Transformative psychology #10: Nonviolent Communication, cultural differences, post-traumatic stress

In one study of the efficacy of a three-part use of Nonviolent Communication,[1] using the Nonviolent Communication Behavior Scale, researchers found that self-connection, authentic self-expression, and empathic listening were useful in reducing cross-cultural miscommunications and in dampening communication difficulties with people suffering PTS (Fung, et al., 2025).

In principled negotiation, the care for others and care for self is balanced, which tends to move agreements away from mere compromise and toward collaboration. When the three elements of Nonviolent Communication are utilized in principled negotiation, the new possibilities of progress toward a win-win outcome are enhanced. 

Self-connection is the honest inner exploration of needs. Authentic self-expression is the honest communication of those needs. Empathic listening is eliciting the needs of others with a dual lens of openness to cultural differences and tolerance for PTS.

Application of Nonviolent Communication competencies tends to open minds and hearts more than any communication method that is simply oriented toward self-aggrandizement or control over the discourse.

References

Fung, H. W., Chau, A. K. C., Yuan, G. F., Liu, C., & Lam, S. K. K. (2025). The Nonviolent Communication Behaviors Scale: Cross-Cultural Validity and Association with Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress. Research on Social Work Practice, 35(1), 88–96. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1177/10497315231221969

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[1] Nonviolent Communication is capitalized as it refers to a method of communication developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. It is a specific practice method, not merely communication that doesn't happen to be violent, which would logically perhaps be called nonviolent communication.