Chapter 5

· Go to the website http://a4esl.org/q/h/dt/genderfree.html

What is your opinion of this website? Do you think language shapes our reality of the world?

I thought this website was pretty amusing. I knew most of the answers to the questions from experiences before, though. I think that language does somewhat shape our reality of the world. I think that most people put too much emphasis on language something, though. One prime example of this is gender free/politically correct language. I agree that we should be respectful to genders. I think that sometimes, however, people take it too far and try to make everything politically correct.

· Go to the website http://disputeresolution.ohio.gov/schools/contentpages/Istate21.htm

What is your opinion of this website? Discuss.

I thought this website was kind of cool. I think that the concept of “I” statements versus “you” statements is something everybody should consider. It takes more work, and it also requires taking responsibility for your feelings. In the end, however, I think that it is rewarding overall. This is because it helps solve a lot of conflicts within relationships.

· Go to the Website http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/educators/enrichment/culturematters/Ch3/stylescommunication.html Test yourself on High Context vs. Low Context cultures. How did you do? Were you surprised by any of the answers?

I did pretty well on this quiz. I wasn’t really surprised by any of the answers either. I think this is because I have had a lot of experience with both types of cultures throughout my life.

Chapter 4

· Go to the website http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=1121

Take the Emotional Intelligence Test. What are the results? Are you surprised? Why or why not? Why is it important for you to find out your emotional intelligence score? How can you improve your emotional intelligence?

My score on the Emotional Intelligence Test was a 73. I was slightly surprised by this score because I expected it to be similar to regular IQ tests, which I tend to score highly on. As I was taking the test, however, I realized that my score was probably not going to be very high, based on the questions being asked, and my answers to those questions.

It is important to find out your emotional intelligence score because it helps you to find out what areas you need to improve on. From my score, and the feedback I received on my test, I believe I need to work on understanding my own emotions, and learning how to deal with my personal problems. If I improve in these areas, I think it will help improve my motivation levels, and confidence in helping others with their emotional problems.

· Go to the website http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=9757&cn=353

Read the information about how to manage your mood. How does this information relate to the text? Did you find it helpful? Why or why not?

This information relates to the text because it relates to “managing debilitative moods”. While it is not the same concepts presented in pages 158-162 of the text, it gives similar, as well as additional methods for helping to minimize debilitative moods and emotions.

I found the information to be very helpful. Many, if not all, of the concepts I had heard before. I found this article to be very good in reminding me of certain ways I could soothe certain emotions, tensions, and moods. My favorite out of all of the methods presented in the article is the Progressive Muscle Relaxation (or PMR) method. This is a self-soothing technique I used to use in high school, but had forgotten in the craziness of college life. I will definitely be trying to use it more often again!

· Go to the website http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s184614.htm

What is your opinion of this article?

I find this topic to be interesting, but not anything new. I have seen and heard about this concept before in many of my psychology classes. Because of this, it was not a very exciting article. On the other hand, as I said before, the concept is really interesting, and something I would find fascinating to see firsthand!

Chapter 3

· Go to the website https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html

Take one of the tests. How does this website connect with chapter 3?

This website connects to chapter 3 because it deals with organization and stereotyping. I took two different tests, one dealing with disabled vs. abled symbols, etc., and one dealing with black vs. white in association with weapons. Both of these are designed to detect a preference in association of each category.

· Go to the website http://keirsey.com/sorter/instruments2.aspx?partid=0

Take the test. Determine your personality temperament. How will this test help you with personal relationships? Jobs? Any other observations?

My personality temperament, according to the website, is “Idealist”. This test could help me with personal relationships by helping me know how to interact with others, or help others interact with me in order to have harmonious relationships. If I can better understand how my own personality operates, I can better understand how to react to others.

This test could also help with jobs, because it can help me focus on finding a job that would work better with my temperament. I can also explain my temperament to my superiors to help them understand why I do things a certain way. In that case, my boss and I, together with these results, can find a position for me that will create the best work environment, which would result in the most productivity.

· Go to the website http://glennrowe.net/BaronCohen/EmpathyQuotient/EmpathyQuotient.aspx

What is your empathy quotient? Are you surprised? Why or why not?

My empathy quotient is 40. I was slightly surprised by this. I was especially surprised, and also saddened, to find out that I was on the lower end of the average group. I would have guessed myself to be most likely still average, but a higher scoring average. I know that I am not the most empathetic person, but I also think that I have a fairly decent ability to empathize with others.

Chapter 2

Pick the 10 words that describe the most fundamental aspects of who you are:

1. Religious

2. Sister

3. Eccentric

4. Friendly

5. Loyal

6. Determined

7. Dreamer

8. Smart

9. Short

10. Nonathletic

What types of descriptors seem most fundamental to your self-concept?

The types of descriptors that are most fundamental to my self-concept are probably my strong beliefs, social roles, and my moods/feelings.

What descriptors do you see as the most vulnerable to change?

The descriptors that are most vulnerable to change would be my appearance and physical condition. My moods and feelings are also vulnerable to change.

Do you think others would describe you as you have yourself? Why or why not?

I do think that others who know me would describe me fairly similarly to how I have described myself. I believe that because I have heard my friends talk about me, and how they view me before. They’re initial description of me would be “crazy!”, but if asked about specific traits, I think that they would agree with what I have listed myself.

· Go to the website http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1968rosenjacob.html

What did you think about this article? Do you buy into self-fulfilling prophesies?

