The Power of Frames in Communication

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So What about Communication?

Communication is the act of exchanging masses or ideas across space. Notice that not all communication has to involve words. In fact, strong evidence supports the conclusion that when it comes to person-to-person contact facial expressions convey 55% of the message, the tone of voice 38% and the words just 7%. So while it may be useful to have an extensive vocabulary to use in our conversations with others, it turns out that it’s not as important as our facial expressions and tonality (body language). Furthermore, while words are important in many ways, they’re not as important as what a message or communication is intended to create, which is an understanding. Understanding is largely affected by whether or not one sees what the other person is communicating. (If one cannot see it, then one cannot accept it, and if one cannot accept it, then the other person feels rejected.) In other words, communication consists of the act of projecting a picture of one’s intended message into the mind of another using various devices (such as facial expressions and body language) to effect an understanding.

So what’s the secret power that words seem to possess? Words utilize many of the same dynamics which music does except words are much more complex, chaotic and interesting, which is why words used alone tend to lead to misunderstandings. For instance, sometimes we do not know the meanings of certain words, which is what we use a dictionary for—to help us clarify them. At other times we encounter certain words where we mistake the meaning of that word for another word’s meaning. Or maybe we don’t understand when someone uses a word “we know” in a context which confuses us because this particular word has several different meanings. Furthermore, specific words are believed to hold a high value because the use of these “magic words” in print can compel us to buy, join, obey, act, or oppose something or someone without knowing why. This is what sometimes makes telephone conversations so frustrating because you cannot see the other person’s facial expressions, posture, eye contact, etc. Communicating over the phone can make meaning more difficult to convey without the visual component.

The Power of Frames in Communication

But what exactly is in a word which gives it the power to compel action or reaction in another? Well, part, if not most, of the answer lies in the fact that most people aren’t rational thinkers and they are unable to differentiate between words as symbols and their own thoughts. For them, words, like food and drink, are simply things that they eat without discrimination. In other words, they are just consumed.

Moreover, words can be used against us as weapons and veils of illusion. Having become accustomed to a certain way of dealing with our perception of reality, we easily get caught in other people’s frames. A frame is a way of looking a reality through a lens that somebody else created to get you to see things in a manner desirable to them. Over the course of our lifetimes we are exposed to many types of frames placed before us by all sorts of people, including those we dislike. Remember, there is only one reality and that is the one which confronts us in the physical universe or on a deserted island. Everything else then which we’re exposed to in social contact is almost totally an endless series of frames. Everyone tries to impose frames on everyone else and no one frame is the truth – that is unless it conforms to the physical universe as a fact. This is most certainly true and very pronounced in areas like communication where the sole function of the individual who deals with words is to try to find a way into your mind to cause you to feel or experience something specific. They’re looking for ways to hook into some part of your mind (such as your memories) to get you to react emotionally, to convince you to accept a view of reality, to get you to perceive something you’re unaccustomed to, to get you to change your mind, or to make you think or remember an unwanted thing.

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Related Music:

Geoforms

Echoes from Lives Ago

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Related Articles:

Words in Songwriting and their Power as Emotional Triggers (Part 1)

Words in Songwriting and their Power as Emotional Triggers (Part 2)
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Marc

http://stereothesis.bandcamp.com/