Social Construction.

Self-made. Successful. Love. Dreams. The idea of the American Dream is one that we are all quite familiar with -considering it's been shoved in our faces since childhood. From Leave It To Beaver, to the latest Disney Channel Original Movie, the idea of achieving true "happiness" has been the goal of our lives. This happiness can seemingly be distilled into the concept of the American Dream. The effects of this "dream" are a prime example of how a socially constructed idea can build a world of ideas and aspirations within a culture. Because of this socially constructed world, it's weird to see someone NOT be married, or have children, and it's certainly disconcerting to see someone without financial means. The American Dream has built a world in which success and happiness (two extremely arbitrary ideas) are determined by very specific factors, thus creating a private world within our own culture.

The "Leading" Question.

The concept of a "leading" question is absolutely genius to me. Being a Perry Mason fan for years (yes, I'm old school), I've certainly grown to appreciate the use of questioning to lead to a preferred response or a desired answer to be used by the jury. In a sense, these questions help to break-down the human psyche -allowing the prosecution to achieve a certain response or result, simply by using the "back door" rather than a direct approach.

Certainly, the "leading" question technique is used often in the court room, but also in many other scenarios. I can think of countless times the idea was used in the classroom by teachers, or even by my parents (which seems a bit manipulative, in the context of interpersonal relationships and communication). While "crafty" in a sense, the use of a leading question seems to be an incredibly effective way to persuade or gather information, when used properly.

Moral Dilemmas.

I believe a common moral dilemma faced by ethnographers might be that, within the research field, they are subject to or observe illegal activities or abuse of some kind -but cannot act for fear of jeopardizing the research. This occurrence makes a lot of sense and can even seem justified from a research standpoint. However, it seems there are certain moral principles that should be adhered to, regardless of research.

In order to address this problem as an ethnographer, I would align myself with some form of law enforcement. Rather than simply observe abuse and crime with no power whatsoever, I would utilize the collected data for 2 purposes -one being research, and the other, detective work. Now, I realize how romantic and over the top this proposal seems, but why not? If one can collect data for research, why not also collect data to be used by the police as evidence? It certainly would be an exciting resolution to the problem!

13.3

The research method that stood out most to me would have to be ethnographic research, which centers around cultural phenomena. I find this the most interesting because it seems to be based on experience and immersion within a culture. In a sense, it's the "Indiana Jones" of research methods. Particularly in studying an aspect of "deception", I believe this method would be the most engaging form of research -mainly because it would involve me perhaps getting "my hands dirty". In a sense, it seems it would allow for situations like "Never Been Kissed", where a journalist goes undercover as a high school student to better understand the culture for an article.

A reasonable research question would perhaps be: "why are some individuals more conditioned to lie,
than others -even when no consequences are present?" Ultimately, ethnographic research would work best, allowing me to perhaps study their upbringing, culture, and better understand why they function the way they do.

Chapter 8

The concept of "upward communication" really stood out to me -being a flow of information/messages from the bottom to the top, organizationally. I think this stood out to me mainly because it doesn't seem to be a very commonly utilized means for interpersonal communication. For example, I've often found myself in an awkward position at work, where my boss has assigned a certain work slot that I'm unable to fill, based on prior commitments. The situation is made difficult for me, though I find myself reluctant to communicate this with my boss, for fear of being replaced with another worker. While this particular scenario may not be relevant to everyone, it certainly represents a communicative problem in relation to the upward flow of communication. Subordinates find themselves wary of negative messages in upward communication, for fear of disturbance (being fired, etc). It is due to this type of scenario that I found the concept particularly interesting and applicable to my own life.

TV is cool.

McLuhand's statement that the "message is the medium" rings true in my opinion...in almost every avenue. Particularly, I've seen this within the presentation of television in 90's culture. Within that era, TV was cool  in a sense. Perhaps one might say that this notion was perpetuated by slobby, nacho-consuming, TV-watching meathead cartoon characters like Beavis and Butthead within pop culture, or perhaps even within the "I don't care" mentality of the "grunge movement". For whatever reason, TV (being a medium through which a message is communicated) was deemed cool.

