Wk 10 Discussion, Question 1

The concept from the book that I found to be the most interesting was false memory. False memory is information that is painful or unpleasant can be pushed aside, while things that never happened can be remembered as though they were true. I think this concept is very interesting because I think at some point in all of our lives this will happen to us. We will all experience some type of false memory. We all have painful experiences whether it be with our friends, family, coworkers, or even our community. When something terrible happens to us we try not to think about it. We try and replace it with positive thoughts. Sometimes those thoughts can be so overpowering that you come to believe that they are true. I've experienced false memory before. I was going through a really rough time with my ex boyfriend. We were fighting a lot and it was causing a lot of stress for both of us. When I would sleep I would have dreams about how I wanted everything to work out and how I wanted our next conversation to go. I would dream about this so often and so strongly that I would start thinking they were true when I woke up. After I got to thinking about it some more I realized that it was only a dream and not reality.

Wk 10 Discussion, Question 2

We finally made it to the end! The past 10 weeks have been a little challenging but the class was great. I really enjoyed all of the things that we have learned. I really enjoyed learning about all of the different types of speaking such as impromptu speaking, extemporaneous speaking and manuscript speaking. I know that I used impromptu and extemporaneous speaking in my previous communication classes and it was nice to refresh my memory on what they are and how to use them properly. I also learned more on how to prepare a speech and what techniques I should use such as chronological order, spatial order or topical order etc. There are a number of other things that I learned throughout the class that I know I will use no matter where I go in life.

I really liked the way the class was scheduled. I feel that the assignments were very reasonable and they did help me understand the concepts a little more. I think the discussions were also a very good way to keep the class connected. An online class is hard enough when you don't meet face to face with the professor but not meeting classmates face to face is hard too because you don't have a way to reach out to someone who is in the class if you need help. I think that having us comment on other students post was good because it helped us develop a link with classmates so we could reach out to them if we needed to.

Overall the class was great. I really did enjoy the past 10 weeks. The professor made the class really enjoyable even though it was over the summer!

Wk 10 Discussion, Question 3

Of all the concepts that we covered in class over the past ten weeks, the one that I found to be my favorite was the concept "the medium is the message." The textbook describes this concept as the channel through which a message is transmitted is as important as the message itself and that the channel, in fact, often determines which messages will be transmitted and which will be ignored. I think this is my favorite because it is very true. I took a PR class at SJSU about the media and society. We learned all about the different types of medium and everything that I learned in that class relates to this concept. The marketing teams of companies need to be smart when they choose what medium to select to sell their products. If they choose the wrong one then their problem can fail overnight.

Wk 9 Discussion, Question 1

The social constructionist perspective sees communication as a process whereby people, using the tools provided by their culture, create collective representations of reality. Whatever culture you belong to is the ultimate influence of how you shape the reality of the world around you. We use communication to “build worlds” around our sense of reality. We each use communication to see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear in the world. If we choose to hear only the negative things about a specific group of people then negativity is going to be communicated to us. Some ideas that we talk about in our culture that may not exist in other cultures is democracy. Democracy is how the United State functions and without it I think that we would have major problems. The country was founded on democracy and I don’t think the United States would have made it as far as it has in history without democracy.

Wk 9 Discussion, Question 2

In the pragmatic perspective communication consists of a system of interlocking, interdependent moves, which have become patterned overtime. The class textbook says that this perspective focuses on the game people play when they communicate. I think that it makes sense to think of communication as a patterned interaction because people tend to do a lot of the same things in communication that follow a specific pattern. Communication is also like a game. When people communicate people always test the waters to find out what they can get away with. They do this to figure out what they can and cannot say. People also know certain steps to take in order to get what they want out of certain people when they communicate with them. On the other hand communication is not like a game because it doesn’t always follow the pattern that people think it will take. You can say something to one person and expect them to come back with a specific response, but they can surprise you and come back with something completely different.

