Post 3 Chapter 12- Culture and Goals

Finding out information about society and goals has always been an interesting subject to me. Our book informs us that our culture can affect us on what goals people “should” pursue. They gave an example of how Americans believe “hard work pays off”, and that this cultural norm is different from others. The American cultural norm was compared to the Hindu norm that God gives them what he wants them to receive instead of working even harder as many middle class Americans would. This subject leads me to think of how subculture highly affects one’s perception of achievable goals. For example, many years ago someone could ask a minority if they would or think there would be a president who resembled them. The majority answer would be no. So the American culture or societies sub race culture told them that they can attempt to become a president, but rater attempt something else. Having President Obama in office proves that we cannot always be subject to cultural norms and the goals associated with it. We should not let our culture hinder society from achieving any goal they can imagine!

Post 2-Week 12: Rationality, Perfectibility, Mutability

I feel as if I agree with most of the ideas behind rationality, perfectibility, and mutability. The rationality premise is described as the belief that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis. This should prove to be true because most kids are able to attend public school, which helps them to develop logical reasoning. As they grow older, they are capable of understanding more theories behind daily life. Society mostly witnesses the rationality premises in constitutions such as the courthouse. This is where rational is most highly put to the test because a jury has to decide whether or not one person is innocent through there own personal reasoning skills. People’s lives are at steak, which calls for the jury to be working at its highest level. I certainly believe in the perfectibility premise. This is described as sinful humans being capable of reaching goodness. A great example of this when criminals in the jail have to community service. Although helping others out may not be what they are known for, they are physiologically and physically capable of serving good deeds. Also the mutability premise has been proven true. There have been studies where, kids around the same age were put in two different rooms to watch two different videos. One group watched a mildly violent movie, while the other group watched a peaceful movie. After the movie they were put in another room where there was a knockout to hit. The group who watched the violent video acted more physical to the knockout doll compared to the group who watched the peaceful movie. Our surrounding can definitely help mold our behaviors. This may be true but we as humans to don’t have to be contained to this one premise.

chapter 12- Breaking Limitation

There is no way I can deny the fact that culture helps shape the person who I am today. Meaning that we are definitely “creatures of our culture”. Ruth states that our culture directly affects our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities. Culture is not just defined as what race a person is, but rather the surroundings they encounter on a regular. Many people confirm that in today’s world, we live in a global economy. Living in a global economy forces society to become accustom to other races or religions norms and beliefs, which in turn helps shape how we react to those situations. How we think, act, and communicate is all influenced by our culture. For example, some intermediate family culture defines them by barely making ends meet. As a result, the kids see how their parents struggle so they end up following in their footsteps. Although certain kids can fall victim to the culture they are brought up in, others can change the culture they live by as a result of witnessing the poor culture they grew up in. Seeing kids who break the mold of their family’s culture is a great example of how to break through limits of their culture. For example, in the coming spring their will many students who are first time college graduates in their families. As a result of their accomplishment they broke through the limitation and created a new part of their own culture.

week 7- territory

In this weeks discussion I would like to talk about territory and the Use of Space. Now if we admit it or not, we all have some comfort level compared with how much space we would like between people. Our explains that It is important to know how to manage territory and distance between one another. This is known as Proxemics. We have different territories or boundaries that we have with different people. I am sure that you would have different physical boundaries between someone like a girlfriend and your boss at work. Different relationships cause for different territory between one another. Learning this such as this in class really makes you analyze how this effects or plays a part in your life. For example I can start with my daily routine. i generally wake up and make my way to practice in the mourning where I have interaction territories. I am with my teamates for over three hours a day so there is a lot of close interaction going on between us all. Then I make my way to class where I have a lesser interaction territory. I am generally there to learn and participate. It is interesting to asset ones territory between people daily.

