Communication Psychology & Advanced Skills (Certified)

Discover how the brain processes faster than speech, conserves energy, avoids multitasking, and resolves uncertainty, shaping effective communication and listening in real conversation.

Perform an exercise that demonstrates concepts with two rules: look at it only while it's on your screen during this stretch, and don't look back before the next lecture.

Learn how the neurolinguistic programming framework explains message decoding through deletion, distortion, and generalization, and how context, memory, beliefs, and emotions shape interpretation and feedback.

Explore the six representational systems, including visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory, gustatory, and auditory digital, and distinguish primary versus preferred systems that shape thinking and communication.

Learn NLP representational cues linking thinking and communication, including eye movement patterns and predicates that reveal visual, auditory, and kinesthetic information access.

Explore how verbal communication relies on context-appropriate vocabulary, avoids confusing jargon, and uses metaphors, while recognizing insinuation and exaggeration to enhance message clarity through visual and vocal cues.

Explore how vocal communication conveys emotion and meaning beyond words, through tone, pace, intonation, and volume, including nonhuman sounds, shaping responses in face-to-face and phone conversations.

Visual communication is the most important element, accounting for about 55 percent of a message's credibility, as body language and visuals align or contradict verbal messages to reinforce meaning.

Examine how eye expressions reveal emotions and read emotional states through a slide exercise, noting the primary representation system and visual cues, plus cultural differences in eye contact.

Discover how facial expressions reveal internal emotions, convey messages with or without verbal communication, and influence negotiation, empathy, and understanding among officials and kids.

Explore involuntary physiological changes during communication, such as sweating, blushing, shaking, and dry mouth, and learn to respond empathetically to intense emotions like anxiety, fear, and anger.

Explore how feelings, emotions, thoughts, values, memories, and cultures shape communication. Learn to detect cognitive distortions and biases, start with self reflection, and improve responses and decisions in conversations.

Learn how perceptions shape responses by exploring different viewpoints and maps of the world, recognizing that each perspective holds truth and inviting you to step into others' shoes.

Explore how values and beliefs shape responses and communication, and learn to handle disagreements by revising beliefs, expanding agreement, and pursuing reasonable compromise.

Explore how thoughts and emotions shape responses through the ABC model, the cognitive triangle, and cognitive loop, showing how beliefs influence behavior in communication.

Explore cognitive distortions and unhelpful thinking patterns—negative filtering, emotional reasoning, and jumping to conclusions—and learn techniques to challenge thoughts and seek alternative perspectives for clearer communication.

Explore cognitive biases through a story about Jack and James to reveal how trust, social perception, and investment decisions are shaped.

Explore how cognitive biases—mental shortcuts in fast decision making—shape communication, with examples like anchoring, stereotyping, availability bias, confirmation bias, conservation bias, bandwagon effect, and recency bias.

Recognize that everyone has a unique map of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, values, and perceptions shaping communication. Practice empathy to understand others' viewpoints, respect differences, and complement each other to grow.

Identify the prerequisites and barriers of effective communication, and learn to assemble bricks into pillars to build a meaningful, outcome-oriented conversation.

Explore the prerequisites of effective communication, including present and committed communicators, timely availability, mutual appreciation, receptivity, active engagement, and strong rapport that foster meaningful dialogue.

Develop rapport as the spirit of communication that frames interactions, builds trust, and fosters understanding across education, work, and relationships.

Establish rapport by smiling to boost mood and approachability, and by inviting others to talk about themselves. Master techniques like finding common ground, pacing, and genuine listening for connections.

Identify and overcome barriers to effective communication by addressing trust issues, language gaps, psychological biases, emotional and physiological states, and situational factors.

Identify the nine deadly sins of listening—interrupting, filtering, negative visuals, shifting topics, jumping to conclusions, fact-finding, assuming meaning, judging, and one-upping. Learn techniques to avoid them and improve communication.

Explore the stages of listening—from ignoring to empathetic listening—via the Stephen Cove continuum. Adopt attitudes, let go of self, and read verbal and nonverbal cues to listen professionally.

Master the lisanby listening model to listen attentively, actively, and empathetically by lending full attention, inviting your senses, seeking understanding, tuning into emotions, evaluating meaning, and preserving the speaker's flow.

Lend your full attention by listening, staying silent, and granting space to speak; maintain eye contact, acknowledge verbally and visually, and minimize distractions to show attentiveness.

Invite your senses to listening, recognizing that verbal is seven percent while vocal and visual cues total ninety-three percent. Listen for emotions and nonverbal congruence to build rapport.

Explore three techniques to seek understanding in communication: clarify from the speaker, probe for details, and reflect and question to deepen meaning and reduce misunderstandings.

Discover techniques to tune in to emotions through genuine empathy, positive regard, and matching non-verbal cues, strengthening emotional connections and trust in relationships.

Paraphrase what the speaker said in your own words to evaluate your comprehension, and summarize concisely to capture the main message and ensure alignment.

Identify and avoid belittling, ignoring, and ridiculing the speaker to prevent communication breakdown. Respect the speaker's dignity and map of the world, recognizing that disagreement doesn't justify personal contempt.

Adopt the Lisa listening model to enhance communication and relationships, applying its techniques until listening becomes habitual, and avoid overutilized and under utilized behaviors, including giving advice only when asked.

Explore how questioning drives communication as the brain and steering wheel, using well crafted questions at the right time with the right technique and word to reveal thoughts.

Discover the prizes you win by asking good questions: understanding with targeted information, directing conversations, gaining attention, and making others feel valued, while avoiding misunderstandings.

Explore questioning techniques that build rapport with open-ended questions using what, how, and why, and drill down with focused and probing questions to gather precise insights.

Explore reflective questions to deepen engagement, elicit evidence, and justify answers, and examine leading questions and chunking up or down for targeted inquiry.

Learn to talk to influence by combining caring, clear messages, and credible details to persuade and build trust, while staying coherent, concise, and consistent across verbal and nonverbal cues.

Master nonverbal communication by showing emotion and passion, aligning tone, pauses, and your hands to describe what you say with your message to foster empathy, consistency, clarity, and influence.

Improve your writing by using clear structure and punctuation to convey care and ensure the message is understood, with emojis and relevant images used wisely in business communication.

Express heart-centered communication by using a smile to dilute negativity, boost mood, and strengthen human connections through consideration, empathy, and emotional intelligence.