Week may 8-14 question 3

Pick a favorite concept that we have covered through this course and post about it.  Explain the concept to refresh our memories.  Tell the class why you have chosen this concept, and what it is you like about it. Competition is one of the concepts that I like the most competition basically means either a person wins or loses. Competition is something that we will all be doing in life and throughout our lives. when people think about competition they automatically think about sports but there are other ways to compete other than by playing sports. People compete everyday for jobs, grades, parking, arguing, and other things. The one thing to remember is that we should also have a mutual respect with those people that we are competing with. Non the less we should always be driven to win and do our best. Everyone in life wants to be the best and be a winner its with hard work and respect that this can be achieved. I basically like this concept because it relates to everyday life and it is something that everyone does everyday whether they think about it or not.

week may 8-14 question 2

What have you learned throughout this class?  What was your favorite thing about the class?  What was your least favorite thing about the class?  How can this class be improved?  Throughout this class I have learned different communication terms like CMC communications and Face-to-Face communications and other terms. Recently I was writing a paper for another communication class that I am taking and I was able to use some of the terms that I learn in this class for the paper I'm writing for my other class. I like being able to use the different terms that I have learn in order to convey points that I' m trying to make.My favorite thing about this class is that it is online and I don't have to wake up early in the morning or anything like that. I also like the fact that when I ask the teacher a question via email she responds very quickly and the teacher has a positive attitude. My least favorite thing is the quiz part because I don't think 25 minutes is enough time to answer 15 questions that's only a minute and a few second per question. The class can be improve by making the quiz time at least 10-15 minutes longer and the teacher should offer extra credit.

week may 8-14

Discuss your Group Observation Project.  Was it a useful exercise?  What did you learn?  What was good about the project?  What can be improved? The group observation project was useful because it allowed me to learn more about alcoholics and how people become alcoholics. The good thing about the project is the fact that I was able to observe the group I was interested in observing.I like the fact that we did not have to pick groups to observe based on a list of groups that was recommend by the teacher which is something that often happens with projects of this nature. The thing that could be improved is the instructions can be a little more clear I was a little confused on how to write the paper. Also the part were we have to compare our research to scholar journals based on the 4 topics the teacher provided. I think we should be able to compare our research to anything we feel applicable to our research paper. Other then that I did not have any other things that I thought needed to be improved on the observation research paper

chapter 12 question 3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussedduring this discussion week, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.


Competition is one of the concepts that i found interesting because I like competition. Mostly I like to see people compete in sports like football and activities of that nature and I'm sure other people do as well. Constructive competition can be fun also it just depends on what you are doing. Like on the small group level an educational games that people can play in class can also be fun. It can also help students remember what it is that they have been studying all semester. In high school in my english class our teacher use to divide use into groups and quiz us on topics that we had been learning that semester. And who ever won would get extra credit and some candy. I think teacher should do that in college course because class and lectures often get really boring. And often times students could use a little extra credit to bust their grades.

chapter 12 question 2

Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in. Contrast that with competitive conflict. Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party?


well conflict resolution is defined as a win-win group situation. I like the fact that this approach assumes that no one person is smarter then anyone else in the group. Recently I engaged in a conflict resolution trying to come up with a question for a group project that I have to do for another communications class. Everyone in the group were thinking of different questions except a few people. Then once we all each had are separate questions we had to combine everyones idea into one. Which really wasn't that difficult due to the fact that are questions were similar. This was a situation that turned out to be a win- win I just hope that the rest of the project turns out to be this easy. A competitive conflict I had recently at work we were trying to think of new activities for kids to do after the finish their homework and I suggested dodge ball and one of the other staff members said that it was too dangerous but in my class we play dodge ball all the time. Then she was like oh we should ban dodge ball but it didn't happen.

