I Am What I Am! Indivdiualizing Behavior

The sixth square in the SAVI grid is characterized by verbal behaviors that communicate information about oneself, one's likes and dislikes, one's ideas and speculations about oneself.  They include:

• current information present
• factual statements about oneself
• statements of planned action (present or future)
• personal editorial comments like "I've been thinking a lot about this"
• personal past information
• opinions/explanations/speculations about the self
• personal questions (questions of others that invite 'individualizing' responses)

Quite understandably, 'individualizing' behavior is considered to be 'person' in orientation when considering the person/topic split within SAVI theory.  It also is 'contingent' behavior, meaning that the statement's overall effect of either 'approach' or 'avoidance' depends on the response of the listener and the overall context of the conversation. 

And the Winner Is! Competing Behavior

The third square in the SAVI grid addresses competing verbal behaviors.  They include the following types of statements:

• yes-but
• discount
• leading questions
• oughtitude
• interrupt

'Yes-but' comments are easily identified, and seem to be a place many people feel more confident to start modifying their communication once they understand what "Yes-but" statements are and how they function.  A previous post in November of 2012 is dedicated only to "Yes-but" statements.  Find it in the archives.     

'Discounts' include verbal statements that function to get the other person to stop talking about their idea , including negative or contradictory opinions.  Any denial of another person's ideas or feelings or facts is consider a 'discount'.

'Leading questions' are really not questions at all.  'Leading questions' are 'opinions' in question form:  "You don't really think that's going to work, do you?"  Again, a previous post focuses on nothing else by 'leading questions'.  That blog entry is located in our archives in December of 2012. 

'Oughtitudes' are statements that intone a superior, dogmatic, judging observation about life rules.  They express an attitude that the speaker is tuned in to way things "ought to" be, and that everyone else "ought to" already know how things should be (the words "ought to" may or may not actually be used).  Listen to any political debate for plenty of examples of 'oughtitudes'. 

'Interrupt' is simple to understand.  We all do it.  We rely on it.  It's so common place, many use it without being aware. 

Competitive verbal behaviors are easy to find within any group that moves beyond the initial 'obscure' comments (social ritual) that characterize exchanges whenever people first come together (see previous post). 

'Competing' comments are topic statements that orient the listener to the speaker's personal position on information.  Competitive statements are characterized as those the avoid the maintenance of personal relationship and/or the topic under consideration, and ultimately avoid solving the inherent problems inherent within the act of communicating with others.       

Say What? Obscuring Behavior

Appropriately entitled 'obscuring', the second square on the SAVI grid is made up of verbal behaviors that are topic/factual in orientation, but ultimately avoid the true maintenance of topic.  Avoidance occurs by generating statements 'as if' the information found within is factual, when in fact reality could very well be something completely different:

• mind reading
• predictions (negative or positive)
• gossip
• joking around
• thinking out loud
• social ritual

'Mind reading' occurs when the speaker is engaged in verbal behavior where he or she talks as if s/he knows another person's thoughts better than the person himself or herself.  Examples include statements like, "I know you think this is a bad idea!"  And, "He thinks anything to do with reform policy is a waste of time!"

'Predictions', either negative ("That'll be the end of the line for him!") or positive ("That's going to solve all our problems!"), always introduce ambiguity into a conversation.  After all, who can really say with 100% accuracy what will work or not, or whether everything is going to be fantastic or not.

'Thinking out loud' includes comments like, "Well, it's like... you know... I mean... right!" 

'Social ritual' includes statements like, "Nice to meet you," "So glad you could come," "Thank you so much for the lovely gift!" 

'Obscuring' behavior can seem quite charming and entertaining.  When there's work to be done or problems to tackle, however, 'obscuring' behavior will decrease productivity and morale every time. 

Take That! Fight Behavior

According to SAVI theory, 'fighting' verbal behavior includes:

• attacks/blames
• righteous questions
• sarcasm
• self-attack
• self-defend
• complaints 

Fight behavior is identified as 'personal' because it allows the receiver/listener to understand the current state-of-mind of the speaker.  While there may be many 'you' statements associated with fight behavior like "You never listen to me!" (attack/blame) or "How can you possibly agree with that?" (righteous question), the communication actually functions to reveal the current inner-state of the speaker. 

When you were young and were being taught about blame you might have been told, "Remember when you point your finger at someone else three fingers are pointing back at you." That's the idea associated with 'fight' behavior.  Even though the speaker might be saying 'you', the behavior functions as a way to expose the listener to the speaker's current personal inner state. 

While characterized as 'person' oriented, 'fight' behavior is also identified as 'avoidance' behavior.  Remember that all 'avoidance' behavior contains high levels of dissonance and 'noise' (ambiguity, contradiction, redundancy).  And in the particular case of 'fight', the behavior functions to avoid the maintenance of personal relationships. 

More About the What of Communiction: Topic Facual and Topic Orienting

A major premise behind SAVI is that all verbal statements are made up of two elements:  person and topic (see previous blog entry).  As a quick review, let's look at the following two examples.  Determining which statement is more heavily 'person' oriented and which more heavily 'topic' oriented is rather intuitive.

Example 1:  SAVI stands for System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction.

Example 2:  I use SAVI at work every day

The first example is 'topic' dominated.  The only 'person' element associated with the statement is introduced by the speaker's tone of voice.  For example, I can deliver the statement with a tone of voice that is calm as I answer a question from a colleague who has never before heard of SAVI, or I can use a tone of voice that is irritated and condescending as I once more clarify the term with a colleague who has asked me the same question five times in the last hour!

The second example is 'person' dominated because it allows the listener to understand personal information about the speaker.  There are, of course, 'topic' elements associated with this statement, such as SAVI, work, day; however, the overall orientation is more heavily 'person' than 'topic'.  Tone of voice is also an important 'person' element as well, which only increases the 'person' orientation of the statement as a whole.

But what about the following example:

Example 3:  SAVI is a wonderful communication tool that is very helpful during meetings.

According to SAVI analysis, 'topic' and 'person' elements in the above statement are represented in relatively equal amounts.  The listener finds out that SAVI is a communication tool that can be used during meetings (topic), and the listener also learns that the speaker thinks SAVI is wonderful and helpful (person). 

SAVI identifies verbal statements as belonging to one of three person/topic orientations.  Personal statements allow the listener to learn about the speaker's identity.  Topic: Factual statements focus primarily on the topic under consideration.  Topic:  Orienting statements focus on the topic, yet introduce the speaker's personal orientation regarding the topic.  You can say that 'orientating' statements are 'topic' statements with a personal push.

See if you can identify which of the following three statements represent which of the three person/topic orientations:

A:  My favorite book is The Grapes of Wrath.

B:  Steinbeck wrote it during the second half of the 1930s during the Great Depression.

C:  It has just as powerful an impact today as it did when it was first published. 

• Below is an example of how the person/topic elements are represented on the SAVI grid.  The answers to the above three statements are found after.

A:  person
B:  topic:  factual
C:  topic:  orienting
(Remember that tone of voice introduces a 'person' element to all statements)