Culture & Communication Profiles

Culture and Communication Profiles give space to understand underlying expectations about our roles in society, our influences, and how we communicate when under stress.

At first, I thought filling out my Culture and Communication Profiles would be somewhat of a mindless activity. When I filled it out, old traumas started to unfold and I felt that I finally had an outlet to talk about the expectations that various areas of my life have put on me.

Culture Profile

The Culture Profiles on the right provide universal areas into which we are born into. The first is a simplified profile at a glance and the second provides room for explanations of how they have affected you.

I was raised in a divorced Eastern European-American and Asian-American Christian family with the assumption that the eldest daughter was the caretaker, homemaker, and peacemaker for the whole family. Filling out the Culture Profile specifically helped me with the stress under these expectations. I have found that a lot of my identity comes from how others preserve me, the way I present myself to others, and the way I know myself. 

Communication Profile

In the article The Four Stress Communication Styles and How to ‘Level’ for Harmony in Relationships by Matt Davies, there are five main types of communication profiles when under stress: the Placater, the Blamer, the Thinker, the Distractor, and the Leveler. Each profile has its signs, symptoms, and qualities. “We tend to use one or a mixture of these styles out of shame, guilt, fear, and low self-esteem as a way to protect ourselves. Our style is often habitual from an early age, and we rarely realize how it alienates us. All stress styles mask insecurities that keep us from understanding each other.”

Here are the Communication Profiles:

I can relate to all types of communications in different areas of my life but when it comes to concrete examples, my primary style is the Placator. From an early age, I adopted an easygoing attitude to stressors, especially family. Being the firstborn to divorced parents, I tried to ease the tension at home by peacemaking and appeasing. At 22, I was a caretaker to my grandparents in critical care and I didn’t properly process my emotions about how stressful that was. This habit may be the cause of my auto-immune disease that happened soon after. The stress, poor eating habits, and failure to feel heard caused inflammation in my digestive system and I was diagnosed and treated for Crohn’s disease.

I wouldn’t describe myself as an emotional doormat but I did show signs of self-repression that led to episodes of debilitating depression. It is difficult to navigate an invisible disease when I look young and healthy on the outside but these episodes show I could benefit greatly from truly expressing these tough emotions. Acknowledging the way I used to communicate in the past helps me heal and upgrade my Communication Profile to the Leveler.

I highly recommend spending some time reflecting and meditating on your Culture and Communication Profiles. It enhances an understanding of self to an advanced level.

October 13th, 2024