Last Week Post 3

· Pick one other concept in the book that you feel needs further discussion? (You can choose from ANY chapter in the book).

I think that table 9.1 in chapter 9 would be interesting to take a deeper look at. I especially liked the break down of attitudes into their three dimensions. I would have never thought about attitudes playing three distinct roles and they are: Cognitive dimension, affective dimension, and behavioral dimension. Cognitive is what someone knows about a topic. Affective is how someone feels about a topic, and behavioral is what an individual tends to do about a topic.

These three dimensions are of vital importance when a speaker is trying to persuade an audience. A speaker truly needs to know their audience too, because the dimensions will constantly change just as the audience will change.

Last Week Post 2

What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about that concept/s that you found interesting?

There were so many chapters in this book that I really enjoyed reading and learning from. One of the chapters that I enjoyed overall was chapter 11. I liked reading about on pg 306 about Cultivation theory. Cultivation theory to summarize is taking a televisions perception of the world as being accurate to the way the world really is. I stopped after I read this and asked myself do I fall into the cultivation trap? I the answer is yes I do.

I am a hopeless romantic and anytime there is a new chick flick coming to the theatres such as the Holiday or the Notebook I have to go see it. When I watch these romantic comedies I am taken into a make believe world where every story has a happy ending and the girl will always end up with the man of her dreams. I know that I tend to think this way. I want everyday in my fiance's relationship and mine to be happy. I don't want to fight and I definitely don't want to ever admit that I'm wrong. I also have high expectations where I want him to take me to do nice things and for him to buy me nice things. I know it is not all wrong to want these things but to expect them isn't realistic and it isn't fair. The cultivation theory was proven true in my life.

Last Week

· (Regarding Chapter 13) Which of the research methods listed in Table 13.3 seem the most interesting? Assume you want to study some aspect of deception. Frame a research question. Which method would you choose to answer the question. Why?

I was completely fascinated by the ethnography study in table 13.3. I myself being one of five children have always been very nosey. I am second in line and the first four children are girls. We always know everything about everyone. We are our own little gossip circle. Well anyways, I have always loved people watching and eavesdropping.

There are times when I will just got to food court at Oak ridge mall and just observe people. It is fascinated the way people interact naturally when they don't realize people are watching them. My favorite time to people watch is when I am in culture other then my own.

This last summer I had the opportunity to study in London. It was the best experience of my life truly I loved every second I was there. My favorite thing to do while I was there is I would grab a book and hop on the tube to Covent Garden. There was a little cafe that had the best chocolate muffins and so I would order that and a latte and just read. I would read and also watch people. I would see some of the same people every week. One old lady would always stand outside the cafe trying to sell roses. It was fun to observe people and see similar faces because it made me feel like I knew them. I would love to be part of ethnography study. Especially if I was getting paid because then I would be getting paid for something I already enjoy doing.

Chapter 11 Interesting Facts

I really found Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory on spiral silence to be particularly interesting. What Elisabeth says this idea is, is when people who don't agree with the messages being broadcast they don't speak out. They fear being isolated from the social norm so they do not share their concerns,but rather stay silent. It takes people like Martin Luther King Jr. brave souls who are willing to stand up against what society says is normal and right and be willing to fight for the silent voice. I think that if more people were willing to fight for what they think is right and not just what is socially normal then our world would be a much different place.

Chapter 11 Mediums and Logic

Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I would have to say I feel lukewarm about McLuhan's thoughts on mediums being the actually messages. I would agree that the medium in which something is communicated by does play heavily into the way we see, hear and interpret the message. However, I disagree that the medium is actually the message itself.

I also agree that the medium is very important when choosing how to report news and information and every medium goes about it in a different way. According to the text print media uses linear logic because every word is carefully planned and one point leads to the next. Television on the contrary to print media takes the opposite approach in that it uses mosaic logic which means we are being bombarded with several images at once and we have to decipher them.

I found the explanations on hot and cool mediums a little bit puzzling. What I gained from McLuhan's writing is that on television people need to have cool tempers and be able to handle the intensity of the news on camera. Some people are not "cool" enough for television, so the text suggests radio would be a better fit.

Chapter 11 Cyber relationships

· Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have never been one of those people to go into chat rooms online in order to meet people and I am also not the kind of girl that likes to go out to the clubs and start dancing with perfect strangers. I was brought up on to many law and order and criminal minds episodes to take the risk of talking to someone I have never met. I remember when I got my first sn and I was so excited to be able to talk to my friends on the computer. My parents were so paranoid that some rapist would find me and kidnap me.

I have a facebook which I use daily but it is set up to be very private. Only my friends can view my full profile and also my pictures. I never give information like where I work or live because I don't want the wrong people finding out. I also don't just add anyone as my friend on facebook that I don't know or have not met in person. My thinking is it is not safe for a 21 year old women to be accepting friend requests from strange men she has never met. I guess you can call me paranoid and I am, but my motto is I would rather be safe then sorry.


The one exception to my strict safety rules I have made in the past, was this last summer. I studied with Duke University in London. I didn't know a soul attending this program so we set up a facebook group for everyone who was going on the London trip, so that way we could get to know each other. There was one specific girl named MaryEileen who I started chatting online with frequently because she was also from CA. It was really nice when I arrived in London and felt like I already had a friend. She is also the person I keep in regular contact with since the trip, and maybe this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't started chatting online before we met.

What I found interesting from Chp 8

I really enjoyed reading chapter eight because it talks all about successful and non successful ways to work in groups. Today I had a four hour staff meeting for my church organization. I am a volunteer in my church's junior high group and once a year we have big planning meetings to put our heads together and collaborate on what is working and what isn't. We use our interdependence to unite us and focus our attention on the topics for the day. I really like being a volunteer for my church because there is very little bureaucracy, for the most part everyone's voice holds equal weight. We do have one person above us and she is the junior high director, but she works so well with the staff we never feel like she has become a dictator. I felt that the staff meeting today was very successful and all in all the junior high organization is moving in a positive direction for we all feel two heads are better then one.