Week 15, post 3

Conflict

I think that conflict produces the most interesting aspects of communication. Conflict produces a few results in an individual. It may produces withdraw, which is when a person walks away or changes the subject at the moment conflict appears. People can also accommodate, in which they give in immediately, at the moment conflict. Compromise means that each party gives up part of what he or she wants to reach a mutual compromise. This would be similar to problem solving. I think the conflict is healthy, but must trully be worked on.

week 15, post 2

The Next Step:

The great next step of communication study and theory is to realize that communication can still be evolved. We must evolve the sciences to the degree of other fields of study, and merge the different sciences to our benefit. I feel that each individual can be a communication scholar and further the field of study. I would like to see more within culture scientific studies, to focus on specific group to differentiate the groups. This would assist in reaching these groups on a massive basis, based on what is the preferred method of communication (written, verbal, etc.). Having this information can than assist from a public health standpoint. That should be the direction of the field, so that it is not just a collection of knowledge, but information that will be used to better society as a whole.

week 15, post #1

Credibility

I think that credibility still posses an interesting dilema to the listener of a speech or engagement of communication. Just think about how easy it is to lie about anything. It is safe to say that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, however that is simply a percentage and not 100% of the time. Therefore, do we really know if we are being told the truth at any one point by any one person. Even if that person has never told a lie in their lives before, there still is that very small chance that they will. I feel that this uncertainty is a major pitfall in the credibility of communication. Perception is truly the key to what the audience believes and not truth.

week 12, post #3

The idea behind masculine language seems to be very pertinent in the debate of bias language. I feel that emotionally charged language is often biased, and is more representative of the male masculine perspective. It is unfortunate that the typical gender roles are reiterated in different forms of reference and print, however, the growing influence of the female voice, will hopefully change most if not all of that language to represent the fact that both genders are equal and neither should be steered towards dominance or serviance.

week 12, post 2

Muted Group Theory

The Muted Group Theory was developed by Kramarae. There was also some development between muted groups, from originally women, and the groups which have thoughts and communications which is counter to the public agenda or norms. In her theory, she greatly used metaphors of the internet, including information superhighway for the cost, new frontier for the atmosphere, democracy for increased expression, and global community for the possibility of interaction. It is decidely so, based on bias, that language often does not mean the same for everyone, or that it is equal for everyone. The dominant language is male, so everyone else is engaging in discorse.

face-negotiation model

The face-negotiation model presented by Ting-Toomey is extremely interesting in its diversity and explanation. The model is controlled by separating factors of culture, then self contrual, then face concern, and finally conflict-style. The culture, whether individualistic or collectivistic, is based on the individuals person's place of birth, traditionally, and how that society developed. The U.S. is the supreme individualistic culture with the main focus on "I" and overall lack of community care. Japan is one of the leaders in the collectivistic cultures, with main thoughts on helping their country succeed. The path is then followed down all the way to the learned conflict styles, based on the four criteria mentioned above, to six conflict styles, including dominant, expressive, aggressive (individualistic), and integrating, helping, oblnging (collectivistic).

week 10, post 3

The question of who sets the agenda in the agenda-settng theory is extremely pertinent. It is been determined that the work by the interest aggregation. The interest aggregations are clusters of people who demand center stage for their one, overriding concern, also considered to be pressure groups. The question that most of do not even consider when viewing or listening from information dispersed by mass media is why this? What one person or group of people decided that this information needed to be known by the general public. What about the information which is not shared by the general public, and why did that one person decide that the information not shared is less important or would sell less copies of the information. We must look at the motivations associated with mass media and the information which is relayed to the general public.

Week 10, post 2

The spiral of silence established by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann is the increasing pressure people feel to conceal their views when they think thy are in the minority. Imagine is you part of a group discussion, and you are the one person who does not agree with the other group members. Because of the expected pressure that would be felt by other group members to convert them to your point of view, you would be less likely to share your comments and simply conform to their beliefs. This still gives you an out if you are wrong, because you can say later, that you didn't agree but you wouldn't be able to convert the whole group so it would be a waste of time.

week 10, post 1

The agenda-setting hypothesis is the belief that mass media has the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda. The theory was set in place by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, and was used as an example during the watergate scandal of ex-president Richard Nixon's term. It is the desire of media assistance in determining political reality. What I find as being the most appealing in the agenda-setting theory is the idea of which came first, the media agenda determining voter's agenda, or voter's agenda determining media agenda. My guess would be a combination of both. If the media program has low ratings than it would align itself with the voter's agenda. If a voter is not apart of the norm, than he or she may align themselves with the media program.

