Week 8, Question 3

The most interesting part of chapter five that I found was on Dress. Communication studies offers very well thought out, beautiful theories and concepts of our way of communicating. Dress is a huge aspect of a person's cultural identity. This is part of the initial perception of a person. Through dress, ones culture is able to shine through. In the text, it states that there are 3 primary reasons for dress; comfort protection, modesty, and cultural display.

Dress is a huge part of nonvgerbal signs. A character is displayed. I think that one thing that is unique about dress is the fact that you can take it off. The next day, you can wear a totally different set of clothes, and be a different person-almost. My identity can change from what I wear. I could make myself look younger, older, mature or display different personalities.

week 8, question 2

2). Although nonverbal messages are more universal than verbal messages, nonverbals do not always carry the same meanings in other cultures. Can you give examples of some of the nonverbal displays that take on different meanings in other countries? If you have moved around within this country, have you ever encountered regional differences in nonverbal meaning? I haven’t encountered too much nonverbal behavior that isn’t universal. I am aware that there are a lot of inconsistencies but a specific one I can relate to is when I am around my Filipino family members, elders tend to point at things with their mouths.
Another gesture I can think of is forms of greetings. My sister’s husband has a brother who came from Uzbekistan. Upon greeting him my brother put up his fist expecting him to punch his fist too. Instead, he just held it and looked very confused.
The only other country I have been to is the Philippines and I spent every summer there since I was born. A lot of my cultural identity is from being there. I don’t see a lot of difference in nonverbal behavior.

Week 8, Question 1

1). Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation. Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someone’s nonverbal message? Describe what happened. How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal message?
The most common nonverbal behavior that is misinterpreted to me the most is facial expressions. I wrote a paper on facial expressions and the universality of it. The fact that features of a smile for instance, is common throughout the world. However, I was turned on to the topic because of instances where you find that people purposely change their facial expression to omit their true feelings. Someone who is unhappy can smile to make you think otherwise. The fact that nonverbal behavior is sometimes inaccurate is something that can be fixed. This could be done if we take it upon ourselves to look further into it before assuming. I think if we think about different factors, we would be able to accurately know what the nonverbal is.

Week 7, Question 1

1). Is it possible to perceive others without, in some way, judging or categorizing them? If so, how? If not, how can we make the judgments we do make, more fair?

I think it is impossible to percieve others without some way judging or catagorizing them. Of course, not all situations result in negative views or are so extreme that there may be damage done to a persons character, but it is almost second nature to assume how a person portrays themselves.

Small things can lead us to judge people such as a persons style. If a person shows up to class regularly in a dressy outfit and heels, we could assume that maybe this person comes straight after work, or they're trying to impress someone. This situation is not a bad thing it's just a social norm that people don't come to class dressed to impress (maybe some do).

Bigger things that result in unfair judgement are more damaging however, I feel that judgements can be more fair if everyone had a common way of meeting new people. It needs to be widespread so that common courtesy is known to everyone

Week 7, Discussion 2

2). Do you agree that men and women use language differently? In what areas?

I think the rule is "Men and women use language differently" but of course there are exceptions to every rule. Our text states that men use language that is more task-oriented, while women use language that is more relation oriented. This could be true however, is not to say that one of each gender may be able to do the other.

I think men and women use languages differently when speaking in large groups. I feel that despite common belief, men are the ones who talk a lot about themselves where as women are more sensitive to this. What I found interesting from our text was that men interrupt women more than women interrupt men. Also, I learned from another class that while it seems as though women bring up more topics in a given conversation, more topics raised by men are sustained.

Another area where I agree that men and women use language is through comedy. As stated in our text, men offer more jokes than women, and also laugh more than men do.

I also think that women are more proper or polite than men. This is proved in our text when it states the difference in grammatical constructions. Women seem to use phrases that allow them to appear like they are aware of what they are saying