Nonverbal Communication

The one concept I felt need further discussion was nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication accounts for the majority of what is heard and understood by a listener. Nonverbal communication has the ability to persuade, confuse and empower the people directly around you. When your verbal communication and nonverbal communication agree, the message you are communicating will be better understood and digested. Wordless messages or kinesics are the way we communicate by sending and receiving signals using body language, gestures, postures, proximity, haptics, and facial expressions. We can reinforce, contradict, substitute, complement or emphasize our verbal communication with non-verbal cues such as gestures, expressions and vocal inflection. Avoiding eye contact when we tell someone we love them communicates something far different than do spoken words, just as a bright smile when we say congratulations reinforces the sincerity of our words. Watching other people's body language, facial expressions and tendencies, and being conscious of your own physicality and feelings can enhance nonverbal communication.

Favorite and Least Favorite Part

My favorite part of the class would simply have to be because it is online. You can go about and do your work whenever you have time too. I like that there is no set class time it just allows for more flexibility with your time during the day. Having a full week to get your work done is a relief especially if you have piles and piles of work to do from other courses. Taking quizzes and tests online is less of a hassle as well because you can complete it whenever. I believe the blogs really helped with communication among classmates and helped us to express ourselves in our own way. My least favorite thing about this class would probably be the length requirements on the blogs. I feel like for some of the posts I could easily get my point across in way less than one hundred and fifty words. I have no other problem with this class at all.

What I Learned

I have learned a lot of new terms and concepts while taking this communication and human relationships course. Above that I have built skills I need to become a much better communicator. This course and the text along with it have given me a logical introduction to the concepts, principles, and skills of interpersonal communication in our society. I am better equipped to take on challenges and choices that may affect communication in relationships by taking this course. I have learned about topics such as awareness of emotions and forgiveness, interracial relationships, safe sex, homosexual relationships, race related conflicts, and characteristics of building a strong intimate relationship. If we need to work through issues in relationships, we can do it effectively if we lay a foundation of a supportive and trusting climate. Overall the main concept I have learned is that communication is the basis of meaning in human relationships and it is how we build, refine, keep, and transform connections with others.

The Family Life Cycle

The concept that most appealed to me from chapter 12 was the family life cycle. Families follow a general pattern of development when going throughout life. The family life cycle is broken up into seven different stages but not all of them apply to everyone. For instance it can be different if a couple has no children or is homosexual. The first stage is establishing a family, in this phase a couple settles into a relationship and works out interaction patterns, expectations, and routines for their life together. The second stage is enlarging a family which includes the addition of children whether it is through conception or adoption. The third stage is developing a family which involves parents raising their children. The fourth stage is encouraging independence and this means to let the children evolve on their own as they go through adolescence. The fifth stage is launching a child which is when children leave home to go to college or live on their own. The sixth stage is post launching of children which is after the departure of children from home when the parents have to redefine their marriage. And finally the seventh stage, retirement which is a time to do what they want with their life.

Marriage in Fifty Years

With the way our society goes about now it’s tough to say what marriage will be like over the next fifty years. Nowadays marriage is a joke with roughly fifty percent of them ending in divorce. I can definitely see that number escalate with today’s cultural values. These days people go through relationships like nothing, they are hardly serious. I’m not saying that everyone’s relationship will be like this but it will be the majority in the next five decades. I can see the divorce rate going up from about fifty percent to seventy five percent. Right now being unfaithful in a marriage is common which leads to divorce most of the time. With our generation there are a lot of individuals that do not believe in the constitution of marriage and refuse to get married at all. That can also be a possibility; people will just not get married at all. But who am I to predict the future of marriage. 

My Definition of Family

My personal definition of family is those who love us unconditionally and treat us with respect and consideration. I think there is the family you are born into without choice, and then there's the family you build for yourself when you figure out who you should be close to through life. My definition of family goes deeper than just blood relation. For example, I have three friends that I have grown up with basically my whole life and I consider them my brothers. I believe family members support each other emotionally, physically, and financially. Family is there for you through thick and thin no matter what. They are there for you just to hangout or if something really troubling is going on in your life. I believe all of the relationships listed in chapter twelve fit into my definition of family. It doesn’t matter if you’re homosexual, heterosexual, step siblings, or even just close friends.

Styles of Loving

The concept I found most interesting and chose to talk about after reading chapter eleven is the styles of loving. This was new to me because I had no idea what so ever that there were more than one way to love let alone six different ways. The six different styles of loving are Eros, storge, ludus, pragma, mania, and agape. The three primary styles of love are eros, storge, and ludus. Eros is a powerful, passionate style of love that blazes to life suddenly and dramatically. Storge is a comfortable, even-keeled kind of love based on friendship and compatibility. Ludus is the final primary style of love and it is a playful love. The three secondary styles of love are pragma, mania, and agape. Pragma is a sensible or practical type of love. Mania is passionate, sometimes obsessive love that includes emotional extremes.  And finally agape, which is a selfless love that is based on giving to others, not on receiving rewards from them.