Week of October 1-7 - Question 2

There are six fallacies that are discussed in the last section of the chapter. They are perfectionism, obsession with shoulds, overgeneralization, taking responsibility for others, helplessness, and fear of catastrophic failure. In my own intrapersonal communication, I have found that I often take responsibility for others. Taking responsibility for others means that you often feel responsible for how others are feeling, and deprive them of taking responsibility for themselves. For example, when I’m in a relationship I often feel responsible for my partner’s feelings. If they’re upset, I will blame myself and feel guilty for how they feel, even if I’ve done nothing wrong. This is something that I definitely need to work on and and revise in my intrapersonal communication. I can start by not being so hard on myself and accept that other people react differently in terms of emotions than I do. Rather than automatically feeling guilty and apologizing for others’ feelings, I can ask them to explain why they feel that way so I can approach the situation differently in the future.