From asking a waiter for an unusual substitution to urging a service manager to get your car finished sooner to swaying your significant other toward a particular film or show, many of the decisions you make are decided by talking. And no matter why you engage in face-to-face talk, there's no way to insulate yourself from the dangers of miscommunication.

These 24 mind-opening lectures are your chance to learn more about how you communicate verbally, the common problems you can encounter in doing so, and how you can improve your own effectiveness - especially by overcoming the psychological and biological hard-wiring that too often gets in the way.

Professor Kehoe offers a trove of practical techniques for successful communication, from everyday interactions in the home or workplace to managing your reactions and speaking effectively in conflict- and tension-laden situations.

You'll learn how early cultural learning and deeply learned patterns of reaction in our unconscious mind enhance or undermine your ability to communicate effectively; how your sense of self develops in everyday talk during your childhood; the specific styles of talking you use in most situations; and the basic techniques of perhaps the most important and neglected aspect of human conversation, the art of active listening.

When you consider the complexities of conversation, it's a wonder that things ever work out as well as they do. But with the knowledge, strategies, and skills offered by this course, that hard-to-find effectiveness will be only a conversation away.