This Class

There are quite a few things that I did like about this class. The first thing that I like was the way that the postings worked. Do not confuse what I am saying, I did not like the postings. I liked the way that they were set up. I liked that we were given two questions to respond to and for the third we were given freedom to talk about any ideas that we found interesting from the chapter. I liked that we got to respond to the posts made by our classmates and we got to choose which ones to respond to. By allowing us to choose whose postings we responded to we got to give feedback to each classmate. I also appreciated the way the professor set up her blog. Whenever I needed to know what to do for that week I just went to her blog. It was all lined out for us. There are two things I think need some improvement in this class. First I think that the list of movies that you can do the concept application paper on needs to be updated. Im not saying put newer movies on the list, just maybe a few different types of movies. Goodfellas? Tombstone? I almost was going to do my paper on Goodfellas and see how you graded it! I decided not to do that in case you did not think it was funny and failed me. Also I think that we should be allowed to post every nine hours. There have been a few times where I put up my first post knowing I was only going to be able to write two for that week. That was not cool. I know I should have started them earlier in the week, but cut the procrastinators some slack!! I did like the class and I appreciated how quickly you responded to any questions/concerns that I had during the semester.

Delivery Again

The concept that I think that we should spend more time on in this class is delivery. As I wrote in the post prior to this one I believe that Delivery is a very important concept. I think we need to learn more about this concept in all communication courses. I see it every semester in all of my classes that require any type of class discussion or presentation. A person writes a good speech or does a great job on a powerpoint, but can not deliver when it comes time to present it. This does not happen so much in communication courses, but it does happen quite often in my business classes. Some people can do a great job on a project, but when it comes time to tell people what they did they stumble over words. THey spend so much time doing research and failed to take any time to practive there delivery. On the other side of the spectrum, there have been times where I have not been fully prepared to give a speech or presentation. But with a great delivery of a descent project I have been able to turn a C project into a quick B+. I think about all of the great speakers that we are taught about, and I think about the words that they said. Then I think was it the words that they were speaking or the way that they said them. I came to the conclusion that it is both, but if it was not for them being able to use good delivery we would not being talking about them.

Delivery

The concept that I found the most interesting in this class is the concept of Delivery. Delivery is the way that someone presents an idea to you. I read about this in chapter one and I have been referencing it in my papers and my posts throughout the semester. I like it because the way a message or idea is delivered has such a large influence on how I view the message or idea that is being presented to me. In order to convince me to do things someone has to have a good delivery of the idea. I have got a buddy that is always talking about starting a business. He is always very excited when he talks about his idea, but he only talks about it when he is high. Since he delivers his message high I take him less serious than I would if he delivered his idea sober. Another friend of mine is big on the delivery of his ideas. He planned a road trip to Reno and convinced me to go by the way he delivered the idea. He really sold it. The trip was planned, all I needed to bring was cash. If he had presented the idea without any enthusiasm I would have stayed home. In hindsight I should have stayed home!! Delivery is a very important concept that I think is relevent to every day life.

Chapter 11

This chapter had a lot of facts sprinkled in the text alongside the theories. I am going to talk about some of the facts that this book talks about and what I think those facts mean. "There is much more crime on TV than in the real world.." (pg. 306). The quote goes on to say that people who do not look at crime statistics are viewing the world as more violent than it really is. I do not agree with that. Maybe if the person does not watch the news it is possible. I have never watched an episode of "Law and Order" and have decided that the world is a terrible place. I think it is irresponsible for this book to put "facts" in this book that make people look like mindless idiots. "Despite earlier predictions that the internet would rapidly surpass television in popularity...(pg. 316). This quote goes on to say that television is stil the medium of choice for most Americans. I have to agree once again. With YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix streaming movies and television shows I think the television is being surpassed. For instance I read the news on my computer, watch shows I missed on Hulu, and stream movies with Netflix. I watch television for the most part to watch sports and Sons of Anarchy! Soon television will only be used to play video games. Once I can stream a football game live I will only watch it online. That last statement is a bit much but I refuse to believe that the internet is not rapidly surpassing television as we speak. I know that was a complete rant rather than a post but isn't that what blogging is about?

