I fear presentations.

Have you ever had trouble doing presentations?
Well, if you don’t then I envy you. Today I had a presentation for my psychology class. I had what I was to say to the class all planned out. However, at the last minute I started it was as though I completely forgot. I wish I could improve, but I can’t improve because just seeing all the eyes looking in my direction makes me nervous.
As I read the Adler & Rodman textbook in chapter 11 & 12. It mentions some don’ts about public speaking and some visual aspects of delivering your message. I can’t seem to help myself notice how many of these don’t I do such as: do not end abruptly, don’t ramble either and don’t apologize. However, despite the fact that we shouldn’t do these things when doing public speaking, it is difficult to especially if you fear public presentations.
Teachers and superiors always say: “ always make eye contact, have good posture, annunciate and articulate”. However, it is difficult to do all of these, while not fearing you might say something wrong. Yes, some people memorize their presentation speech, however, what is the point of even bothering to memorizing your speech when you cant even delivery it because of your fear of public speaking. I am not trying to say that, those who can’t deliver speech should give up on trying to improve, but evidently, no matter if you have your speech or presentation memorize, once you see all the eyes focused on you, its difficult to concentrate.
No matter how clearly I understand the message I want to convey, every time I tried to mention it, my words turn into automatic rambling. Someone once said: “its better if you don’t speak, because at least people will think your smart”.
I really want to solve this problem, but I simply don’t have enough courage to. I want to leave my shell, but I fear of making a fool out of myself.

Lawyers: are you sure you can trust them?

You know what I find very interesting the way lawyers speak. In particular, I find it very intriguing how they are able to squeeze what they want to hear by confusion of yes or no questions.
I truly respect and applaud lawyer’s on their use of communication tactics. It is always important to tell the truth especially when it comes crucial to solving an investigation. However, I find it very unfortunate how through finances some people are able to escape death row, just by buying off an excellent communication lawyer. Even if the person did commit the crime or what not, just by the use of money, they are given the opportunity to escape what they really deserve. Although this is not ethical, I believe these things do happen. In my opinion, having lawyers is great, for those who are innocent, but what about those who aren’t? Should lawyers hunger for money really be the judgement of persuading us. I am not sure if this makes sense, however, I guess my main point is the fact that yes; I do respect lawyers for their excellent communication skills. But, through their tactics and persuasion, I find it very terrifying how they can make people believe someone is innocent, when they really aren’t. In my opinion, I find the use of lawyers is not helpful in determining who is innocent and who is not, instead they contribute to the danger of society.

Usefulness of this course.

I am very grateful that Mcmaster offers such a course like communication studies. I use to think that, why would you offer a course like communication studies, when we already know how to communicate. However, through these couple of weeks, I learn a lot about myself as well as when it comes interacting with people. I also learn useful tactics that will not be forgotten. Although, this is my first year of university, meeting new people while taken this course has given me the ability to classify certain communication tactics used.
If it weren’t for this communication studies course, I would not realize how essential communication is to our lives.

Disconfirming Response

After listening to several lectures by Professor Alex Sevigny, I realize there are a lot of communication tactics we use everyday that we don’t realize. However, the biggest flaw in communication in my opinion is misinterpretation or disconfirming response.
My most recent conflict that resulted from misinterpretation was when a friend was angry at me when I cancelled a meeting with her twice due to work Although I did not intentionally cancel our plans, I realize that by not fulfilling the plan to meet up, my friend thought I devalued her and our friendship. This conflict resulted because I cancelled our bonding time together which made her believe my response in cancelling on her was a disconfirming response.
What is disconfirming response? According to Adler & Rodman,
Disconfirming response is a message that expresses a lack of caring or respect for another person. Unless you’re an expert at communicating, everyone eventually encounters misinterpretations due to communication which turns into a conflict. In order to avoid sending disconfirming response we have to ensure that the person being spoken to has a clear understanding of what is being said. Often what may occur could be people over read a situation, which results in a belief that the person was sending a disconfirming response towards them.
Another example of disconfirming response is the use of MSN messenger. The problem that occurs with chatting online is we are unable to see facial expression. Resulting, in not knowing if a person is being serious or just has a sense of sarcasm. As a result, it is very easy to misinterpret a message and to believe that the person speaking may be sending you a disconfirming response.

