Week 15, Post 3: Audience Adaptation

Griffin says that, "By mindfully creating a person-centered message specific to the situation, we increase the possibility of achieving our communication goals" (477). Audience adaptation is important in communication because it helps us reach out to those we are speaking to. Griffin points out that audience adaptation is most successful when we "adapt our message to the attitudes, actions, or abilities of the audience" (478). The only problem with this is that as speakers, we may loose our authenticity and compromise our own beliefs. It's a thin line we must walk. It is wrong to ignore the audience, but it is also wrong to cater to them completely. The best answer is to find a happy medium. We must keep the audience in mind but not compromise ourselves to the fullest degree.

Week 15, Post 2: Motivation

Griffin's thread of motivation ties many theories together. Griffin states that, "Communcation is motivated by our basic social need for affiliation, acheivement, and control, as well as our strong desire to reduce our uncertainty and anxiety" (472). The need for affiliation ties in both social penetration theory and the spiral of silence. Social penetration theory says that we acheive affiliation through self-disclosure. On the other hand, "fear of isolation- the loss of affiliation- is what causes those in the minority to remain silent" (472). Our human need to be affiliated with others is really strong. No one really likes being alone and in the minority. We have a basic human need of wanting to be with others. This can explain cliques in high school. We all have this need to be accepted and feel a part of the group. If we speak out against the group, we risk being kicked out of the group. Communication is motivated by our need for affiliation because we communicate in ways that don't endanger our affiliations. This happens on a daily basis and we try our best not to jeopardize our affiliations. I think my own communication is strongly motivated by the need for affiliation. I'm not sure if I can explain this need, except that it is basic and instinctual.

Week 15, Post 1: Keep Looking

I really like how Griffin ends the book by saying that we should "keep looking" for new communication theories (485). Communication theories are not limited to what's in our book. There is still much to be discovered about the subject. Griffin urges us to go deeper and look intensely at something that fascinates us about communication. Perhaps we may uncover a theory or phenomena of our own.

Reflecting back over the semester, there is so much more to communication than I could have ever imagined. And as Griffin points out, it doesn't end with this text. There is more out there and as "Comm Scholars" it is in our hands to discover more. Communication is intwined in every part of our lives. Understanding how it works (and doesn't work) is important, especially for us Comm majors!

Week 12, Post 3: Name Changing

On page 457 of Chapter 35, name changing is discussed. When Cheris Kramarae was married she took the last name of her husband, which was Kramer. Ohio law required that she take her husband's last name. I don't consider myself an outright feminist but when I think about the "tradition" of taking your husband's last name, I suddenly realize how much we as women give up. I like Kramarae's idea of combining her last name Rae, with her husband's, Kramer. Apparantly, her husband did not change his last name. This "tradition" is really part of the law. And while you as a woman can choose to keep your last name, society will raise its eyebrow at you.



I also appreciated some of the terms that were shown in the excerpt from Kramarae and Treichler's Feminist Dictionary. Again, some of the common, traditional terms we use everyday are completely male-centered or gender-biased. Take the term "family man". As Kramarae points out, no one says that "family woman" because it's practically redundant. But a "family man", well that's a special thing. Not all men are all about their wife and kids. Again, we assume that women HAVE to be all about their husband and kids and if they aren't, there is something seriously wrong with them. Start thinking about some of the words that are in our everyday vocabularly. I know I have, and I realize there's a whole lot more behind a word than just it's definition.

Week 12, Post 2: Man Power

I found the section titled The Masculine Power to Name Experience in Chapter 35 to be very true. As with the standpoint theory, Kramarae notes the difference between the male and female experience in the world. Going further, she points out that "women's talk is subject to male control and censorship" (456). I never noticed that the phrase level playing field was so masculine. I know it's sports related but I never thought about the significance of the phrase. How ironic it is that a phrase related to making things equal between men and women is a "stereotypical masculine linguistic term" (456).

There are also way more derogatory terms for women than there are for men. One example given was the kinds of words that refer to the way that only women talk. These terms, such as catty, bitchy, and gossipy don't apply to male conversation. Also, there are practically ten times more gender-related terms that label women as sexually-loose than there are for men. Obviously, society has been male-dominated and the course language has taken is evident of that. So what do we do with these terms? It would be difficult to get rid of them, as some of them are popular even today. I'm not sure anything can really be done but it is important that muted women are given a voice in society.

Week 12, Post 1: Me Tarzan, You Jane

I really liked the section Chapter 34 about Women As A Marginalized Group. This section basically points out that men and women communicate differently. Julia Wood does not say that this is due to gender differences but rather "cultural expectations and the treatment that each group receives from the other" (444). It really all begins at birth. We "train" our children... we give girls dolls and dress them in pink. We give boys toy trucks and action figures. Essentially, boys and girls understand that they are treated a certain way. Harding and Wood also point out that not all men and women share the same standpoint. At one end of the spectrum, there are minority women, especially Black women who are lesbians. They "are almost always marginalized" (444).

This section also made me think of Tarzan and Jane as a good example of the difference between male and female communication. The way that Tarzan speaks is symbolic of how men communicate: straight to the point. Jane (who is also obviously more civilized) uses more words and uses her communication to build a relationship. We always think of men and women communicating differently, but when the standpoint theory is applied, it makes things more interesting.

Week 10, Post 3: Media Malady Effect

Media malady effect on page 367 in Chapter 28 is "negative economic headlines and stories that depress consumer sentiment and leading economic indicators". This effect seems to be occurring right now. There are so many negative headlines about our economy lately that it has hurt our trust in it. Seeing scary headlines about the crashing stock market and housing market has truly affected our feelings about the economy. In positive times, we seem more willing to buy. Right now, we are so concerned about the future and present situation that we are tightly holding on to whatever money we have. Because media organizations have the power to change our thinking, perhaps more positive stories would help boost the faith of consumers. I'm not sure what positive stories are our there, but if the media has such an effect, then it's worth a shot. The example of air safety and it's effect on the public is a good example. After 9/11, the number of people flying dropped significantly and stayed that way for a while. The negative images on the tv did not help the situation. The images of planes crashing into buildings stayed in a lot of people's minds. You would think that the media would use their power to make more people feel happier. Instead of constantly showing negative stories, the media should show ones that inspire and drive consumerism. Most of the news on tv now is depressing and it only makes you think of how horrible the world is. Perhaps a "feel good" approach to the news would change things.