Week #9, post #3

Economic determinism is the belief that human behavior and relationships are ultimately caused by differences in financial resources and the disparity in power that those gals create. Something about the topic that must be established is the ease of apparency in cultures with a high disparity. In countries, or cultures, which do not experience a high disparity in financial resources or disparity in power, it would obviously be a tough debate to say that culture our country is experiencing economic determinism. In America, we have an extreme case of economic determinism, because of the large disparities evident in our culture.

Week 9, post 2

Democratic pluralism is the myth that society is held together by common norms such as equal opportunity, respect for diversity, one person-one vote, individual rights, and rule of law. The ideal of American society is obviously that. If you were going to be selling America has a packaged product, that is how you would sell the product. However, that is exactly a myth. America is often held together by a lack of other options. For example, we often hear about the dissatisfaction of citizens regarding our politics, and the claim they will move to another country, but never do. America is all about the individual, and excitement, making a deal that will lead to either riches or rags, and that is how America was founded. Other countries may have been okay with being a colony, but America put it all on the line, and won their Independence.

Week#9, post#1 -

The invisibility of environments is an interesting topic in the Media Ecology chapter. It is extremely true that at times we do not even realize what we have created or the ramifications of such actions. As mentioned, a multitude of Hollywood movies describe possible events. Just imagine what was created with the implementation of computers, and the internet connectivity that we are now immersed in. However, no one can predict the future, and we do not know what may result from the implementation of our newest technological advances. Furthermore, the evolution of the world happened the same way. Species which could not adapt did not survive. Industries, the same, will face the same fate. Teleconferencing can destroy corporate travel, especially lodging and airline travel.

narrative cohesion, week #8, post#3

Narrative cohesion is extremely important to public speech and communication. I am sure that each of us have heard a poorly prepared speech, which was out of order, and didn't make sense. If the speech talks about items out of order, for example the conclusion before the argument, or an argument without an introduction, would cause the audience to become lost, and lose interest in the orators message. I think that the cohesion of a speech is sometimes even more important that the actual message. Similar to a student doing a paper last minute, and doing poor quality on the paper, at least it is turned in and the student will receive some credit. In a speech, if no one listens to the orator, then what does the message matter?

Week 8, post #2 - Victimage

Victimage is one of the best and worse means of communicaiton, especially organizational or industrial. Sometimes things will not work the way they are supposed to regardless of how much effort was put into ensuring smooth operations. Victimage is an extremely common practice in most successful and unsuccesful organizations. Victimage is the act of naming an external enemy as the source of all personal or public ills. This means that it is not the actual person who was supposed to perform the action, was at fault. That gives an out for that person, to not faced the reprocusions of a failed action. I believe that everyone has engaged in victimage at one point in their lives.

Week #8, post #1

The golden mean that was illustrated by Aristotle is similar to other concepts introduced throughout history, most notably Benjamin Franklin's temperance ideology. The extremes of communication involve lies, secrecy, and cowardice. The opposite extreme involves brutal honesty, soul-baring, and recklessness. The golden mean, or balance of communication, is characterized by truthful statements, self-disclosure, and courage. This well struck balance respects the boundaries of others, and keeps relationships balanced. If you have ever experienced one of the mentioned extremes from above, you know how this type of communication can lead to unstable relationships.

corporate colonization

I believe that one of the greatest catastrophes that arised out of the capitalism of this century, was the developement of Big Business CEO's. In this organizational system, much of the work is delegated down the line, to standard workers, and the CEO is simply providing a yes or no. However, the person who is actually performing the duties is highly underpaid for the duties performed, as compared to the CEO. The was an occasion in which my boss, had to pick up the CEO of our company, and he said something very profound. My boss has a BMW, but said he wanted to pick them up in a bad car, so they don't think he makes as much, and won't think he is expendable.

organizational

One concept that stuck out to me was the article regarding responsible communication in a business setting. This included voicemail, email, conference calls, and other means of communication. I have called some of my employees, or even perspective interviews and have listen to different musical tones, some of which contained swearing and other inappropriate things. This did not produce quality assumptions of the character of these employees, or perspective interviews. It almost shows immaturity by those persons. I would absolutely suggest that we all adopt a business practice when it comes to our voicemails.

