Cephalopods and Communication

Like the scientist in this video, I was also having a eureka moment when I watched this video but not for the same reason. I love this video because it illustrates a concept I teach about identity and communication. Often when we think about identity we think of it as a singular concept: I have an identity, which is the person who I am. Thinking about identity in this singular way, minimizes the complexity and richness of who we are. Our identities are actually multi-facitated, which are informed by many cultural and sub-cultural associations. In other words, I can be simultaneously a soccer mom, a teacher, a student, a gardner, a caretaker, a book lover, etc.

Amartya Sen in his book Identity and Violence says: In our normal lives, we see ourselves as members of a variety of groups–we belong to all of them. A person’s citizenship, residence, geographic origin, gender, class, politics, profession, employment, food habits, sports interests, taste in music, social commitments, etc., make us members of a variety of groups. Each of these collectivities, to all of which this person simultaneously belongs, gives her/him a particular identity. None of them can be taken to be the person’s only identity or singular membership category.

With this perspective of identity in mind, we can learn from the cephalopods. There are times in our lives when we may want to “shrink” parts of our identity. We want to camouflage ourselves and blend into the background. We might do this in order to protect ourselves because we are feeling threatened (like our octopus friend). We may have other reasons for doing minimizing a part of our identity, like we are ashamed or embarrassed about something. Additionally, we may try to minimize part of our identity to fit into a group. Sometimes it is appropriate to minimize parts of ourselves for the benefit of others, like the old adage of “never talking about religion or politics” to certain people. However, others may do this to us and this can be harmful. Someone might say, “You are only a _____”. Everyone is much more than one category or “one kind of person.”

In communication, we typically reveal aspects of our identities and hide others. Research shows, however, that self-disclosure, or opening-up to others, can be beneficial for us and for our relationships (Floyd, 2009). Here are some reasons why self-disclosure can be beneficial:

    1. Self-disclosure can enrich our relationships and build trust and rapport.
    2. Self-disclosure may encourage others to disclose information about themselves.
    3. Self-disclsoure can be an emotional release which shows how strongly we feel.
    4. Self-disclsoure can help others know our interests and priorities.

Self-disclsoure also can be risky. For example:


    1. Self-disclsure may lead to rejection or criticism.
    2. We may feel we have been “put on the spot” with no place to hide.
    3. Self-disclosure can hurt other people’s feelings.
    4. Self-disclosure can violate someone else’s privacy.

These risks are real but we can minimize these risks by being aware of them.

There is a picture book that illustrates this concept hiding parts of ourself called Stellaluna.

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It is about a fruit bat that is raised as a bird. This fruit bat is so frustrated because things like sleeping right side up feels really uncomfortable. Also, Stellaluna thinks bugs taste really bad. After a while, she finds out about bats and things begin to make sense to her. She is able to accept her identity as a bat but also she still can maintainer friendships with her bird friends, who accept her as a bat.

So, like the octopus, we have the abilities to camouflage ourselves and hide our identities when we need to protect ourselves, and we can disclose our real identities when we want to make friends, build trust and rapport, and share important information about who we are and what we want.


19 Responses to “Cephalopods and Communication”

  1. Mary Robinson on 04 Oct 2013 at 8:30 am

    My brother who is very accomplished and was a graduate from law school when he was drafted into the Viet Nam war told me an interesting story. While he was in basic training his goal was to live under the radar. Instead of wanting to stand out as was his normal behavior, he masked his unique abilities and tried to remain anonymous, not making any waves, but not standing out either. It is what he did to survive. He didn’t share with me any specific reasons. This was one of the first times he had really ever opened up about his experiences in Viet Nam.

  2. marcy on 04 Oct 2013 at 12:25 pm

    That is a very interesting insight. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Natalie - Comm Class on 09 Oct 2013 at 9:37 am

    I am a very open person, I really like to talk and open up especially with people that I feel I can trust. My husband is also super personable and talkative, yet he has a section of himself that is completely closed off unless called for. He doesn’t cry and he doesn’t get really angry. Both of these can be positive things, but it really confused me at first because I didn’t know why if I was opening up he didn’t reciprocate. He does, I realize now, reciprocate the disclosure but in different ways. He doesn’t get as passionate as I thought he should, but he feels just as strongly about things. Being able to recognize the ways in which we self-disclose and why some aspects stay hidden has really enhanced our relationship.

  4. Jenny King on 11 Oct 2013 at 12:01 pm

    What happens if someone is too afraid to self disclose to others because they have been shut down or rejected too many times in the past? Will this affect their future relationships? I know of a person that is too afraid to tell anyone her personal life and just likes to keep her problems to her self. Would this behavior make it difficult for others to connect with her?

  5. Brooke Weber on 20 Oct 2013 at 11:57 pm

    I really enjoy this video clip and how you tied it all together by relating the Cephalopod’s camouflage ability with identity. I believe that identity can be used as an unique tool to get to know someone, and what they are all about. I mentioned in another blog that just recently I deactivated my Facebook account, because of how much time I was spending on it. What I didn’t mention was that there is another reason behind why I deactivated it. While talking with my manager, I discovered that sometimes he will look up the person he interviewed on Facebook, to see if there is anything that may limit him from being hired within his company. Since I found this out, I decided to deactivate my account, (camouflage my identity) so that if I were to ever have a job opportunity with a company, they wouldn’t be able to look into my personal information on Facebook. Although, I believe that I don’t have anything necessarily that I need to hide from these companies. I believe that all it takes is one friend to say something stupid on my wall, which could potentially limit my chances of becoming hired within their company. So for now, my identity through Facebook is camouflaged.

