Final Week

(Regarding Chapter 13) Which of the research methods listed in Table 13.3 seem the most interesting? Assume you want to study some aspect of deception. Frame a research question. Which method would you choose to answer the question. Why?

I really like the "ethnography" research method, because it relies heavily on up-close personal experience and sometimes participation, so the research is not limited to strictly observation. This research relies on documentation, interviews and observation to gather its results. It's a great way to tap the local points of view as it tells you right away what you need to know, because the source of information is the people living there and not documents written by somebody.

Formulated question:

Name a situation where you had to deceive somebody in order to make the situation better? I would use qualitative research to gather the data needed, because this allows you to use surveys and then you can ask a lot of open-ended questions to find out what you are looking for.

Final Week

2). What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about that concept/s that you found interesting?

I really found the concept of "perception" to be quite intriguing. Being that it is one of the oldest fields in psychology, we are still having trouble explaining that field and how to correctly perceive a person.

There are different types of perception that I learned: Phenomenal based strictly on observation and psychological. I also learned that there's passive perception, which is making thoughts about something or somebody based on your surroundings. I would also like to learn more about the brain and what really occurs inside as we are making perceptions about people and or things. Another goal of mine is to learn about the speed that we tend to perceive things.

Week of 5/10-5/13

3). Pick one other concept in the book that you feel needs further discussion?

One concept that needs further discussion is the concept of "self-disclosure." Many people struggle with that concept, because it is hard to judge how a person will feel when we tell them something personal. Often we feel that we can tell that person anything that is on our minds, but sometimes we get a reaction from them that we were not expecting.

Often they will not return the favor of self-disclosing to us, and this makes us feel like we were cheated of their honesty. Perhaps if people knew how to best measure when and what to disclose, they would not struggle with this concept as much.

Interesting concept of the week

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I really found the concept of "need gratification" interesting. It talks about why do receivers (people) turn to the media in the first place. According to many theorists who argue that they do so in order to fulfill preexisting needs. The author says, "uses and gratifications research focuses on the needs that motivate media consumers."

Receivers know what they need and they go about getting it. Another example woiuld be the research done by Herta Herzog who wanted to see why women turn to soap operas. Herzog determined that listeners used the soaps for emotional release, fantasy escape and used the show for advice with their own problems.

I never really thought about why people watch and listen to media; I always thought it was for pure entertainment only, but clearly there are some psychological factors involved in it.

Marshall McLuhan's medium

2). Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.

I would have to agree with Mr. McLuhan that the medium is the "message meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived." He's pretty much saying that the media itself and not the content, should be the focus of the study.

The medium has a great impact on the society, mainly by how it is delivered i.e. television, radio, internet, and all the characteristics that are tied to it.

I also agree with Mr. McLuhan in regards that the television doesn't have a big impact on the society, as with television one has to watch it over and over again in order to have an impact on the brain. He also says that people just fill in details when watching a movie, thus it is much harder to be really affected when watching television.

This begs the question: Do kids then really get affected by watching violent programs, or is this what the government is trying to sensor?

April 29th - May 2

1). Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?


I have not made any friends in cyberspace, because I always felt that face to face friendships are more valuable and one's time should be invested in f2f relationships only.

Cyberspace relationships do have a chance to be genuine and real, but most of the times people are often playing a character on the web in order to make themselves more desirable.

Having a cyberspace relationship allows the person to avoid a lot of akward and or emotional situations that come with being in a f2f relationship. They can choose when and how they will respond to a message and don't have to be put on a spot or think fast. You can also save a relationship via text messaging. The problem is that with cyberspace relationships, people don't get to interact the way we were born to do. There are no facial expresions, no body language to convey how one feels about the other person and that is an important part of human interaction.

It is scary to think what kind of contact we will have between each other in the years to come, because of the technological advances that are coming.

Week of April 19-25

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading (not already discussed for this week) that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

I really liked the concept of "Developing Professionalism at the Organization." I agree with the author that co-workers are not at work to become best of friends or friends at all, but it is required of them to get along in a professional matter in order to complete a task each and every day.

I work at a professional organizational and there have been instances where I saw that professionalism should be encouraged at this company more than it is already. People are people at the end of the day and we all have emotions which come out sometimes, but for the most part employees at my company do their best to put aside their personal thoughts and differences and come together to achieve a common goal of completing the work.