Wk 9 Discussion, Question 3

The concept from chapter 2 that I choose to discuss is Key. Key is the tone or spirit (for example, joking, aggressive, or ecstatic) in which a given activity is undertaken. I thought reading about the key of a persons voice was interesting because there are a great number of different keys that one persons voice can make. After I read this part of the chapter I tried to pay attention to all of the different keys that my voice takes in one day while I speak. I noticed that I made more then I thought I would. I used a different key with every person that I talked to in that one day of observation. I was in different situations with everyone so the way that my voice sounded was different. I also tried to listen to the different keys in the voices of the people that I talked to in that one day. That was interesting as well because they were all different then mine.

Wk 8 Discussion, Question 1

After looking at all of the research methods presented in table 13.3 the one method that seemed most interesting to me is the ethnography method. Ethnography is when a researcher observes behavior in it's natural setting. They do this to describe the communication practices of a group of people. I think that ethnography is very interesting. I think that it would be fun to go and observe a group of people that I don't know anything about and try to figure out how they do things.

If I were to study some aspect of deception and I had to come up with a research question my question would be How often do people feel a sense of deception from someone they love? I always hear stories on the radio of people who have been deceived by someone that they love. I want to know if it happens as often as these people make it sound. I think the type of research method that I would choose to answer this question would be survey research. Survey research is a very good method to reach out to a lot of people at one time. It could help with finding out the answer to my question.

Wk 8 Discussion, Question 2

I think that ethnographers have a very interesting job. I think it's very interesting that they get to learn about people by observing them. Ethnographers learn from observations. "Their reasons for observing behavior, however, are scientific, not personal." (Trenholm, P. 379) Ethnographers want to try and understand how members of other cultures interpret their own world. In order to understand these other cultures ethnographers must put themselves into another culture to see through the eyes of its members.

One moral dilemma that can occur is that the group the ethnographer is trying to study does not trust the ethnographer. Some groups are very skeptical of other people coming into their culture and trying to observe their way of life. People don't want to feel exposed. One way that an ethnographer can resolve this issue is by slowly gaining the trust of the people of the culture he/she is observing and not breaking that trust.

Wk 8 Discussion, Question 3

The concept from chapter 13 that I found to be the most interesting was the professional ethnographers. Professional ethnographers are people who learn from observation. Their reasons for observing behavior is scientific, not personal. I thought that this concept was very interesting because I tend to observe people all the time. I don't do it for scientific reasons. I don't even notice when I start doing it. Whenever I go out in public places I like to people watch. It do this a lot when I go to bars with my friends. It is very interesting to watch how all the people interact there, especially where there is alcohol involved. I also people watch a lot when I go to theme parks. I went to Disneyland every year in high school with my cheerleading team. Whenever my friends and I would stop for lunch or we just needed a break from walking around we would sit and just watch the people that passed us by. It was interesting to see all of the different people that were there and how they all enjoyed the park differently.

WK 7 Discussion, Question3

The concept from chapter 8 that stood out to me is organizational communication. I just completed the organizational communication class over the 5 week summer session so I thought discussing this concept was very relevant. Organizational communication includes concepts like arguing, cooperating, making decisions, persuading one another, solving problems, and forging relationships. Organizational communication is important because every organization depends on the way that its members communicate with one another. If the members of an organization don’t know how to communicate effectively or don’t communicate at all then the organization is in big trouble. Organizational communication is one of the keys to running a successful business. Organizations need their employees to communicate. They need to be able to trust one another in order to have the business run smoothly. When employees in an organization know how to effectively communicate with other employees it makes the job much easier for their boss. Organizational communication is so important to an organization.

Wk7 Discussion, Question 2

I do agree with Marshall McLuhan. I agree that the medium is as important as the message. Now-a-days people get their news for many different sources. Some people get it from radio, newspaper, tv, or the internet. I think that the medium choice a company chooses to broadcast their news affects the relevance of the message. For example the writers of a gossip magazine wouldn’t print stories about murders, weather or what’s going on in the government. You would find those types of stories in the newspaper. If these types of stories were printed in gossip magazines people are likely to skip over them because those aren’t the types of stories they are looking for in that type of magazine. I didn’t really understand what Marshall McLuhan meant by television being a cool medium. In the text book he says that “because television is a cool medium, it demands that viewers fill in detail.”