Chapter 11 question 1

Distinguish among a forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium as a mans for making a public presentation. Which one would you prefer? Why?
 I prefer this forum presentation over the other three presentation formats because it allows the speaker to interact with the audience and answer peoples questions. I think that Interacting with the speaking is very  important and helps the audience understand the topic being discussed more clearly. This way when a problem is presented there are several solutions being stated by different people that  it could possible help solve the problem. I hate when people come and give presentations and the audience are not allowed to ask questions or give their input on the situation. Maybe the reason  I prefer forum presentation over the  other formats of group presentations is because this is how classes are ran at school. Therefore, I am just used to this type of educational setting. The only down side to this presentation style is that everyone might not receive and opportunity to speak due to the lack of time.

chapter 10 question 3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussedduring this discussion week, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.
One of the concepts that I thought was interesting was perceptual barriers which is when someone can only see something from one perspective because of the situation they are in. I have perceptual barriers about things all the time. I always think I'm right when arguing with someone. I don't care what the other person is talking about are where they are coming from. Sometimes I just don't care about other peoples opinions or what they are going through and I just don't want to here none of that dumb stuff. Like earlier today my brother brought his girlfriend over an I had cooked chicken and she was like I don't eat meat and I was like I don't care what you eat I didn't invite you over to eat. I was like this girl can not be serious right now I mean I could understand if she wanted something to drink or what ever but I was not going to cook something specially for her.

chapter 10 question 2

 Name five cultural barriers to creativity. What do you think these would keep a group from being creative? Have you experienced any of these personally? Explain


Five cultural barriers to creativity are Race, Religion, Language, requirements of conformity, and expectations of politeness and following social rules.  These things would keep a group from being creative because they literally might not understand each other due to language barriers. Also they might not feel comfortable talking about certain things because of their religion or race. This happens all the time when I'm place in groups and class to do group work sometimes I literally cant understand what the other person is saying or they don't understand what I am saying. Or when I go to the nail shop to get my nails done and I try to explain a design that I want on my nails sometimes it takes they lady who does my nails a while to figure out what I am saying. She even told me that the way I speak English is different from they way she learn how to speak English and I really don't understand what that means.

Chapter 10 question 1

Provide an example of creativity from your own experience. How does it fit with the chapter's discussion of creativity?

 I work part time as a after school recreational leader and I often have to get creative when it comes to helping kids with their math homework and their reading skills. Most people would think drawing out pictures to help someone with their math is very elementary. However, I think that visually seeing a math problem can really help someone understand how to solve a math problem. Recently I was teacher my class and I saw that A lot of kids were having problems adding fractions. Therefore, I showed them a way  how the problem would look if they were to draw it out and how to go about solving the problem. This helped most of the kids that were struggling with adding fractions. I also showed them how to use the same concept to subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. I had showed the kids a new way of looking a fractions which made it easier for them to solve the math problems they had to do for their homework.

chapeter 15 question 3

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

 One of the concepts that I found interesting is social networking through facebook. In the book it states that facebook can help a group develop positive interpersonal  attitudes among its member's. This way people can gain social relationships as well as focus on the task they need to complete as a group. I personally dont have a facebook and I always wondered what were the positive and negative attributes of facebook and how can connecting on facebook for an assignment be a good thing. As well as if a person is so comfortable talking to someone online would that have some type of negative or positive affect  on that person when that person is put in a situation when they have to interact with someone in person. I dont know if this is true or not but i do know that people feel more comfortable using CMC communication oppose to F2F. 

chapter15 question 2

How do anonymity, group size, and proximity influence participation and communication in CMC groups? 
This question can have several different meanings depending on the perspective you are taking on CMC communications. Anonymity can effect weather or not a groups participation is very active or not active at all. or if it is positive or negative people usually feel more comfortable being honest or cruel when no one knows who they are. Group size also can effect participation in a negative or positive way. I think that when a group is smaller people feel more comfortable participating in group conversations. However, when a group is larger everyone might not participate equally because they dont feel as comfortable and they might not feel that it is necessary to participate. Also the larger the group the more diverse the people in the group are going to be which could possibly make communication difficult between people. Proximity  can be a problem if everyone is trying to talk at the same time or if everyone is in different countries you know things of that nature

chapter 15 question one

 How does CMC differ from f2f communication? 



