The most significant aspect of communication is being concerned about the content and style used in relation to the surrounding environment. In essence, an effective communicator should be mindful about the audience he/she is addressing. This is an aspect that was highly maintained by the Micronesians. Different aspects have been addressed but I will look at only three aspects, that include; the aggressive, passive and assertive style.
Aggressive style- Micronesians seems to be a close minded person; they hide their own identity in public, or when confronted by a stranger who is past their age. To them, this is a way of avoiding shame from other people. As evidence from the classroom environment, a student would never take it well when openly praised. Instead this ought to be done in a different way, through gifts and favors or using a third party. Aggressive style can be exemplified from chapter 7, by Barnlund (185), and he relates this as a concealment of the private self, or rather a self –disclosure. This is an aspect that is most vibrant with the Japanese. They tend to expose their private self more than their public self.
Passive style – surprisingly, Micronesians are very respectful to the higher authority. Those in power, leave alone the men are given due respect by everyone. The decisions they make are final and conclusive. The commonality on the other hand bears with any situation whether it favors them or not. Roles within this community are very categorical and every person is aware about their responsibility. Even though, children are recognized as part of the community, their main responsibility is showing respect to everyone who is past their age. Children are “to be seen not heard”. In essence, this is clear that there are some people who must accorded public identity or rather public recognition, failure to which one is consider to have defied the social norms. As asserted, a knowledgeable person is the one who respects those in authority and does the expected. According to Barnlund (185), this is revealement or the disclosure of significant information relating to the different phases of the public self, for instance political aspect. In essence, political opinions have to be respected and observed for the welfare of the society.
Assertive style- it is a verbal style that maintains that other people are more important than them. Micronesian is a community that observes behavior than anything else and is mostly attached to their families more than anything else. In fact the family comes before the possessions. This has also been exemplified by Barnlund (185), when he denotes what concerns the revealement under private self. Characters that expose such an element seem to be deeply attached to the family matters.
