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.