Wk 7 Discussion, Question 1

I have never formed friendships that are exclusively in cyberspace. I think that forming friendships exclusively in cyberspace is too impersonal. If you have a friend that you have never had face to face interaction with you will never know what they are really like. When I have friends I want to be able to see their faces and hear their voices. I like the see the different reactions. When people send you emails or you chat on IM’s you can interpret their messages in so many different ways. That’s why I like to hear peoples voices so I can interpret their messages the way they intend for them to be interpreted. I do have friends that I only talk with on facebook but that is because they either live far away or I don’t talk with them very often. All of the close friends that I have I see a lot. I don’t think that I would for a friendship that is exclusively in cyberspace because I wouldn’t have the opportunity to see them face to face. I would like to see the people that I am interacting with and get to know them through personal contact.

Wk 6 discussion, Question 2

When it comes to choosing someone as a potential romantic partner I know that I use all of the filters that were discussed in the filtering theory. I didn't realize that I use all of these concepts until I read this chapter. The four filters described in this theory are sociological or incidental, preinteraction, interaction, and cognitive cues. Sociological or incidental cues are described as demographic or environmental factors that determine probability. Some of these factors include where the other person lives or works and how frequently we travel. Physical proximity is how close or far apart people live from each other. Preinteraction cues are all about how we use nonverbal impressions to determine if we want to interact with with others. This includes body type, physical beauty, dress, and so on. Interaction cues occur when we have made initial contact with the other person. Cognitive cues say that the strongest factors in creating a solid, long-lasting relationships are psychological.

Duck's theory makes complete sense to me. I use all four of these factors when it comes to choosing someone as a potential romantic partner. I know I use the preinteraction cues to decide if I'm attracted to someone physically. I use the sociological or incidental cues and physical proximity to decide if the relationship would be worth it. If someone lives far away or travels a lot it is definitely more difficult to have a relationship with that person. Cognitive cues is also a big deciding factor for me. I need to have a strong mental connection with someone if the relationship is going to work for me.

I know that I have used the sociological cues to eliminate someone. In fact I used it with my current boyfriend who I have been dating for the past 3 years. We live an hour away from each other. When I first met him I was very attracted to him. We hit it off right away. We both knew that we were attracted to each other but the one thing that stopped us from dating right away was the distance between us. After about a year or being just friends we decided to not let the distance between us ruin something that could be really special. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Wk 6 discussion, Question 1

The patter that I think would be most difficult to change, the most damaging and the most potentially damaging to self-esteem in a relationship is rigid complementarity. Rigid complementarity happens when the submissive partner begins to resent always giving in or when the dominant partner beings to tire of being in charge. I think that rigid complementarity is the most difficult to change because it is the easiest to give into. When you are with a person who is really confident and always needs to be in control it is easy to forget what you want and always go along with what the other person wants. I have personally experienced rigid complementarity in a previous relationship. I had been dating a guy 2 1/2 years and we decided to end things. I had thought our relationship was good until the very end. After we were no longer together I took some time to look back on the relationship and my opinion about how happy the relationship was changed drastically.

I realized that I was always giving into what my ex boyfriend wanted. I was the submissive person of the relationship. If he wanted to do something that I didn't want to do we would do it anyways. It was almost like my feelings didn't matter. If he didn't like a person that I was hanging out with he would tell me to stop hanging out with them and I would stop hanging out with them. Looking back on the relationship it sounds like it was really bad. I didn't understand how I didn't see what was going on. He had a graceful way of making me see things his way. My self-esteem was really low by the time our relationship ended. After we broke up I swore I would never be in a relationship like that again.

