Reference · 44 terms
the glossary
The words coaches, researchers and this journal use for how people speak, explained plainly, each with a piece to read next.
- Active listening
- Listening to understand rather than to reply: attending to the words, the feeling and the need underneath, then showing it by reflecting back. The phrase comes from the psychologists Carl Rogers and Richard Farson.Read: listening so people feel heard: ten lines that show you were listening · swap "why did you" for "help me understand"
- Anchoring
- The pull of the first number named in a negotiation. Later offers tend to move around it, which is why stating your number first, with a reason, often helps.Read: how to negotiate without feeling like you are begging
- BATNA
- Best alternative to a negotiated agreement: what you will do if this deal does not happen. Knowing it is what stops a negotiation from feeling like begging.Read: how to negotiate without feeling like you are begging · the clinic owner who had to raise her fees
- Circumlocution
- Talking round a word you cannot find: describing it, giving its use or an example, until the listener supplies it or the meaning arrives anyway. A skill, not a failure.Read: twelve ways to get round a word you can't find · "I understand English but I can't speak it": what is actually happening and how it changes
- Code-switching
- Moving between languages or registers depending on who you are talking to: Malayalam at home, Indian English with colleagues, a more global English with a client abroad. A strength when you choose it on purpose.Read: talking with family across languages: parents, partners and in-laws · Indian English phrases that confuse global teams, and what to say instead
- Congruence
- When your words, voice and body say the same thing. When they disagree, listeners tend to believe the voice and face. This is the narrow situation Albert Mehrabian studied, not a rule that words carry only 7 percent of every message.Read: executive presence without pretending: what it is and what it isn't · is 93% of communication really non-verbal? what Mehrabian actually tested
- Crew Resource Management
- Training that teaches flight crews, and later hospital teams, to share information and speak up across rank. The name was applied at a 1979 NASA workshop after accidents where juniors had not been heard.Read: the hint that was not enough: what cockpits learned about speaking up to a senior · psychological safety and Google's Project Aristotle: what the research says about teams that speak up
- Curse of knowledge
- Once you know something, it is hard to imagine not knowing it, so experts skip steps their listeners need. The term comes from economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein and Martin Weber in 1989.Read: the tapping study: why your explanation sounds clearer to you than to anyone else
- Direct and indirect cultures
- Cultures differ in how plainly they say no or criticise. "This price is too high" can be a starting point in one culture and a near insult in another. Knowing the difference saves relationships.Read: feedback that lands: giving it well, and hearing it without shrinking · the business owner and the export client
- Ethos, pathos, logos
- Aristotle's three ways to persuade: credibility (do they trust you), emotion (do they care) and reason (does it make sense). Most professionals lean on reason alone.Read: storytelling people repeat: turning an experience into a two-minute story · selling without pushing: objections, follow-ups and the honest ask
- Executive presence
- The impression that someone is ready to lead: composure under pressure, clear speech and judgement. Mostly made of behaviours that can be practised.Read: executive presence without pretending: what it is and what it isn't
- Filler words
- Sounds like "um", "uh", "like" and "so" that fill thinking time. A few are normal. Many make a speaker sound less sure; a short pause does the same job better.Read: the three-second pause before you answer · the speech on stage: talking to four hundred people as if to one
- Follow-up
- The message after a conversation that moves it forward: a summary, a useful attachment or a clear next step, sent while the conversation is still fresh.Read: selling without pushing: objections, follow-ups and the honest ask · networking without the cringe: introducing yourself so people remember you
- Foreign language anxiety
- The specific nervousness of speaking a language you know well on paper. Researchers Elaine Horwitz and colleagues described it in 1986. It is a performance gap, and it responds to practice.Read: "I understand English but I can't speak it": what is actually happening and how it changes · rehearse with AI, then put it away
- Foreign-language effect
- The finding that people sometimes judge dilemmas differently when they think in a second language. Real but small and variable, according to a 2022 meta-analysis.Read: translating yourself: thinking in one language, speaking in another
- Gravitas
- Composure, decisiveness and depth under pressure. In research on executive presence, senior leaders rated it the most important part.Read: executive presence without pretending: what it is and what it isn't · leading through change: how to tell your team what nobody wants to hear
- Hedging
- Softening words such as "maybe", "just", "a bit" and "I think". Useful in small doses for politeness; in large doses it buries the point.Read: stop saying sorry before you speak · say the point first: the PREP and pyramid habits that make seniors listen
- Intonation
- The rise and fall of the voice across a sentence. It tells the listener whether you are asking, telling, finished or unsure.Read: your accent is not your problem: being understood first time
- Minto Pyramid
- Barbara Minto's structure: lead with the answer, then the supporting reasons, then the detail. The listener decides how far down they need to go.Read: say the point first: the PREP and pyramid habits that make seniors listen
- Mitigated speech
- Softening a request or warning so much that its urgency is lost: a hint where a clear statement was needed. Studied in cockpits, where junior crew tended to hint and captains to command.Read: the hint that was not enough: what cockpits learned about speaking up to a senior
- Noise
- Anything that distorts a message on its way to the listener: a bad line, jargon, a rushed pace or a worried mind. From Claude Shannon's 1948 model of communication.Read: the first ten seconds of a phone call in a new country · moving abroad: phone calls, neighbours, doctors and a new workplace culture
- Objection
