This Class

I liked how this class was pretty straight-forward in giving directions. I had never used the blogging website before but it was easy to figure out how once I read the directions. I don’t really understand, however, why we cannot use the discussion forum on blackboard. I have used that for other online classes and it just seems to be easier and work smoothly – you can see everyone’s posts (that way there is no confusion as to how many times someone posted for the week) and it is all clearly laid out in the forum. I think it would be much easier and make more sense to use blackboard for everything (assignments, posts, etc.) rather than having to go back and forth between the blogging website and blackboard to read about assignments and then post them.

What I also found to be interesting about this class is that it was my hardest one! I have had so much more work to do in this class than any of my other classes and I am a full time student! My other online classes have been pretty easy but this one does not compare to those.

Further Discussion

Another concept from the book that I feel needs further discussion is the concept of intercultural communication. America is one of the most diverse countries yet we still have so many problems accepting those different from us. Racism and discrimination have been constant problems throughout America’s history, which is kind of ridiculous considering how diverse we have become; you’d think by now we would have all learned how to get along. It is so important to become educated on the topic of intercultural communication so we can learn to be accepting of cultures different from our own. We need to respect other cultures, races, sexes, etc. – just because someone is not the same as you may be doesn’t mean they are any less of a human being.

With immigration being a growing topic of interest, it is even more important to learn and practice intercultural communication.

Interesting Concept from Class

One of the concepts in this class I have found to be most interesting is the concept of communication and the mass media. This is something we all use and often take for granted every day. As this chapter in the book discusses all forms of communication in the media such as mass communication, senders/receivers, and computer-mediated communication we can see how truly amazing this concept is. Communication and mass media is leading the way to a new era in our world. Technology advances every day and we become more and more dependent on it. The advances we have seen so far are only a glimpse of what is to come in the future. We’ve all seen those futuristic sci-fi movies but even though they are just movies, maybe they’re not too far off from what is soon to be reality. We are lucky to be part of such an innovative, advancing generation and I look forward to how our lifestyles will change with technological advances.

Interesting Concept

One thing I found interesting in Chapter 11 (although it is broad) is the whole concept of mass media. Mass media is an extremely powerful tool that almost anybody can gain access to. The three things that are unique about mass media as the book states are that it comes from profit-oriented organizations rather than a single individual, the receivers are anonymous and dispersed in time and space and this form of communication requires specialized encoding/decoding technologies (Pg. 299). Mass media can reach hundreds of millions of people anywhere in the world, which can be a scary concept to think about. The media itself is a powerful tool to change or enforce others’ opinions into what the media wants people to think. The media tells us how to act, what to think, how to dress and how to be beautiful. Although none of these ‘rules’ set by the media are accurate, they are followed by the majority and those who choose not to are looked at as outsiders

The Medium is the Message

I agree with McLuhan, I think the medium, or way in which a message is sent, is just as important as the message. Different mediums are intended to reach different audiences, which also plays a large role in the kinds of messages received. In my experiences, I tend to think elderly people listen to ‘talk radio’ channels and that is something young adults like myself would probably not participate in so the information being discussed on talk radio is intended for a specific age group. When companies look for means of advertising, I’m sure they put a great amount of thought into the medium they will use. Depending on their product, a company may feel advertising on the radio will get their point across while another company may feel a magazine ad with a visual aid is necessary for success.

Cyberspace Relationships

I do not have any friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace because I don’t really communicate with people online very much, I prefer face to face relationships. Cyberspace relationships seem like they would take a lot of time and initiative, I would have to put myself in the right situation to meet someone like a chat room but I don’t participate in anything like that. The most online communication I engage in is through Facebook, which involves talking to people I already know and I have no interest in meeting people online because they could very easily lie about who they are. There are so many stories about people preying on others through the Internet because they can be whoever they want to be and the other person has no way of knowing who they really are – it is just too dangerous. However, when I was a freshmen in high school I stumbled across some kind of San Jose Sharks fan forum or something like that and ended up talking to a girl who was my age and also a huge Sharks fan. I let my guard down with her and we both divulged personal details about our lives, I found out she went to a nearby high school and we had many other things in common. That was about eight years ago and today she is one of my very good friends! I took a risk with her by telling her about my personal life and I got lucky because she was exactly who she said she was.

Interesting Concept

I found the different ways we express conflict to be interesting because I can relate most of these ways to relationships I have with my friends. My friend Amy tends to use the ‘withdraw’ method when she senses conflict. She would rather not deal with conflict so if she senses conflict about to arise she will change the subject, leave the room and do everything she possibly can to stop a conflict from forming.

