wk17 q3

One topic I think needs more discussion is the office romance topic. I think their is more to the topic than Trenholm went into. I remember the different jobs I held within the past five years and they all had different levels of office relationships. When I worked at a restaurant, I remember people being more open about who is dating and the level of interaction was not as big as I had when I worked at Adobe. The environment I was in was different and it played a large role about the people and the success the people would have together.

W17 Q2

I found that the meaning of symbols was interesting in the book. It talks about how a symbol in one culture can mean a different to people in another culture. I know how this could happen given that different societies shape their own form of norms and customs and It is neat to find out how they came to accept symbols for certain meanings. I remember talking about how people in different cultures take looking in the eyes as respect of disrespect or dogs in one culture is a symbol of mans best friend but to other they are just animals or food. Symbols are fun to discover and come to terms on how they formed.

W17 Q1

What I found interesting was the survey research section and how the question system is used to find information about group of people. It has been a growing trend to see questionnaires on the internet to gather polls about groups of people. Just a few days ago I went on Yahoo.com to look up the weather for the weekend and their was a poll on the previous page about who did I think was going to win the NBA playoffs. This does not gather information about who took the poll unless they ask about age, gender, location, etc., but the information gathered is more and more accurate when more people take the poll.

Chapter 11 Question 3

I have found interesting about the connection between people and newspapers. I agree that people who read are more educated and earn more money contributing to a more stable life because people are exercising their brain while resting drinking coffee or sitting on a bench. When I read I agree that I read ads, sports, finances, comics, international news, politics and every other subject making my variety of knowledge just that much greater then it was before I have read it. Reading is also considered more effective to me then watching television because you need to apply yourself to read and focus in on the different topics making whatever sense you and the writer are learning and sharing.

Week 13 Question 2

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 agree that the message belongs to the person and the level they are defined as. When people on television are viewed they have a sense of identity they gives them a certain image of who they are and who they can delegate to. When I look at someone who has a cool image I make the logic of how they are engaging to the public and the viewers that define who they are. television is considered a cool medium because we make the people on television larger than life. We look to these people as figures of our life and the people that are living in our era.

Week 13 Question 1

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?

Yes, Friends exclusively for me has been a good turnout in my life. More than not they always start and only exists through cyber. My intentions have never really been more than to learn and have conversations with these people. The last cyber relationship was on Facebook poker. A place where people from all around the world can play poker and chat like a virtual room. I found someone playing poker that also is living in Buenos Aires from the states so we chatted became friends and have talked online once a week. Similar to a f2f relationship, we talk about things to know when living here and what is coming soon as far as entertainment.

Chapter 8 Question 3

I like the part in this chapter that goes into office relationships. I think we all have or known people that have dated someone from their work. Their is many reasons why people do this and companies know this and try to regulate it the best they can. Spending so much of your time at a company allows people to meet and get to know each other. This day and age meeting people at work is a great way to see if you are attracted to someone because you get to know about the person and their personality. My experience has been good and bad when dating at work. The good is that I get to know a lot about people I work with but if things don't go well then your career can be at risk.

Week 13 Question 2

2). Review the etiquette rules suggested in the text. Respond to each one. Have you ever been bothered by cell phone, answering machines, or beepers? What do you feel about call waiting? Is it rude to put people on hold to take another call?

I personally have been bothered by the new era of electronics during certain times with my friends. It seems like cell phones are always going off and grabbing peoples attention throughout the day. I to have been a victim of this new phenomenon that has arrived and is consuming my attention at odd times. Answering machines have not bothered me much since it seems like people have created a formal message and since cell phones have taken over less people have been leaving messages and voice mails. I think call waiting is great because it gives me the option of answering the other line if it is important to me. It is not rude because these days we can avoid missing urgent calls by answering when we need to.

Week 13 Question 1

1). How are organizations tied to the environment? What is the relationship between the school you attend and the city or town in which it is situated? What, if any, ethical obligations does an organization like a college or university have to the local community?

Organizations to me define a community since it brings a type on genre to the area. Living in the United States we try and aim to be innovators and leaders for the world. Many countries have their strengths and living in Northern California we harvest some of the worlds best technology headquarters known to mankind. I can learn to appreciate these organizations since they have brought my family great careers and friends from around the world. San Jose State is great because it is a place where international people can come and feel comfortable within our community. With family in So Cal, Montana and Boston obviously people from around the world have made livings in the US but the global melting pot called Silicon Valley is truly unique since we have learned to live together in one society regardless of where you were born. The diversity has been used in the workforce as a strength allowing everyones strengths to contribute to the company and creating success which we all and the rest of the world can recognize.

