Never Important Enough

THE 5 STEPS OF LISTENING:
1) Receiving: hearing, attending
2) Understanding: learning, deciphering meaning
3) Remembering: recalling, retaining
4) Evaluating: judging, criticizing
5) Responding: answering, giving feedback


DIFFERENT STYLES OF EFFECTIVE LISTENERS:
1) Empathetic and objective: you express and understanding of thinking and feeling empathy.  You try to understand what a person feels.
2) Nonjudgmental and Critical: you listen with an open-mind and try to put aside your own biases.
3) Surface and depth: You look for the deeper meaning behins everything; this may include both verbal and non verbal communication.
4) Polite and impolite: You should avoid interrupting the speaker; give positive feedback; maintain eye contact.
5)Active and inactive: you should express understand of the speaker's feelings and ask questions.

DISCONFIRMATION AND CONFIRMATION
Disconfirmation is a type of communication in which we ignore someone's presence.  It is similar to saying that a person and what they have to say are not worth serious attention or effort; they are insignificant and we should spend time worrying about them.
Confirmation, the opposite of disconfirmation, involves acknowledging the presence of a person and what they have to say.
Both types of communication play a big role in society nowadays.  Disconfirmation, especially, is used all around the world in the form of discrimination.

OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE:
1) Racist language: expresses racist attitude, which degrades a particular racial or ethnic group.
2) Heterosexist language: includes derogatory  terms used for lesbians and gay men.
3) Ageist language: prejudice against people of certain age groups.
4) Sexist language: puts down someone because of his or her gender.

FUNCTIONS OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION:
1) integrating with verbal messages
2) forming impressions
3) defining relationships
4)structuring conversation
5) influencing and deceiving
6) expressing emotions

10 CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION:
1) Body communication: movements, body appearance
2)Facial communication: smile, frown ect.
3) Eye communication: eye contact or eye avoidance
4) Space communication: intimate, personal, social, public distance
5)Artifactual communication: clothing, jewelry, color, decorations
6) Touch communication: Touch and touch avoidance
7) Paralanguage: it has to do with no what you say, but HOW you say it.
8) SIlence: to think, to lessen anxiety, to prevent communication, or to communicate emotions
9)Time communication: you think about different points in time and what is happening
10) Smell communication: attraction, taste, memory, and identification messages.

Conversation with a friend!

Today, I had a lovely conversation with me friend, Leah.  The conversation displayed all of the converational parts for an effective conversation.  It started out with an opening statement of Hi, how are you? Then there is some light conversation, then it gets down to business, generally a question.  Then the other person responds to the question.  Then there is a closing statement of See you later!
Here is how it went down, enjoy!

logara: Hi! How are you?

me: Hi! I am good, how are you?

logara: I'm good. Just got done with class for the day. Are you liking all of this snow?

me: I like it a lot but not walking in it. Are you excited for Christmas?

logara: I am SO ready for Christmas. Hey, have you completed any of the blogs for our Human Communications course?

me: So am I! Why yes I have completely some blogs for our Human Communications class. I still have a few to do though.

logara: Me too! I was wondering if you would like to work on them together and save a ton of time?

me: That sounds like a good idea!

Sent at 3:39 PM on Tuesday

logara: Awesome! I have a large load of homework to do tonight, so I will talk to you later!

me: Ok, see you soon!

logara: Bye!

me: Bye!

Sent at 3:41 PM on Tuesday

Effective Conversation

Have you ever had a really really good conversation with someone and you never wanted it to end?

Well the other day, I was having a conversation over the phone with my good friend Dan and it was just the best conversation.  We just talked about random stuff that was happening in our lives but I think that made it good was that it was a two sided conversation.  It wasn't just one person talking and the other person continually saying "Yep. Yep. Cool. Yep."  We both asked questions and this made it seemed like we actually cared about what the other person had to say.  I like it when people seem interested in what I have to say, It is a major self-esteem booster.  Another reason why I liked the conversation is that it was very intelligent and thought-provoking.  Sometimes you just need to have very deep conversations with someone and not just talk about vain stuff, like the majority of people now-a-days do.  It really got me thinking and I enjoyed every moment of mine and Dan's conversation.

Another thing I was thinking about the other day is those diclaimers seen on tv and other forms of media.  One in particular are those infomercial diclaimers at the beginning and the end that go somewhat like this :" The following is a paid advertisement.  The views and opinions do not necessarily represent the views of this tv station".  This disclaimer is used at both the beginning and the end of every paid program on tv.  It is used to show that the tv station does not endorse any of the prodeucts and that they cannot be liable for any false/incorrect information or products sold in the infomercial.  I think that this disclaimer works but only to some etent.  Most people watching infomercials don't even pay much attention to this disclaimer simply because it is annoying and not very memorable. 

$10,000 in 48 Hours

$10,000.  That's right, 10,000 big ones.  If you had $10,000 to spend in 48 hours, what would you spend it on?