Sometimes when my friend Jenn is really angry, she will unfortunately use the ‘forcing’ method of conflict. She tends to forget that the person she is arguing with is an actual human being with feelings and says and does everything she can think of to get her point across because she feels she is right and the other person is wrong.

I think of myself as in the middle between Amy and Jenn and always try my hardest to compromise and problem solve. No matter how angry I get, I am usually good at seeing the other person’s point of view in a conflict and if it makes sense then I am more than willing to compromise. However, if you ask my friends, they may tell you a different story…..

Relationships

One of the things I find most unattractive is lack of ambition. If someone has no job, is not going to school, doesn’t have a car etc. then I don’t have much interest in having any kind of relationship with that person. I like people who know what they want and are on the path to getting it. Independence is also a must. If any guy comes on too strong or forceful, I am also immediately turned off by such behavior.

At first glance with pre-interaction cues my boyfriend does not seem like my ‘type’. When I first met him (we worked together) I judged him based on these pre-interaction cues and did not think I would ever have any type of relationship with him. His style of dress was different than other guys I dated and he was not in school at the time (but he was working two jobs). But then after getting to know him, I found out that he did have goals and he was a very unique person, which attracted me to him. Now he is in school and is definitely on the right path to getting what he wants in life.

Duck’s relational dissolution model does make sense, however it does not relate to my past relationship. I think this model is very basic and on the surface because I can understand these phases yet I think there is much more detail that goes on between them. With my past relationship, I noticed many problems during the intrapsychic phase and was unhappy but my boyfriend at the time and I never made it to the dyadic phase to confront these problems; we tried to act like they did not exist and ended up being in the relationship for much longer than we should have. Duck’s model is of an ideal relationship but unfortunately they don’t all work that way in real life.

Patterns

It was interesting to read about these patterns because as I was doing so, I was able to immediately relate a relationship in my life to each one. I would say I am a dominant person who usually likes to be in control and my boyfriend is more laid back and easy going so we have a complementary pattern. But sometimes, I wish he would step up and plan things or take more responsibility and I get tired of being in charge, which then causes the rigid complementary pattern.

The competitive symmetrical pattern is apparent in my relationship with my best friend. We are very similar and both like being dominant and in control. We are constantly trying to “one-up” each other and we each like being the center of attention. We have a silent competition going between us for just about everything that can sometimes cause arguments between us but for the most part, we still manage to be best friends!

I think it is most difficult for a dominant person to change. It is hard to sit back and let someone else take control when you would much rather do it your own way. I also think a rigid complementary pattern can be most damaging to a relationship because the submissive person can begin to feel pushed around and taken for granted by the dominant one. A dominant person can also easily damage a submissive person’s self-esteem by making him or her feel useless.

Interesting Concept

One concept that I found to be most interesting in this chapter was the concept of monochromic time versus polychromic time. Americans value time and speed and therefore have a monochromic sense of time. A polychronic sense of time consists of changing plans often and considering schedules as objectives to be met rather than definite commitments.

What interested me most about this concept was how absolutely true I found it to be! I cringed and my body started getting tense when I was just reading about the polychronic sense of time. I have an extremely busy schedule (as most of us do) and feel like I am constantly running from one place to the next to meet deadlines, all the while making sure I am on time. When make plans with someone I expect them to be there at the exact time we agreed upon otherwise I tend to get upset. We make plans and schedules for a reason: to be followed!

Three Premises

I would like to believe in the rationality premise and hope that it be true although that is not always the case. I think this premise relates to the profession of police officers. They are given such great responsibility and are trusted to make good decisions whereas most of the time they do, but we also hear of many cases where they have made bad decisions as well.

I am not a religious person therefore I am not a big believer in the perfectibility premise. I don’t think it is fair that all humans are born evil and have to work hard to achieve good.

The mutability premise I think has proven to be true in many cases. Usually, more educated people for example tend to do great things and succeed more often than those who are uneducated. Or those who are healthier physically and mentally are better off than the sick and depressed.

Creatures of our Culture

I think we are “creatures of our culture” as Ruth Benedict states. The habits, beliefs and impossibilities we have are basically the same (with some variations) because we are all from the same culture and these characteristics are shaped by that culture. Culture is learned from birth, whichever culture we grow up in we will learn and adapt to those specific characteristics. As many sociologists believe, we define what is real. Cultures are home to what humans define as important or correct as opposed to what is insignificant or wrong. We are the ones who make up these ‘rules’ and continue to follow them consistently.

I think one way we can break through the limitations of our culture is through education. Obtaining an education allows us to become over all well-rounded people. We can learn to be more willing to accept those who are different than our own culture and those with different world-views. Just because someone’s religion or belief-system is different than our own doesn’t mean it is wrong. If we become more educated on cultures different than our own then we will be able to understand them and accept them as another way of living and not a wrong way of living.

