This assignment fulfills the following course objectives:
- 1. Identify personal and cultural influences on identity and perception, and demonstrate their impact in interpersonal interactions.
- 3. Explain basic theories of interpersonal communication, including language, nonverbal, listening, relational dynamics, and conflict.
Background: If you’ve been looking for an excuse to rewatch your favorite movie, this is it! Read through the questions below and then choose a movie you love that will allow you to answer the questions thoroughly. When choosing a movie, please keep in mind that you must give at least three examples to support each of your responses to the questions below.
Instructions:
- Paragraph One: Introduction
- Give a brief overview of the movie in your own words. Do not copy from IMDB or a similar site. Keep in mind that I may not have seen the movie before, so you should explain the plot and essential characters so that I can understand.
- Give a brief overview of the movie in your own words. Do not copy from IMDB or a similar site. Keep in mind that I may not have seen the movie before, so you should explain the plot and essential characters so that I can understand.
- Body: Answer the following questions in order. Number each one.
- Provide examples of two types of "bad listening practices" demonstrated in the movie. Define the type, then give three examples per listening practice (total of 6 examples).
- Identify examples of self-disclosure made by characters in this movie. What was the purpose of the self-disclosure? Was the self-disclosure appropriate? Was it reciprocated? Did the benefits outweigh the costs? Please include 3 examples in your discussion.
- How much did culture impact the perceptions in the main relationship? If you don’t think it had an impact, explain why. Please include at least 2 examples in your discussion.
- Considering the characteristics of a competent communicator, would you consider anyone from the movie relationship to be a competent communicator? Why or why not? Please include at least 2 behavioral examples in your discussion.
- Did you observe any lapses in ethical communication behavior? Did anyone in the movie show a strong ethical perspective? Please explain and give at least 2 examples in your discussion.
- Final paragraph: Conclusion
- Wrap up your paper nicely with a brief conclusion paragraph.
Guidelines:
- You may label each paragraph with introduction/conclusion or the number of the question you're answering. Your paper doesn't have to be a complete essay.
- For maximum instructor happiness, please number your questions in the body of the paper. Otherwise it gets really confusing for me.
- There is no page requirement for this paper; however, keep in mind that each question requires at least three examples and therefore you should answer them in-depth. Don't press your luck by handing in a one-page paper.
After going through this module, please answer the following questions:
1. How has your perception of "personal space" and touch changed in the past year? Explain.
2. Give at least two examples of how you personally use technology to show nonverbal communication through mediated communication: things like texts, Zoom calls, and Canvas discussion posts. (You can pick other options, too!)
C.ListeningThe chapter gives examples of bad listening practices (section 7.4). Share with us an example of when you weren't listening quite as well as you could have. 1. What type of bad listening practice were you engaged in? 2. What do you think was your reason for it? 3. Now knowing what you know about good communication skills, how would you better approach the situation? How would you have responded differently?
D.Language/Emotional ExpressionWe touched on using behavioral descriptions in Chapter 3 (perception), and about taking responsibility for our feelings/emotions (chapter 9), let's talk a little about "I language". This is another step in the same idea- we are responsible for what we think and say and do. So our language should reflect it! We have a tendency to fall into a "you make me feel...." kind of pattern. It might help you to keep in mind that any sentence that starts with "you" is not likely to get the kind of response you want (unless you really are trying to pick a fight). "You" comes across as very attacking even when we don't mean it to be!
Can you tell us about a situation where you started a conversation with "you" and it didn't go well? What would the same idea/sentence have looked like if you were taking more responsibility for the feeling- and used "I language" (section 9.1)?
E.Communication ClimatesRead carefully section 10.3 on confirming and disconfirming messages. The thing about these is we have a tendency to use many of the negative messages without realizing it. Describe two situations, one where you used a positive message, and one where you used a more negative message. What were the outcomes on the communication climate?