Cultural Universals

One concept that I thought we could have touched more on is cultural universals. According to our book, cultural universals are defined as, the variety of interconnected activities that are found in virtually every culture and are common to all people who live together in social groups. Some of these could consist of: Age grading, athletics, courtship, etc. I thought that we could have gone into a little more detail with this concept because I think it is great to learn about other cultures. I think that there could have been more examples regarding cultural universals and maybe have gone into a little more detail. To me, cultural universals also seem like concepts that could also be used in different research, possibly to get a bit more insight on different cultures and the activities that they use in their day-to-day life. I also think that it is important that we all learn about cultural universals because regardless of what cultural you are, these activities are common, however, they vary from culture to culture. Being more in-tune with these activities would also help us communicate with others and learn to respect their customs. 

Effort Optimism

The concept I found interesting in the book was effort optimism. This is defined as the belief that hard work will pay off. I feel as though I practice this in my everyday life. I think that it is important to work hard for what you want and as long as you work hard good things will come to you. The book also states that “people in other countries may ‘expect to be rewarded on the basis of the social position of their family or clan’ rather than their own efforts.” I also believe this to be true. I have family in Mexico and some of them good hard, but I feel that in a sense, they want to be rewarded for their doings. Whether it be the family holding them in a “higher status” in the family or other types of recognition, they want to be rewarded. I think that it is more important to please oneself and work hard in order for good things to come your way. 

Class Reflection

I feel like I have learned a lot from this class. When most people think of communication, they think about speaking from one person to another and it is much more than that. Communication consists of much more than having a conversation from one person to another; cultural values, traditions and several other concepts are all integrated in communication. I really enjoyed this class and I don’t think anything should be changed. I liked the fact that our schedule was available for the semester from the beginning of the class and that our quiz and test scores were instant. My favorite of all however, were the blogs. I enjoyed that, although it was an assignment, we did not have to write it in the structure of an essay. We were able to write as we would normally speak, and when someone would read it, the reply back was like a conversation. I feel like because of the fact that I enjoyed the class so much I would not change anything. 

Mental Sets

What interested me the most in chapter 2 was the mental set. Our book states that, “ a mental set consists of a person’s beliefs, values, attitudes, feelings, and so on.” The book also stated that because of mental sets there could be a lot of misunderstandings. I have to agree with the book. I think that most of us will always interpret the same message in different ways. In order for there not to be a misunderstanding, communication is more successful when two people have the same mindsets. A prime example that I have was when I was living with my best friend and another mutual friend. My best friend and I never had misunderstandings and would often have the same mentality or view on different things however our other friend did not. We would always have misunderstanding because he would misinterpret something I said, but my best friend would understand it completely. At first I thought that it was because she was my best friend so she understood me, but then I realized that he and I had two different metal sets, and no matter how hard I tried, he would most likely never understand me. 

Pragmatic Perspective

In our book, the pragmatic perspective is defines as, “a system of interlocking interdependent “moves” which become patterned over time.” I would have to agree with this perspective because I feel like we all have a pattern in our daily lives. Whether it be waking up everyday at the same time and having a morning routine to start your day. My personal example is my patterned experience at my first job. Every morning I would get to work put my stuff down and go straight to the kitchen. My coworker who sat next to me at the front desk, was in charge of making sure the phone are up and running. This became a pattern over time and slowly we began doing it with out thinking. In a sense it is like a game; one would not work without the other. I would like to think that most people have a morning routine, we all wake up, brush our teeth, etc. Although this may not need a partner in order to be completed, the more we practice them in the morning, the faster it becomes a pattern. 

My Own World

As I considered the social constructionist perspective and how we build our “own world” I thought of all the different words in Mexico that have the same meaning but are different words. Even though it is the same culture, there are different customs that different parts of Mexico value. The first thing that popped into my head was Mexican Mothers Day. In Mexico, we celebrate it on May 10^th instead of every third Sunday in May like we do in the U.S. Although we are in the United States, the women in my family still celebrate Mexican others day. I believe that this is a part of our own world because unlike the U.S., Mexicans choose to celebrate Mothers Day on the 10^th regardless if it is a Sunday or not. Schools are closed, businesses are closed, and most families get together for a festival-type events. Although the women in my family may not celebrate it the way it is celebrated in Mexico, I like the fact that they can feel like they still value their traditions.

Concept from Ch. 13

A concept that I found interesting in chapter 13 was a leading question.  According to our book a Leading question is defined as, “ a question that indicated a preferred response”. Some example of these questions could be “ Don’t you think that red is a better color for a wall?” The reason that these questions should be avoided is because the answer could end up in a biased opinion. Once these questions are asked on a survey, people will most likely end up answering according to the preferred response, thus making it a biased response. I one took a research class in which we had to conduct questionnaires and had participants fill them out. The teacher would doc off points for anyone who had a leading question because then the results would not longer be accurate because of the biased answers. I think that in order to have a good questionnaire that participants should be able to answer the way they would want to answer and not be influenced by a leading question.