Week 5 - Post 3

A concept that I found interesting was in chapter 3 about empathic listening. I personally believe that this is the best kind of listening, especially in an informal setting. In short, empathic listening is showing concern and care, or empathy to the person who is talking. The book describes the best way to show empathy is through paraphrasing, and I completely agree. Usually when I use empathic listening, it is for someone who is venting about their problems. When people vent, they just need to talk about it without the other person interrupting. Paraphrasing is a great way to give short tidbits of advice and show care to that person. Trenholm’s tells us that if we use empathic listening and paraphrasing like a formula, we will appear to be the exact opposite and look like we do not care. In order to be an empathic listener, you need to genuinely care about either the person doing the talking, or the issue they are talking about. 

Week 5 - Post 2

            I definitely agree that men and women use language differently. Though, not all men communication in a certain way, and not all women communication in the opposite way, but from personally experience and observation, I have noticed that most men and women use language in the same way as their own sex. I agree with Trenholm’s suggestion that females use rapport talk and males use report talk. Rapport talk is defined as interpersonal topics in intimate settings, while report talk is defined as focusing on content, such as decision-making or opinion making, in public situations. I live in my sorority house with 48 other girls, so I see firsthand how women communicate, which makes me agree with most of the differences in communication in table 4.5 on page 89. In different situations, women will react and communicate differently than men. For instance women will talk more about private matters compared to men, and men will talk more about public matters compared to women. 

Week 5 - Post 1

          Personally, I think it is possible to perceive others without judging or categorizing them. The word “perceive” itself means to recognize, discern, envision, or understand, while the word “judge” means to form an opinion or estimate. For example, you can perceive someone as a republican from his or her stance on a situation because you understand that is what republicans stand for. Although you may be a democrat and completely disagree with that person’s stance, you might not judge them because of it because you know them personally, or agree with he or she about a different issue. I know that I am guilty of judging people right away, as we all are, but I have also perceived people to be a certain way without judging them so quickly. I might not like what a person says at first, but I usually won’t judge them right off the bat. Sometimes people say things that don’t necessarily define them, and although I will understand what they said in my own way, I don’t always form an opinion about them, especially if I personally know the person. 

Week 4 - Post 3

            A concept from chapter 9 that interested me was the audience-speaker relationship on page 242. A lot goes into public communication, but I think that one of the most important parts is organizing your speech. When organizing the speech, the audience is always in the speaker’s mind. In the textbook, the structures in the minds of audience members are discussed, which are the qualities that an audience basically judges the speaker on, and is also what the speaker should strive to achieve. The structures are based on beliefs, attitudes, and values. The speaker can offer two types of beliefs: core beliefs and peripheral beliefs and there are three types of attitudes: cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. The textbook states that the audience comes to the speech with prior beliefs, attitudes, and values, so if the speaker does not take those into account, his or her speech with be rejected, which I completely agree with. That reminds me of politicians who will sometimes lie to their audience, only because they want their speech to agree with the audience. 

Week 4 - Post 2

            A well-known speaker is Martin Luther King, Jr. Everyone in America knows about his famous speech, “I Have a Dream” that changed our country. This speaker’s strongest characteristics were his ability to impact the incredibly large audience immediately, his loud & clear voice and gestures, and how he addressed the community’s issues at hand. Martin Luther King, Jr. used all three characteristics of credibility, attractiveness, and power. During his speech, he showed his credibility by being an activist and using sources such as talking about America’s constitution. His attractiveness was shown in his speech by wearing a professional suit, which added to his credibility and made the audience have trust in him. He looked very clean cut and put together. King used his power as a speaker by having that massive audience captivated by his speech. He used ethos in all areas perfectly, because the audience impression of his character was obviously a positive one due to his references to our Constitution and living the American dream, which all Americans are proud of and can relate to. 

Week 4 - Post 1

     A speaker has definitely influenced me before, although this speaker isn’t well known or famous at all. I don’t have a specific person who I would consider the best speaker I’ve ever heard, but when I think of really good speakers, I tend to think of politicians. Their communication is memorable because of their delivery and ability to sway people with their arguments. Although most politicians tell lies in their speeches and with what they communicate to the public, but sometimes their lies can be very convincing. In my mind, the more able you are to convince someone of your own ideas, the better speaker you become. The worst speaker I’ve ever heard would probably be someone from my previous Comm20 class, which is understandable, since most people are not comfortable with speaking in public. Their lack of confidence in what they were saying was severely affecting the delivery of their speech. 

Week 3 - Post 3

          A concept that interested me in Chapter 2 was the ethnography of communication on page 36. The ethnography of communication consists of different contexts for observing communication, as well as elements of communication. The steps that you observe are the speech community, speech situations, speech events, and speech acts. The ethnography of communication is basically trying to explain a different culture’s way of communicating. From there, the developer narrows down how to observe even more with the elements of communication. The elements consist of situations, participants, ends (goals), act sequences, keys, instrumentalities, norms, and genres, which is an acronym for “SPEAKING” a.k.a. communication. These elements make great guidelines for comprehending another culture’s way of speaking and communicating. It’s an easy and convenient way to remember how ethnography of communication operates. Other cultures can be very difficult to understand, but the simple, easy to remember steps make different cultures effortless to get a grip on.