructions that can really make a difference if she desires to utilize it.  Although some people are nearby, Quill appears to be presenting his criticism far enough away from the others so he and Luann have some privacy.  I think level 5 is the best match.

Well, that’s our Name Calling, Insults and Teasing lesson for today.  Have a great week.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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RESPONDING TO CRITICISM: A LUANN COMIC STRIP LESSON

Over the past year, followers of this blog have been learning how to skillfully deal with criticism.  Some of the lessons focused on the four levels of maturity for responding to criticism (see HERE).

Throughout these lessons we looked at the various reasons why some responses are viewed as more mature than others.  I also noted that because people often get defensive when criticized, it is not enough to know clearly what to do in these challenging situations.

To really become proficient at using these skills it is crucial that we practice the skills to a point that we overlearn them in a manner that is similar to what police officers and other first responders do during their training.  They repeat competent performances over and over again even after they can readily carry them out during practice sessions.  This enhances their ability to carry them out during a crisis.

And so, from time to time, readers of this blog find that I am presenting another session to go over what they have already learned.  I try to do this in a fun way, using different narratives to promote their ability to generalize their skills to a variety of different settings.

For those of you who are just beginning to get familiar with the basic ideas of this blog, I encourage you to spend some time going back to some of the early posts and working your way, one by one, to each more recent one.  Instructions for doing this can be found in blue letters toward the bottom of this post.

Practice Session

Today’s practice post utilizes a fun Luann comic.

Luann1Luann2

Here we see that Luann has tried on a costume and she and her friend, Bernice, discuss how it makes her look.  Bernice provides some criticism to Luann.

I like some of the way Luann responds to Bernice’s criticism.   Some opinions are shared, no one ends up getting physically hurt and any hurt feelings that perhaps does occur during their interchange probably won’t result in a loss of a friendship.  But, I can think of some ways Luann could have responded differently that would have struck me as more mature.

What about you?  I’d like you think about this for a minute and see if you can come up with a way that is clearly more mature then Luann’s approach.  Imagine, if you will, the specific words Luann could have used and how she might have said them that would lead you to feel that her response as a whole is more mature than the response that she uses in the comic.  After you give this a try, you can have some fun comparing what you came up with, with what I came up with.

My Thoughts

First, I thought about the four levels of responding to criticism.  I have them written down in a convenient place, so I went and checked out what they say.  I notice that of the various levels of maturity, one of the highest levels is level four.  It is described as follows:

Illustration by Deanna Martinez
Illustration by Deanna Martinez

4.  Level 4 individuals listen to the criticizer in a supportive, warm, friendly style, and then make it clear that they fully understand what was said.  Moreover, they put the criticizer at ease by making statements that indicate that the wise learn from criticism.  Some time is spent on showing that they are thinking about the criticism.  If, after thinking about the criticism the criticism is deemed to be correct, they make a statement frankly indicating, “I can see your ideas have merit and I intend to use them in the future.”  If they are not sure if they agree, they make a statement indicating that they are very interested in what was said, plan to think a little more about this over the next few days and then they will be ready to discuss this further.  If, after thinking about the criticism, the criticism is deemed to be incorrect, a statement is made designed to disagree without being disagreeable.  More specifically, a sense of humor, some listening in a caring way and a few smiles help to traverse rough terrain.  As the episode winds down, the criticizer is encouraged to feel comfortable communicating suggestions in the future.

After reading this description of a level four response, I then thought further about how I would change Luann’s response so it is more mature.

I notice that in the third frame of the comic Luann responds as follows:

Luann1

Luann’s response here strikes me as defensive.  I can certainly understand why she has become defensive.  Nevertheless, to be more in line with a more mature response, I would have her say instead,

“Thanks for your honest opinion, Bernice.  One of the things I like about you is that I can count on you to tell me straight what’s on your mind.  Yeah, we both agree that I don’t have the perfect body for this kind of outfit.  Do you have anything else you want to say to me about this?”