Interesting Concept

One concept I thought to be interesting from chapter five was how we pick up on someone’s nonverbal cues to make initial judgments about them. As we discussed in last weeks posts, we take in as much information about someone as we can when we first meet them in order to make judgments about them or put them into a category. But who knew we can make these judgments based off of a person’s nonverbal messages? It makes sense, when you think about it. If someone is not making eye contact with you, twirling her hair and checking her cell phone you might assume she is not interested in talking to you and in this case her appearance is irrelevant because her nonverbal actions send the message. What I personally look for when first meeting someone is if they generally present themselves well by standing still and confident, making eye contact actually listening to whatever I’m saying – nonverbal actions like these can say a lot about someone.

cultural differences

Culture plays a large role in many nonverbal messages. Happiness, anger, disgust, fear, surprise and sadness may be emotions that are expressed nonverbally in common ways around the world but there are also many messages that take on different meanings depending on the culture. For example, in Middle Eastern countries it is a great insult to show someone the bottom of your shoe, and here in the United States that nonverbal message would mean nothing. I recently met one of my dad’s work-friends who is from London and before I could reach out to shake his hand he was already leaning in to kiss my cheek. I’m not very familiar with British culture but I assume the action of kissing someone’s cheek is just a friendly and polite way to say ‘hello’ or ‘nice to meet you’ to someone. I was a little caught off guard by a stranger being so close to me but I was able to understand our cultural differences and respect his way of saying ‘hello’.

Nonverbal Messages

I can’t really think of a specific instance where I have misinterpreted someone’s nonverbal message although I’m sure it has happened to me countless times. On the other hand, I can say I am very good at correctly interpreting the nonverbal messages of my two best friends. I have known these girls for about fourteen years and have gotten to know them extremely well. From everything to their subtle eye movements to a slight change in the tone of their voice I can always tell what message they are really trying to send no matter what their verbal message states. Being able to understand their nonverbal messages helps me understand them as people and allows us to get along so well.

Unfortunately we can never interpret nonverbal messages 100% correctly especially when they are unintentional. We can, however increase our accuracy to interpret nonverbal messages by checking the context of the situation, compare a person’s current behavior to baseline behavior and if all else fails we can ask for verbal feedback.

Gender Communication Differences

It is interesting to think how gender roles we have been taught since
birth and conformed to throughout our lives play such a large role in
our communication styles. There are many stereotypes about men and
women but when it comes to those about communication, most of them
seem to be true. As the book says, men tend to communicate on the
basis of individual achievement where women communicate on a more
intimate level.

I didn't have to read about differences in gender communication to
know it exists because I have experienced plenty of it in my life. I
have noticed such differences in my communicative relationships with
the women in my life such as my mom and best friends versus the men in
my life like my dad and my boyfriend. Although I love them all
equally, I very much prefer the conversations I have with the women. I
love to talk and could do it all day so when my girlfriends and I get
together it's endless conversations while we dissect every detail of
our lives. Commilunicating with men is much less interesting -- there
are fewer words exchanged and only topics that are most important is
what's talked about.

Perceiving Others

The sections in the book on schemata person prototypes, personal constructs and chronically accessible constructs make it sound impossible to perceive others without judging them – or at least putting them into categories. We use schemata to help organize new, unfamiliar information we receive (for example a first impression of someone) while person prototypes are ideal representations of a certain kind of person helping us decide what category someone should go into. Personal constructs are characteristics we notice on a daily basis about others and chronically accessible constructs are types of judgments we use regardless of the circumstances.

These concepts basically state that in a new situation or interaction we are constantly yet unintentionally taking in details about a person and trying to categorize him or her. In other words, we use these concepts as ways of judging people when we first perceive them. To make these judgments more fair, we can always change them later on once we get to know a person. Also, we can keep these judgments to ourselves and not act on them until we learn the facts.

Interesting Concept

One thing I found to be interesting in chapter two was the concept of failed communication. Once I started to think about it, I realized there really are many factors that can get in the way of communication. The book specifically mentions codes, shared experiences and channels as things that can be disrupted and result in miscommunication. Then I started to think about how technology has increased miscommunication. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, technology has increased and opened several new channels for communication but then there also is a greater margin for error especially in emails and text messages. It is so easy to misinterpret someone’s message because we cannot see the senders facial expression or hear the tone of their voice. For example, we might mistake the tone of a short, to-the-point email to be rude but really, the sender had only limited time to send the email or maybe was distracted by something else.