I thought that this article was very interesting. I was concerned about testing out the Pygmalion Effect in schools because I assumed they would not only test positive self-fulfilling prophecies, but also negative. I was pleased to find that they chose to only test positive effects, for obvious ethical reasons. I found their results to be interesting, though not very surprising. I do buy into the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies, as I have seen them play out in my own life. In the case of a teacher/student, if the teacher truly believes that a student is destined to succeed in their classroom, they are more likely to treat them with special attention, and encourage them in their academic growth. In the same way, if a teacher believes that a student is bound to fail, then they are likely to pay less attention to them, or grade them more harshly, resulting in the student getting discouraged and doing poorly in the class.

· Go to the website

http://www.parenting.com/article/Pregnancy/Development/Boost-Your-Babys-Self-Esteem

Check out these tips for parents on how to increase a child’s confidence and self-esteem in the early years. Do you agree with these tips/Myths? Which tip do you believe is most helpful?

I thought this was a very good article. I agreed with all of the truths and tips that they gave. I did, however, semi-agree with Myth 1: “Your newborn will turn out to be a wimp if you pick her up every time she cries.”. I thought that this myth was not completely true, but also not completely false either. I think it is important for children, even infants, to learn that they cannot always have all of the attention. I don’t, however, agree with never picking an infant up and always letting them “cry it out”. I think that it is important for a baby’s self-esteem to be held, and shown that they are cared for.

As for the other tips and myths, I found the last one to be the most helpful. It pointed out that while babies may not understand words, they easily pick up on facial expressions and vocal tones. For this reason it is important to be careful to not present a negative tone or facial expression too often around infants. I think that this may be the hardest for parents of multiple young children, where they may not intent to be negative; but out of exhaustion/frustration with other children present a negative tone/expression.

Chapter 1

My expectations for this class:

My expectations for this class are to learn more about interpersonal communication. I expect to learn more about why people react certain ways in certain situations. I expect to learn how to better react in certain situations in order to communicate better. I expect to learn more about the communication process in general. I also expect to mostly just have a lot of fun while learning at the same time!

Communication Skills Test:

I took the Communication Skills Test found at http://discoveryhealth.queendom.com/questions/communication_short_1.html . My results score was 55. According to the website, this score means that my communication skills are average. I would agree with this result for the most part. I do not consider myself to be an excellent communicator. On the other hand, I also don’t think that I am necessarily a terrible communicator. I think my communication skills depend on my situation and my position in that situation.

What are the unique qualities of your relationships?

All of my relationships are very unique from each other. My relationship with one of my best friends, Josh, consists of us constantly picking on each other, while my relationship with my other best friend, Ashley is very opposite. We still pick on each other, but not near as much as I do with Josh. Ashley and I’s relationship is built off of a mutual understanding of each other, and lots of inside jokes! Another difference between my relationships with Ashley and Josh is that any conflicts between Josh and I are usually settled fairly quickly, while Ashley and I don’t really address any conflict. Conflicts between the two of us are usually resolved by spending a day or two apart from each other until we come to an understanding.

Relationships with my brothers and sisters are all very different as well. For example, my oldest brother and I are very close because we share the responsibility of looking out for our younger siblings. Usually the only conflicts we have between each other are about who is more responsible for what. My second brother and I’s relationship, however, is completely different. Christopher and I spend most of our time fighting with each other. These conflicts are usually not settled until something big happens and we have to confront each other. My two youngest brothers and I usually just spend our time picking on each other and discussing our similar likes and dislikes. My sister and I have the most unique relationship of all of them, because we are the only two girls in the family, and also because there is 11 years in between us. Even though there is a huge age difference, we still get along fairly well. Our relationship consists mostly of discussing the things she is interested in, and trying to teach her about being a “sweet, young lady”.

How irreplaceable are your relationships?

Some of my relationships are fairly irreplaceable. For example, my friendships with Ashley and Josh are hard to replace because they are my best friends, and we know each other so well. This is true, despite me only knowing them for 1-2 years! The relationships with my family cannot be replaced because they are my family, and nobody can duplicate the experiences we have been through in the past years. On the other hand, relationships with people such as professors and my pastor are easier to replace because I have not know them as long as my family, or as closely as my best friends. In between the two extremes are people like my college minister, whom I have known for the same amount as my pastor and professors. Chad is more irreplaceable because I have grown closer to him as we have worked together the past three years.

How much interdependence characterizes your different relationships?

My different relationships have very different levels of interdependence. The interdependence between my family is not as strong as it used to be, because we no longer live together, and lead very different lives. We still have some level of interdependence, however, because what some of us does affects the other members of our family. My interdependence with my friends, on the other hand, is much stronger. This is because we do a lot of things together, and depend on each other to do certain things, and fulfill certain roles in each others’ lives. My interdependence with certain friends from high school, however, is pretty much non-existent. This is because we have moved on with our lives, and what each of us does has absolutely no affect on our other old friends.

Compare the amounts of self-disclosure present in your relationships along the p. 25 impersonal-interpersonal spectrum.

My self-disclosure present in almost all of my relationships is fairly low. For the most part, I do not self-disclose much information. The biggest exception to this is my two best friends, and also my mother on occasion. I may self-disclose basic information, but as far as anything more than that surface level information, most people do not know that much about me. This is even the case for people I’m decently close to, such as my college minister, and certain family members!