First off I think that F2F communications is better than CMC communications. I think that it is better to have actually in person conversations when it comes to most situations. CMC communications can often times be interpreted in the wrong way. For example I had a friend who's signature for her text messages was "keep stressing" and when I text her and she texted me back I thought she was trying to be rude and was telling me to keep stressing. So I text her back telling her I'm not stressing and she was like no thats my signature. Those types of situations are the reason why I prefer some conversations to be F2F rather than CMC. Its like sometimes with CMC communications you might not know if someone is joking with you about something or if they are serious. I personally don't like to text certain thing because I dont want someone to take it the wrong way and putting lol at the end of statements isnt always enough to avoid potentially offending someone.

chapter 7 question 3

One of the concepts that I found interesting was the influences of culture on listening.  I never really thought about how people listen to each other and interpret things because of their culture. Or even how  people listen to each other because of the country or continent they are from.  The book said that people from different cultures had different listening styles but they were comparing peoples listening styles from different countries. I was thinking so many people in America are from different cultures and countries that it doesn't make sense to me to compare Americas listening style to other countries listening styles but that's just my opinion.  Personally I think its more then your culture that affects a persons listening style  I think a persons mood, home life, and other things affect our listening styles. If I'm having a bad day I don't want to listen to anybody period and I think a lot of people might feel the same way also.

chapter 7 question 2

Give a personal example where you have had selective attention. Why do you think that is? Is there a way you were able to overcome it?  I have selective attention a lot mainly because I want to hear what I want to  hear. I usually reject information directed at me if its not something that I want to hear. Like when ever my boyfriend  ask me to take out the trash I just put it by the door because in my mind he couldn't seriously think that I'm going to take out the trash. Taking out the trash is diffidently contradicting what I believe so I reject the message partially.  I also have selective hearing when I'm watching T.V. because whatever someone says to me when I am watching T.V. goes in one ear and out the other I literally won't remember anything. I would rather not overcome my selective hearing issue because I don't take out trash and I hate when people keep talking to me when I'm watching T.V. Selective hearing is really not a problem it's just and excuse people use to ignore each other.

chapter 7 question one

Think of a recent situation in which you found listening difficult. Which one (or more) of the four phases presented the most difficulty for you? Why? How could this have been overcome? I found it very difficult to listen to one of my former employers about a week ago regarding the reason I was going to be potentially fired. I could not interpret the message that she was trying convey. Basically she told me that some people thought I was intimidating and my tone was to strong or affirmative and I made them feel nervous or something of that nature. However, she could not tell me who specifically told her that about me. Therefore, she tried to generalize the problem so that there would not be any confrontation. When in all actuality if I had made someone feel bad or nervous I would had wanted to apologies to them but I wasn't given the opportunity to do so. This could have been over came if the employer wasn't so vague about the actual problem I'm sure that I didn't do anything to offend anyone because I hardly talk to the other employees. It was obvious that who ever informed her about me was someone who worked there for a long period of time and didn't like me because I was new and probably didn't act or speak the way they want me too.

chapter 6 question 3

One concept from the reading that I found interesting was facial expression people usually act of of people's facial expression. A person is more willing to approach a person that is smiling and looks nice. However I disagree  with the book when it says that  smiling means that a person is honest and intelligent because in some culture smiling means that a person is vain. An some people can be dumb but look good so they just smile all the time. My self personally I don't smile unless something is funny.  I' m not the type of person to smile and be up beat all the time for no reason its just not my Character.

 Explain proxemics and chronemics. Are there universal rules for all cultures regarding these concepts? Give personal examples if possible. Give examples of personal experience in other cultures regarding these two concepts.

Proxemics is the study of space we use to communicate and Chronemics is the study of the use of time. For example the proxemics of people in America when talking to one another is at least three space away from each other while in some other cultures people might speak very loudly and stand close to one another. I know that I personally dont like it when people get really close to me when they are speaking to me it makes me feel vey uncomfortable.Chronemics relates to how much time it takes some one to complete a task. I often think that if I am taking longer then other people in my class to take a test that I am doing a bad job. I feel as if I should do everything at the same speed as everyone else. I also feel the same way when I am at work I dont want to take to long to do something but I dont want to complete a task to fast because then I will make less money.

Chapter 6 question 1

"Our nonverbal communication is likely to be believed more than our verbal communication. Basically this means that it not what you say its what you do. For example in a group setting if everyone is suppose to meet for a presentation at a certain time and one group member is always late for group meetings or flaking on group meetings everyone in the group would most likely assume that  the group member will be late to the presentation or maybe not even come.

