Kind of sad that I think I am coming across my last blog! This class definitely challenged me in ways I would never expect. I learned new things about myself, like I would prefer to not take online classes. I just forget most of the times when things are due and when there are readings, but while I was in this class I tried to make the most it!

My goals to start out the semester were to be able to communicate at a higher level, try to cut out killer fillers (like, um, so) can also be able to put what I am thinking into words on my papers. These goals were very reachable in this class, considering we had a paper every week! I think I learned to write my papers in a timely manner while saying what I need to say at a high level. I think over the time throughout the semester I got better at writing these papers and using the quotes to support my situations in the blogs. I also believe by being in this class it I did get better at communicating whatever I am trying to say to someone. Which is very useful in things like media after or before games. I even got compliments on how much better and confident I sound this year! I can definitely see the difference in the way I speak now vs last year! Finally, one thing that really is stagnant are my use of killer fillers. I tend to use ‘like’ and ‘um’ the most. Whenever I feel like I am getting better at not using them the come right back full throttle. Something to definitely keep working on, but as long as it is at my attention I know that I will fix it eventually.

This class was very beneficial to my life, especially being that I want to be a sports broadcaster in my near future. For people that want to be announcers or sports analysis I definitely suggest this class. Be ready to work because it is a lot of work that goes into. I was able to get the opportunity to shadow Maria Taylor, an ESPN sideline reporter, and I utilized a lot of things I learned in this class that made me feel more at ease while getting the opportunity to shadow her. Thank you for allowing me to take this class!

AN EXPERIENCE I WOULD NEVER FORGET

In this blog I am going to talk about something that happened to my ex-boyfriend. My ex-boyfriend’s name was Keric, he was a star football player in high school. Every college wanted him to attend their school, there was an article that surfaced saying that he might commit to some school in California soon. When this article started going around people started anticipating his commitment, we would go eat and people would ask when he was going to commit, this was never the case before this article was put out. The writer who put out the article was a reporter that interviewed Keric after one of his games asking him about his commitments. Keric answered the questions indirectly and kind of beating around the bush, the article never said when or where he would commit but it hinted that it was coming soon. Directly causing people to want more answers as to when and where he was going.

The article was a great source for something like agenda-setting, it talked about public agenda setting and media agenda setting. The article went on to show direct correlations between media agenda and the public. In the article, Griffin et. al. states, “the press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about” (376). On the next couple of pages, he goes on to talk about the deep correlation between the two. Further in the article Griffin et. al. talks about, “viewers who saw the media agendas that focused on pollution and defense elevated those issues on their own lists of concerns – definite confirmation of a cause and effect relationship between the media agenda and the public agenda” (378). Another quote on the same page, Griffin et. al. defines framing by saying, “they do, in fact, influence the way we think. The specific process he cites is on that any media scholars discuss—framing” (378).

Agenda-setting definitely has relation to the public. The first quote connects to the scenario because it showed that when the article was put out it brought more attention to Keric and where he was going to school. The second quote is more proof because they conducted a research that proved there was a relationship with the media and the public. Finally, the last quote supports the scenario by proving the reporter framed the article so that the public could believe what he wanted them to.

keric! <3

In this blog I am going to write about social medias! I am going to focus more on Twitter because I tend to use Twitter a lot more. I think that on Twitter it is more focused on instant messaging. Whenever I am on twitter it is more focused on funny messages sending back and forth with friends. When I get a twitter notification I know that is something funny from my roommate trinity or my teammate Nalyssa. We have group messages and send them all throughout the day. I look forward to twitter notifications.

In the article Griffin et. al. defines medium as, “a specific type of media; for example, a book, newspaper, radio, television, telephone, film, website, or email,” (317). Another definition that was given in the article, Griffin et. al. defines media as, “generic term for all human invented technology that extends the range, speed, or channels of communication,” (317). Finally, the last quote in the paper Griffin et. al. states, “instant message are a sign of affection” (317).

