It’s interesting, I think there’s something to it. I’m definitely the literal person, cutting through the emotional overlay to try get to the actual content. It’s my strong baseline.

The thing is, sometimes this is exactly what’s needed. Sometimes, the situation calls for no bullshit, just get to the heart of the matter, figure the thing out and move one. War time mentality.

Other times, the emotional resonance is called for. I think the empathic thing to do is recognize that people have different defaults, and honor how and when each is functionally adaptive. Be forgiving when your counterpart isn’t attuned to the communication modality you’re trying to invoke.