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? Yes i agree that we are creatures of our culture. Our culture is a very important and defining part of who we are. When we are born we arrive into a culture, and that culture will always influence us in a certain way, weather we fallow it all our lives, or decide to fallow a different cultural path, it will have influenced us in some way and will always be a part of us. As we grow and change in our lives we will become parts of other cultures and sub cultures, and all will have influenced us in some way. our habits and beliefs may change over times, but that will have been persuaded by cultures that were were a part of before. For example i used to be a part of a religious group, and i fallowed the cultural practices and norms of that group, however as i got older i realized that the religion taught some things that i don't necessarily believe. So the time came when i detached myself from that culture however i am still influenced by it in negative and positive ways. We can break through limits of our cultures kind of like the way i broke away from my religion. I still believe in some of the aspects of it but not all so i feel that i have broken through those limits, but still have some influences from that culture. Its kind of like i created my own new culture that is derived from different aspect of other cultures that have influenced my life.

Chapter Five

I really liked chapter five because it was all about non verbal communication. I love non verbal communication because it adds so much more expression to verbal messages. One of the issues with the ever growing technological form of communication is that non verbal communication is limited. Nonverbal communication helps to make messages that people are trying to convey more expressive, and interesting to pay attention to. 

Last semester I did a workshop with a group for our class project. The subject of our presentation was effective presentation skills, and I got to focus on presenting the importance of non verbal presentation skills, which included eye contact, hand gestures, movement, and posture. These skills are important in more than just presentations, they are effective in all forms of communication.

It is fascinating to me how many different ways one can communicate non-verbally. Even in images there is communication that is expressed without words. Then as the book mentions there is body movement and gestures, eye movement, proxemics, paralinguistics, and appearance among other things.

 Do you agree that men and women use language differently? In what areas?  Give specific examples.


Yes I agree that women and men use language differently. Often times when women have conversations they are interested in the details that go along with the story. Men on the other hand do not care about the details, and often times they do not really remember them. I often run into this with my boyfriend, where he tells me something that happened and I ask him questions. Most of the questions I ask he doesn't have an answer for, and i find my self repeating questions just to see if i can squeeze any more information out of him. 


The book mentions the fact that girls are brought up to share feeling and emotions, and boys are brought up to be more reserved and succeed in life on their own. So women have conversations with other women that have more disclosure and connection behind it when the get together. I have observed often that Men talk about things that don't usually have anything to do with their personal life, like music, sports, projects.

Judgements

 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 dont think that it is possible to perceive others without judgement. There are non verbal behaviors that can make one judge just by looking at someone else. People tend to dress in a certain way to express themselves, and this can give a notion of who they are by the people who view them. When you meet someone for the first time, you get a first impression, by what they look like before then even say anything to you. Their body language can express confidence with good posture, which can be interpreted as arrogance, or self confidence. If somone is slouching, they can seem relaxed, lazy, or weak. 


We can make the judgements we do more fair, by setting them aside until we actually get to know the person that we are making judgements about. I think its human nature to make judgements, but you can also tell yourself that old saying, dont judge a book by its cover.

Memorable Speakers

"Have you ever been influenced by a speaker? Think of the best speaker you've ever heard. What was in about that speaker that made his or her communication memorable? Think of the worst speaker you've ever heard. What do you remember about his or her message?"


One of the most influential speakers that i have heard was actually one of my Comm professors. One reason I chose Communication studies as my major was because I was so impacted by the lectures he gave. With his lectures there was never a dull moment. You could tell he was really passionate about the subjects he was teaching, and the way he spoke made the lectures exciting. He had movement, but not too much, and he was confidant, clear, and captivating.


One of the worst speakers I ever heard was so hard to understand that I never really quite figured out the topic. She seemed really nervous and spoke very quietly. The girl was giving a presentation in class, and the professor asked her to speak up, because she was not understandable, but she stayed at the level of projection that she started with and the presentation dragged on. It was painful to watch, five minutes of presentation that no one could hear or understand.

Building worlds through communication

" Consider the social constructionist perspective. How do we "build worlds" through communication? Think of some ideas we talk about in our culture that may not exist in other cultures. How do these concepts contribute to our happiness or success (or the lack of these) in our culture?"


We build worlds through communication, by constructing them with ideas about norms, cultures, what we have been taught, beliefs, values and traditions. These ideas are shared among people in groups, and they believe that the world that they have constructed is reality. Its difficult to see outside of the world, you know unless you experience it. If you are taught about the world in a certain way, that is they way you will believe the world to be. 

Some ideas that we talk about in our culture that might not exist in other cultures, are things like freedom of religion and equality between men and women. In some other cultures there might be tribes of people that may have a certain belief system among their community, and the only religion that exists in their mind is their own. Here we are aware that other religions exist, and we  have the freedom to explore, and choose to fallow whatever religion we believe in. Here we talk about women and men and how they should be treated equally, but in other parts of the world, people may believe that women and men each have a “place” and they stick to that norm.

Introductory Post

Hello!
My name is Larisa Reinegger. I am a Communication Studies major. I am looking forward to graduating in the fall, its been a long journey and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have taken a number of communication classes, and I really enjoyed interpersonal communication. I work at Starbucks, and I have been there for six years. I really enjoy being around people, doing outdoor activities like hiking and camping and going for runs with my friends. I look forward to this class and using this blog! I have never had a blog before.