Week 12 Question 3

I like the topic about the avoiding stage and how a partner will turn to avoiding the other for any reason during a relationship. I have only experienced first hand the boyfriend and girlfriend aspect but the stage where me or her will start to ignore the other or goes MIA for a long period of time is usually not good for the relationship. Its like bringing a third person into a relationship, nothing good is going to come from it. I have experienced married couples needing more time to themselves to feel that sense of freedom so longer hours or anything like joining a sports league to have free time seems common and somewhat healthy during a long relationship. Isolation psychologically is not something I think is a good idea or healthy for that matter. I would rather see a person less and be happy when I see them than spend time with them with little to no connection or vibe between us.

Week 12 Question 2

Think about the filters you use to eliminate people from consideration as potential romantic partners. What characteristics or behaviours lead you to judge others as unattractive? Does Duck's theory make sense to you? Have you ever eliminated someone by using a sociological or pre-interaction cue only to reconsider them based on interaction and cognitive cues?

I have used Duck's theory to make decisions for women recently when I have been out in public. Giving myself a set standard and specific characteristics for what I want is something I grown to use. It helps me make the situation light or complicated when I am sending signals to the person. Some of the main signals that I look for are posture, enthusiastic and hygiene. I also look at the way she dresses since I can tell a lot about a person by the way they are dressing or the style they are presenting. A person that I would cancel out when I judge them would be a person speaking a different language that I would not be able to communicate with or a person that is not open to meeting people or seems like they are not having fun. I tend to believe in people creating energy and the attractiveness that people have with that energetic presence.

Chapter 6 Question 1

Rigid complementarity would be the most difficult to change. People like to have a certain way of acting in a relationship and changing smoothly among both partners is a tough and complicated process that is not easy to do thats why resentment is hard to solve. Being the decision maker can seem like an easier position to give up than the person always giving into the plans.

Submissive symmetry can be most damaging to a relationship since individuals are not taking control. They both are not being aggressive and making the relationship harder and less exciting than it should be and making the relationship more difficult than it should be. When I enter a relationship or dating and I find the relationship to be not over thrilling or exciting I most likely wish it was for the happiness of both of us.

Complementary pattern is the most damaging to ones self esteem because it puts one person in a one down position keeping them from making the most of themselves emotionally. Keeping one person below another is not exciting and can leave to a unhealthy social pattern down the road.

Week 11 Question 3

In Chapter 12 learning about the global village that we are living in is truly history in the making. We are living in a time where we are experiencing people and their cultures on a daily basis whether it is in person, on television or on the world wide internet. Lets talk about the internet, I am constantly talking to random people on Facebook from around the world when I play a very popular game called Texas Hold 'Em which gathers millions of people per day. The site allows people playing in these tournament to chat with each other allowing Intercultural interaction like never experienced before in the history of mankind. I think that it is really a turning of a new leaf as we are learning about people from other countries and making friends in a global world we now live in. People these days are also traveling to more and more places since being able to travel has become more easier and more accepted throughout the world.

Week 9 Question 2

Rationality: I like this one because I believe that Americans are very smart and respectable people. Mostly everyone knows how to live their life knowing what's right and what's wrong. People respect society and our social norms because they want the sense of normality to exist. Democracy exist in the United States because we are intelligent enough to know the difference between what's right and whats wrong and hope we all share a common interest about life and its meaning.

Perfectibility: I think this is good as well. Most people follow the moral of catholic religion in the US. Yes, people come from many religions but the spiritual notion sill holds strong in decisions that we make in society. You got to be able to trust people until they prove otherwise because I do believe that people are naturally good and life can eventually corrupt people to stray from that.

Mutability: I think that surroundings are major influences in shaping peoples character. Living in a nice crime free province in the Bay Area, I have learned that I do not need to live a lifestyle that involves crime, violence and intense drug use. Living in an area that is not so safe or is violent can influence people to accept that lifestyle and make bad decisions.