Week#6, post#3

Chapter 18: Production of change, reproduction or stability

The group dynamic is ever present when interested in the group dynamic. This would include crafting the decision, duality of structure, stability, and change. Production is the use of rules and resources to create a new structure. Reproduction is the use of rules and resources to reinforce structures already in place. The duality of structure is the idea that rules and resources are both the means and the ends of group interaction. Lastly, the interpenetration of structures are unnoticed change over time as reproduced structures affect each other. All of these concepts combine to describe the group product.

Week 6, Post #2 - Chapter 18 - Phasing out

In chapter 18, the history of small group communication is explained throught the Phase model. In this model, which was accepted for much of the 20th century, it was thought that there was a universal pattern of communication that all groups use when they make a decision. These phases included, orientation, conflict, coalescence, development, and integration. However, with the work of Poole, he was able to uncover that only about one quarter of small decision making groups actually followed this pattern. There was obviously more, as an approach must be flexible, and recognize that some situations may not fit their model, but more than half not fitting, shows it is not a good model. Thus Poole began looking at the affect of social structures present in the group dynamic.

Week 6 #1 - From the tiny pond to the big ocean

I particularly enjoy this concept, from the tiny pond to the big ocean, presented by Hirokawa. He mentioned the obvious difficulty present with translating the results from controlled lab experiments to that of real world, seemingly unpredictable interactions. He presents that quality and not quantity in the group decision making process, is the key to the final decision. I definitely believe that statement, as when I am in a group, I would tend to side more with someone who does try to think out their thoughts while, speaking, but someone who has visualized what they wanted to say, the best coarse of action, and then contributed to the group in a well-mannered, non-rambling way.

Chapter 12: Dialogue as Dialectical Flux

Chapter 12: Dialogue as Dialectical Flux

The messiness of personal relationships is an intriguing diagram. The web which connects each concept creates an extremely tangled web, in which one tug triggers another reaction, and then another, and another. The connectedness, certainty, uncertainty, openness, separateness, conventionality, concealment, uniqueness, seclusion, inclusion, and revelation, all play off one another in the dialogue of a personal relationship. We sometimes can walk a fine line, when our communication triggers an unbalance of the ideas above. Whether talking about an uncertainty, or a certainty which is not wished for, each will have a different effect of the relationship, affecting satisfaction and a slew of other personal relationship aspects.

Chapter 11: Social presence theory

The social presence theory, with relation to communication, states the computer-mediated communication (CMC) deprives users of the sense that another actual person is involved in the interaction. The communication is found to be less involved, and impersonal. I find this very interesting. I believe that the CMC is dependent of the strength of the personal bond between the computers, and the origination of the bond. If the bond was formed through CMC, I can see this theory making sense, as you have little in-person communication. However, if you simply are sending a text message to a loved one, and you are familiar with their communicative styles, than I believe that communication is not affected by the social presence theory. You will see this person later, and know that your CMC does, and will have an impact upon yourself and the communicator.

reframing - chapter 13

Chapter 13 : Reframing: Changing the game by changing the rules

Reframing is an extremely powerful tool that can be used by communicators. We are often very stubborn in our thoughts and communications, and often take a “My way or the highway” attitude, that is not conducive do change. Reframing is all about taking those involved in the communication system, and showing them the negative actions of their process. I find the addiction model to be particularly interesting. The addiction model assumes that addictions are diseases to be cured rather than character disorders. However, I find that approach troublesome in that the burden is switched from person’s problem to the community’s problem. It does allow for the thought that addiction is temporary, changeable, and hopeful, however, we see most often that this is not the case. It is most often not a temporary problem, but lifelong, meaning the person who is addicted must constantly avoid triggers causing relapse.