Then, I looked at the fourth panel of the comic:

Luann5Here, Bernice criticizes the outfit as demeaning, and since Luann is planning to wear it, Bernice can be viewed as indirectly criticizing Luann.  In response, Luann puts her hands on her hips and leans back while saying, “You obviously don’t know who Zeye is, Bernice.”  I’m not sure about this because I can’t really hear the tone of voice that Luann is using, but Luann might come across as demeaning Bernice’s lack of knowledge about who Zeye is.

I think Luann would here come across as more mature if she would have instead responded by looking concerned and then replying, “You think this outfit is demeaning.  Hmmm.  Let me think about this for a few moments.”  Then, after some time showing Bernice that her criticism is worth some serious consideration, Luann could have said, “This outfit is just part of who Zeye is.  Zeye is not only a babe in a skimpy outfit.  She represents a powerful, confident superhero who bravely battles interplanetary evil.”

I then looked at the last frame  of the comic:

Luann2Here, Bernice clearly feels uncomfortable about women wearing skimpy clothes.  In my opinion, Luann’s point is a good one, that is, the public oftentimes gets interested in a character if they find the character is physically attractive.   But Luann appears to make her point while glaring at Bernice.  She also doesn’t really directly address Bernice’s concern.  I would have liked Luann to say something like the following:

Burkas“Bernice, you raise an interesting point about skimpy outfits being demeaning. In some societies women have to completely cover their bodies when they go out in public.  To do otherwise is thought of as demeaning.  These women are only permitted to wear outfits that allow people to see their eyes.  The outfits are called niqabs and burkas.  I think they are demeaning to women.  When we go to the beach, we wear bikinis.  When we go to certain parties, wearing a low-cut dress is considered OK.   So, the way I look at this, what is deemed as demeaning depends somewhat on the culture and different social settings. Let me think about this some more.   It’s a fascinating subject, Bernice.  What do you think of burkas for women, Bernice?”

If Luann had replied in this way, she would have shown Bernice that she respected her opinion enough to give it some real thought.  By asking a question to clarify how Bernice thinks about the topic would show her even more that Luann values her opinion.

And so, these are some thoughts that I had while trying to come up with a more mature response for Luann.   In providing them to my readers, I don’t mean to suggest that my response is the only “real” mature response that can be made in similar situations.  There are a variety of styles and approaches that can be legitimately viewed as just as mature as mine, or even more mature.  My approach is provided chiefly to get each of you to think more deeply about this issue.

All right!  There’s your lesson for today.  From time to time, we’ll be playing around with similar practice sessions.

Have a wonderful week!

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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ABCs of Personal Power anger Branch Rickey Bullied coalitions conflict resolution criticism emotional intelligence free social intelligence and emotional intelligence curriculum insults interpersonal conflicts Jackie Robinson Name calling Pee Wee Reese psychological maturity threats wisdom

DEALING WITH INSULTS: LESSONS FROM THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY

Welcome to From Insults to Respect.

Today, to get us to think more deeply about dealing with insults, let’s discuss for few minutes what Jackie Robinson went through when he became the first black major leaguer.

Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey
Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey

Just before Mr. Robinson began to play in the majors for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Dodgers’ general manager, Branch Rickey, made it clear to him that he would face criticism in the form of the most vile insults. If he was to play, Robinson had to show the courage to not return insults with insults or to lose his temper and jeopardize the chances of all the blacks who would follow him if he could help break down the race barriers.

If Mr. Robinson couldn’t return the insults, could nothing be done?  On one particular day when fans were being particularly insulting to Mr. Robinson, the smallest ballplayer on his team, Pee Wee Reese, stepped out of the dugout. Mr. Reese was a beloved player with the fans for his hustling play.  He stepped over to Mr. Robinson,  put his arm around him and stood by his side.