When I started dating my current boyfriend I realized that breaking the habit of rigid complementarity was not going to be easy. I found myself doing the same exact things I was doing with my old boyfriend. I would always let him have his way. Eventually he got really tired of that and he told me that I needed to start sticking up for myself. It took a little bit but I finally got out of that phase and I made the change.

Wk 6 discussion, Question 3

The concept from chapter 7 that I choose to discuss is affection need. Affection need is defined as the need to develop close, caring relationships with others. "By establishing friendships and by getting to know one another intimately, group members can satisfy their need to receive affection, as well as their need to show affection to others." (Trenholm, P. 181) I choose this concept because I strongly believe that this concept relates to everyone. We all want to feel needed by others. It makes us feel important and feel good about ourselves. Developing caring relationships with others is part of what makes our lives complete. I know that I wouldn't be where I am today without all of the personal relationships that I have. Each close, caring relationship that I have is unique in its own way. Everyone that I have a close, caring relationship with is a special part of my life and I'm thankful for every single one.

Wk 4 Discussion, Question 2

I do believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises but only to a certain extent. I don't believe in each of them fully. With the rationality premise I do think that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis but not all people exercise this capability as often as they should or even at all. When it comes to the perfectibility premise I believe that not all people are born in sin but some are and everyone is capable of achieving goodness through effort and control. Lastly when it comes to the mutability premise I agree that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors but I don't agree that the way to improve human is to improve their physical and psychological circumstances. You can see someone who grows up in a nice home with both their parents teaching them right from wrong and get a good education and that person can still turn out to do the wrong things.

An example of the social institutions and practices that are based on the rationality premise is the court systems. The random process of jury selection shows that people are being trusted to make a rational, non biased decision based on hard evidence. People who serve on a jury are expected to make a decision about someones fate by going through a logical analysis of the facts and they are expected to make a good decision.

An example of the social institutions and practices that are based on the perfectibility premise is the rehab programs. Many people, but not all, who are addicted to drugs start because they are born in a bad neighborhood, in a bad family, or hang out with people that they shouldn't hang out with. Some people get to a point where they want help and they want to start a better life for themselves. Rehab programs help these people achieve their goals and achieve goodness in their lives.

An example of the social institutions and practices that are based on the mutability premise are child protective services. Children who grow up in a hostile environment where they are neglected, abused or even observe domestic abuse going on are likely to have a difficult life because they don't know what a loving home is like. Child protective services help give children better lives by taking them away from their current physical environment and finding them a new one that will give them a better chance of succeeding in life. This doesn't always help children but the majority of the time it does.

Wk 4 Discussion, Question 3

The concept that I choose to discuss from chapter 12 is cultural universals. Cultural universals are a variety of "interconnected activities that are found in virtually every culture." (Trenholm P. 346) The book gives a long list of things that are found in every culture. A few of those items are age grading, athletics, bodily adornment, calendar, cleanliness, cooking, cosmology, courtship, dancing, education, ethics, etiquette, family, folklore, funeral rites, gestures, greeting, hairstyles, and hygiene. The list goes on to name more activities that the author found to be universal in many cultures. I believe in cultural universals because there are so many things that people from different cultures do that are the same. Take bodily adornment for example, in America, unfortunately, many people think that a beautiful woman is one that is thin. If a woman is not as thin as people think she should be she is considered not as desirable. On the other hand, in other cultures, such as cultures from Africa, large women are more desirable than thin women. Even though they have different idea about what a beautiful woman's body should look like they still have the same idea of bodily adornment in their minds.

I think this idea of cultural universals are important because so many people think that their culture is the right culture to be in and everyone else is wrong. If people could just see that every culture has many things in common then maybe there would be less discrimination in the world.

Wk 4 Discussion, Question 1

I do agree with Anthropologist Ruth Benedict when she says that we are all creatures of our cultures and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture. From the day each of us are born we are being taught a specific culture by our families. The different things that our parents teach us is a direct reflection of the morals and values from the culture that they identify with. This continues on as we grow up. Some cultures require their people to marry someone who shares the same culture and they are very strict about it. I have a good friend who was raised as a Jehovahs Witness. She was explaining to me all of the various things that she has experienced being raised that way. People who are raised in this type of culture don't get to experience anything outside of their culture without being judged and sometimes even banned from the culture.

