April 9-15 / Queston 3

Chapter 12 deals with the two theories of misplaced conflict and displaced conflict. Our textbook treats them as being two distinct and separate theories, but I see them as often being intertwined, sometimes even synonymous with each other. Misplaced conflict are defined as being conflicts, “Which occur when people argue about issues other than the ones at the heart of the conflict.” Displacement occurs, “When people take out their frustrations on those perceived as less dangerous to them.”

Take, for instance, a situation at the workplace when your called into your bosses office for failing to correctly label a repot. Say your boss has had a rough week at home, he’s stressed and ready to snap. If your boss decides to flip-out on you over this minor infraction, it’s a perfect example of both a misplaced and displaced conflict. Misplaced because the real source of his frustration is his personal life, and displaced because he is taking his anger out on a subordinate (rather than confronting the true person causing his angst). 

April 9-15 / Question 2

I think, whether consciously or not, we all form immediate first impression of others after we first meet them. These first impressions cause us to attribute certain characteristics that may or may not be accurate. If I meet a guy who dresses a certain way, acts a certain way and carries himself a certain way, (based upon my prior experiences) I will think of him as being one certain thing. From the simple, rather cursory observations I’ve made, I will come to expect from him certain behaviors. Attribution theory says, “People act as they do in conflict situations because of the inferences they make about others based on their behavior”. Much like stereotyping, It’s another way in which we tend to always want to lump people to together into groups and see them not for their unique qualities, but rather the qualities of their “group” as a whole.

April 9-15 / Question 1

I did a Google search on each of these three terms and found the top results for “forgiveness” relating to wikipedia articles, clinical studies, Biblical philosophy, psychology, brainy quotes, and nationwide forgiveness campaigns. Searching for “reconciliation”, I found mostly dictionary terminology, references to congressional practices, and a type of catholic sacrament. Searching the term “revenge” resulted in the ABC show of the same name.

By far, the best results were achieved when researching forgiveness. I think because forgiveness is such an important part of our everyday interactions, that much more thought and research has been put into making the term better understood. Reconciliation is important to the communicative process as well, but it is more of an obscure term not lending itself to much detail or practical application. Once you scroll past all the websites relating to the TV program “Revenge”, you can actually find some decent scholarly information pertaining to the subject. Because forgiveness is seen as a positive process and revenge a negative one, there is a greater emphasis placed on the first over the second.

Week of April 2 - 8 / Question 2

There have been a handful of situations where forgiveness was last on my list of priorities. Almost all involve close inter-personal relationships having gone array, usually resulting in a period of mutual ex-communication, then followed by something like an apology. At some point enough is enough, we move on past our differences and continue with our friendship. There have been many times where I’ve found it difficult to forgive, but I can honestly say I’ve never found it impossible. On a side note, I’d much rather it be a guy whom I’m arguing with. We tend to argue it out, say what we need to say, then move on. There isn’t always an official apology, but we know whats up. Women, on the other hand, are a completely different story. In my own experiences, I see that women carry around much more “emotional residue”. This can be difficult for men to grasp in relationships, usually getting us into trouble. 

Week of April 2 - 8 / Question 1

Facebook is all about face management. Whether your familiar with the official terminology or not, we all carefully manage our facebook and other social network image. In terms of privacy, I keep my facebook pretty much locked down. Unless your “friends” with me, the only info you’ll be able to glean from my account is my profile photo - thats basically it.

I think it’s largely a question of personal preference. I know some friends who keep open accounts, post personal updates, and share, in my opinion, way to much of their information. When you post drunken photo’s from last night, or pics of you doing illegal or irresponsible things, you are advertising yourself to all of your friends as being reckless and careless. Keep in mind, in the near future potential employers will check your facebook and blog sites to see what you’ve been doing and what kinds of activities you engage in. I know of people who have lost jobs for this very reason.

-Ben