To quote, “In sociology and social psychology, impression management is the process through which people try to control the impressions other people form of them.” This is evident in our work during this class, as we have all monitored our writing knowing that it was going to be public. Saboy shared an agreeance with this idea, “when we are put into a certain situation our conversations tend to portray us in a fashion where we are not true to ourselves but rather portrays us in a fashion that is pleasing to the environment and person we are talking to.” Why cause trouble? We ask ourselves. However, it is also true, that we all wanted to get our opinion across. While, yes, we monitor our words to appear in a positive light, at the end of the day it is our voice that we want to be heard. As Outerbodyboi in his critique of the team project, “We are breathing in order to be heard.” Therefore we are faced with the one negative aspect of this form of learning, censoring. Yet, at the end of the day, the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks, as Outerbodyboi also states, “hands on learning is the only way to truly ingrain it into someone.” This class is just that, “hands on learning.” A class about interpersonal communication centering essentially every assignment on doing so.

When others chose to critique team projects, and when I did so myself, we all thought very carefully about what we said. We gave praise, pointed out strengths, while weaving our thoughts and viewpoints in and out. At the same time, as President Makalele puts very well, “We want to be part of the conversation, but we also tend to want our interpretation to be the focal point, or at least carry as much weight as any other.” His comment is so very true. Critiquing in a public forum is an interesting activity, as we are constantly concerned with the “impression” we are giving off, while at the same time concerning ourselves with furthering our ideas.

The theory that I felt held the most weight as far as our class discussions and group projects would have to be the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory. Its basic angle is that through the process of communication we are able to create and manage our social realities. It’s a group working together to come up with a reality.

It’s very difficult to decide which came first, the chicken or the egg. As far as our communication goes, it’s neither them nor me, it’s us. We worked together to construct this class. Steph is asking us now, “Do you imagine that interpersonal communication begins with you (what you say, what you mean?), or do you believe that interpersonal communication begins with everything everyone else says and means?” I believe that it’s a constant negotiation.

In President Makalele’s critique of our group he mentions, “you are nexting in order to spurn some sort of expression from the other party.” This is talking about the need for a connection to be made. We need this connection in order to negotiate meaning amongst ourselves. The essence of communication is this creating and managing our reality. Through the practice of nexting, we can clarify what each other mean and negotiate further.

Another point made in President Makalele’s critique was that, “We want to be part of the conversation, but we also tend to want our interpretation to be the focal point, or at least carry as much weight as any other’s.” This comment connects directly with how the individual influences rules. We are breathing in order to be heard and effect the environment as much as it’s doing the opposite towards us as individuals.

President Mikalele points out that, “AP1115 goes on to say that this darkness created confusion and as a result it made each individual rely on everyone else to figure it out. In this instance people had to respond fiercely in order for success as a whole by relying on each others.” This can be said of conversation outside of a project as well. We are constantly relying on each other and negotiating meaning and importance, whether it’s with a goal in mind or none at all. This connects with the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory. The theory states that communication is a process that allows us to create and manage social realities. This entire short semester, we’ve been creating social realities through our powerful words, and then in discussion with others we manage these realities. This means that we are in a constant push-pull negotiation of reality in which each student participates differently. It’s our collective consciousness that creates the reality that we continue to interact in. I can’t say that any one of us did it on our own. The cause and effect of our writing is a series of chemical reactions that led to what we constructed.

I found your post about health insurance very interesting. I took a year off of school, and didn’t know if I was going to return. My parents were begging me to go back to school, and I wasn’t sure if they were more concerned about my education or the cost of insurance! It seems unreasonable that people who choose not to go to college, or cannot afford to, will not be covered on their family’s plans until the same age. I have two years of school left, and I am not looking forward to finding insurance after I graduate!