I think that we can break through the limits of culture by going out and experiencing other cultures besides our own without judgment. Not judging others cultures is very hard when you are raised a certain way but you have to keep an open mind. This will help people gain knowledge about people and their culture that they don't understand.

Wk 3 Discussion, Question #3

The concept from chapter 5 that was interesting to me was object language. Object language is defined as "all intentional and nonintentional displays of material things, such as implements, machines, art objects, architectural structures, [as well as] the human body, and whatever clothes or covers it." (Trenholm Pg. 133) I choose to discuss this topic because I can relate to it very well. In my room I have various pieces of wall decor that represents me. I am definitely a "girly girl" I have a lot of feminine pieces that are pink and glittery. I also have a lot of pictures of my family, friends and my boyfriend in picture frames because they help define the type of person that I am too.

Another aspect of object language that I closely relate to is the human body. When I get dressed for the day it expresses what type of mood I'm in. If I wear jeans and a shirt and a light jacket I am in a relaxed mood and I want to be comfortable. If I wear sweats and a tee shirt that normally means that I'm lazy or I'm in a bad mood. If I get dressed up I'm in a good mood. I like using clothes to express how I feel.

Wk 3 Discussion, Question #2

I strongly believe that men and women do use language differently. Men tend to use more agressive language. It differs depending on who they talk to. If men are talking to other men they try and use professional language that makes them sound strong and confident. If they are talking to their friends they use a more laid back form of language. They don't care so much about using correct grammar when they are with their friends. When men are talking to women they don't use such an agressive type of language. They aren't as strong with their words. Women on the other had don't use such an agressive type of language as men. When women are talking to professional colleagues they do use professional language to make them sound strong and confident but they use it in a more soothing way. When women are with their friends they use a soothing type of language as well. They a type of language that is more comforting to whoever they are speaking with.

One specific example that I can give is they way my boyfriend talks to his boss and his friends. My boyfriend works for a small plumbing company. He has been working there for the last three years. The owner of the company his best friends father who he has grown up with. My boyfriend and I were invited to the first birthday of the owners grandson. The party was going to be pretty big with a lot of our good friends. When we got to the house and everyone was in the backyard swimming and having a good time. We said hello to his boss and his wife. During that conversation my boyfriend was very polite and talked professionally to his boss. After we said hello to them we were hanging out with our good friends that were there. There was a big group of guys there that my boyfriend grew up with. The second we were hanging out with our friends his language was completely different. They were all joking around and occasionally swearing. It was amazing to see the type of language that he was using switch in a second just from changing who he was talking to.

On the other hand the language that I used during this whole scenario that I discussed above my language did not change once. When we were talking to his boss I was very polite and respectful. When we were talking to his friends my language may have changed a little but not as much as my boyfriends did. I was a little more relaxed with our friends but there was no significant change in the language that I was using.

Wk 3 Discussion, Question #1

Hello everyone!

I personally do not think you are able to perceive others without, in some way, judging them. We are always judging people no matter what. Whenever you pass by someone, whether you mean to or not, you pass a judgment. A lot of the times you will make up your mind on what you think about them without or before even meeting them. People are judged by what they wear, how they talk, where they come from, and even the kinds of hobbies they are interested in. I know that I do it. I don't mean to do it but it's a habit that is hard to break. I try not to let the judgment that I make before I meet someone effect the way I feel about them when I actually do meet them in some instances. I don't know if there is a way that we can make judgments fair. People are always going to judge other people no matter what. I guess when you judge someone you will have to keep in mind that you don't know anything about this person and they can be totally different from what you are perceiving them as.

