Attitudes Predict Behavior

Researchers in psychology, politics, and persuasion suggest that attitudes are expressions of an intent or predisposition to act. If my present attitude or opinion is that its time for a change in America politics from the extreme right toward the left, then I am likely to vote for a Democrat in the next election. If my attitude about obesity is that the warnings are overblown, then I will continue to eat like I have and fail to protect my children against the dangers. Attitudes are part of the Values-Beliefs-Attitudes chain.

Values are our conclusions about the ideal world, how the world should be. Values are nearly fixed and highly resistant to change. Beliefs are our conclusions about how the world really is. Beliefs can be strengthened, modified, or dispelled by an infusion of additional relevant information. Attitudes are our inclinations to act on beliefs, given our values. Attitudes appear to be highly changeable. Attitudes are based on the momentary assessment of many factors bearing on a choice before us. The factors may be extremely complex and interactive. They may include all relevant values, all relevant beliefs, assessment of all incentives, disincentives, and obstacles, assessment of history and prophecy, levels of fear and self-confidence, hopes, dreams, desires, what we had for breakfast, and which way the wind is blowing. Based on those and many more factors processed instantaneously by our mental computers, we make our choices. With all that variability, it is no wonder that attitudes can change from moment to moment.

So what?

Having looked briefly at values, beliefs, and attitudes, it should be apparent that the keys to successful pubic speaking are the abilities to understand universal human values, form and dispel beliefs, and influence attitudes. In doing so, we help to shape listener choices.

Learning Activity

Write down a value that is very important to you at the moment. Look back to the blog "Ain't No Big Mystery" for a partial list. The value you are writing down represents an ideal, one of the ways you conclude that things should be.

Now, next to that value write how you think things really are. If they fit the ideal, great. If not, how do they differ from the ideal? For example, if your value is human equality, you might write these beliefs:

Value: Human Equality

Beliefs:

• More minorities are prosecuted and imprisoned for crimes than Caucasians.
• Fewer minorities go on to college.
• More minorities live below the poverty line.

Then write down your attitude, i.e., what you believe we should do about the conditions you believe to exist. For example,

Attitude: We should lobby for better enforcement of Equal Opportunity legislation.

Try this pattern with two or three values until you can see clearly how values, beliefs, and attitudes relate.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com

Clear Thinkers Hit The Mark

Bruno Kammerl`s
popular video clip from www.megawoosh.com as seen on YouTube).

Want to stand above the crowd? Run at the head of the herd? Then learn how to recognize ideas, how to create them, and how to express them.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: frichrdsn@gmail.com
web: frank-richardson.com

Why learn to master ideas? Because mastery of ideas shows your listeners that you are a clear thinker, one who can hit the mark in a convincing and unforgettable way (like

Beliefs are Values Gatekeepers

The values that we talked about in the previous blog tend to be found in most people and most cultures. They are resistant to, or impossible to change. Values seem to be born into us—hardwired—though the nature-nurture debate has raged for generations.

Unlike values, beliefs can be formed, modified, and dispelled at the cognitive level—the level of thought and reason. If values are instinctual feelings about the ideal world (how things should be), then beliefs are conclusions about how things really are. Beliefs result from the observations and conclusions we draw from personal experiences—what we see, read, and are told.

Usually, beliefs are formed tentatively. They strengthen or erode by the reception of additional relevant information. Beliefs become gatekeepers when they determine which values ascend or decline at the moment when a choice must be made.

For example, two people face off in a debate over abortion. Both value the sanctity of life. Both feel instinctually that every person has the right to freedom of choice. Yet, they differ in their opinions about legalized abortion.

One person believes that life begins at conception. The other believes that life begins at birth. Depending on which of those two facts (or interpretations of fact) the persons in the dispute believe, they may allow differing values to prevail at the moment of choice. The person who believes that life begins at birth will say, “The sanctity of life value does not apply here since the fetus is not truly living in the sense that it is an independent biological entity. Therefore, the prevailing value is freedom of choice—the right of the mother to choose what to do with her own body. She can abort the fetus (not a living thing) the same as she can choose to have a tooth pulled or a tumor removed. Like aborting a fetus, neither of those actions is killing an independent living entity.”

