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.