Last Week Discussion Question#3

The most interesting concept that I encountered from the class is would be nonverbal communication’s chronemics. I knew before that nonverbal communication is important as well, considering the impact of first impressions and how verbal messages are interpreted differently based on nonverbal cues. However, I had not given a lot of thought about how present and future time may affect human behavior and thus used as nonverbal messages. There is the dimension of psychological time orientation, involving the way that an individual may think about time, view time as, and experience it. One may focus on the present or the future, or even feel anxious about time obligations from both time perspective categories. There is the way that bodies may influence the nonverbal behaviors that one exhibits, the biological time orientation. Finally there is the cultural time orientation where one’s culture influences the perspective of time. Time is important and how one views and spends it determine how one acts within a daily basis.

Last Week Discussion Question#2

I think that how the self-concept is constructed needs further construction. There was not much discussion about interpersonal communication’s self, a topic that includes the looking-glass self-concept. One constructs a view of oneself through the numerous interactions within the course of an individual’s life, and the continuously knowledge that gets built up after each new experience. If parents and others tell one specific girl that she is beautiful continuously, praising her and spoiling her, that girl may deem herself as beautiful. This then raises her self-esteem and self-confidence in herself as a beautiful person, which should normally garner attention and thus influencing her daily behavior and attitude. This may include activities such as spending more time and money on herself with the reasoning that it is worth it. She may feel inadequate about other traits other than her beauty if the dialogues of her interpersonal relationships are solely centered on beauty rather than intellect, athleticism or other traits. Thus she may solely focus on keeping that beauty or enhancing it, feeling that this beauty is the one good trait that she has. There are many ways in which the relationships that one has affects how one sees oneself and also the world and thus behave within that reality.

Last Week Discussion Question#1

Among all research methods listed in Table 13.3 of the textbook, the most interesting to me is Ethnography. I consider this method the most interesting due to the fact that the researcher becomes a part of the group he or she is studying. Also, the fact that the researcher does not impose his or her own assumptions and the conclusions emerge naturally is something fascinating to me. If, for instance, I was going to study some aspect of deception, let’s say, how some romantic partners deceive each other, my research question would probably be: “what are the communication patterns of romantic partners who deceive each other?” Although it would not be easy to obtain true information from romantic partners who cheat on the other party, I wonder that I would go to places where couples usually go, such as clubs, and I would observe how romantic partners behave when they are accompanied by his or her other half, as well as how they behave when they go to the club without the other half. I imagine that talking to people in public places would be another interesting way to obtain data for my ethnographic study.