CCA #1 Choice of Behaviour While Communicating

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, what you are about to read may shock and terrify you and maybe even inform you of the behavioural choices behind communication.
Whether it is a dyadic, interpersonal or even mass communication, choosing the appropriate behaviour will influence the effectiveness of you as a communicator. Choosing a suitable behaviour while speaking depends on one’s goal, and audience for successful communication to take place.
To start, choosing the appropriate behaviour for a situation will depend on the goal you are trying to achieve. Recently, during the present provincial election, one of the candidates adjusted his pitch and volume in such a way to draw attention to him at a campaign stop like he was angry. Finishing with large hand motions and a loud finale, he received and huge applause and media attention. His goal to achieve media coverage was achieved by this use of behaviour, tailored to public communication. Therefore, depending on the goal one is trying to achieve, a suitable behaviour must be chosen.
Moreover, a communicator’s audience plays a role in the choosing a specific behaviour. “What is appropriate for one person won’t be appropriate for another one at all”(Alder, Rodman, and Sévigny 24). Yet again, a candidate was speaking in a small town up north with a large dropout rate. Thus he modified his language for all of the citizens to understand. He expressed everything in “Layman’s terms” and used many analogies to help communicate his message. Therefore, depending on the audience, one will have to tailor his or her methods for communicating to an audience.
In closing, selecting a suitable behaviour while speaking depends on one’s goal, and audience to be a successful communicator in any situation. As one can see, there are examples all around us everyday. As communicators it is up to us to determine our level of success through the utilization of these simple yet often forgotten tools.
Adler, Ronald B., Rodman, George., Sevigny, Alexandre. Understanding Human Communication. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2008.