This week at work, it was very hectic.
We dedicated two theatres towards a film called "The Queen".
Due to our location, the majority of people who come to our theatre are elderly people.
The problem that usually occurs is elderly people can not hear clearly what we say and get frustrated easily and result to shouting. Despite the fact, at times we have to repeat ourselves many times, it is as well frustrating for us. Can you imagine how many customers we get daily that shout at us and claim that we can't communicate properly. I am not trying to blame elderly people for poor hearing, but simply trying to say that if they want to communicate a message to us, they should do it in a indoor tone with us. We are humans, we make mistake, therefore, yelling will not solve anything. It will just simply ruin our moods and may even result to most of us quitting. When we raise our voices out of frustration, is it on purpose? or is it just a reaction we achieve? What ever the case is, I believe by raising our voice it just makes the problem even worst and will cause more stress upon both party *person arguing & person who is receiving the damages*.

Anyways, i'll wrap it up and leave you off with..

when your mad at a person, do you really believe shouting at someone will benefit you in the end?

*sorry about the grammer, i will be ending it when i have the time. As well, I shall be changing this boring layout soon, when i discover how. Thank you for reading my blog*

CCB # 4

For my art history assignment, I have to go to Mcmaster's art museum and analyze a painting and write a five page report based on that piece of work.

Having no knowledge about art, I went in. Questions that arises in my mind where "is that all? what is this? how is this art?". After staring into the pieces of works I decided to talk to talk to someone that actually work there to help describe the pieces. After telling the lady about my assignment, she first said was "All these pieces of work fall under the title : "Identity". Being clueless, I asked myself how do these pieces of work fall under that heading. As we work our way around the museum, i realized that behind the picture there is much more meaning. Although the pieces of art work might look simple, they all try to communicate a message. Sometimes we might have the same opinion and sometimes we might have different view points. There is no real answer to art.

The lesson that was learned was, if you've never gone to a art museum and have spare time, go to one. You'll be surprise to what art work represents.

CCB #3: Power Distance

Just the week, I had to form a group for my multimedia course. This friendly girl who shall remain nameless asked me to be apart of her group. I figure that it will not hurt to be with her. Few days later, I receive an e-mail stating “I am the LEADER”. Realizing that this girl must be power hungry, and being a bit mad because she did not ask permission of other group members, I replied “are you a control free?”
Although my response was a bit immature, I felt as if we should all have an equal vote on choosing who should be the leader, instead of just stating you are the leader. She might have greater knowledge as well as experience, but I prefer if there were not any leaders as all and we each contribute equally instead of being classified under certain functional roles. According to adler & rowman, I am classified as “ low power distance norm, which is less likely to feel that groups need a leader or people who do occupy that role automatically deserve unquestionable obedience”. However, I dislike the fact that people do not consider what other people think. Although, she might have been friendly in the beginning, I find that her e-mail was rude and despite the fact that I am in her group, I do not like being bossed by a person who does not consider peoples thoughts or feelings. Even if you are from another culture and have a different approach or feeling about a power distance, you should consider group member’s thoughts and feelings before deciding if there should be a leader or not, or who should be the leader.

Bibliography
Adler, Ronald, and Rodman, George. Understanding Human Communication 9th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

CCB #2: Growth Groups deserve more credit then given.