This gesture was discussed around the country, and even today.  And a monument honoring this moment stands tall and strong in Brooklyn.

disabled6

If you go by it some day and watch for a while, from time to time you’ll see a grandfather describing to his grandson how the statue symbolizes what can be done even by two men who responded to insults without returning insults.  I must admit that I’m no kid anymore, and yet, whenever I walk by that statue, I get all misty inside.

disabled7

A few years ago, the movie, “42” came out.

'42'

The film beautifully develops the relationship between Reese and Robinson.  At first, most of Robinson’s teammates reject him.  “I’m not playing with any niggers!” cries one teammate.  “If we let him play, pretty soon the team owners will be bringing up more of them, and they’ll be all taking our jobs!”

“But,” says Pee Wee Reese, “we always knew that if the owners could find someone who could do our jobs better than us then we’d be sent down to the minors.  We always accepted that as fair when it was white guys who might take our jobs.  Why is it any different just because of the color of a guy’s skin?”

“It just is,” came the reply, but with a voice a little less self-assured.

In time, Robinson’s approach to dealing with insults on the field acquired for him more and more sympathy. Of course there were times when the insults began to get to Robinson, but he would seek to deal with his anguish either in private, with Branch Rickey, or  with his lovely wife.  On the field he was all about showing what he could do, and it was sometimes disappointing and sometimes magnificent.  There are always heroes in baseball, and Robinson glistened in that role on more than a few occasions.

Perhaps the finest moments in the movie come about just after we meet a father and son sitting in the seats of a Brooklyn Dodger game.  When Pee Wee Reese is announced as the captain of the Dodgers, the fans in the seats, including this father and son duo, begin to cheer.  The boy, a bit of a pee wee himself, tells his father that Reese is his favorite, all-time greatest player ever!

Then Jackie Robinson’s name is called, and he jogs on to the field with some supportive cries, but many, many insulting cries as well.

robinson being attacked by fans

We then see a close-up of the father and son. The father cries out, “Get off the field you lousy nigger.”  Others in the crowd cry out similar sentiments.  And before long, the father’s son begins to shout, “Get off the field you lousy nigger!”

But it is at this moment, Reese, who was fielding ground balls at shortstop, pauses, then trots over to Robinson at first base.  “How’s it going?” Reese says to Robinson, with a friendly smile.

We see the young boy in the stands, watching on, looking confused, as Reese continues to shoot the breeze in a friendly exchange with Robinson.  When a wave of insults for Robinson comes from a portion of the stands, Reese puts his arm around Robinson, and continues to chat with him, smiling, patting him on the shoulder.

robinson pee wee

Then the umpire calls out to Reese, “This isn’t a social club, let’s play ball.” Reese again pats Robinson on his back, and then trots back to his position at shortstop.

Once again, we see the young boy, and he has now stopped calling Robinson insulting names.

And we see that soon afterwards most of his teammates begin to change their minds and to treat Robinson like a fellow human being.

Jackie robinson dugout

In my recent blog posts, I’ve been discussing the ABCs of Power (see for example, (The ABCs of Power: The Letter “A”).  In the movie, “42”, we don’t see how Robinson worked to employ the very first source of power on The ABCs of Power list–Advancing skill.  But there is no doubt that Robinson worked for years on becoming the star athlete that he became.

42 on field

His skill at projecting the highest levels of maturity when criticized enormously increased the respect that he garnered during his day to day performance.  History teaches us that it was Robinson’s use of these skills that secured for him the source of power known as Coalition, as he united with Branch Rickey, Pee Wee Reese, and ultimately, with his many fans, that turned a dream into a magnificent achievement.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.

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ABCs of Personal Power anger conflict resolution criticism dig for the conflict free social intelligence and emotional intelligence curriculum guilt insults interpersonal conflicts negative criticism parenting social intelligence wisdom

THE ABCs OF POWER AND THE GUILT CONDITION

Lucy power to my kind.For the past few weeks I have been discussing personal power.  Power is the skill to achieve your desires.  To help people to come up with plans to achieve their desires, we have been constructing a list, in alphabetical order, of sources of power.  We are calling this list the ABCs of Power.  So far, the list looks like this:

THE ABCs OF POWER

A=Advancing Skill (see The ABCs of Power: The letter “A”)

B=Breaking Down a Conflict into its Three Conditions:  Desire, Interference and Guilt (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “B”)

C=Coalitions (see The ABCs of Power: The Letter “C”).