" Researchers suggest that women and men differently decode nonverbal cues" I think that women might interpret  nonverbal communication differently from men sometimes. Like when a girl is placed in a group that are mostly men and when she makes comments and no on responds. She might think that everyone else in the group is being disrespectful when really they might not have heard what she said. This might lead to her not expressing her opinions anymore. If this would have happen to a man he might just speak louder so that everyone can hear what he was saying.

Chapter14 question 3

Success and failure is one concept that I found useful when it comes to being in a small group. It is very important for group members to communicate with each other and give useful feed back. Its also not a bad thing if a group doesn't do everything perfectly.  I think its more about how hard each person tired and weather or not each person actually learn something after they have completed their project. I have been in groups with people that would revive my papers and suggest I put commas or certain punctuation marks where that don't belong. Its usually the perfectionist of the group that ends up being the person who isn't as smart as they think they are. However, input from group members is need when working in groups. Each member of the group just needs to know how to express their selves in a respectful way that wont offend anyone.

Chapter 14 question 2

Outline and discuss the guidelines for providing observer feedback to a group.
1.Goals and Objectives-Team members agree on goals and objectives. This is the most important part when it comes to a group being successful. Everyone has to know and agree to one goal.
2.Utilization of resources- Team members are aware of resources and use them accordingly.
3.Trust and conflict- Team members trust each other and deal with conflict when it arises.
4.Leadership- Everyone takes a turn being the leader of the group. When everyone is giving the opportunity to lead the group their is less conflict within the group.
5.Control and Procedures- There are certain procedures that guide the way the team functions.
6.Interpersonal communication- Team members communicate with each other.
7.Problem solving/ Decision making- Team members all agree on how to go about solving a problem and making decisions.
8.Experimentation/ Creativity- Teams members experiment on different ways to solve problems.
9.Evaluation-The group evaluates its functioning process. 

If a group can stick to all of theses guidelines the will be successful.

chapter14 question 1

Why use a consultant or an observer for a small group?  (Remember, carefully think through your answer.  Your final project is based on this very concept).

An observer or consultant can be beneficial to a small group. Usually when people are part of a group they might have problems that they don't notice or address. This happens because the group has no idea how they look or act or how other people might view their interaction with each other. Lack of communication within a group or just people being flaky are problems that people either don't notice or choose not to address. Its always that one person in a group that say they are going to do something and they never do it. So someone else in the group has to pick up the slack. An observer or consultant can address a problem of that short without worrying about any tension that would come if the problem was addressed by an actual member of the group. Usually at school when people are put into small groups the teacher takes the role of the consultant or observer.
       

chapter 5 question 3

 Pick one concept from the assigned reading, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.
Pressure for conformity is a concept that i found interesting. I personally hate conforming in any type of situation because i like to be myself at all times. On the other hand, that is not how things work and people sometimes have to conform. Usually when people are in a group they have to come to a mutual agreement about what to do and how to do it. However, I don't always like to do what everyone else likes to do and i will let people know. This sometimes make me feel like people won't like me for stating my opinion but i really don't care. I'm very out spoken but relaxed at the same time and like things to go my way. I hate people who try to run the group and tell me what I should do. Its always that one person in the group that thinks they are smart and tries to get everyone to agree with their ideas and opinions. I like to do what I want to do when I wanna do it and I'm not easily influenced by other people.

chapter5 question 2

Explain the concept "white men of privilege".  Do you agree with the concept?  Why or why not? The concept of white mans privilege to me means that certain white men will always be on top and have a lot of control and money. People often think that all white people have it made but they don't they just have more opportunity's to excel without going through certain obstacles that people of color have to over come. Most white people that are privileged come from a line of privileged men who have kept money in their family. America was founded by white people so I'm sure the system in America was design so that white people would have better opportunities to excel. I agree that this concept is true because the world is basically ran by rich white people. The Rothschilds family for example owns most the central banks all over the world. So basically this means that these white men have control over most of the world. When money is borrowed for war or what ever it is most likely coming from them. 