Television as a cool medium

I do agree with Marshal that the medium is the message. I was confused about what this meant at first but now I understand it and I agree with this view. I agree that television is a cool medium. I get so much of my information and entertainment from television. It is really sad if you were to really think about it. I love watching sports and I never miss my favorite show "Sons of Anarchy". I find myself getting closer to the characters of the show every episode I watch. I try and predict how the character is going to react when faced with certain situations and find myself fighting mad when something bad happens to a character that I like. I do watch a lot of the History channel as well. I find it easier to watch television and learn about history than read about it. When they do re-enactments of pivotal moments in history I find myself wanting to know more about the topic. Even though the acting in reenactments is usually terrible it still paints a visual for me and along with the dialogue I am able to learn a lot. What I found interesting is that the author mentioned that we watch television in the privacy of our homes. The author links this to how personal our relationship is with television as a medium.

Cyber Friendships

I did not get a computer until I was already in high school. By that time I was not really computer savvy and seen my computer more as a tool for school rather than a social networking device. I do not IM, Myspace, or Facebook. It is not that I do not like the concepts of social networking it is just that I choose not to use it. I have not had a friendship that exists exclusively in cyberspace. I have work acquaintinces that I only talk to through email. Does that count? I believe that there are a few differences in face to face frienships compared to cyber relationships. I am a very sarcastic person and I feel that it is hard to convey my sarcasm through written words. I am a very animated person and feel that my words alone are not powerful enough to get across my point. Also it is easy to misread or mininterpret what is being written to you. I find myself reading emails and wondering if it was a joke or a serious comment. THings like that really anger me. I prefer face to face friendships rather than friendships that exist merely in cyberspace. As far as people I deal with while I am at work I would rather deal with them through cyberspace only!

Filters

Duck's theory does make sense to me. His realtional disssolution model is very relevant. Each phase is something that I can relate to. Especially the grave dressing phase. This is the phase in which each party evaluates what the relationship meant to them. They break down the things that went right and the things that went wrong. I do think they should change the name of this stage to the reflection phase. There are a few characteristics and behaviors that lead me to judge someone as unattractive. The worst is when a girl has a bad attitude/rude. Also when a girl likes to gossip about other people, that is also something that is unattractive. There are always people that I eliminate by using sociological and pre-interaction cues that I later reconsidered. When I first met the secretary at my work her nonverbal behavior made me think that she was a rude person. Then as I started to see and interact with her more i noticed some cognitive cues. It turned out that she is sarcastic and she seemed close to her family. As I noticed these things about her it made me rethink my opinion of her. Also when I see someone that points at people I automatically think that I am not going to like that person. I dont know if that is wierd but it is true.

Rigid Role Relations

All of these patterns would be hard to change and all could be potentially damaging to a relationship. I do think out of the three the most difficult to change would be rigid complimentary. I think it would be hard for one of the parties to give up control and it would be hard for the other party to start taking control. Then what happens is the parties are so fed up with it all that they end up resenting one another. I think having a submissive symmetry is a terrible way to have a relationship. It is great when you can both respect one another, but the inability for either person to make decisions just sounds frustrating. Also when a person is submissive all the time and they finally blow up it can get ugly. I had a friend with a submissive attitude and one day she went crazy and it was very damaging to a lot of friendships. As far as the most damage potential to the self-esteem I think it would be competitive symmetry. The book says in athletic training this could be a good thing. But I think in the terms of a relationship it can lead to an abusive relationship. If both parties are constantly competing it can take a lot out of a person. Then if one of the parties becomes submissive because they do not want to compete anymore it can lead to the competitive nature of the other party to start becoming abusive. All of these rigid role relations seem to fit into all three of the questions. I think that I could have switched around all of the answers and would have been able to write about the negative affects of all of them.