Each of these sources of power do not instantly provide us with a plan that is specific enough to achieve our desires.  Rather, when we feel stuck in coming up with a specific plan, these sources of power can guide us along a path that leads us to discover a specific plan.

As I have already mentioned, the best way to learn how to use the sources of power is to look at a variety of examples of people using the ABCs of Power.  To that end, we have recently looked at an example of someone who had a desire to feel less lonely, and found utilizing the sources of power led to a plan that successfully achieved his desire.  We also looked at an example of someone who  was being bullied when he went for a drink at a water fountain.

BEING BULLIED

Today we will look at a fresh new example.

Eugene and Doreen (Illustrations by Eric Sailer)

Eugene and Doreen recently divorced after ten years of marriage.  They have three children.  Doreen takes care of them during weekdays, and then, according to a legal agreement, she is to bring them on Saturday morning at 10 to Eugene’s house.  Eugene is supposed to return them by eight PM on Sunday evening.  Over the past two months, Eugene was late in returning the children to Doreen’s house on three different occasions.  After the first time that Eugene was late, Doreen said nothing.  “Better to keep things cool for the sake of the kids,” she thought.  After the second time, she still kept quiet, but inside she was fuming.  On the third occasion, Doreen blew up at Eugene as he was retuning the kids.

“How dare you bring the kids back an hour late?  Can’t you tell time?  You’re always late.  It’s just like you!”

Eugene 1

“You dropped them off late in the first place!” he yells back.  “You can’t take my time with the kids and then not expect me to bring them back late.  I already see them way less than you!”

“The kind of father you’ve been to the kids you shouldn’t get to see them at all!”

The two end up storming away from each other, leaving the children distressed.

Eugene recognizes that this conflict is not good for the kids, and it’s not doing him a whole lot of good either.  But he has been unable to come up with a resolution that he likes.  Even by focusing first on the desire component of the conflict and then on the interference component, he has met with absolutely no success.  His mind keeps thinking about all of the wrongs that he believes Doreen has done during their relationship, and he ends up obsessing on all of these wrongs.  Now he decides to spend some time focusing on the guilt component, which is kind of what he has been doing when he spends time obsessing over these wrongs.  However, when he decides to focus on the guilt component, he understands he is to do this in a very specific manner.

To focus on this component, like focusing on any of the other two components, he must first use the DIG pattern to describe the conflict.  The letters in the word DIG remind him to describe first the desire, then the interference, and then the guilt.  He says to himself, “I desire to have a full weekend with the kids, and interfering with this, Doreen has been regularly bringing them to me on Saturday morning over an hour late.  I believe she is guilty of being wrong for being angry when I bring them back on Sunday at a time that makes up for her lateness.”

After describing the conflict from his perspective, Eugene tries to describe it, as best he can, from Doreen’s perspective.  “Doreen,” he says to himself, “desires that I always bring the kids back at 8 PM Sunday evening, but interfering with this, she perceives that there are times when I will bring them back late.  She believes I am guilty of being wrong for bringing the kids back late even when she has been late dropping them off on Saturday.”

As he comes up with this description, Eugene realizes that Doreen has other unresolved conflicts with him that involve her angry memories about mistakes he has made in the past, and he has additional unresolved conflicts with her.  By using the DIG pattern of describing his conflict, he has come to better understand this.  He had seen all the other conflicts with her as all one big amorphous conflict.  This made it much harder to figure out any reasonable resolution.  He now realizes that perhaps it will be much better if he focuses just on one conflict at a time, a conflict that can be clearly stated.