Chapter 5 question 1

 Does valuing diversity come easily?  Why or why not?  Can you make some suggestions to enhance a group's ability to value diversity? Valuing diversity doesn't come easily usually people have a bias way of thinking and don't even realize that they do. Its not necessarily a bad thing but its just the way that people function. This might sound weird because the U.S. is so diverse but as we know it takes a while for different races, religion, and cultural groups to be truly accepted in society. People from the the U.S. are often very ethnocentric when it comes to things that we are not particularly familiar with. While people from other countries have their on views and bias opinions about Americans. While valuing diversity doesn't come easily in order  for a group to enhance its diversity you have to stop judging people and talk to them and find out who they really are. I don't think its fair to ostracize someone or a group of people just because they are different.

chapter 3 question 3

A concept from chapter three that was interesting to me was conflicts in groups. It is very true that whenever people are put in a group their are issues over who is in power and who is running the group. There is always competition in groups even if its a group of friends people naturally feel the need to compete  with one another. I have no problem telling my friends how i feel and what i think about them and i also would let a stranger know what i feel and think about them. I never feel the need to be too polite but i would never be purposely rude to anyone either. None the less working in small groups can be easier then working in large groups. People do tend to become more comfortable with each other when they are in small groups oppose to larger groups. When people get to know each other better they open up more and express their opinions. Opening up in a large group can be difficult because people don't like to sound stupid or be judged by others.

chapter 3 question 2

The functions of norms within  a group is needed in order to maintain control. People need to have rules to follow in order to know what and what not to do. Some rules don't have to be stated literally while other rules might have to be. One year i stayed with a roommate who was clearly use to being the only child based on her selfish actions. She would leave the bathroom and kitchen dirty all the time unless i was literally there to tell her to clean up after her self. This began to make me very angry because i don't like to tell people what they should be doing. I always clean up after myself when i make a mess and i think other people should do the same. However, I realized that what was inherently normal for me to do was not what she was use to doing. So, i had to explain to her the importance of being clean and cleaning up after herself.

week 3 question 1

There are a lot of norms a San Jose State University Some are explicit and some are implicit  like students are suppose to be respectful, do our work on time and act a certain way while in class and so are teachers. This is something that doesn't need to be said because we have being following theses norms since grade school. There are also norms in clubs on campus people are expected to meet at a certain time and discuss issues and schedule events.  In the group that i spend time with we definitely have  group norms that we follow. We always do what we say were going to do whether its buying alcohol for the weekend get together or its cooking dinner on the weekend. I identified both S.J.S.U. norms and the norms me and my friends follow by just thinking of all the things we do everyday and what is expected from myself and what i expect from other people.

chapter 2 question3

Feedback was one of the concepts in this chapter that i found interesting. Usually in all of my class we write essays and exchange them with our class mates and they give us feed back. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing. I usually like feed back that is positive and for people to correct my grammatical errors. I don't like negative feed back or when people try to correct my grammatical errors and do it wrong. Either way it goes feed back is something that is need in order to improve are work and performance. On the other hand some feed back can be so bad that it makes a persons performance or work worse. One time i had one of my peers review my essay and he told me it was bad so i completely tried to change it and i ended up getting a bad grade.

chapter 2 question 2

Entropy is often a big problem when working in small groups because everyone wants to speak at the same time. Often when working in groups there are those people who want to take charge and run everything and tell everyone what to do. Often times their is more then one person like this within the group. This will be the reason why a group is unsuccessful and no one will get alone.
Equifinality is basically the different ways people solve problems and come to conclusions. Usually everyone has a different way of solving problems which can be for many different reason. As long as everyone has the right answer then its ok. Usually this is common when solving math problems if you ask some one whats 12 times 2 some people will multiply 12 times 2 and some people will add 12 plus 12 either way 24 will be the answer. Equifinality could affect  a small group in a good way because it teaches people how to look at problems from a different perspective.

Chapter 2 question one

When parts of a group do not function well the group will be unsuccessful. In order for a group to be successful each member must be interdependent. However, when one or more group member does not complete the task that they are assign the group will most likely end up being unsuccessful. All through out college I had to work in small groups and most of the time someone ended up doing more work then they should have.  In my comm. 101 class I had to do a group presentation  and a group member didn't show up so I had to do his part of the presentation. Which made our group look a little unorganized and unprepared. This also happen to me last semester I had to do another group members work so that the whole group wouldn't receive a low grade on our project.When working in a group it is very important that everyone completes the task they are assigned. If one person doesn't do what they are required to do it can affect the whole group negatively.

into. post

Hi everyone my name is black 21 and i am a communications major.