Communication and Personality
How to understand yourself and others better
Why does communication sometimes succeed effortlessly and sometimes one misunderstanding follows the next? Why is it that with some people you understand each other straight away, get into conversation easily and communicate without any problems, while communication with others is always difficult and simply doesn't want to succeed?
Since ancient times, good and intelligible communication has been seen as the sine-qua-non for a fulfilling and successful life. Aristotle and Plato had already understood this human quintessence. The question is: why do people still find it so difficult to communicate clearly in their professional and private lives today?
Although communication has been scrutinized for thousands of years and there is a plethora of offers for learning and perfecting the craft of successful communication in this day and age, one aspect is often ignored: There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for successful communication. People are wired differently in terms of their personality and social behaviour, and this fact is reflected in the acquisition of communicative skills as well as in interpersonal interaction. In this respect, communication is not only both a craft and an art, but also a unique, personal footprint as well.
People communicate very differently due to their personalities, and statements and messages are not interpreted according to generally accepted principles. For this reason, people often feel that they are not understood by their fellow human beings. This is why a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to teaching the craft, let alone the art, of communication is not really promising.
The course programme 'Communication and Personality' is people-centred and combines craft with art and furthermore offers the unique opportunity to get to know and apply different approaches from the fields of the psychology of communication and personality psychology.
Target group
The course is aimed at anyone who is interested in interpersonal communication and would like to improve their communication skills in a professional and/or private environment. In particular, it is also aimed at those who have set themselves the goal to better understand their own personality and individual communication patterns as well as those of other people.
Course objectives
The course programme
- provides compact theoretical knowledge and is practice-oriented at the same time.
- is based on the fundamental assumption that there are certain universal human needs and behavioural tendencies that can manifest themselves in very different ways. This 'same-but-different' approach is the key to understanding interpersonal communication and social interaction with all its pitfalls.
- provides a comprehensible insight into various approaches and models of communication, social psychology, and personality psychology which are usually only discussed in isolation.
- conveys the basic features of common personality typologies (DISC, MBTI) and scrutinizes their potential and limitations. The course also focuses on the (often unconscious) cognitive processes that underlie both information processing and decision-making processes and thus influence human communication.
Skills
The course participants
- get familiarised with the complexity of interpersonal communication and learn to analyse and prevent misunderstandings.
- get to know their own cognitive preferences.
- reflect on their own communication and action patterns and learn to understand and change them if necessary.
- have the opportunity to analyse their own experience and thus perfect their communication skills.
Duration and costs
The course programme ‘Communication and Personality – How to understand yourself and others better’ comprises three modules over a period of approximately five months. The cost of the entire course, including course materials, drinks and fruit during breaks, is CHF 3'240.
Contents
(Click on the headings to open the descriptions):
Module 1 – Interpersonal Communication Basics / Psychology of Communication
This module explores the question of how people communicate and what is considered successful and efficient communication. The focus is less on the common understanding of communication as the transfer of information but more on communication as a social interaction that constructs meaning and reality. Since people apply different value systems to the interpretation of social reality misunderstandings occur much more frequently than we would like to admit.
The aim of this module is to convey how interpersonal communication is simultaneously shaped by universal human needs and very individual needs and what effects these have on the success of communication. Participants will also examine their own communicative preferences and learn how these can be applied appropriately to specific situations and personalities.
- Basics of human needs (attachment, appreciation, self-realization) and their influence on communication (social comparison, avoiding cognitive dissonance)
- Fundamentals and concepts of communication (verbal and non-verbal communication)
- Discussion of common communication myths
- Getting to know and analysing one's own needs and values and their influence on communication and action patterns
Note: This module can be completed separately outside of the course programme ‘Communication and Personality’.
Module 2 – Psychology of Personality I: Human Tendencies and the DISC Matrix
It is a fact that people like to think in categories. Categories reduce the complexity of reality and offer a certain degree of safety, guidance and control. Although categories are mostly based on self-assessment, and personality tests in particular are considered controversial in terms of validity from a scientific point of view, they are useful tools for understanding individual preferences and tendencies.
The aim of this module is to analyse and understand basic human aspirations in connection with satisfying needs and achieving goals, and to compare one's own perspective to that of other people in communicative situations.
- Clarification of terms such as extraversion, introversion, people orientation and factual orientation and their significance in social interaction
- Learning the basic features different personality types using the DISC matrix
- Participants analyse their own personal communication behaviour and communication patterns
- Application of the models to personal experience and cases
Note: This module can be completed separately and outside of the course programme ‘Communication and Personality’.
Module 3 – Psychology II: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the best-known personality typologies, especially in the English-speaking world. The MBTI, constructed by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, is based on Carl Gustav Jung's personality typology and divides people into 16 personality types based on four dimensions. Used correctly, i.e. with the necessary basic knowledge of the preference hierarchy of cognitive processes, the MBTI is a useful tool for understanding oneself better, classifying information and making important decisions more effectively. The individual preferences of the cognitive processes have a major impact on the way we communicate, with whom we communicate successfully, and with whom we run the risk of talking past each other.
The aim of this module is to acquire the necessary knowledge to classify and understand our own cognitive processes and their impact on our social behaviour.
- Introduction to the Myers-Briggs personality typology
- Clarification of the dimensions, dichotomies and terms of MBTI
- Introduction to the different cognitive processes
- Critical exploration of one’s own personality type
Note: This module can be completed separately and outside of the study programme ‘Communication and Personality’.
Documents for download and further information
You can download and print out the complete curriculum here:
Curriculum Communication and Personality.
Instructor | Dr. Andrea Ochsner |
Dates |
Module 1: 05.-07.12.2024 Module 2: 13.-15.02.2025 Module 3: 24.-26.04.2025 |
Times | 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m., Saturday until 4.00 p.m. |
Investment | CHF 3'240.- Incl. seminar documents and drinks during breaks. |
Location | Ausbildungsinstitut perspectiva | Auberg 9 | 4051 Basel |
Registration | Register now |
Practice-orientated training in communication and personality. Basics of interpersonal communication, communication psychology, personality psychology, DISG model, MBTI type indicator. Training in Basel, Switzerland.