Week 12- Question 3

Pick one other concept in the book that you feel needs further discussion?

The concept I feel that needs further discussion is the concept of culture being a dynamic. Cultures are consistently changing therefore people have to learn new behaviors and cultural norms change as well. Intercultural contact is not bout memorizing the do’s and don’ts on how to act. For just as soon as you’ve learned a rule about how to communicate with the “natives” of a culture, you’ll probably find that the rule is obsolete (Trenholm, 347). Being prepared for intercultural contact is to be open and sensitive to all kinds of differences that occur between cultures and developing the ability to learn by observing.

Week 12- Question 1

(Regarding Chapter 13) Which of the research methods listed in Table 13.3 seem the most interesting? Assume you want to study some aspect of deception. Frame a research question. Which method would you choose to answer the question. Why

The most interesting research method that I found was Ethnography. This research method is really interesting to me because you can go undercover. As a researcher you can be in the same environment and draw conclusions first hand. This method reminds me of the movie Never Been Kissed. She had to go to her old high school and act as a student and find a story worth writing about. I would love to go into an environment and observe and be able to draw my own conclusions from them.

With regards to doing a study in a aspect of deception, I would use Performance research to code they’re responses. In deception I would be interested in affairs. Specifically, focusing on the husband and mistress relationship. I would become a mistress and play that role to come up with my conclusions. My research question would be; How do mistresses believe that they will eventually become the wives of their lovers
when the husband hasn’t filed for divorce? I feel like if I observe and listen to people that are in situations like this we would all know why people in affairs do what they do.

Week 12- Question 2

What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about that concept/s that you found interesting?

The concept I thought that was really interesting was The Kinesic Code II: Facial Expression and Eye Behavior. Facial displays and eye behavior are such big factors in non-verbal communication. According to Trenholm, it states that each culture, certain expressions, are encouraged and reinforced, where as others are discouraged. We learn to neutralize and mask our emotions without facial displays and can intensify or deintensify certain emotions. I found it interesting when I see this in everyday life that it can make or break my day. In nonverbal communication all you can do is assume what the person is feeling from their actions. We can misinterpret and get the wrong idea from when they happen.

Week 11- Question 2

Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

Living in a technology driven world television is one of the most accessible and is favorable strategically. Households these days have two to 3 television sets and on all day whether people are watching intently or not. I do agree that he medium is important as the content trying to be sent out. This is usually what companies, organizations and the average Joe uses in their everyday lives so it would only be smart to use television, radio, internet etc. to distribute information. Television has come to focusing on reality shows, gossip and soap opera type of shows so everyone is tuning in on the tube.

Week 11- Question 1

Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have a lot of cyberspace friends and some of them need to stay that way. Cyberspace friends for me are usually are friends that you make because of MySpace and Facebook. The connection of mutual friends gives people the opportunity to meet more people. They are different because you don’t see them and I feel like if they get in contact with you they actually care don’t from a distant way. Sometimes people like cyberspace relationships because you don’t have to see them yet be able to get close to them through words. Some of the people I have met through cyberspace have come really close to me.

Week 11- Question 3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

The concept that I thought was really interesting this week was the inverted pyramid. Iam a PR major and I took a journalism class and I learned how to write in this way. It is a special format journalists write stories with. It gives the most important information of the news story in the first few paragraphs. This lets the editor possibly cut the story from the end but still have the reader get the most important parts if they potentially stop reading mid way through. This is the format where the climax is in the beginning of the story instead of at the end like a novel.

Week 10- Question 3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading (not already discussed for this week) that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

A concept that I really thought was interesting this chapter was the promotion of professionalism in workplace relationships, mainly in Romance in the workplace. According to surveys it is seem that coworkers are of with workplace romances and think that it doesn’t affect performance. A lot of people find their significant others in the work place because you are in constant contact physically or verbally, you carry meaningful conversations, and engage playful banter. I personally don’t think you should mix “business with pleasure.” It clouds the mind and blurs the lines of boundaries. For me I would like to work without knowing that my significant other is in the cubical right next to me. But we had a fight the night before about the toilet seat being up and now we aren’t talking making the projects we are on together, breaks, and lunches uncomfortable. I would like to worry more about proposals, meetings, and business lunches. I think it just disrupts everything.