ScienceDaily: Why reflecting on your values before opening your mouth makes for happier relationships

“A new interdisciplinary study, conducted by philosophers and linguists at Cardiff University and psychologists at the University of Bath has found that a process of reflecting on life values before a debate can enhance people's willingness to listen to others and engage with them in a civil dialogue.

For the study, the research team recruited 303 participants. Participants were all put in small groups where they were asked to discuss the merits of charging tuition fees for education. Before the debate, half were first asked to write about life values. They considered it important. All discussions were recorded, coded, and analyzed.

The analysis revealed that the process of reflecting on values first helped to inspire individuals' 'intellectual humility': their awareness of their own fallibility and openness to others' views. 60.6% of participants who reflected on their values first showed more humility compared to the average person who was not given this task.

In a seemingly ever-distant world where opinions appear increasingly polarized, the researchers suggest their results show grounds for optimism. If people were to stop and reflect on the values which are important to them, debates in the online and offline world could be far more harmonious, they speculate.”

My Takeaways:

• Sometimes thinking before we speak can really help with our conversations and aligning our values with our speech, preventing unnecessary conflicts or situations where the words “slip through our tongue”.

• Ever have moments where sometimes words come out faster than we think about the potential consequences? This can lead to considerable regret depending on certain circumstances and lead to us to ruminate and think about it later. This can also lead to potential unintended consequences with our relationships as well.

• This article specifically focuses on premediating if our speech and words align with our personal values can help us avoid conflicting behavior and words. Often there is a disconnect between what we believe and what we say especially when we begin saying things without thinking. This habit can often lead to more problematic outcomes.

Full article is here!

Would you say your words and actions often match your personal beliefs?

#Speech #Beliefs #Values