The article defined the whole situation so perfectly it was hard to pick just one quote. So, I went with definitions instead of actually quotes. In the first quote it was a definition of medium which is the point of this whole blog! I thought putting both the quotes of media and medium were needed in order to continue this blog, so that the readers know what we are talking about. In the last quote It shows it supports the fact that when I get a twitter notification it makes me happy. When he put it in the article it definitely made me feel better knowing I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

Nalyssa!!

Whenever I heard the word fallacies I was a little confused. I knew that I heard the word before I just did not know where from. I read a couple of fallacies and quickly was reminded of high school English class. This was taught around the same time as ethos, logos, and pathos. When I saw appeal to ignorance I automatically thought of a competition we had in high school. My friends rigged the competition for each other, but no one had any proof that they did it. No one knew so everyone assumed that the competition was honest and she won with flying colors. Another thing I read on the handout was appeal to pity, this fallacy automatically made me think of this one teammate I used to have. My old teammate used to make my coach feel bad for not playing her by saying she doesn’t love the game anymore. She would come in practice, down and not wanting to talk to anybody. My coach would put her in just because she felt bad for her.

In the handout it gave the definition of the of the types of fallacies and different examples of the fallacies. In the handout, Griffin et. al. defined appeal to ignorance as, “arguing that a claim is true just because it has not been shown to be false,” (1).  Also, in the handout Griffin et. al. defined appeal to pity as “appealing to pity as an argument for special treatment” (1).

Eveninnnngggg! For today’s blog I think I want to compare it to a previous relationship I was in. I was in a relationship where the guy did not really appreciate me, we started dating while we were in high school and I thought It was okay at the time. Once I left high school and came to Baylor I began to realize I was not being treated right and that I deserved better. Long story short, when I got to Baylor I had time to think about the way I want to be treated and the guy I want in my life. I realized it wasn’t him and I broke up with him. Years later he has been calling me an emphasizing the fact that he messed up and pleading for other chances.

In the chapter Cialdini goes in depth about scarcity and he has many quotes that emphasize the situation that I lived through. Griffin et. al. defines scarcity principle as, “that opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited,” (238). Further down that page, Griffin et. al. states, “people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value,” (238). On the next page, Griffin et. al. ends with, “if it is rare or becoming rare, it is more valuable,” (239).

The quotes in the book made me think of this situation immediately. The first quote directly correlated to the guy I was dating because as soon as I broke up with him he was calling trying to change and fix things that I had been telling him to change. It was almost comedy, we had been dating for two years and he started fixing things that I told him to fix way at the beginning of our relationship. In the second quote, it reminded me of him because when I was threatening him that I was going to leave him he was getting scared and trying to act perfect. Finally, in the last quote it just reiterates the second quote!

PROMM

Last week when I had the opportunity to read chapter 5 and 6 in the Cialdini book it was hard for me to pick which one I wanted to write about. I chose to write about chapter 5 because I feel that it was more relatable in a lot of ways growing up. The example I have this week is when I had to take my little cousin to the park. One day I had to take her to the park and I was trying to help her make a friend, I was asking her about different kids playing at the park behind her school and she begin to tell me why she doesn’t like them and who she would be friends with. Once I named everyone on the playground I finally asked who’s your ideal friend, she told me someone that is pretty like her which I thought was funny. Next, she told me someone that likes the same things she likes and finally she told me someone who calls her pretty. When she went on about her list I realized that I kind of choose my friends the same way. It all starts with a compliment and it’s all uphill from there!

This whole chapter was kind of easy to find quotes that talked about my connection to the book. For starters, Griffin et. al. states, “research has shown that we automatically assign to good-looking individuals such favorable traits as talent, kindness, honesty, and intelligence,” (171). On the next couple of pages Griffin et. al. states, “this fact seems to hold true whether the similarity is in the area of opinions, personality traits, background, or life-style,” (173). On the next page Griffin et. al. defines compliments by saying, “the information that someone fancies us can be a bewitchingly effective device for producing return liking and willing compliance,” (174).

