Week of October 15-21

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 feel that I already gave my answer to this in an earlier post this week, so I wont give that example instead I will give the example that occurred today. Since the idea of selective attention suggests that we have learned to pay attention to those stimuli that are familiar to us and that have a particular significance for us allow me to use the following as an example. At my work there's is a guy named Juan and he always talks about his wife and their marital problems. When I first see Juan I always ask him hows it going and that is his invitation to tell me the latest drama that him and his are going thru. It is not as if I have never been thru my own personal relationship problems no its just the fact that that I have no real interest in the daily report of his marital problems. There are more important things that we could be discussing (work issues). I can relate to what the text suggest, that when I hear Juan and his marital problems I put my imaginary "emotional cotton" in my ears to not fully pay attention to Juan about this matter.

However Juan is one of my best friends, Ive known him for seven years and I know that he been thru so much with his wife that I found value in his experiences that I now look for red flags in my relationships. Even though I do not like hearing it everyday I still find myself drawn to it because I do not want to miss the opportunity to learn something new and perhaps something useful later down the road.  

I think selective attention is just hearing what we want to here not hearing anything else. It is like we select what we want to hear, store it in whatever memory bank (short term or long term) and discard the other things said to us. Unfortunately I don't think we are able to overcome it, the only thing I could suggest is try and not get in a position that you are going to take on more information that you are able to handle.

Week of October 15-21

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

One of the concepts that was not already discussed but I found interesting was the concept of memory: retaining and responding to the message. The text states that we have two types of memories, short term and long term memory. Short term memory is our working memory and is said to last 1 to 60 seconds. That means by the time you would have up to this point in my post, you will have already decided whether to keep this information or not. However through our selective attention should you chose to decide to continue reading you will decide what information is to be retained. Some factors that also could influence your short term memory on which information should be attained are influenced by external and internal noise. Some examples of when short term memory is used can be when you decide to create a grocery list. You write down what you need, go get what you need from the store then toss the list away after you have gotten what you need.

Now if my post is very stimulating ( which I am hoping it is) and you decide that this information is useful, this could be stored in your long term memory. Bits and pieces will gain access to your long term memory.. Now since we have an enormous amount of information trying to gain access to our long term memory, sometimes we have to hear something several times before it is stored in our long term memory. An example of long term memory can be recalling that vacation that you took when you were 15 to Disneyland. If it was fun and you can recall the experience  that means the feeling that you experienced were stored in you long term memory.

Week of October 15-21

1). 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?

Of the four phases that present the most difficult to me is sensing. Here at SJSU I have taken courses that I have really liked but during this past year I was late registering for a class in the area v department so all that was left was some food culture class. It sounded like an easy class for to take and probably get some free samples along the way so I enrolled. However as of late I have found myself dragging my way to class. It has nothing to do with teachers or materials covered it is just I work at 5am until 130pm and the have to rush to class. So I then I find myself going through what the book calls "selective attention". Meaning I choose one message over another. Now since hearing and listening to the message are influenced by selective attention and amounts of external and internal noise I am going to show you how this is difficult for me.

For the most part I am good student in the class, I show up, take some notes, engage in discussion and listen but in my mind I am zoning out big time. However earlier I mentioned I go to work at 5am and that means I should go to sleep at 830, but I don't. I got to sleep at 10 and have five to six hours sleep and then the next day I'm sleep deprived and then have after an 10 hour day I have to drag myself to class that at the very least has no air conditioning. On top of being sleep deprived I am usually am thinking about whats for dinner, whats time the Giants play and how much longer until class ends. These things are more important to me than what are Islamic eating habits are.

I guess what could have been overcome was that maybe I could have not waited and registered for the classes that I really wanted, but like I said I am good student in the class,I make a good effort try and get somewhat interested in food culture however it is still difficult  to focus especially when we are talking about things that I just do not find interesting. For me I will just get my passing grade and move on.

week of oct 1-7

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

The section of verbal and nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication talks about the reduced opportunity for nonverbal communication, creates a loss of social cues. The reason I found this fitting is because it is exactly what we in this are doing. It states this reduced accessibility to social cues can lead to personal and more stereotyped impressions of other group members as presented by their gender, social class, race, ethnicity or other categories and can facilitate the development of more biased and less effective communication relationships within the group. I was just wondering how many of you made such stereotypes impressions just based on the profile pictures. I thought to myself as I chose my picture, did I want to put up one that was more like a facebook profile pciture or more of one that would look like i sell real estate. I decided to have fun with it because that is who I am. The text adds that most people can adapt to the absence of nonverbal vocal and facial cues in CMC. However they also add that communicators in CMC may require more time to develop the social-relational aspects of their communication but given enough time they are able to express develop relationships and engage in group decision making. This holds true to me because this is my fourth CMC class and in my last class we were placed in the group early and at first it was hard to communicate since most people took the class online to avoid going school, however we were able to develop a relationship as well just created facebook account as another way of communication for our assignment.

Week of October 1-7

1). Return to the eight principles of nonverbal communication. Pick two principles, and provide new examples of how they operate in a group or team.

Principle no.1 states that "Our nonverbal communication affects the quality of our relationships". An example of how this would operate in group or team could be if a group member just comes to the group meetings and is non-existent while they are there. The group member could do things such as text message, be on their lap top, or listen to the iPod that can be interpreted as negatively. An example of how our non-verbal communication can be viewed as positively in the group, is when a group member takes notes of the meeting or is serving as observer of the meeting. The text adds that our nonverbal behavior gives off information that allows other group members to interpret our words as well as our actions. For example the way I stand and stare at my kid after I have asked  her to do something dictates whether she knows whether I am serious or not.  

Principle no.5 states that "Cultural norms and expectations guide our expectations". An example of how this would operate in a team group depends on who is in your group. For example if I am in group that is dominant one race then I more likely to operate within the norms and expectations of the culture of which they are apart.

Oct 1-7

2). 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.

According to the text Proxemics is the study of how we use space to communicate. The ways we structure, use, and are affected by space, that is our proximity to one another. According to Edward T. Hall (who coined the phrase) he believed "that the value in studying proxemics comes from its applicability in evaluating not only the way man interacts with others in his daily life, but also the organization of space in his houses and buildings, and ultimately the layout of his towns." Hall also identified the study of personal space as the invisible boundary individuals draw around themselves.

A personal experience of mine I can relate to happened when I was stationed in Thailand. In America we tend to be very "touchy-feely" to one another. Over the years our public display of affection has grown so much over the last couple of decades that one would not be surprised to see X-rated public display of affection going on in the streets. Nevertheless while stationed there my fellow comrade of mine liked a pretty girl in Thailand and went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder to gain her attention. He was immediately greeted by four to six male Thai's that wanted to give him the biggest beat-down. Luckily for us we had an interpreter with us and he explained to both parties what is ok for us and not ok in Thailand. Apparently you can only touch a female if she is married and you happen to be her husband or if shes a prostitute. Luckily we were saved. 

According to the text Chronemics  is the study of use and time. The text adds that a universal rule for Western Culture is very particular when dealing within the concept of time. As the saying goes "time is money". Time is considered to be a positive nonverbal behavior because it is does not keep people waiting and it gives adequate time to others.

I will use my time in Japan as an experience. When we trained with the Japanese and they taught us karate and various forms of defense, they noticed how prompt we were. In the Marines we had the the rule that if you were 15 minutes early for formation you were considered on time, but if you were there on time you were considered late. Tough place to earn a living I know, nevertheless they lived under the same philosophy saying that lateness was considered disrespectful. They used to say that the only time they would not be there if the two D's happened. they are died or they are dead. Which I always thought was funny.