  6. Alex Bullock on 06 Nov 2013 at 7:31 pm

    I completely agree with this article, I feel that in my life I have had multiple Identities and I still have multiple Identities that I use throughout the day. It may be that I am with my snowboarding friends or my roommates or with colleagues, whatever the case I am constantly putting up different Identities depending with whom I communicate. I don’t feel that I do it because I’m fake, only to relate with those that are close to me and try to be more similar to them.

  7. Mookie Harris on 21 Nov 2013 at 11:38 am

    I enjoyed having this lecture in class just as much as I liked re-reading it here. Through my leadership classes we have had emphasis on being constant in all roles. We need to be the type of person that people will know what you will do because you have stuck with personal ethic codes, and minimizing who you are is a perfect way to destroy that. This really helped me to see that when we get nervous, threatened, and scared of what people think we really might do this without realizing that we are not being constant. Really interesting example for this concept!

  8. Allen Vawdrey on 05 Dec 2013 at 4:15 pm

    A few weeks back I had a LDS mission reunion with some mission friends. While on the mission we wouldn’t talk about certain things and do certain things. It was kinda like being a different person on the mission. It felt kinda weird talking to these friends again but not about mission things. It was a bit awkward at first because my identity with them before was in the mission. Now we can about just about anything. It goes to see that my identity with certain people can change once in a different environment and different people.

  9. Asha Verma on 11 Dec 2013 at 6:34 pm

    I agree with this article. We have multiple identities in our life. In my life I have different identities. I am a wife , daughter, sister and also a mom for my younger sister. I am like a mother for my younger sister and that part is hidden. Whenever I am with my sister I automatically treated her like my child and she treated me like a mother. I always tried to protect her from every problem. We are not treated each other in this way in front of others.

  10. Gerald Wright on 12 Dec 2013 at 12:18 am

    After watching the video again I came to the realization that not only do we camouflage ourselves to fit a situation there is a something we seem to over look a lot. We or at least me seem to try and hide from ourselves, just as the octopus was trying to hide form the diver we hide from our own self conscience by becoming a chameleon. The problem with this approach is that until we become comfortable with who we are we will never feel comfortable being ourselves around others.
    So I find that the hardest part of self is being me and accepting everything about e including all of my flaws. As I grow in that respect I move closer to others and achieve other goals I never had thought possible.

  11. Jonathan Sterling on 13 Dec 2013 at 8:09 am

    Stellaluna is one of my absolute favorite storybooks. I probably read it once a week as a child. I never really realized it until now but the story in Stellaluna does a great job at teaching about one’s personal identity and that it is okay to associate and even be friends with people that are different than us. Discrimination is a plague and I am so glad to see that a simple picture book like this teaches so strongly against it.

  12. Adrian Goualrt on 13 Dec 2013 at 5:01 pm

    100% true. Everybody does this on a daily basis for example most people do not act/ use the same language around there parents as they would either at work or late night out with their friends. Where this becomes a problem to me especially for my age group for early 20’s and longer is when people do not know how to control it or are not self aware of the degrees that it overtakes them by. This is where you get bad talkers, gossipers and just people that are fake. This is something that is not bad, but for self improvement people should be aware of when they are tapping into this instinct!

  13. Devin Sturgeon on 13 Dec 2013 at 7:09 pm

    Similarly I too never noticed how many different identities I have. Student, brother coworker, soldier, friend etc. I think it’s important to recognize some of the roles you have so you can keep tabs on how you manage them in your life.

  14. Kelsey Bowles on 02 Dec 2014 at 2:53 pm

    I didn’t realize how many different identities I had until I read this and actually thought about it. There are many times in my life that I hide different identities either to protect myself or just because it is easier to hide them. I act much different at school than I do when I am hanging out with my friends just because I am more comfortable with my friends than I am with the people in my classes. In reality I probably don’t need to hide the different identities I have I just do it to protect myself.

  15. Benjamin Wassink on 05 Dec 2014 at 1:15 am

    I love how true this is! I have a tendency to adapt to people’s personalities around me. I feel like it’s spineless, but other people think it’s really good. I did realize that I change to fit with people because I am scared of getting hurt. If I adapt to fit those I’m with, I’m more easily accepted. Cephalopods and I can be friends.

  16. Mike on 09 Dec 2014 at 3:01 pm

    I love this video. These animals can change their skin to blend into their surrounding. They also have ink as a fight or flight mechanism. I feel very much the same. I want to fit in and blend in. I want to be part of my surrounding because I want to feel safe. Blending into my community and surrounding is my ay of getting my face needs met.

  17. Jacob Allred on 10 Dec 2014 at 2:09 pm

    I really like the comparison of the octopus to our lives and how we tend to “camouflage” from our problems or something we’re embarrassed about. Maybe we will become the prey if everyone knows about the what’s going on in our lives. I think it’s natural for us to camouflage from what could potentially harm us.

  18. Joni on 11 Dec 2014 at 3:18 pm

    I, for one, am very grateful that we are able to disclose parts of our personality at certain times. I am a lot to take in sometimes, and I’m aware of that. So when I’m at work, in class, or out meeting new people I have to consciously remind myself to tone it all down a little until people are warmed up to me. Even smaller things though, like which group of friends we are with at the moment determine which colors we are and are not willing to show off.

  19. Camilla Morley on 11 Dec 2014 at 9:24 pm

    I love the idea of camouflaging our identity to fit in, and to hide our fears. I feel in some ways this is tied to Brene Brown’s research on vulnerability. We mask our vulnerability with camouflage so we can blend into our surroundings and be “safe”. We fear our own vulnerability and seek to mask our imperfections with our camouflage, when people get to close we attack.

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