| | Joe,
Very good article. I felt uncomfortable reading the first part but it was because of a feeling of deja vu. I have had a bad habit, hopefully mostly in the past, of thinking that communicating with someone else is simply "thinking out loud". I have sometimes gotten so lost in my introspection about an idea that I've been totally turned inward onto my own thoughts and I'm not paying any attention to soliciting feedback or contributions from my partner in the discussion. The result is similar to your example. In other words, poor people skills on your friends part may have be the cause of the agitation in his partner. She may have felt he was lecturing her, became angry, and committed to taking the opposite stance on his argument. My wife has informed my very firmly of my tendency to bring on this kind of reaction. So, I picked up a book called "People Skills". I probably should get the hard cover version so she can simply hit me over the head with it when necessary.
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