Web Lecture 5

In web lecture 5 it was interesting to read the section on emotion and persuasion. It was interesting to read about the car example. When I purchased my first car I knew what I wanted so it didn’t take much persuasion of the car salesperson. I was also emotional after I about the car, but that was because I had put my self in some debt and at the time was 17 years old and didn’t really know what I had gotten myself in to. It was also interesting to read if you were a happy person then you were more optimistic about persuasive messages. If you are a sad or angry person you tended to be more closely to weak persuasive messages which the happy individuals tended to ignore.

Chapter 13

Conflict patterns was a very interesting section in chapter 13. There are 3 different types of conflict strategies, variety, continuity, and symmetry. Variety is how flexible people are during conflict. If there is a lack of flexibility is usually means that the individuals are dissatisfied. Continuity is the range of topics covered during conflict. Symmetry id the type of reciprocity of behavior, basically individuals treat others the way they are treated. In all these conflict patterns I tend to lean towards the variety one. I really don’t like any sort of conflict and I tend to be flexible in any sort of conflict that I may be in.

Chapter 12

In chapter 12 Marwell and Schmitt’s compliance messages was interesting to read about their five different types of power. They are reward, coercive, referent, expert, and legitimate. I found the reward power most interesting. The reward power is when one person is trying to influence another person by giving rewards or benefits. This is something I see happen a lot. I know this is something that my parents used with me when I was a little girl and at times they still do it to this day. Also I have noticed in my workplace that patents will say to their children, if you eat all your lunch then you can eat the doughnut when you have finished. So they are giving their child a reward for finishing all their breakfast or lunch.

Web Lecture 4 Jealousy

In web lecture 4 I really enjoyed reading about chapter 10. A section that I found really interesting was the part on jealousy. The study on jealousy that increases relationship rewards was especially interesting to me. I have discovered in the past year that when it comes to relationships I do tend to be a bit jealous. My last relationship I had we were never had the title of boyfriend and girlfriend. I was definitely insecure in my last relationship. Whenever I saw my guy talking to another girl I got extremely jealous. I obviously thought that this girl could be a potential threat since I never had the security of boyfriend/girlfriend. When the relationship was over and I looked back on it I realized that I really had nothing to be jealous about and others girls weren’t really a threat, it was just something that was all in my head.

Chapter 11 Stages of Coming Apart

In chapter 11 I enjoyed reading about Knapp and Vangelisti’s stages of coming apart. The five stages are differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding and terminating. The first stage is differentiating which is the first stage of a couple coming apart. The second stage is circumscribing which is the main stage is a change in communication between those in the relationship. The third stage is the stagnating stage where the couple put emotional and physical distance between each other. The fourth stage is the avoiding stage where the couple avoids contact with each other. The fifth and last stage is terminating which is when the relationship is completely done and over. Reading about these five stages makes me look back on past relationships and realize that I did go through all these stages. Some stages seem to happen more than others or at least are more apparent for me. I always seem to have the avoidance stage where me and the other person just don’t talk.

Chapter 10 Platonic Relationships

In chapter 10 reading about maintaining platonic relationships I found to be very interesting. The book defines platonic relationships as friendships that lack sexual involvement, despite possibilities for such involvement.(p 303) I find this concept meaningful because many people in society have cross sex friendships but it is hard for others to accept the fact that they are “just friends”. This relates to my own interpersonal experience because I have many platonic friendships and plan on keeping them that way. Also many of my friends have platonic relationships, nowadays platonic friendships are very common.

Chapter 9 Interpersonal Attraction

In chapter 9 I found the concept of interpersonal attraction very interesting. Interpersonal attraction refers to the various forces that draw people together, friends, as well as lovers. (p.249) Attraction involves emotional responses toward someone else, and beliefs, evaluations, and behaviors of that person. There are three dimensions of interpersonal attraction, they are social, task, and physical. Its important to remember that attraction isn’t just the persons physical and facial looks. There are much more things that go into being attracted to a person. This concept is relevant to me because I have been attracted to different guys throughout my life. There have been times when I wasn’t physically attracted to a guy but I liked his personality and his morals so the relationship still worked.