Polarization
“Polarization is the use of either-or language that causes us to perceive and speak about the world in extremes” (Gamble & Gamble, 2013, p. 86). In reality, there are more options than two in many instances but the English language fails to support the other options. Polarization is a big cause of miscommunication simply because the grey area lacks the ability to be expressed in our language. For example, there are few words that are able to represent the middle of good and bad or right and wrong. Since there is a small amount of words to draw from to express the middle, polarization is a disruption to our communication in many environments such as work, home and school.
From experience, polarization is greatly embedded in our education system. Students in my previous classes have this preconceived notion that they are either right or wrong and give no value to the process to get to their answer. A more specific example would be, after handing back a test there might be a problem where they received partial credit and they tend to view the problem as wrong because there is no distinct descriptive word to describe partially right. Another example in education that I have seen from a teacher perspective is the evaluation tool. A teacher is deemed effective or ineffective. The only terms in the English language to describe the middle again would be something along the lines of partially effective or possibly highly effective.
In daily life and experiences polarization exists. Think about the last movie you watched. Was the movie good or bad? Think about your car. It is old or new? Think about the last person you dated. Are they attractive or unattractive? There are times where we are faced with the need of more centralized descriptive words that are not present in our language. This need causes us to perceive the world in these extremes of one or the other. This built in limitation in our language causes a more narrow-minded perception of the world around us and a misrepresentation of how we may actually feel since we do not have the language to match the thought.
Written by: Brittany Andersen
Gamble, T. & Gamble, M. (2013). Communication Works (11th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.
From experience, polarization is greatly embedded in our education system. Students in my previous classes have this preconceived notion that they are either right or wrong and give no value to the process to get to their answer. A more specific example would be, after handing back a test there might be a problem where they received partial credit and they tend to view the problem as wrong because there is no distinct descriptive word to describe partially right. Another example in education that I have seen from a teacher perspective is the evaluation tool. A teacher is deemed effective or ineffective. The only terms in the English language to describe the middle again would be something along the lines of partially effective or possibly highly effective.
In daily life and experiences polarization exists. Think about the last movie you watched. Was the movie good or bad? Think about your car. It is old or new? Think about the last person you dated. Are they attractive or unattractive? There are times where we are faced with the need of more centralized descriptive words that are not present in our language. This need causes us to perceive the world in these extremes of one or the other. This built in limitation in our language causes a more narrow-minded perception of the world around us and a misrepresentation of how we may actually feel since we do not have the language to match the thought.
Written by: Brittany Andersen
Gamble, T. & Gamble, M. (2013). Communication Works (11th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.