Discussion question #1

Discussion Question #1

The Social Constructionist Perspective says that we never experience the world directly. Rather we take those parts of it that our culture makes significant, process them in culturally recognized ways, connect them to others "facts" that we know, and respond to them in ways our culture considers significant. The perspective also says that the majority of what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication rather than through direct experience. For example if everyone around you talks about the world in a certain way, you are likely to think of the world in that way.

We each "build worlds" through communication differently. We each have our own perspective of the world. Each person we interact with shapes the way that we view the world.

Communication is different in every country. In the business world in America when you first meet someone you look them in their eyes and you shake their hands. In the Asian cultures it is considered disrespectful to look someone in the eyes who is of higher power than you. When communicating together they must learn to adapt to each others different ways of communicating. In the example in the book of John and Judy they did not see eye to eye when communicating with each other because they grew up during different times.

Discussion question #3

The concept from chapter 10 that I choose to discuss is audience adaption. When you are giving a public speech you must make the message you are trying to get across relevant and understandable to your audience. The book gives a few good examples of audience adaption. The author says that a kindergarten teacher wouldn't treat school children as if they were graduate students. When constructing a speech and you are thinking about how you are going to adapt to your audience you must consider the three aspects of speech. The first aspect is the central idea and structure of the speech. The second aspect is the supporting material of the speech. The third and final aspect is the style of the speech.

The author says that the speaker must first decide on the purpose and central idea of the speech. If you are preparing an informative speech you must present new and interesting information that is not too difficult for the audience to follow or understand. If the speech is meant to be persuasive then the speaker must avoid alienation audience members by making a proposal that is too extreme. The speaker must also know what the audience currently believes and what positions it might accept and reject.

Speakers should choose supporting material with audience characteristics in mind. The example given in the book is that the speaker supports bringing a professional athletic team to your community. I thought this was an ironic example since Santa Clara county is fighting to bring the 49ers to Santa Clara. The speaker is presenting a speech to a group of business leaders and they would have to stress the economic advantages of their proposal. The speaker must choose appeals that are relevant to their audience.

Lastly, the style of the speech needs to be adapted to the audience as well. Your speech must be understandable. For example you wouldn't want to try and clarify your concept by comparing it to a computer to a group of computer illiterate people. The audience wants your speech to resemble their idea of how the speech should sound. If you fail to meet their expectations your speech will probably fail.

Discussion Question #2

The best speaker that I have ever heard was the pastor at my church. His family and my family have been friends for a very long time. I have been going to the same church since I was in elementary school. I have developed some great relationships with a lot of the people who go there as well. When I was a young kid I never wanted to go and attend the adult services with my family. It always seemed boring to me because I never understood what the pastor was saying because I was young. I couldn't wait for the first service to be over so I could attend my Sunday school class. As I grew older and I began to understand the message that the pastor was sending I started enjoying the adult service more and more. The way the pastor talked was very inspiring. I could feel how passionate he was about the message he was sending out to everyone. His voice wasn't boring and monotone. The way he delivered the message was very persuasive. Every time I attend a Sunday service I look forward to hearing him speak.

The worst speaker that I have heard was in one of my classes. The girl was very boring to listen to. Her voice was very monotone which made it very hard to pay attention to what she was saying. She was reading her speech and made no eye contact with the audience. She was constantly swaying from side to side. I think I paid more attention to her swaying then I did to her speech. I don't remember what her speech was even about because it was so boring to listen to.

Welcome Post

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the start of the summer semester. I am a senior a SJSU and I am really looking forward to this class. I am a very laid back person and I am easy to get along with. If anyone has any questions throughout the class feel free to ask me and I will do my best to help you. My personal communication experience has been a good one so far. My first set of Comm courses were during the Spring 2010 semester and it was very enjoyable. They professors were very helpful. What I hope to gain from this course is to learn a better way to successfully communicate with the people I have personal relationships with. I really hope that I will gain the knowledge from this class to achieve that. This is the first online course that I have ever taken throughout my college career and I am really looking forward to it. I hope everyone has a great semester!