concept

The one concept that stood out to me the most was the cognitive biases used to maintain prejudices. I related to this because for me personally, my personality is very shy, quiet, and reserved. I have been told on more than one occasion that I come across snobby or stuck up, but the truth is I’m just shy, and I think especially when I was in high school it also was the group I hung out with that got me that label. It is easy for people to judge one another by the way we think people act, but we have to remember that we are all humans and even though we may come off a certain way we shouldn’t judge. This easily happens to perceive people in certain ways by the group they hang out with, but we have to remember to keep an open mind because we don’t want others to judge us as well.

creatures of habit

 Do you agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict that we are “creatures of our culture” and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture? If so, how can we break through the limits of our cultures?

I definitely agree with Ruth Benedict that we are “creatures of our culture.”  I think most people are raised in the way that their parents have instilled certain beliefs on things, as we grow up we tend to instill and pass on these beliefs to our own children. I also think we tend to surround ourselves we those who share the same beliefs that we do. Our culture defines who we are and has a huge impact in how we live our lives. We are all born into a certain culture, and that part stays with us and has an influence on what we belief, the choices we make, and who we surround ourselves with. I do think that our habits and beliefs may change, for example I have seen people grow up in certain religious organizations but have realized as they got older it wasn’t something they believed in, but for the most part I believe our culture is something that stays with u and shapes who we are.

premises

Do you believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises? What social institutions and practices are based on these beliefs?

I am torn on these. I tend to go both ways on mutability. Mutability “assumes that our human behavior is shaped by environmental factors, and that the way to improve humans is to improve their physical and psychological circumstances.” I think as humans we make our own choices, and only we can allow whether our environmental factors can impact us, however I think it does depend on the person but as people we have choices.

On perfectibility, I do believe in this. I was raised a Christian, and my religious beliefs are similar to the perfectibility premise. I think everyone has choices and can make effort to choose to do good over bad.

On Rationality, I agree that most people make their decisions based on certain sound judgments. I think the average person can definitely decipher the truth through logical analysis.

The church is the main practice that comes to mind when thinking about who practices these premises, this is something I have experienced personally in my church.

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furniture arrangement and communicating

I loved reading about the concept of how furniture arrangement effects communication. Before this class I never thought about all the different ways we can communicate with each other and I would of never guessed something like furniture would have anything to do with communicating. It makes sense that the closer chairs are arranged that people are more likely to engage in a conversation where as if they are spread apart, people will not. Dominance in seating arrangement is interesting, for example it is so structured how we prepare seating for debates, classrooms etc. Having a certain person sit at the head of a table takes on a more authroiritve vibe. I relate to this as in family dinners, my father who is the head of our household and kind of runs everything always sits at the head of the table. Another example would be my practicum I currently am doing where I act in as a counselor. I make sure that I am in a certain chair, and my client is on a sofa. I sit across from them because it not only makes communicating easier but also I feel they are able to open up more. I also put them on a sofa and not a chair because they will feel comfortable talking and more relaxed in such a tense meeting.

cultures and non-verbal communication

After doing some research online I realized that almost every culture uses non-verbal communication differently. I originally thought that non-verbal communication was universal but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Some of the most interesting examples I found were in the middle east it is rude to hand an object to someone with your left hand and burping is a sign of appreciation for food in India which is interesting because it would be considered rude here in the US. In Latin America, it is expected to be touchy feely with people but here in the us that could be considered too sexual and uncomfortable for many. I even found some countries consider a handshake to be rude, which is one of the friendliest gestures we have here in the Us. I think the one thing that I found to be most universal would be facial expressions. I have never experienced a different cultures non-verbal communication but after I graduate I want to travel and this made me realize I need to study up on how to communicate properly in other countries.

body language

Nonverbal message can be very hard to interpret. It is very easy to misconstrue someone’s body language even though we are often taught signals to look out for.

For me personally, I tend to have more of a shy personality especially when I’m around people that I do not know. I tend to be stand offish and always cross my arms when I’m in this situation, I have often got told that people thought I was on the snobby side until they got to really know me, and I think it is due to how they have interpreted my body language. I think shy behaviors can be mistaken for negative behaviors, but for me personally it’s that I tend to me standoffish when I do not know people. Another example would be when people talk to me and don’t directly look me in they eye I often think that they do not want to continue the conversation but I think certain people just have a hard time making eye contact as I have a hard time not being stand offish with people I am not familiar with.