1. I would buy thisTV
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+32%26%2334%3B+Class+-+LED+-+720p+-+60Hz+-+HDTV/5605904.p?id=1218671140673&skuId=5605904
$329.99


2. I would buy this camera
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+EOS+Rebel+T3i+18.0-Megapixel+DSLR+Camera+with+18-55mm+Lens+-+Black/1980124.p?id=1218304066943&skuId=1980124
$649.99

3. I would buy this Macbook Pro laptop computer.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+MacBook%26%23174%3B+Pro+with+Retina+Display+-+15.4%22+Display+-+8GB+Memory+-+512GB+Flash+Storage/5430532.p?id=1218646127071&skuId=5430532&st=MacBook_Pro_Retina_Display_69878&cp=1&lp=3
$2,687.99

4. I would buy this iPod Touch for my sister, because she has always wanted one.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+iPod+touch%26%23174%3B+64GB+MP3+Player+(5th+Generation+-+Latest+Model)+-+Blue/1167461.p?id=1218228712734&skuId=1167461&st=5th_Generation_iPod_Touch_201209&cp=1&lp=7
$394.99

5. I would buy my mom this new range stove, because ours does not always work correctly.

$749.99

6. I would buy this grill for my dad, because he enjoys grilling us food and has always been talking about buying a really nice grill.

$399.00

6. I would buy my best friend a $500 Kohl's giftcard so she can buy whatever she wants.


$500

7. I would buy my sister $500 worth of itunes giftcards, to go along with her new iPod.
$500

8. I would buy 4 iPads, one for me, my mom, my dad, and my sister.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+iPad%26%23174%3B+with+Retina+display+Wi-Fi+-+16GB+-+Black/6208417.p?id=1218720729295&skuId=6208417&st=iPad_with_Retina_display_70513&cp=1&lp=2
$499.99 x4=$1999.96

9.  I would buy my cousin a $500 Target giftcard.
$500

10.  I would buy a couple of pairs of TOMS shoes. AKA the most comfortable shoe ever.

11. I would go the the Mall of America and spend the remaining money on clothes, shoes and other various items, such as jewelery, cosmetics, lotions, ect.









          

TOTAL: $10,000

Communication in an organization

Verbal aggressiveness occurs quite often and more than people may not realize how common it it.  It can happen from a peer, intimate partner, family member, or basically from anyone.
This leads to the question how would you expect to respond to verbal aggression.  Ideally, I would try to reaffirm the other person's sense of competence and compliment the other person as appropriate. This would help dissapate the tension that already could be present in the situation.I would also try to allow the other person to state his or her position fully before I respond and avoid interrupting.
This is not what always happens.  Generally, I try to avoid situations that would instigate verbal aggression in the first place.  If I did get into a situation like that, I would probably just back off and get super self-conscious(I am the type of person that HATES getting yelled at or lectured in anyway; it makes me feel really bad). 

      I feel as though formal communication is more efficient in organizations that require an extensive amount of communicating due to the fact that is is sanctioned by the organization itself and are organizationally focused.  It follows a very organized set of rules and order of doing things and I feel as though this is the most effective way of communication.
     The fact that formal communication is a sanctioned by the organization itself promotes a sense of order and decreases the amount of confusion that is felt in the system.  Formal communication is easier because there is a set of rules and people who are in charge of a specific jobs, which adds even more organization to it. 
     The fact that formal communication has specific rules and regulations set by the leaders of an organization, it will help prevent confusion that could happen if information was passed through the grapevine.  I think that formal communication is way more efficient, especially for a professional work setting.

Now to switch to a more serious topic:  Sexual harassment in the work place.
If I was sexually harassed by my boss once, I would probably keep it to myself but if it persists then I would talk to human resources and try to get it fixed.  I would also try to find a friend at work because you need some sort of support system that you can rely on.  This is not a easy subject to talk to, and it can be very debilitating to the victim. 

10 of my Favorite Things!

It is hard to only think of 10 of your favorite things.  I have a list that could go on and on and on and on...but I thought I would give it a try:

  

1. I love to read.  Pretty much up for any genre of book, except non-fiction boring books about politics .

One of my favorite books that I have read recently.

 

 2. Nail polish.  I have a weird obsession with painting my nails, and I always change the color.  My favorite color of nail polish if "Blue Freeze" by Maybelleine ColorStay.

3. Bath and Body Works  is one of my favorite stores.  Some of my favorite scents include: Warm Vanilla sugar,  Secret wonderland, Sweet Pea, and Be Enchanted.

 If you would like to smell good too, go here:http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/home/index.jsp

4. Ed Sheeran! British+beautiful voice=Perfection.  If you haven't heard of Ed Sheeran, you must be living under a rock.

Here is one of his more famous songs, but I would recommend that you check out all of his songs.

 

 5. I absolutely LOVE puppies and dogs.  They are so adorable and cuddly.  My favorite kinds of dogs are labrador retrievers and Siberian Husky.

6. Any kind of chocolate, except for the ones with nuts in them.  Chocolate is perfectly delicious without them.  My favorite kind is probably Ghiradelli: Milk and Caramel Squares.  Buy me a bag of these and I will love you forever.

7. My favorite school subject is CHEMISTRY.  I find the concept of chemistry very interesting and I like how it makes you think critically and uses all of your mental capacity in memorizing different chemical formulas, equations, numbers and whatnot. I hope to one day have a career in either chemistry or biology.  Here is a little chemistry joke that will(maybe...) brighten your day:

8. My phone, obviously.  I probably could not live without it.  It does everything for me, and makes my life about x89721947923874975 better and easier.  

9. The color blue.  Even more than half my wardrobe consists of the color blue.  All my family and friends know that I love the color blue and make fun of me sometimes.  I hope you have a very BLUE day! Just kidding, it was a joke, I hope you have a good day.

10.  And most importantly, my favorite things are my family and friends.  I know that this is a bit cliche, but it 100% true.  I could not live without them.  They have shaped me into who I am today.  They have always been there to cheer me up and give advice, and they always believe in me.  Cheesy, I know, but it's true.