Chapter 12 question 2

I will address each of these premises seperately to make things clear for the post as well as myself. The rationalilty premise says that people are capable of discovering truth through logical analysis. I agree with this one for the most part. A person has to be smart enough to put together a logical thought process so this is only true if that person is relatively smart. This is a thought that put together the idea of having a trial by jury. The perfectability premise I do not agree with. I believe we are born pure and it is our surroundings and own actions that either leads us to sin or helps us live a good life. I do think that effort and control do play a part of this though. I believe our justice system is based on this premise. The mutability premise assumes that behavior is shaped by our environmental surroundings and that the way to improve humans is to imporve our physical and psychological circumstances. I believe this premise if environment includes culture and not just weather. This stems from the idea of a universal education. I think a universal education would be impossible if you have all cultures trying to implement thier history into it. If it only pertained to math I would agree with it.

Chapter 12 Question 1

After reading through the chapter I have to agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict that we are "creatures of our culture". It makes a lot of sense that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture. I feel that I am a creature of my culture because I know where I picked up my habits and beliefs and it was the environment I grew up in that helped develop my habits and beliefs. I am not sure if the anthropoligist thinks this is a bad thing because I feel in my case it has been positive for me to be a creature of my culture. I believe that twenty years ago it was a lot harder to break through the limits of our cultures but today it is quite simple. With the ability to google anything you want we are breaking through the limits of our cultures all of the time. We have the ability to access all types of information which has given us the ability to break through the limits of our culture quite easily. So in order to break the limits of our culture we need to educate ourselves. Whether it is through the google, books, youtube, or any other information hub it is very simple to not be bound by the limitations of our culture. Soon with the ease of getting information we are going to create a new universal culture that will have no limitations.

Chapter 5 Eye Behavior

Eye behavior is associated with the character traits of people. The reading says that people who make eye contact are viewed as more friendly and sincere. While the people who shift thier eyes are seen as defensive, cold, and submissive. I have a different take on what eye behavior means. I think that eyes can be the most commonly used nonverbal communicator. There are so many things that a person can tell you with thier eyes. You can tell if they are happy, sad, angry, hurt, and the list can go on. I remember I said something as a joke about a girlfriend of mine to try and be funny. I will never forget the look she gave me. She did not say anything and laughed it off, but I will never forget that look. It scared the crap out of me. I knew then that the eyes give the most insight into what a person is thinking. As far as eyes telling you about the character of a person I think they left out a few traits. A person that is looking around a lot could just be nervous or anxious.

Different Meanings of Nonverbal actions

I have not done any traveling outside of the country, but I have heard of an example of a non verbal action that has a different meaning. When my aunt was in Italy she was part of a tour group. In one city when she got off of the bus this guy went by her and grabbed her ass. My aunt was taken off guard by this. She did not get mad, but instead just brushed it off. Later that night during dinner she told her story. One of the tour guides explained to her that it was a compliment if a guy grabs her ass even if he doesnt know her. I think if she was in the states she would have thrown a fit, but since she was in Italy she let it go and found out the meaning behind it. As for regional differences in nonverbal communication I can think of an example when I was in Indianapolis. I was at breakfast with some friends and it was everyones first time in Indianapolis. We enjoyed our meal and were waiting for the check. We kept waiting and waiting. Then we finally asked for our check and the waitress gave it to us right then. Later I was told that restaurants dont give you the check until you ask for it. When I asked why they said that when a server leaves the check on the table it means it is time for you to go. Since they see that as rude they just wait for you to ask for the check. Here it is not considered rude when a server leaves the check on the table before you ask for it, it is just how things work.

