Would like to discuss more on...

The concept that I think I would want to discuss more is the influence of the media. The book had so much to say about it already, but because this is such a growing problem, I think that there should be an even bigger discussion about ways to prevent people from being "narcotized", and to be able to use less of what we see on TV. Understand the dangers of everything be available at the same moment, how we become more impatient as the Nation, and what this will do for the future.

Most interesting concept

The concept that was the most interesting to me throughout the semester was the Cultural differences and cultural adaptation. It was the most interesting to me, because I came from a different country, and I was comparing the concepts, and learning how to deal with some personal issues as well. I shared many concepts with my family, and we were able to learn new adaptation ways, and all together just being more open minded, and learn how to adapt to new ways without judging.

Research Method

I find "survey research" method most interesting for me, and I am not sure why, but it is most appealing out of all methods. It it always interesting to see what answers others will give. I am a big fan of surveys, I complete surveys online, and then I always want to see the outcome facts of the surveys and the percentages and ages of people who took it. I think that it is great that there are surveys available for all age groups, and we can gather many great facts this way. I think that surveys contain most honest facts, especially when they are taken privately and especially by younger generation. It is not easy to give an honest answer if someone was asking the question face-to-face, especially on private matters or personal preferences. If I was the one doing research, I would select the survey research method, and I would create questionnaire and let people take it, preferably online because it is more convenient. I would make some questions with blanks to fill in, and some multiple choice questions, because those are easier and make the survey look more simple.

Ch 11 Concept

There were many concepts that stood out from chapter 11, but selective processing is one that I wanted to mention. This is the concept that is very noticeable in people, and I can tell by looking at my son, if he is using selective attention. When I am telling him something that he wants to hear, he listens carefully, but if I am lecturing him on say, "what not to do" his mind will be elsewhere. Selective reception also can be compared to simple daily conversations, for example if I go on and on about my day to my husband, and later when I notice he is not really listening, I'll ask him "what did I just say?" he will recall the last word he heard, and he will assign a meaning to that, pretending that it was what I talked about:) I use selective exposure a lot, because I believe that I don't have to listen to certain messages, and that is normal. Selective retention is when you only remember a small portion of any message, and this one can be a big problem, especially for students.

Marshall McLuhan

The medium is the massage was something hard to process for me. I tried to Google it, because I had a hard time understanding what McLuhan had in mind when he expressed his thoughts. I agree that the medium decides what message they will eventually give, and I think that he was on the point when he related the TV and the newspaper. I also agree that the medium can make us see only one side of the story if they wanted to. We can always choose what we want to receive no matter which source we are using to receive certain information. 

Cyberspace friendships

I have made a few friends online, and based on our friendships I can honestly say that I feel like my f2f friends are more important to me. I chat with my online friends, but only if I have free time, which I hardly ever do, but with my f2f friends I find time to talk, or meet or even chat. I am that type of a person who cannot really trust a cyber friend with personal information, and I cannot talk with them about personal life much, in comparison to my f2f friends, I tend to trust them much more, because meeting them in reality had build trust between us. I cannot say that cyberspace friendships do not work, because I know that for many people they do work, and some people even end up marrying a person who they met online, but for me it is a little bit more different. I don't know if that has anything to do with me being raised in a family where there was no computer, and I was 25 when I got Facebook account, or if it is because I am more of a f2f friendship type of person.

Concept from Ch 8

After reading the section on interview, I was thinking back to my experience, when I was working as a supervisor, and I interviewed people. I remember how much their appearance mattered, also their attitudes, but for me it was about the cover letter and the resume. I liked a short cover letter that made me want to take a look at the resume, and just like out textbook suggests to have a resume only fit one page. I remember reading some resumes and completely changing my mind on hiring a person or not, because for me it was important to see their education and work experience. There are so many additional reasons why I would hire a person, and yes many times it is based on the way they act, their ability to communicate is most important, because they can learn new tasks, as long as they have great communication ability.

