Meaning and Inference

In July, 2008, a Dallas County Commissioners’ meeting made national headlines. One commissioner was upset that traffic fines were not being collected. He commented that “Central Collections has become a black hole.” A fellow commissioner became indignant and demanded an apology. The first commissioner was white, the second black; the charge was racism.

This exchange shows the importance of meaning and inference when it comes to communication.

MEANING
If our communication is to be understood, there has to be meaning to the words we use. Go to an auto parts store and tell them you need a do-hickey for your car, one attaches to the thing-a-ma-bob! You’ll be laughed out of the place. Such words have no real meaning and therefore do not produce communication.

The white commissioner in the account above was referring to the astronomical phenomenon of a collapsed star which has a gravitational pull so strong everything is pulled in but nothing leaves it, not even light. Now that is a meaning of black hole. But did the other commissioner operate with the same meaning; apparently not. The words we use in communicating need to be understood by the recipient; this requires a common definition of words. Co-workers may breeze through a conversation using the usual jargon, but you may need to stop and explain to a client what those words mean.

INFERENCE
Meanings are found in a dictionary, but inference is totally personal. There were other commissioners, black and white, at the Dallas meeting who heard the reference to a black hole and understood the point being made. However, the one commissioner did not have that meaning in mind and inferred a racial slight. Here is how an inference is made: (1) a person gains information (in this case, by hearing a speaker); (2) this person analyzes the information, filtering it through their own experiences, temperment, and goals/agenda; and (3) the person guesses at what the communicator is saying.

A client says, “I’ll get back to you.” If the salesman has heard this time and time before, he will infer that the client is writing him off; if he’s an optimist, he’s certain the sale will be made.
Remember: an inference may be incorrect. When we take our inference as a fact, failing to realize that it may not be right, we are primed for miscommunication and the resulting turmoil. And how do you determine if an inference is right or wrong? You ask—simple as that. Do you think the Dallas County Commissioners would have made headlines if the second commissioner had asked the first if there was a racial slur in the use of the phrase ‘black hole’? Probably not.
So, as a speaker, be careful of the words you choose; make sure you and your hearer have a common meaning for the words you use. And as a hearer, be careful to verify the inferences you draw from the speaker’s remarks; they might be wrong.


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By: Joe Fairchild