Every Sunday, the place where I work is transformed from a movie theatre to a church. As I proceed to study the different types of groups, I realize this church gathering is an excellent example of a growth group. A growth group’s main purpose is to teach each other more about one another and grow together (Adler & Rodman,269). From time to time, I get the chance to listen to what is being preached, and I’m very grateful because some of the speeches find myself experiencing through a similar analogy.
As I saw through the years, my father attending church, I one day decided to see what it was all about. I realized that those that attend the service share something in common, which the belief in god, this belief brought some common ground for them to unite and grow.
I realized that a church was also a group of people that support one another emotionally. When people experience adversity, the church is their rock that gives them that support and helps them to continue on. Although at times, I miss out on church on because I’m scheduled for work, I’m still grateful to be able to listen in, on another church. Although at times we say, we are okay, church gives us that inspiration that tells us “your not the only one experiencing hardship”. Throughout the years, my view on church has changed drastically from thinking church was a pointless establishment where people went just to read a book, to an organization of people that do just more than what my then immature mind thought. We might think that growth groups such as churches, group therapy etc. are meaningless but when you need help and think you’re alone, growth groups are a source of inspiration. I believe growth groups aren’t given enough credit, and people like me should attend one before thinking so immaturely.

I found this ad very interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ0wr27a2vY

what would we do without cellphones?

As I ride the TTC rocket in Toronto, I try to ponder what to write for this week’s blog. As I look around, I begin to realize how many people own a cellphone. Although, cellphones are a wonderful invention, has it occurred to people how dependent we became on cellphones. Did everyone begin to forget how life was without a cellphone?
I begin to wonder how would life be without this sort of technology? As technology keeps on changing, it is surprising to discover how society’s communication changes as well. What were to happen if all of a sudden, cellphones begin to stop working? Or if scientist discover that for every phone call we receive, we would gain 0.05 more of a chance of getting brain cancer. What would happen if we just all stop using cellphone, what would we begin to rely on next for communication. Cellphone are really efficient to us currently. What were to happen if someone got into a car accident and we didn’t have a cellphone to call 911, what would you do then?
All these questions begin to form in my mind as I think of how important cellphones have become to our lives. We use cellphones to communicate to our bosses, our friends and our family. It’s amazing how we can even talk to people across the world. I am finally opening my eyes and realizing how important communication has become in our lives and what kind of impact it has on us. Whether some forms of communication could be negative or positive, you don’t begin to realize how dependent you become on things till someone either mentions it to you, or till that certain thing you depend on disappears.

First Assignment: Low-context cultures vs. High- context culture

During the last few lectures of Communications studies, what intrigued me the most was the discussion on languages and culture. I found that learning about different cultures and their inherent differences is extremely important, especially if you like to travel to and visit other countries.
It is important to acknowledge and understand that every country has its own social and business etiquette. By understanding what not to do and what are the social norms in certain cultures, it makes our travel more enjoyable because we can interact with the domestic people. For example, in Thailand, it is frowned upon if you show affection towards someone in public.
In the area of communication, Asians are known to be more polite when compared to North Americans. From a communication studies point of view, Asian cultures are known as High-context culture compare to the North American culture, which is classified as Low-context. What do we mean by a high-context culture, you may ask? Well, to be exact, high-context culture is known as speaking indirectly and not offending anyone. By contrast, a low-context culture is one where language used to express feelings, thoughts and ideas is convey in a straightforward manner. Although being straightforward sometimes might be an excellent way to get a point across, I personally prefer to be spoken to in a high-context manner. I attribute my preference for high-context to my tendency of being very emotional when spoken to straightforward. Although words are not actions, sometimes being spoken to directly or being confronted can inflict pain on a person. Therefore, in my opinion it is better to be spoken to in high-context. However, at times being indirect and trying your best to be considerate of others’ feelings, may not work. There was a situation where I did not want to hurt someone’s feeling by telling them directly they were annoying and despite various attempts they did not get the point. I then tried to be as direct as I could and being considerate of their feelings. Like everything else in life, what works for some people may not work for others. Some people prefer being direct. Some people prefer being indirect.
The important thing is that before travelling to another country, we should research the cultural and social differences to know what is appropriate and what is not. In this way, we will not unwittingly offend the people in whose country we are a guest.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=386P1fR66KU

Bibliography
Adler, Ronald, and Rodman, George. Understanding Human Communication 9th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.