In this chapter I immediately thought of my conversation with my little cousin. She has so much personality on her so I don’t expect every little kid to think the way she does but I noticed that I also think the way she thinks. When she said she wants someone that thinks she’s pretty, that is a direct correlation to the last quote talking about compliments. Then she went on to someone that likes the same things she likes, it’s easier to get along with someone that likes the same things you like and that’s exactly what the second quote told us. Finally, she said someone who is pretty. I don’t like that she thinks like that but its normal to want to be friends with someone that is physically attractive. In the book the first thing was physical attraction.

remmyyy

This week’s topic is on social proof. Social proof is when one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. When I read this chapter I automatically connected it to coming to a new team. When you are the new person on a team, you tend to sit back and watch what’s going on. For example, when I was new to the Baylor Women’s Basketball team I was confused about everything they did here. Every team runs everything differently, an instead of jumping in front I decided to sit back and wait to see what is right and what is wrong when it comes to warmups. For a whole year I sat behind someone in the warmup and watched their tendencies until they graduated and I became the one that the freshman watched. It is a cycle, that every team goes through. It is so that every coach doesn’t have to break down every little thing, you just watch what the person is doing in front of you.

I was a little confused when I first read the chapter, I was definitely reading too fast. They started the chapter out with a research that they conducted and I did not really understand why. On the following page when they decided to define what social proof was, I immediately connected it to multiple real-life analysis. In the book Griffin et. al. further defined social proof by saying, “we view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it,” (116). Another quote Griffin et. al. uses to further define social proof “the tendency to see an action as more appropriate when others are doing it normally works quite well,” (116). In the same paragraph, Griffin et. al. emphasizes his thoughts by saying, “usually, when a lot of people are doing something, it is the right thing to do,” (116).

These quotes definitely go more in depth with my analysis on a basketball team. I feel that the quotes emphasize my thoughts on the situation and why it is normal to feel the way I did when I came to the new team. The first quote shows why I decided to take a step back and watch what was going on. This not only connects with a basketball team, but in life. The second quote also emphasizes the situation because whatever the person in front of me did, I was going to do the exact same thing because clearly, she knows what she doing. Finally, the last quote just outlines the thought on people should sit back and watch before they start doing something. The easiest and most beneficial thing to do is sit back and watch.

The person I sat behind and watched for 2 years now

For today’s blog I think I am going to compare the topic consistency to a relationship. I know that one of my ‘must’ in a relationship is consistency. If you are going to be one way, just be that way for the rest of the relationship. In my current relationship, it Is a long-distance relationship and they started out calling me after every workout and meeting they had with their team. A couple of weeks go back and they started changing up our schedule. Now that I was programmed to get a call after every function, it was definitely a problem that I was not getting the calls as often. I brought it to their attention what was going on and how I felt about it, but the huge problem that I had with the whole situation is they were being inconsistent. Do not get me used to one thing then change up what you are doing.

In Cialdini chapter 3 he talks about consistency and inconsistency. He definitely reiterates what I want from a future spouse one day or in a relationship now. Early in the chapter, Griffin et. al. explains why consistency is a necessity by saying, “to understand why consistency is so powerful a motive, it is important to recognize that in most circumstances consistency is valued and adaptive,” (60). In the very next sentence, Griffin et. al. goes more in depth about inconsistency, “inconsistency is commonly thought to be an undesirable personality trait,” (60). Further down the page, Griffin. et. al. explains why I felt the way I felt when the schedule was broken by saying “without it our lives would be difficult, eratic, and disjointed,” (60).