Nonverbal Communication Question #1

There have been many instances in my life where nonverbal messages have been misinerpeted. I have two occasions where this has happened recently, one occasion involving me giving the nonverbal message and one of me misinterpeting the nonverbal message. When I was president of my fraternity one of the guys asked me if they could have a party on a Tuesday. I replied nonverbally by raising my eyebrows and shaking my head up and down sarcastically. Sure enough when Tuesday came around I got back from work to find that a party was going on. When I confronted the guy who was throwing the party he said that I told him it was cool to have a party. He had misunderstood my nonverbal sarcasm and thought I was fine with it. I felt responsible for the miscommunication and enjoyed the party! The second instance involves my boss and I. We had done some painting in our office and I was in charge of re-hanging all of the pictures. My boss told me that he wanted to move some around. When I went to discuss this with him he was on his cell phone. When I pointed to one of the pictures he made a nonverbal action with his hand brushing it away. So I took that to mean that he didnt want the picture in his office anymore. So I threw it in the dumpster. A few hours later my boss asked me where the picture was. I told him I threw it away, and he got pissed off. I told him what happened to make me throw it away and he told me that he meant for me to get out of his office. Needless to say I ended up in the dumpster to retrieve the painting. Misinterpreting nonverbal communication is something that is common and sometime has bad results.

Is it possible

I do think it is possible to percieve others without judging or catergorizing them. I just believe you have to be one very special person to pull it off. For instance when a person in front of Seven Eleven approaches me and is dressed in ragged clothing I automatically assume three things. The three things that I assume are that this person is homeless, a drunk/drug addict, and is going to ask me for money. I do not think that makes me a bad person just a person using my past experiences to predict what is going to happen. I do think that we can make better judgements about people more fair. I have started to try and do this in my everyday life. I am in a fraternity and every semester we try and recruit new members to join. We have events and then offer bids to join the fraternity to guys who show interest. Every semester the guys in my fraternity will start making judgements about the new guys based on only seeing them once or twice. I have been spending this semester to try and take the negative judgements some of the guys make into positive judgements. One guy was catergorized as being annoying and I flipped it around and started saying I like how much of an effort he is making to meet new people. I noticed that after I said that the judgements about him being annoying stopped. I do think that a few people making positive judgements about someone can change how others percieve them. If I have never met someone and everyone says she is a real mean person I automatically go into the meeting with a negative judgement about her. If I instead heard that she is a cool laid back person I am more likely to have a positive perception of this person. So in order to combat negative judgements we should all just make positive judgements.

Different Uses of Language

I do agree that men and women use language differently. I feel that we use language differently in a lot of aspects of life. The difference in use of language is very clear to me in a few aspects of my life. At work when a female co-worker asks me to do something it is more of a polite request compared to my male co-workers who are telling me what to do oppossed to simply asking me. The difference also is brought to my attention when using language to make plans. When I am making plans with a girl it takes a ten minute conversation to figure everything out as oppossed to making plans with my buddies can take a ten second phone call. For example my buddy called my yesterday and said, "Peanuts Noon we are drinking." That was the whole conversation, but I still know all of the details of the plan. I can not do that with my friends that are girls. I also notice a difference in the use of language by men and women when talking with my parents. When I am doing something wrong or acting a certain way my Mom will talk gently and suggest that I do something differently. If my Dad sees something I am doing and does not like it he will pull me aside and tell me that I am fucking up and to fix it before he does! These are just a few examples of how men and women use language differently.

Elements of Communication

While reading chapter two I found the chart breaking down the elements of communication to be interesting. This chart puts labels on all things that are relevant to communication. I began to think that if these elements were not taken into account when analyzing communication how chaotic things would be. If someone was to just hear the words you said and did not factor in anything else there would be a lot of awkward moments. For example if I were talking to a person at a sporting event I might have to shout. Someone may think that is rude if they did not know that there were thousands of people cheering and the only way to be heard was to yell. Also if I were to say a funny comment to a friend of mine it could be seen as rude and innapropriate if they did not know who I was talking to. So as you go down this list the importance of all these elements is brought to light when you think of examples where if they were not taken into account the miscommunication that could occur. I found this real interesting because I had never taken into account all of these things that play a large role in communication.