Semana 9 Pregunta 1

Do you agree with anthropologist, Ruth Benedict that we are “creatures of our culture” and that our habits, beliefs and impossibilities are shaped by our culture? If so, how can we break through the limits of our cultures?
Good question. Yes, I believe we form habits from our culture that we do not notice but are noticed from people of other cultures. Of course we do it common to adapt social norms from the area we grow up and live in. The thing that I would find interesting is how we accept it all as part of us and how people use this to better communicate within our society. We live in a media junkie society or at least I did where we are bombarded with thousands of advertisements and trends that are changing faster every year. Spending time away from my original culture I can see many trends that I found common to me that are not common here in Buenos Aires. I have not driven a car in months or watched television for more than a few minutes. I can truly say I feel like I am in great shape now than I was three months ago. I also use words that people do not commonly use in their daily vocabulary. Religion is the same here I do not find much of a difference less and less people are attending church but are still considering themselves catholics at heart. Culture has a lot to do with the media but also a lot with the people we spend out time with. The bay area is very diverse these days but within a few months social norms form amongst us all and I feel like the law, education, job ethics, social norms and advertisements play roles shaping who we are. So yes breaking through our limits of our culture comes from stepping outside the box.

Chapter 5 Question 3

I like the topic of Territory and the need to give everyone a certain amount of personal space. "Like birds and mammals, humans need to maintain uniform distances from one another and to occupy and defend territories." Having your personal space violated can be extremely uncomfortable and disrespectful regardless of you know the person or not. She talks about how personal space is connected to being safe and ready for any dangerous situation that can occur. As far as my personal space, I like to know that I am safe when I am out in society so familiar settings lets me focus on my surroundings with more ease.

Chapter 5 Question 2

Some of the differences in nonverbal messages that I have picked up from other cultures is personal space, hand shakes and eye contact. "They allow us to express certain emotional themes that are hard to describe verbally" ( Trenholm 111). Personal space has limited boundaries when people are on a subway, bus, busy street or in a after hours venue in Argentina. People will stand right next to you if not leaning on you because it is something that never has been an issue in their culture. I America we are not a culture that like to have our personal space violated be a stranger we don't know anything about. Shaking hands with people can be universal but in the middle east men in Jordan men will Shake your hand for the whole conversation like you are two strangers giving honesty and respect to each other. In Argentina only foreigners shake hands everyone else hugs and gives a kiss on the cheek like Italians in Italy. Eye Contact is common in conversations and glances at people to make acknowledgment to another. Argentina has been a country that accepts eye contact as more of a respect issue but people love their three hour lunches and people watching where eye contact is something that people do a lot of.

Wk 8 Q 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 messages?
Nonverbal Communication is a huge part of my day. Im constantly taking public transportation around town which gets packed with people going to work or to another part of the city. I was in the subway where someone was playing a guitar and singing for donations. I was bored so I pointed towards the musician explaining to my friend sitting next to me that the singer playing with the guitar has a cool guitar and I would like to own one like that soon. Given that i made a gesture towards him, he decided to move to our side of the subway thinking we would like to hear his music. He was wrong, I did not want him to play near me because it brought a lot of attention near me. I am a foreigner, and the attention was not allowing me to feel like I can sit back and relax. If I did not use any hand gestures then I do not think he would have came over to our side. As for the singer, I he waited for another expression that I made, then I think he would of known that I was not trying to act interested in all but he did not wait for more messages.

Week 7 Question 3

Who can improve on attention skills? I know I can use some tips to prolong my attention span when listening to someone talk. Its nothing personal and I know we all do it from time to time so keeping myself focused would be fantastic. Ms. Trenholm talks about keeping oneself focused on a conversation or speech. I agree that staying positive, focusing on the main points and avoid being distracted from my surroundings will help increase my attention and retain more from the sender. Acting interested is very important since if I was to show any loss of interest through looking around or looking bored then i might as well have spoken out and said, " Lets change the subject because I am over this topic". I often don't realize this and today I can remember looking another direction through a surprising incident when someone was talking to me. Reading chapter three just might have improved my conversations with people and its one step towards becoming a great speaker.

Week 7 Question 2

I believe men have a different language than women when it comes to messages and conversations. As a society we are comparing and following some sort of flow that helps social norms form. I believe women will take conversations and considerations into more thought and meaning where men will carry conversations with less preparation but the same amount of confidence in the message. I tend to often correct myself because what i am delivering could have been sent a little bit better than it could have. I think women will mostly excel in careers than men like shrinks and counselors because they can listen, think about the message then give a solid response. Women have the patience advantage over us but i think men are very solid on persuasion and other areas when it comes to issues like closing business deals with other clients.