For the person who believes that life begins with conception, sanctity of life prevails at the moment of choice. Because the fetus is a living entity (or will become such), abortion is tantamount to murder. Sanctity of life trumps freedom of choice.

As we see in this example, the belief about when life begins allows one value to advance and prevail at the moment of choice and causes the other value to recede in relative importance. The values system remains intact. Beliefs keep the gate.

Learning Activity

Think of a personal, social, or political issue that interests you. It might be healthy environment, gun control, border control, executive bonuses, obesity, universal health care, or any other. Try to identify two major competing values at stake in the controversy. What personal belief causes you to apply one value over the other in this particular issue?

Share your values assessment and gatekeeping belief in the comments below. We'll share it with your classmates.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com

Ain't No Big Mystery

There are some big mysteries—why men shave every day, why women live with men who don’t shave every day, why children won’t listen to their parents, and why we hate the people we elect.

Those are the big mysteries. However, why people act the way they act is no mystery at all. A long-time friend and Seattle psychiatrist, Owen E. Clark, M.D., once explained this to me, “People do what they do for the rewards they get from doing it.” In other words, you can look behind every behavior and find some important way in which the behavior rewards the doer. Even the behaviors they hate. Even the self-destructive behaviors. All behaviors offer some reward that the doer values at the moment of choice.

Here’s the big secret that dispels all mystery: values drive behavior. We are prone to act in ways that bring valued rewards.

Of course, we can all think of someone who seems to act contrary to expressed values. A man values family life. Yet, he embezzles from his employer, ends up in prison, and loses his family. Were values driving his behavior? Of course! Maybe not his family values, but other values that took priority at the moment of choice.

The reason the picture seems confusing is that our values systems are very complex. There are so many human values that every possible choice is potentially rewarding in some way. In this respect, we can say that values are always competing with each other. At any given moment, one value ascends (moves toward the top of our priority list) while others decline into positions of lesser importance. At a different moment, the order may reverse depending on what reward is being sought. Throughout life we attempt to clarify our values, sort them out, learn in what settings one value ascends and in what settings it declines. Future blogs will explain what an understanding of values has to do with public speaking. For now, please remember that values drive behavior.

Learning Activity

Read the following list of values that seem to be universal (or nearly so). Notice which values might influence choices that you make.

Partial list of values:

Acceptance of fate, Achievement, Ambition, Art (music, literature) appreciation, Authority, Choice, Craftsmanship, Creativity, Curiosity, Devoutness, Equality, Family security, Freedom, Healthy environment, Honesty, Humility, Independence, Inner peace, Justice, Meaningful life, Personal health, Personal safety, Pleasure, Productivity, Recognition, Recreation, Respect for heritage, Self-respect, Sense of belonging, Social order, Success, Tolerance, Wealth, Work, World peace, Etc.

Chances are good that in the proper setting any one of these values might influence your choices.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com

Demosthenes Had the Right Stuff

Getting really good at presenting your ideas in public can open doors for you. Let me give you an example. A guy named Demosthenes lived in the fourth century BC in Athens (a long time ago, before the Beatles, so to speak). Demosthenes was doubtlessly bright (maybe Athens U), but not necessarily a genius (MIT, Yale, or Stanford). In fact, he was an orphan waiting until he came of age to collect his sizeable inheritance (about half a million in today’s dollars). Unfortunately, the guardians of his estate had partied away all his money before he grew up. That didn’t seem quite right, so Demosthenes took them to court. Even though he was only twenty years old, and not trained in the law, Demosthenes made his own appeal to the jury (with a little help). He got back only a fraction of his inheritance, but in the process he tasted success. He knew the feeling of bringing other people around to see his point of view. He liked that feeling.

If it weren’t for a congenital speech impediment, Demosthenes might have gone into law or politics big time. But, it was a little distracting that every time he spoke in public people would snicker because he sounded like a rube. Being a lad with a modicum of self-respect, Demosthenes decided to do something about it. First, he took part of his inheritance and hired himself a speech teacher (one of the best). Secondly, he started practicing. To improve his breath control and volume, Demosthenes stood on the beach and spoke loudly enough to be heard above the roar of the surf. To improve his diction, he filled his mouth with stones and strove for clear enunciation.

