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Concept
Civility
Summary
Civility may denote orderly behavior and politeness. Historically, civility also meant training in the humanities.
Late Middle English: from Old French civilite, from Latin civilitas, from civilis "relating to citizens" (see civil). In early use, the term denoted the state of being a citizen and hence good citizenship or orderly behavior. The sense "politeness" arose in the mid-16th century.
Adolf G. Gundersen and Suzanne Goodney Lea developed a civility model grounded in empirical data that "stresses the notion that civility is a sequence, not a single thing or set of things". The model conceives of civility as a continuum or scale consisting of increasingly demanding traits ranging from "indifference" to "commentary", "conversation", "co-exploration" and, from there, to "habituation". According to the authors, such a developmental model has several advantages, not least of which is that it allows civility to be viewed as something everyone can get better at.
Many experts say civility goes beyond good manners and listening attentively, but includes sharing our own beliefs and values with others through some type of engagement with the intent of sincere respect towards one another. This also requires a willingness and open mindedness to having our opinions and biases challenged by others who share different and perhaps unique points of view.
Experts say that our ability to act with civility is connected with our ability to understand our own emotions, because understanding our feelings helps us to recognize how we are feeling in real-time and give us a greater ability to have empathy for others. Furthermore, understanding our feelings can help us to evaluate the things that trigger us emotionally and therefore become more aware of how we will possibly react and feel in certain situations. By taking the time to understand our thoughts and emotions in these situations, this practice can lead to self-recognition and acceptance of how similar situations may affect others, including those that may share a unique perspective.
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