Pragmatic Perspective

I think it makes sense for communication to be thought of as a pattern. When we first see someone we want to communicate with we usually start with some type of greeting like ‘hello,’ then maybe ask a few questions to start a conversation such as ‘how are you?’ or ‘what have you been up to?’ and then end with something to signify we are finished like ‘goodbye’ or ‘see you later’ etc. Generally, most conversations have a beginning, middle and end which is a very obvious pattern.

Communication is like a game because everything one person does affects the person he or she is communicating with. How we decide to communicate is like making moves in a game, each choice we make results in a different response from the other person. However, the analogy of communication being a game can fail because meanings can be interpreted differently. We all have our own meanings for words and actions that can be different from someone else’s.

Social Constructivist Perspective

The social constructionist perspective emphasizes the relationship between communication and culture (page 25). One’s culture greatly influences his or her understanding of the word. Each culture in itself is like a unique little world where meanings are exclusive to that particular culture. Here in America, our idea of beauty is different than in many other countries. We are led to believe that thin and tall body types are ideal for females while even taller and muscular body types are ideal for males. Light skin, full lips, and small noses are amongst other features people are often attracted to. Unfortunately we are led to believe these things when most of them are not realistic. Our unique culture has created these idealistic concepts where the majority of people go along with them.

As for the example of beauty, I think the happiness of our culture is affected negatively. Like I said, much of what is considered beautiful is not realistic. The majority of people fall outside the ‘beautiful’ margin and are oftentimes unhappy because of it.

Interesting Concept

A concept from Chapter 1 that I found to be interesting was about communication today and how new technologies have affected and will continue to affect communication. It is easy to see how communication has evolved throughout thousands of years. Primitively, humans communicated through sounds or language and gestures. As we became more sophisticated (as in ancient Greece) writing became another form of communication. But today in 2009, there are endless and much easier forms of communication. With cell phones and the Internet, we can be constantly in touch with friends, family and coworkers.

I also found it interesting how in early times, the study of public speaking was not taken seriously. For most people, public speaking does not come naturally – it requires skill and lots of practice. Public speaking is an important skill to have because we will use it for the rest of our lives. From what I have seen, people that have mastered public speaking generally present themselves in a professional way, allowing audiences to take them seriously.

Orators

Ideally, orators should all be morally good – wouldn’t that be nice? Our world would be a better place if those who chose to speak publicly to groups of people only delivered positive or even motivational messages. I agree with the Greeks’ rule of good morale in public speaking but it has obviously not been enforced. There have been many evil leaders in our world’s history who have unfortunately been great public speakers and gained followers in support. Some of them have accomplished such immoral, disgusting things solely through their public speaking skills.

Realistically I don’t see a connection between goodness, truth and public communication. Thanks to the first amendment, we all have the right to free speech in this country allowing anyone to communicate publicly about just about any topic they choose – it doesn’t have to be good or the truth. Human beings are all so unique, filled with their own thoughts of opinions and beliefs that it would be impossible to regulate public communication to only good and true words.

Admirable Speaker

When I think of ‘speakers’ the people I think of most are my teachers. Although they may not be famous people addressing thousands or millions of viewers in an audience or on television, they still practice public speaking every day during their lectures. The teacher I most admire for his speaking abilities is Dr. Carlos Garcia. I currently have him for a sociology class and I also took one of his classes last semester, some of you may know him. For me, his speaking is most powerful and persuasive through ethos. I enjoy his lecture style because of his personality; he is funny, enthusiastic and passionate about what he is teaching, which makes the lecture more interesting for me. His personal character is unique because he comes across as very relaxed and easy going (he wears Vans, jeans and t-shirts to class every day) but then when it comes down to it, he is really not one of the easiest teachers because of his challenging tests and assignments. The fact that he takes his students’ work seriously by expecting a lot from them makes me respect him as a teacher.

I would like to say that it is my personal character that allows me to be persuasive as well but I cannot be sure because I’m never trying to persuade myself! My friends and family could probably do a better job answering that question. I am a reasonable, honest and kind person so I would think those qualities would allow me to be persuasive towards those who know me.

Introduction

Hello,

I am starting my 5th year in college this semester (unfortunately, I think I'm on the 6 year plan). I chose to major in communication studies because it is a broad major that will hopefully allow me to keep my options open and lead me to many great opportunities post graduation. So far I am enjoying communication classes because they are fun and interactive. I've never blogged before so this site is all new to me. After this class, I hope for my communication knowledge and skills to be more well-rounded.

I work at Starbucks and also babysit for a family with five kids so I definitely don't have any problems keeping busy. My goal for this class is find enough time in my busy schedule to do well and keep up with all the posts.