Pragmatic Perspective

The pragmatic perspective says that communication is a system of interlocking, interdependant behaviors that become patterned over time. Scholars believe that when we communicate we are playing a game with the other person. We play this game by making moves based on what the other person says. There are plenty of ways of communicating that are like a game. For example i would consider negotiating a game. An initial offer is made and then the game begins. Both people attempt to get to a solution that they feel favors them more. Even arguing is another way that communication is like a game. I feel that relating communication to a game is safe because there are many aspects of competition that takes place through communication. Even when athletes are trash talking they are playing head games with thier opponents. A person is using communication to take another person out of there comfort zone. The ways that communication is not like a game is that there are no rules. Granted there are some unwritten rules when communicating but there are no enforcers when communicating with others. As I am writing more aboutt this I think that the comparisson of communication to a game is ridiculous. I can come up with a ton of things that are like games. People are always considering life a game, dealing with the opposite sex a game, business a game, and plenty of other things that are related back to a game.

2). Consider the pragmatic perspective. Does it make sense to think of communication as patterned interaction? How is communication like a game? How is it different from a game?

Social Constructionist Perspective

The view of a social constructionist says that we build worlds through communication by putting together collective ideas in the groups that we are in. With those ideas we put together a collective representation of reality. These are broken into symbolic codes, cognitive customs, cultural traditions, and shared roles and rules. I was trying to come up with some of our ideas that fit into our social construction model that other cultures may not think of. I came up with our obsession with celebrities and money. I think these two things attribute to the lack of happiness in this country. We are so worried and stressed about what other people are doing and have that we forget to be happy with the things we have. I am not going crazy and saying that we should not have money and that poorer countries are happier because they do not have money. That would be absurd! I am just saying that if we did not put such an importance on being rich and wanting an expensive lifestyle that people would have less to worry about. Then there time could be put into something more productive. I like the social constructionist model but I think that some of our collective representations of reality are wrong.

Question 3 The Delivery

While I was reading chapter one, a concept that I found interesting was delivery. Delivery is the way that someone presents an idea to you. This concept, or canon of rhetoric, was dead on this weekend because a friend of mine was able to convince me to go down to the SJSU football game. When the idea was originally presented to me a week ago I shot it down right away. My friend was not really trying to sell the idea of the trip to me so it was easy to say no. When Thursday night came my friend made a case that this would be an amazing trip and that if I missed it I would regret it. He really put some thought into it and had me convinced that I needed to go on this trip. It was all because of his delivery that i changed my mind about the trip. He was throwing his hands around and painting a picture about how the trip would go. I told that story to say that when I first read the chapter delivery did not catch my eye as something interesting, but after being convinced to go on the trip I began to think about it. I came to the conclusion that out of all the canons of rhetoric delivery is by far the most important.

Speaker I admire

After a lot of thought I decided that the speaker that I admire is ESPN sports analysist Stuart Scott. He brings a lot of energy and good humor everytime he is on the air. When Stuart Scott is speaking I think his power to persuade comes from a mixture of ethos and pathos. His power to persuade shows the use of ethos by his presence alone. He seems like a normal guy and that makes him easier to watch because some others sports analysists seem like jerks. He uses pathos with the sentences he puts together. When talking about highlights instead of just saying Touchdown or Homerun he uses a lot emotion and paralanguage in his analysist to make the event more exciting. I never knew watching highlights could be so entertaining until Stuart Scott changed the way we all watch highlights. I am not saying he is the first great sportscaster but I feel he started a trend where you put emotion into highlights and it has made all other sports analysists do it no matter what sport they are talking about. When it comes to my persuasion ability I use logos. I am very thorough and like to know everything before I attempt to talk about anything. I am always trying to lay out all the facts and then attempt to prove my point. So i would say that my qualities fit into those of Aristotles' classification scheme.

Intro to my blog

The only time I have blogged is for classes at SJSU. It is not because I think I am above it or anything like that. I choose not to blog on a regular basis because I feel that no one would appreciate my humor. With that said I came into SJSU as a Criminal Justice but I switched after I did well in my Comm courses. Communicating is something I think I am good at so i decided to make it my major. I have taken a majority of my required Comm courses and I am scheduled to graduate in the Spring. I do not know what to expect from this class but I just know that I do not want to fall behind and prolong my time at SJSU.