Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication Discussion Prompt #1 Online communication allows people the ability to create new identities. People can switch genders, race, age, etc. since the visual and auditory cues used in face-to-face encounters are not used. Do you think this practice is helpful, harmful, or both to people’s self-concept? Does it create ethical issues when presenting oneself as something they are not? Why or why not? What might be some reasons people do this? How could this be both useful and not useful? Discussion Prompt #2 Find a popular magazine and identify examples of the generalized other’s perspective. How does the media define desirable women and men? How is that different than what “regular” people define as desirable? Analyze the messages and how society responds to them. What impact does this have on our relationships? 2. Discussion Prompt #1 Identify and discuss an example of self-serving bias in a workplace. Describe how you engaged in self-serving bias to explain your own or a co- worker’s behavior, or how a co- worker engaged in self-serving

bias in explaining your or their behavior. How did this impact the situation and the relationship? Discussion Prompt #2 Analyze the attributional patterns you use to explain a mean or disappointing behavior by a good friend and by someone whom you do not like. Analyze how differences in your feelings about the two individuals affect your attributional tendencies. 3. Discussion Prompt #1 Identify and define at least one regulative and constitutive rule for interacting in face-to-face situations, and one of each type of rule when communicating over e-mail. Discuss how you learned each of these rules. What happens if these rules are not followed? Discussion Prompt #2 Describe verbal communication between you and a close friend or romantic partner of the other sex. How do you both follow the gender patterns for your respective gender? How do gender stereotypes factor into this interaction? 4. Discussion Prompt #1 Consider three different friends that you have and discuss their physical appearance. Does their physical appearance affect their personality? Are there certain things about their physical

appearance that cause others to stereotype them or prejudge them? If they went to a different country, how would people view them? Discussion Prompt #2 Look around your office or bedroom. How would you analyze the artifacts and environment? What do you these nonverbal say about who you are? How do these items impact your feelings of comfort, identity and security? How would it be different if all of these things disappeared? 5. Discussion Prompt #1 Analyze your own listening effectiveness. Using the textbook to guide you, analyze your strengths and weaknesses in terms of the text’s guidelines for effective informational listening and effective relational listening. Identify two listening skills you would like to improve and describe how you plan to develop greater competence in each. Discussion Prompt #2 Effective listening varies according to listening purposes and people with whom we interact. Explain how we adapt styles and behaviors of listening to diverse situations and individuals. Use the textbook for definitions and supporting material. 6. Discussion Prompt #1

Consider how conflict can be detrimental and/or beneficial to a relationship. Give examples and how it applies to the basic principle of conflict. Discussion Prompt #2 Consider a friendship that you sustain over long distances. What technologies (e.g., phone, e-mail, e-Cards, web pages, chat rooms, video phones, etc.) do you use to sustain this relationship? Do you use different technologies for different kinds of communication activities? 7. Discussion Prompt #1 Consider the four guidelines for effective communication in families. Discuss how you have used or not used each of these guidelines in your family. Discussion Prompt #2 Watch a television show about a family. Describe how your family is different from the television show that you watch. Relate it terms that were discussed in the book.