week #4 - post #2

Uncertainty reduction theory –

The uncertainty reduction theory is made up of eight axioms, or self-evident truths, which require no additional proof. The first axiom is verbal communication; this is what starts the sharing of information. The second is nonverbal warmth; this is the assurance of understanding and welcomed communication. The third is information seeking; this is finding out the true self of the person involved in the communication. The fourth is self-disclosure; a sense of trust which builds a strong bond. The fifth is reciprocity; in which information similar to what was disclosed is expected to be returned to the original communicator. The sixth is similarity; A bond is drawn tighter with actions or preferences which are shared by both communicators. The seventh is liking; The more that is know about the other communicator, the more the person will be appreciated. The final axiom is shared networks in which communication with those surrounding the communicator leads to more familiarity and trust. I think these axioms are very true in communication. I can think back to most of more friendships, relationships, etc., and see a similar trend. The best example of such is disclosure.

Week #4 - Post #1 (Self-disclosure)

Self-disclosure is a interesting concept with relation to communication. In psychology, I learned of a concept called "painful self-disclosure" in which the elderly often reveal somewhat embarassing facts about themselves. This could include medical disabilites, or personality deficits. This often creates an akward relationship with the other communicator, as that person often has just met. The example of the onion, in which layers of personality and facts about the person, and literally what they are made of, is very true. I think back to all my communicative relationships, and I have always followed the depth and breadth of self-disclosure, including the 4 ideas brought forth by Altman and Taylor, including that peripheral items are exchanged more frequently, and sooner than private information, as the most true.

pragmatic perspective

From the pragmatic perspective, it does make sense to think of communication as patterned interaction, however there is one issue, which offers discrepant information. Communication obviously builds of itself, and the information presented by others. The pragmatic perspective is very scientific in its critical approach. This would give support for the view at which communication is considered patterned interaction, however, one major issue is that of chance. The pragmatic perspective recognizes that luck, and chance can always influence events. Similar to the issues regarding chance, communication is like a game, which inches, positions, etc., can be the difference between success and failure. And again, communication builds off itself. Communication, however, is an everlasting interaction, and a game is not.

Social Constructionism

Social constructions is a very interesting concept. What I find most intriguing with the idea of building words is the linguistic capabilities found in music and in street life. An entire vocabulary of words can be created, in this case, to disguise words from other authorities. From crimes to drugs, an entire language was created as code and slang. These words and ideas are not seen in other cultures specifically, but I am sure every underground group has created their own phrases to avoid authorities. These slangs help the street community in illegal activities, and identifying those who can possibly be posing as authorities. Thus, the success of the country may be diminished, because of the increased crime as a result.

symbolic interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is a very important concept introduced in the book. It focuses on the idea that people are subjects to their environment, and thus we operate off our environment. It states that carry actions toward things that hold meaning for us, which again, the meaning is derived from our environmental and social meaning associated with the action or object. The final premise for the symbolic interactionism deals with the interpretation of the information process. It states that all the interactions are processed by the person, and knowledge is gained from every dealing the he or she undertakes. One issue with the theory is the heavy focus on qualitative data, as its base. Qualitative data is often subjective, such as respondent ratings, etc., and thus confounds may exist in the results.

Week Two post

Idea: According to Griffin, scholars who follow the objectivist position believe that theories need to be validated by testing them in a manner similar to the scientific method.

The objectivist position is very hard to take in real life application. There are few situations that can be described as “black and white,” and a source can easily be identified. Even though, the situation may look simple, it may have been the result of multiple other factors. The most important process of the scientific method is that of manipulation. One great example of this is the idea of a soul, in the debate over mind/body dualism. Descartes noted the soul to be located in the pineal gland, as it was located deep in the brain and is the only gland not duplicated. However, we are unable to manipulate to determine if the gland is truly the source. Thus an objectivist position would state the theory is not true because the lack of testing to validate the theory. However, this does not mean the soul does not exist in the pineal gland, yet the objectivist position dictates that is the position we must take.

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