- A reason a buyer gives for not deciding yet: price, timing, trust. Best treated as a question to explore, not an attack to defeat.Read: selling without pushing: objections, follow-ups and the honest ask
- Pace
- How fast you speak. Nerves speed most people up; slowing down on numbers, names and key points is one of the quickest ways to be understood.Read: your accent is not your problem: being understood first time · the speech on stage: talking to four hundred people as if to one
- Paraphrasing
- Saying back what someone told you in your own words, to check you understood and to show you were listening. "So the main worry is the timeline?"Read: listening so people feel heard: ten lines that show you were listening
- Placebic reason
- A reason that sounds like one but adds nothing, such as "because I have to make copies". Ellen Langer's 1978 study found it worked for a small favour but not a bigger one.Read: the photocopier study: what the word because really does
- Power posing
- The claim that two minutes in an expansive pose changes hormones and behaviour. Larger studies did not replicate the hormone and behaviour effects; effects on how powerful people feel are still debated.Read: power posing: what happened when science checked the superhero stance
- PREP
- Point, Reason, Example, Point. A fast structure for a clear answer when you have five seconds to think.Read: say the point first: the PREP and pyramid habits that make seniors listen · the bank manager and the promotion panel
- Psychological safety
- A shared belief that it is safe to speak up, ask or admit a mistake. Amy Edmondson's research found better-led teams reported more errors, which she read as people feeling safe to report them.Read: psychological safety and Google's Project Aristotle: what the research says about teams that speak up · leading through change: how to tell your team what nobody wants to hear
- Pygmalion effect
- When one person's expectations shape another's performance, for example a teacher's or a manager's. Real in many studies, but usually small, and strongest before the expectation-holder knows the person well.Read: the Pygmalion effect: what other people's expectations really do to performance
- Rapport
- The sense of ease and trust between two people. Built through attention, shared detail and small talk that is about something real.Read: networking without the cringe: introducing yourself so people remember you · the business owner and the export client
- Reappraisal
- Relabelling nerves as excitement instead of trying to calm down. In Alison Wood Brooks's 2014 studies, people who said "I am excited" before a stressful task performed better; a later replication found the boost in felt excitement but not in judges' ratings.Read: say I am excited: the study on turning nerves into energy, and what a replication found · the speech on stage: talking to four hundred people as if to one
- Register
- The level of formality you choose: the way you speak to a friend, a client and a judge differ. Good communicators switch register on purpose.Read: email and chat tone at work: what to write instead of kindly do the needful · talking with family across languages: parents, partners and in-laws
- Replication
- Running a study again, ideally with more people, to see whether the finding holds. Several famous communication findings have shrunk or vanished on replication, which is why The Experiments reports it for every study.Read: power posing: what happened when science checked the superhero stance · do listeners trust accented speech less? what the accent and credibility studies really found
- SCQA
- Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. The shape of most good proposals and many good stories: where we are, what changed, what to do, my recommendation.Read: storytelling people repeat: turning an experience into a two-minute story · the founder before the investor pitch
- Self-efficacy
- Belief in your ability to do a specific thing. Albert Bandura found the strongest source is mastery experience: doing it, in steps, and succeeding.Read: "I understand English but I can't speak it": what is actually happening and how it changes · rehearse with AI, then put it away
- Signposting
- Telling the listener where you are going: "Three things. First...", "The short version is...", "One last point." It helps listeners follow, especially on calls and on stage.Read: the speech on stage: talking to four hundred people as if to one · the first ten seconds of a phone call in a new country
- Small talk
- Light conversation before or around the main business. Not a test of vocabulary; a way to show the person behind the work. Best drawn from your own real week.Read: networking without the cringe: introducing yourself so people remember you · moving abroad: phone calls, neighbours, doctors and a new workplace culture
- Story arc
- Our five beats for a short story: a moment, a tension, a choice, a result and a lesson. Two minutes, one specific detail.Read: storytelling people repeat: turning an experience into a two-minute story · the wedding toast: three minutes, one story, no notes
- The short answer
- A one-paragraph answer given before any background. Used at the top of every deep guide in this journal, and a good habit in any reply.Read: say the point first: the PREP and pyramid habits that make seniors listen
- Thin slicing
- Forming impressions from a few seconds of behaviour. Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal found silent clips of teachers predicted end-of-term ratings; such impressions can be consistent, and they can also carry bias.Read: thin slices: can strangers judge you in thirty seconds
- Trading
- Giving something only in exchange for something: "If you..., then I...". It keeps a negotiation balanced instead of sliding into concessions.Read: how to negotiate without feeling like you are begging · the clinic owner who had to raise her fees
- Uptalk
- A rising tone at the end of a statement, so it sounds like a question. Natural in some varieties of English, but on a price or a decision it can sound unsure.Read: your accent is not your problem: being understood first time · the clinic owner who had to raise her fees
- Walk-away point
- The figure or term below which you would rather take your alternative. Decide it before the conversation, not during it.Read: how to negotiate without feeling like you are begging
- Word stress
- Which syllable in a word gets the weight: DEvelop or deVElop. Getting stress right does more for being understood first time than changing your accent.Read: your accent is not your problem: being understood first time
The Full Stop
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