As Demosthenes improved in skill and confidence he went after the men who cheated him, and others like them (a little revenge motive really adds to the drama here). First he became a speechwriter specializing in opening and closing statements for attorneys. It was a good business and he was good at it. Made some money. Then he moved into the public policy arena (a euphemism for politics). Over his lifetime, Demosthenes moved to the top of the heap. He was the most cogent voice in preserving Athens from Philip of Macedonia and his notorious son, Alexander the Great.

All of this good fortune came his way because Demosthenes took his public speaking instruction seriously (had to tip my hand sooner or later). What became of Demosthenes? In 322 BC, he had been so successful in his opposition to the Macedonians that Antipater (the regent for the baby King Alexander IV) put out a contract on Demosthenes. Rather than submit to imprisonment and ignominious death, Demosthenes poisoned himself. The story ends tragically, but that is irrelevant to our discussion here.

Learning Activity

Write a personal goal in your public speaking journal. Where do you really want to go? How can developing world-class presentation skills help you to get there?

For example: Keep the Macedonians out of Athens and toast the victory with a shot of strychnine.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com

Surfing the Adrenaline Rush

Dry mouth. Shaking knees. Quivering hands. Blank mind. We all know these to be part of speaking or performing. They are symptoms of our best ally and worst enemy, fear.

Fear of airing our ideas in front of an audience can't be banished, but it can be managed. The discomfort we feel as our moment at the podium approaches is the result of a flood of adrenaline in our bodies. It's the same flood that athletes experience just before the contest begins. Adrenaline gives us greater speed, greater strength, greater energy. It's our wonderful ally. Athletes consume that surfeit of adrenaline by action—running, jumping, throwing, slugging, yelling. Speaking doesn't allow that kind of action, though we may sometimes feel like running from the podium and the audience. Running away would equalize the adrenaline balance in our bodies, but it wouldn't serve our purpose.

Learning Activity

Action is key in dealing with adrenaline. Here are a proven steps for managing adrenaline. Practice these:

(1) Reduce the adrenaline-causing fear by positive self-talk. Remind yourself of successes. Tell yourself that the presentation is going to be a hit with listeners. Don't be timid. Banish doubts. Convince yourself. Positive self-talk really works.

(2) Speak often. The more you speak, the more familiar the surplus of adrenaline in your system will begin to feel.

(3) Act on the rush. Clench and relax the major muscles in your body. It won't be noticeable to listeners, but the physical action will absorb adrenaline.

(4) Acknowledge your excitement by striding briskly to the podium, moving around as much as the setting allows, gesturing with your arms and hands, breathing deeply, and speaking with vigor. Adrenaline-powered energy and enthusiasm will win over your listeners.

Adrenaline! Learn to love it.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com

Talk Your Way to Success

The really great thing about teaching at a university is meeting a new class for the first time. My Principles of Public Speaking course at Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) attracts clear-eyed, hard-charging young adults who are not afraid to dive into a pool of skills that will prepare them to talk their way to success—success in business, education, health care, technology, law enforcement, government, community service, and yes, success in their personal lives. What could be more exciting?

Our first task in talking our way to success is the realization that ideas are everything. We are all drawn to people with ideas. We might call them idea makers. Actually, there are few new ideas, but bright people find an infinite variety of ways to express and apply ideas to awaken their listeners and make the world better. They become our thought leaders.

Talking our way to success includes three basic skills, (1) presenting ideas clearly, (2) providing support that carries ideas into a listener's heart, mind, and confidence, and (3) drawing powerful conclusions that make a listener want to act on our ideas.

Sounds simple, right? It is . But, talking our way to success will demand our best efforts. Let's go.

Learning Activity

Get a little notebook that you can use as a public speaking journal. Make a list of the great ideas that shape and guide your life at present. You may have heard these from your parents, a teacher, a friend, someone else. They are ideas you think about often. Examples from students in our present public speaking course include:

"Go big or go home."

"If you see someone without a smile, give her one of yours."

"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

And my favorite for families potty-training little guys: "If your barrel is short, stand closer to the target."

Add to your list as you think of other important ideas.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com