While reading chapter three last week I immediately compared the whole thing to relationships and what I expect from the person I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with. In my opinion consistency is a vital characteristic that people have to possess in order to be successful in anything they do. Life calls for consistency. The quotes that I used from the reading further explain my scenario simply by emphasizing the problem I had with the change in our daily routine. In the first quote Caildini supported idea as a whole, that consistency is just a vital trait to have. The second quote supports my views on why I want consistency in a relationship, by saying why inconsistency isn’t valued. Lastly, the third shows why I felt the need to bring it to their attention that something was going different in our daily routine. When they stopped calling around the same time of day it kind of threw my day off, my days were becoming a little difficult because I felt that I was missing something and I was. THEIR PHONE CALL.

Since I am not in a relationship, here’s who consistently facetiae’s me <3

Blog #3 and I am still talking about none other than basketball. When I found out responsibility was the topic for this week I automatically thought about my role on a basketball court. On any team everyone has a role, whichever team executes their roles the best will come out on top. My role or responsibility on the team last year was to shut down the opposing team’s best offender. That responsibility alone is one of the biggest responsibilities on a team. I took that responsibility to heart, an executed it to the best of my ability in order to get my team to where I needed.

Responsibility is a huge thing in the world today. In this reading there were multiple quotes that emphasize the importance of responsibility. For example, Griffin et. al. stated “the experiment had instructed their opponent to retreat gradually from his initial demand no matter what the subjects did,” (50). In the same paragraph Griffin et. al. goes deeper into it by saying “the result was that they felt more responsible for the final outcome of the negotiations,” (50).  Another quote Griffin et. al. states “a person who feels responsible for the terms of a contract will be more likely to live up to that contract” (50).

The biggest test of my responsibility on the team last year was when we played the University of Connecticut and I had to guard the best player in the country at that time. The first quote really explains what my coach would tell me before every game. Which is no matter who is front of you, you guard them like they are the best player in the country. The second quote really emphasizes the Connecticut game because when they gave me the responsibility of guarding the best player I suddenly got nerves but also gained this feeling of confidence that the whole team believed in me to do this huge task. I know that if we would have lost that game I would have felt the most responsible for it because I had the BIGGEST task on the team. Finally, the last quote really is really based on confidence in my opinion. Like the Connecticut game, when I was assigned this task I had no choice but to live up to it. I just did not want to let my team down. At the end of the day I had to live up to it, there were so many people there. We had a sold out crowd and a team depending on me.

everything was for them!

It took me a while to really understand perceptual contrast, I read the example multiple times trying to figure out If I had been through this and if I did when was it. Finally, It kind of clicked where this could apply to my life clearly I connected it to none other than basketball. In practice Mulkey makes us use a tennis ball to warmup with. At the beginning of every practice we dribble with this little ball because the concept is that if you can handle a smaller ball than the actual basketball you can handle an actual basketball any day of the week. At the end of the warmup we move on to the weight ball for the exact same reason, it is still something that should make the regular basketball easier to handle in a game. I felt that was a great way to describe perceptual contrast in my everyday life.

In the book that we read for this week there were plenty of quotes that supported this example, one being Griffin et. al. emphasizes the point being, “that the same thing in this instance, room temperature water can be made to seem very different, depending on the nature of the event that proceeds it,” (12). On the very next page, he states “it is much more profitable for salespeople to present the expensive item first, not only because to fail to do so will lose the influence of the contrast principle, to fail to do so will also cause the principle to work actively against them, (13). Finally, the last quote that ties this all together is “the ability to manipulate without the appearance of manipulation” (11).

These quotes definitely support my claim by showing why it could be perceptual contrast. The first quote supports by giving another example that used to show what perceptual contrast was to another group of people. That way is definitely a way that could be used to support that case. The second quote basically shows the exact same thing except it is being used in a clothing store. Coach Mulkey gives us the little basketballs in order for the normal sized basketballs to feel more comfortable when we get them. She sales us the smaller balls before the bigger balls. Its kind of like playing mind tricks on people without even knowing it. The last quote ties it all together by showing what all of the different examples of perceptual contrast really is. The idea of perceptual contrast is just being able to manipulate the mind without telling the mind that it is being manipulated.

our minds are being manipulated and we didn’t even know it!