 
Support Wrong Planet Awareness!
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Specter
Sentient Program
Joined: Apr 19, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 1210
Location: Alaska
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:35 am Post subject: Asperger's and communication. |
 |
|
Hello all :D sorry I haven't been on in quite awhile; I'm at an Alaska Honors Institute :D It's a college prep program. Anyway, final exams are coming up, and we're supposed to be attempting to anticipate the question that our professors will be asking. I think that in my Communications class (A fancy way to say "writing class" xD) will be asking something about how communication can be summarized and reduced into basic ideas, and that often things are easily implied. The example that was given was:
What is said: All men don't listen. Bob is a man.
What is implied: Bob does not listen.
Anyway, now that I've explained the topic, I can get to my question. As required for the class, I have to bring in new information and new ideas in addition to answering whatever question they ask. I was thinking about it, and I realized how little I understand implied speech. I mean, why can't people just say what they mean? I understand that it can be difficult for other Aspies to instantly guess what someone is implying from what they say. I was wondering if anyone has anything to add to that :D I'm really excited about the class, and even if I don't get any answers by Monday (the day of the exam) I'd still appreciate your thoughts. Because it's an interesting subject :D
Thank you, everyone, for your time. :D
~Specter
_________________
"there is no spoon" |
|
| Back to top |
|
Specter
Sentient Program
Joined: Apr 19, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 1210
Location: Alaska
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
nothing yet? That's okay :D the exams are on Monday, and I've got quite a bit of information and personal examples already. I'll leave the question up though, because I'd still love to know what you all think. Thank you. I hope you all have a wonderful day!! :D
_________________
"there is no spoon" |
|
| Back to top |
|
Programmer
Blue Jay
Joined: Mar 25, 2008
Posts: 80
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject: Re: Asperger's and communication. |
|
|
| Specter wrote: | | I mean, why can't people just say what they mean? I understand that it can be difficult for other Aspies to instantly guess what someone is implying from what they say. |
Not saying what you mean is for two logical reasons. The first is it adds colour or extra meaning to what you are saying. The second is it allows you to deny that you said it in the first place. There is a lot of one up man ship and subtle "lieing" in a normal NT conversation. So if you use metaphors and sarcasm it is harder to be pinned down on a subject and avoid the social stigma of disagreeing with someone. Or worse pinned down for insulting someone. If you phrase the insult like a joke. "She has lips like a tail pipe on steriods." Sure you are probably insulting her but it is a funny metaphor. Now you can follow it up with: "Red hot but you might get burned."
Another way of looking at it is if you are using an emotional method to process input the facts aren't relevant. So pumping in a feeling will pump out a feeling. The key is finding the right feeling on a related subject and using that as a metaphor. I suppose you could argue that if you are more familiar with the metaphor it might help you on the current subject.
On another note most non-thinker NTs are often looking for an emotion rather than a solution. If you are looking for an emotion the actual meaning of the words are somewhat meaningless. A sentence that provokes an emotion has entertained them.
The key is using an out of context word or two that evoke other meanings. Or is hard to resolve. Although the example they give is fairly straight forward. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Rainstorm5
Tornado Aficionado
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 1103
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Sounds like your exercise in 'implied' communication might be fun. I also had problems like this and it still trips me up from time to time. For me, it would be easier if people simply stated things directly. I agree with Programmer's reply. NTs love to speak in metaphor and simile, using analogy whenever they can. Think of it as being told a very short story and you have to figure out what the 'moral' to the story is. Basically you're taking a euphemism or generalization and applying it to a certain individual or thing in order to emphasize a point.
Here's an example taken from a conversation I overheard not long ago ---
1. Old Lady#1:You know all those women from Los Angeles love makeup and always have to be thin. Most of them wear trampy clothes, too .
Old Lady#2: Hey, Janie's from L.A.
Old Lady #1: And she wore a miniskirt to work on Wednesday, so there you go.
Point is that Old Lady#1 feels that all women from Los Angeles are obsessed with their looks and are tramps. She has no 'proof' Janie is image-obsessed, yet she will 'imply' as much based on little or no information. This is how gossip is spread and moved on from person to person, with the 'story' growing more and more along the way as people embellish upon it.
It seems to me that when NTs do this, it's a way of 'sorting' people or things by making snap judgments and categorizing them until more information comes their way. At that point, people will either revise their opinion or disregard the new information in favor of their earlier assessment. This is why I was really pissed off at the television media during the Elizabeth Smart abduction case. The police had picked up an itinerant handyman named Richard Ricci and let it slip that he'd served time for burglary and other petty offenses. That's all the media needed to hear before they lambasted the poor man on television in front of millions of people. Here's how they came to their conclusion:
1. A child has gone missing and Ricci, a felon, had once worked in the family's home
2. All child abductors are felons.
3. Richard Ricci is a felon, therefore...
4. Ricci is guilty as sin and he aducted Elizabeth Smart.
The poor guy died in jail, tried and convicted in the press, so everyone on earth had him pegged as a kidnaper. After his death, it turned out that another man (a full-on wacko) and his skanky girlfriend were responsible. Did the media apologize to the Ricci family? No. Why should they? They do this sort of thing all the time.
With this extreme example you can see how faulty logic based on emotion can be used to ram home a point - even if/especially if a person wants to reinforce their opinion of someone else.
_________________
Terminal Outsider, rogue graphic designer & lunatic fringe. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Specter
Sentient Program
Joined: Apr 19, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 1210
Location: Alaska
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
thank you, both of you :D I was afraid that no one would care to reply. I see your points, and I think that you both have ways of looking at communication that will be useful to explainging the problems of implied communication. Thank you both very much, and I hope you have a wonderful day :D
_________________
"there is no spoon" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