Week 7- Misinterpreting nonverbal messages

From reading chapter five, we all know that nonverbal communication is ambiguous. This means that nonverbal cues can contain multiple different meanings. Since nonverbal communication is not “black and white”, it is guaranteed to have some misinterpretations between the sender and receiver. One area of nonverbal misinterpretation can come from Kinesics or body movements. I have been involved in football for many years, and nonverbal cues are used constantly to relay information. If the cue is interpreted wrong many bad situations can come from it. For example on defense we use hand signals to send in the play call. A couple of weeks ago I thought I saw the sign for our us to play cover two when in fact the actual sign that was given was for us to play cover 4. As a result of me coving the wrong part of the field a pass was caught against us. This is frustrating to me because I pride my self on always doing the right thing, but because I misinterpreted the signal I was out of place. In this particular case I could have improved the nonverbal communication by paying more detailed attention to the sign that was given instead of assuming. I could have also possibly asked one of my teammates what play was called so we all could have been on the same page.

week 7- Nonverbal messages in different countries

As we all known communication is one the most important aspects of life today. Living in a global economy it is important to know when and how to communicate with others. Nonverbal communication is a great way to communicate with people of different cultures from our selves. Because this can be a practical tool it is important to know some of the differences in nonverbal communication because it is not the same in all countries. A good example of a discrete nonverbal message difference comes from India. If I were to cross my feet or have my feet resting on an object, that would be a sign of disrespect. This is disrespect in there culture because they signify viewing the bottom of someone’s foot as referring to them as trash. Another example comes from Asian culture. Often older people who are from and Asian culture do not like to have direct eye contact with someone. I also recall a story from my global communication professor of a soldier trying to save a young boy in another country from the line of fire. The soldier was waving to the kid to come towards him, but every time the soldier waved him in the kid would only go farther away. The kid thought when the soldier waved him in that he was telling him to back up. It is a good idea to look up some differences in nonverbal communication before traveling to a different country.

Week 6_Becoming more mindful

When it comes to communication it is important to become mindful in a converation. We often become "lazy organisms" as book claims, meaning that the words come in one ear and out the other. We have exieencedd this in a conversation or lecture. Classic examples come from parents who are dominatly verbal punishing a troubled teen and the words are jus tflowing through the teenagers mind. Many people, inclding my self, at times zone out during class lectures. This is not good for our minds. We may get into a certain routine and things just become verbatem. When daily actions become mindless that is when mistakes ocurre. But it is highly possible to be more mindful so mistakes are not made. People just need to have a desire to listen and be on "alert" mode when listening.

Week 6-Gender Language

When speaking about gender differences in language the book makes a statement referring to men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Though this is not true, it often seems as if it is true because of the many differences male and female’s use when speaking. Last year I was part of a study to test for differences in gender language. The study concluded that men generally use less descriptor when describing a situation. Men are more direct or straight to the point when speaking about a subject. The study also claimed that women generally use a lot of descriptive words when explaining a situation, meaing that women are more wordy in there spech. The people who often notice the difference in the way gender effects communication is often couples. Women may say a comment to her counter part and the message that he understood may be totally wrong to what she was trying to get across. But I feel as if there are defiantly ways around this problem. People should just become more active listeners. Active listeners eliminate assumptions by asking clarifying questions and finally can respond to the statement clearly.

Week 6- Judging/Categorizing

I believe that it is not possible to preserve someone with out judging or categorizing them in some way. It is very similar to have some pre-conceived notion about a research topic before going to study that topic. Categorizing people seems to be a natural human reaction wither it is a positive or negative thought. Although we as humans do this to each other there are defiantly ways we can negate the original perception of people we encounter. We can minimize the judgments we make by simply speaking and actively listening to the person. When we actively listen to someone, that means that our attention is focused on the new information that is flowing in our minds; simultaneously changing or reinforcing our pre conceived notions about the person or subject. I recall when I met one of my good friends we weren’t sure about each other. We both had some judgement about one another. When we finally spoke, those judgments for one another were vanished. He asked me long after we became friends, what was the first thought I had about him. I honestly could not answer him because I forgot my judgments of him. I only knew what I perceived from him when I first met him.