Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and felt a tension that you couldn’t quite put into words? You approach a friend to talk and suddenly you realize that the person is entirely closed off to you. The two of you converse, but you feel that something is very wrong.
This feeling, according to Tim Muehlhoff, Associate Professor of Communication at Biola University, emerges because of the “communication climate” between the two of you. A communication climate is “the overarching sense of value and satisfaction individuals feel as they interact with each other.” It is the “weather” that swirls around two people as they communicate. It both reflects and affects the condition of their relationship.
Muehlhoff says that your communication climate will either help you or hurt you, whether or not you know it’s there. It will always be a factor in communication.
The old adage “it’s not what you say but how you say it” is very true. Add a touch of sarcasm to an otherwise thoughtfu...