Etiquette rules

I was reading the rules, and I was amazed of the fact that most if not all are broken by people in our society. The one that stands out to me in my personal view is cell phones. It almost scares me how people act as if they could not spend a single minute without their cell phone, and that is why they have them in their hand everywhere. It gets to me the most when I am  in church, and someones cell phone rings, and they don't just turn it off, but they ether walk out or they answer it, thinking that they can just whisper. I think that is very inappropriate, and disrespectful to others. I even heard people's cell phones ring at a recent funeral I went to, that shows that people have no idea about cell phone etiquette. I only mentioned one part of the problem, the issue with people texting while doing pretty much anything is another big issue, that applies mostly to younger generation, but it affects all. If people used the devises properly with respect to others, there would be no issue, but instead people only care for what they need at the minute, and many refuse to learn the etiquette.

Organizations

A perfect example of the effects that an organization can have on the community is our Sierra College. I remember years back there was only emptiness around it, and now when you drive by the college there are many running businesses, and that is terrific, because this allows the students to eat out close by, some take part time jobs and work in some of those businesses. The students are giving back to the community, and there are many great aspects that added to community because of our college. If Sierra college would not have such great success and people would stop attending it, there would be a noticeable difference in the community. Some organizations can also have a negative effect on the community, in some ares where there are many bars, there tends to be more fights, more police action, that makes a community suffer, and people are more likely to start relocating.

Concept from Ch6

This chapter is filled with so many great points and concepts, that it was even hard to choose the best out of so many. I would like to point out "Relational Maintenance Behaviors". This concept stood out for me, because I think that these behaviors can ether make our life great. The more educated people are on behaviors, the more they want to live a happier life, because they start to understand that it is up to them how to behave in this or that situation. The textbook gives us a list of 7 behaviors and explains the benefits of them. They are: positivity, openness, assurance, networks, task sharing, conflict management and advice sharing. I know that every person would prioritize this list differently,  but I am sure that it doesn't matter what order they are in, as long as we understand them. I desire to have a life-long relationship with my husband, and to make the journey more smooth there are things I choose to do, or in other words there are behaviors I choose to have. Assurance would be most important, because even if my marriage is filled with advice sharing and task sharing, if my spouse is not being faithful there is no point for me to include all the other behaviors in my marriage. I would prioritize my list or most important to less important as such: assurance, openness, positivity, advice sharing, and only then the rest of the behaviors. We  have to make sure that we have more positive behaviors in a relationship than bad behaviors, that way we can have much more happiness from a great relationship.

FIlters I use

I agree with Duck's theory, it makes perfect sense. Thinking back to my "selecting the partner" years, I have used certain filters. Cognitive cues was very important, and I have eliminated certain people from potential romantic  relationship based on beliefs.  I knew what I wanted in my life, and so I had specifications that I was looking for. Sociological and pre-interaction cues  were very important too, don't get me wrong, I did care for the person to live in the same at least state where I live, also cared for physical beauty and the way he dressed. I also always liked clean people, if I noticed that a guys hair was not washed, it wold be such a turn off, also liked when guys used perfumes. So I do think that we use filters, to determine whether we can build a relationship with a certain person. When me and my husband met back in the day, in our church we clicked right away, because based on shared beliefs we already clicked, and the fact that he looked attractive physically was a plus, and so when it came to interaction, it just was too perfect for it not to work. Everyone has flaws, but once I was able to see the majority of what I wanted in a guy in him, it was enough for me to live with any other flaws he had.

Difficult Patterns

The pattern that I think would be most difficult to change is "competitive symmetrical" pattern. The reason why I think that it wound be the hardest to change is, because a person that always fights to be the one-up will not give up no matter what. I am speaking from a personal experience, and I happen to be married to a person who tries to be the one-up all the time, even when he is wrong. Almost all of the time in an argument he has to be the one who is right and who takes the control, and it is hard for him to see that someone else can be more right than him. I think that competitive symmetrical and submissive symmetry both can be very damaging, because in one case you can be too controlling, and in the second case there's lack of control, which can make things hard and create arguments in a relationship. The pattern that I think would be most damaging to self-esteem is submissive symmetry, because a person that lacks control and decision making, most of the time lacks self-esteem. Sometimes in life those people are often told that they need a life partner who has competitive symmetrical pattern, and then there would be balance.