In this sense, it seems that TV became a message in and of itself. Not only was television noted a means to communicate information, but it was a cooler means to receive this information than perhaps a magazine or a newspaper. While this explanation may not have been what Mcluhand initially intended, I find relative truth to his statement within this 90's pop culture phenomena.

F2F vs Cyberspace

Over the course of my SMS experience (AOL, MySpace, Facebook, etc), I've never formed a relationship that was strictly based in cyberspace. I typically only "add" people to my network that I've already met in an f2f situation. I also believe that this is because I'm slightly biased against online-relationships...similar to an old man's perspective on SMS relationships. While many of my friends have seemingly established long-term, meaningful relationships over cyberspace, I've managed to keep strangers at arm's length.

Regardless, I'd like to relate a relationship I've witnessed through a website called "eHarmony". My close friend recently met someone through this dating website and connected over similar interests, and self-disclosure. I noticed that the high-degree of self-disclosure they experienced seemed a bit more in-depth than would have been appropriate if they were meeting f2f. In this sense, perhaps the lack of physical presence allowed for a degree of safety and comfort that wouldn't have been the case in an f2f situation.

Prototype.

A concept that stood out to me from Chapter 7 was one that I've seen countless times throughout my social and educational experience. The idea of the "group prototype" seems to be one of the most common, unspoken group principles in the social world -especially with teens and musicians. Naturally, people want to draw near to those they can find comfort with, and those that share their interests. Depending on who you're talking to, these "interests" will generate a bit of a mold that group members will often fit. This also tends to be quite common with bands seeking new members. Often times, a band will go through quite a few auditions before ultimately finding someone who not only can perform, but also fits the "vibe", or group prototype of the band. I've found that the concept of the prototype, while seemingly "exclusive", isn't often seen that way by those perpetuating the mold. It often is presented as a broader problem (i.e. "he just doesn't fit in", etc.)

Filters.

I find that filters often times can help in avoiding unpleasant engagements -at least I felt that way back in High School.. For instance, I can think of a particular time when I spotted an unknown individual picking his nose when he thought no one was looking...albeit this was a rather trite gesture, this was enough for me to realize that he was NOT the dude I wanted to befriend in my 11th grade Chemistry class. The crass gesture communicated a lack of self-awareness and therefore cued a distaste in my perception...all pre-interaction. However, there are certain instances when an individual was perceived one way, pre-interaction, but was realized completely differently after interacting with them. This was the case with my current sporty girlfriend, who was once perceived as a "tough girl" based on certain signals she put off (pre-interaction). After getting to know her, however, I found that she was a much softer person (post-interaction).

Patterns.

Certainly, each of these patterns could become more difficult to change, depending on the person. Generally speaking, however, I believe the most difficult pattern to change would be competitive symmetry. Additionally, I also believe this pattern can also be the most damaging to the individuals in a relationship and self-esteem -considering the concept is built of self-value and competition. In each of these situations, there are occasions when competition must be put to rest, and unless there is absolute symmetry in a relationship (in all circumstances, at all times), chances are that one partner might desire to "let-down", when the other is still responding to pressure. In this case, it seems there is a great deal of potential for not only relational harm, but also damage to one's self-esteem. Unless both parties are willing to adjust to the other (which seems the antonym of competition, I absolutely believe the competitive pattern would be the most difficult to break from.

Ethnocentrism

I found the concept of ethnocentrism to be particularly interesting -especially within the context of the "American mindset". Personally, I have never really attributed myself to the nationalist way of thinking. It seems that everyone likes to think that they're the ones who are right..."we're the good guys". I believe the idea of "good" is completely relative, and that looking at the world through an ethnocentric lens will only lead to a superiority complex. One must also take into account the idea of moral and cultural trajectory -meaning that what seems "wrong" or "immoral" to us as Americans, may be perfectly acceptable within another culture. I think this concept stood out to me because it seems like such a dated way of thinking. The world today seems to be falling apart. Believing your culture is better than anyone else's will only cause more problems, divisions and hurt in an already hurting world.