“Now, not only am I going to just focus on this one conflict, but I’m also going to just focus on the guilt component of the conflict.  This requires that I ask myself the following question— Can I do something so that the guilt part of the conflict will be reduced or eliminated?”

As Eugene ponders this question, he finds himself saying, “What can I do so that I don’t view Doreen as guilty of being wrong in this situation, and what can I do to convince Doreen that I am not guilty of being wrong?”  Suddenly, Eugene remembers that the issue Doreen felt he was most guilty of throughout their marriage was that he didn’t listen to her.  “Whatever I do to resolve this conflict, it would be best if Doreen ends up feeling that I really listened to her.  Otherwise she will remain so angry that she will refuse to do anything to resolve the conflict.”

As Eugene crafts his plan, he realizes that when he calls her to discuss this issue, she will view it as a situation in which he is providing criticism to her.  “I better review the providing criticism level 5 description.  And at some point in our conversation, Doreen will be criticizing me.  To prepare for our conversation, I better review the level 5 description for responding to criticism.”

After studying those two descriptions, he starts to imagine different ways he can respond to Doreen so that she clearly feels he is listening to her and that he is using skills consistent with the highest levels of maturity.  Some of the comments he imagines Doreen will make anger him so much that he has to spend a few days utilizing the anger techniques that we discussed earlier.  Finally, he believes he has come up with a plan that’s worth a try.

RING!

“Hello,” says Doreen answering her phone.

“Hello Doreen, it’s me, Eugene.”  He had to practice making sure he could say this without bitterness in his voice.

“What do you want, Eugene?”

“First, I want to say I’m sorry about how I spoke to you in front of the children last Sunday.  I know that wasn’t helpful at all.  I would like to get together with you sometime this week without the kids around so that we can discuss how we can better deal with the lateness problem we’ve been having.”

“Is that Daddy?” their daughter asks Doreen.  Eugene can hear this on his end of the phone line.

“Yes,” answers Doreen. “Now be quiet.  I’m trying to talk.”

Eugene 2

“I hear the kids are in the room,” says Eugene.  “Let’s set up a time when we can talk without the kids overhearing us.  I don’t think it’s good for them to hear us quarreling.”

“I don’t know what there is to talk about!” says Doreen sharply.  “Just bring the kids back when you’re supposed to.  I can’t believe you have the nerve to complain about my being a little late on a few occasions when you didn’t even show up half the time for the kids’ big events when we were married.  There was Judy’s play, Mark’s little league games, I can go on and on.”

This is extremely hard for Eugene to hear, especially because he knows the kids are in earshot.  But he has prepared himself well, and he manages to keep listening to Doreen without interrupting.  When he is sure she has finished with all that she wants to say, he summarizes her key points, agrees that there is much merit in what she has to say, and then he adds, “You are right that I was far from an ideal dad in the past.  I’m sorry that I disappointed you, myself, and most of all, the kids.  I really do want to try to do better.  That’s why I’m asking you to meet without the kids to discuss our latest problem.  Please tell me a good time for us to do this.”

“I think it’s a waste of time, but how about next Sunday, when you bring the kids back. I’ll have my mom here to watch the kids and we can go for a walk.  Is that okay?”

“Thank you, Doreen.  I’ll see you then.”

That Sunday, Eugene returns the kids a few minutes early in an effort to make certain he would not be late.

“Thank you for setting this up with your mom,” Eugene says in a pleasant tone as he and Doreen begin their walk.  He is making an effort to start their conversation on a positive note.  “I know how busy you are.”

“A full time job and raising kids is pretty exhausting,” she replies sounding a bit harried.

“Yes it is, Doreen.”

Doreen then launches into her outrage that Eugene has the nerve to make a big thing about her coming late a few times.  “If you bring them home late, it messes up our whole routine and the kids don’t get the sleep they need, and the next day at school they’re wild.”

“I can see your argument is a good one, Doreen.  If you bring the kids to me late on Saturday morning it’s just me that loses out.  If I bring the kids home late on Sunday, not only are you put out, but the kids get messed up too.  What I did without discussing it with you clearly isn’t an acceptable solution to my problem.  I should have discussed this with you first.  I know I was wrong and I apologize.”

“Well I’m glad you understand,” Doreen replies, her tone beginning to sound a little less angry.

“I do treasure my time with the kids, Doreen.  Is there anything you can come up with that you think would be fair when you come late on Saturday morning?”

Doreen again goes into how often he was late in the past.  “If I’m late a few times it serves you right for how many times you were late in the past!” she concludes.

As Doreen speaks, Eugene makes sure he does not interrupt her and that he makes it clear he is listening and trying to see the merits and legitimacy in her point of view.  He attempts to communicate his understanding of her viewpoint by checking his understanding every few minutes.  This involves summarizing what he has heard her say and then pausing to see if she is satisfied with his summary.

As he listens to her list of criticisms, he is tempted to say that she deserves to be punished for all the things she’s done wrong, but he realizes that providing negative criticism to her now would not be a productive approach.  Doreen would start to go down her list of all the things he did wrong in the past once again, which he is already well aware of.  He could then go down all the things she has done wrong over the years, something he’s already done with her on numerous occasions.  In the end, they would end up getting nowhere on the conflict he came to discuss.

“Doreen, I understand why you feel I should be punished for the many mistakes I made over the years.  In my mind, I am being punished for them.  For example, you got the house, and you know how much I love that place. And I only get to see the children two days a week.  Going through the divorce was hard on both of us.  Please suggest another way we can work out this lateness problem.”

“Don’t you understand, bringing them back late on Sunday is out of the question.”

“I understand that, Doreen.  Can we make up the time some other way?”

“Well, how about this?  If you feel I’m dropping them off too late on Saturday morning, tell me and we’ll figure out together when you can make up the time. The kids have some Monday’s off from school every now and then, like Presidents day.  Maybe you can make up the time on a Sunday when there’s no school on Monday.”

“I like that idea, Doreen.  So, when I feel that I want to make up some lost time I should contact you and arrange a time to make up the time.”

After this issue is agreed upon, Doreen talks a little more about some difficulties she’s having with the kids of late, and Eugene uses his best listening skills.  As they return to the house, Eugene again thanks Doreen for agreeing to discuss this problem.

Afterwards, Doreen is much less likely to bring the kids late on Saturday mornings, and when she is late, it’s just a few minutes.  Eugene never bothers to ask to make up the time, for it really hasn’t amounted to anything significant.  He too, on occasion, has brought the kids back a little late but Doreen understands that this will happen from time to time.  Both he and Doreen are pleased with how this conflict had been resolved.

Notice that Eugene, upon focusing on the guilt component of the conflict, came to realize that Doreen not only thought he was wrong for bringing the kids home late on Sunday evening, but also about not listening to her whenever she spoke to him.  By improving his listening skills and by apologizing for his mistakes in the past, including bringing the kids home late on a Sunday evening, this helped to reduce the intensity of the conflict.  Once this occurred, Doreen became more open to working out a resolution with which both parties felt comfortable.

In sum, the source of power that we have been discussing encourages you to break down the conflict into its three conditions, then to come up with an idea to make a change in just one of them, and then to see if the change might lead to the rest of the conflict becoming easier to manage.

To be an effective source of power, we found that it must be coordinated with the other skills we learned.  For example, utilizing the knowledge about the Responding to Criticism Rating System and the Providing Negative Criticism Rating System helped Eugene resolve his conflict with Doreen.

The source of power that has you breaking down a conflict into its three conditions, like all sources of power, cannot immediately provide a specific plan that will resolve a conflict.  Nevertheless, when you are having difficulty resolving a conflict, the perspective that occurs when you focus on just one of the three conditions will often help you to create a valuable plan that might have otherwise been overlooked.

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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.