Racquel Mounce
Essentials of Human Communication
COMM-1050-001
Holly Hansen Huntington
Chapter 5:Self Comparing is a Downfall
I would have to agree with the theory in this chapter. Growing up my mother would
always tell me, “Don’t compare yourself to other people.” This advice was extremely hard to
take seeing as I was much different from the other students in school. My math and reading
skills lacked, thus I like less of a person because of my weakness. I suppose this is the looking
glass in self-reflection. When my mother told me not to compare it always made me uneasy, due
to the large difference in academic level.
At 13 years old my mom married a Utah man and we moved here. Once out of Idaho I
began to become better at the reading and math. Maybe it was because I did not have anyone to
show my self-reflection except for the my family. Another option to why I began to feel better
about who I was is that I finally had a father figure. After never knowing my own father I was
on the same plane as the rest of the world (2 parents!).
Today I understand what my mothers was trying to say, that I am special and should not
be defined by others. Although this was a hard lesson I am currently struggling with the mass
media phenomenon, in which I compare my self to hundreds of millions of photo shopped people
daily. For one I don’t think this is healthy in the least, and two who has time for all of the
upkeep on that obsession. So for now I choose to limit my exposure to media as much as
possible just for the fact that influences on TV, magazines, and the mass media like to tell you
how to live; what’s healthy or un healthy, what you should or should not do in public, how to be
a rebel, and most importantly how to feel. I don’t need any help in that department.
So I guess the lesson it that old cliché, “Live for your self and no one else.” It is a hard
lesson to learn, its like I am working on it every day with now progress. I guess that is the point
that we constantly compare unconsciously constantly, which is neither good nor bad, but human.
Chapter 6: Don’t Let This refine YOUR Reality
So when Traveling to a family BBQ with my family there are some guidelines that
should be talked about. For the most part they are fairly harmless and tend to keep to them
selves for the first. At least until my aunt Tracy gets a couple drinks into her, she is great at
loosening up the party.
So lets talk about the major issue between Grandma and Grandpa. They have been
divorced for almost 16 years, previously married for 30 years and they are still quite bitter
towards each other. Grandma is pretty open and positive now days. Grandpa on the other hand is
not as uplifting because she has grieved over the relationship, where as Grandpa is the opposite.
If you must talk to them Grandma likes gardening and nature; Grandpa likes cars and music.
As I said earlier my Aunt Tracy was the life of the party after having a few drinks.
Although there is a certain arrogance about her because she is highly opinionated and thinks she
is always correct, remember she is a “stick person” (Someone who lives in the country and rarely
visits civilization. Another example is a person from Tooele, who never leaves the valley). She
has this “I’ll kick your ass” attitude but she is really a pushover.
Lastly is my Mom and sister, Kassi are probably going to be the most friendly. Kass is
like me except more emo with a weird but spot on sense of humor. My mother on the other hand
is my favorite person in the whole world. There is nothing anyone could say to offend her. She
is a hard working person who strives to support Kass as much as possible. Although they have
both had their ups and downs they are extremely excepting of everyone.
So yeah, that’s my immediate family in a nutshell. Any questions?
Chapter 7: Fallout 3 and Cognitive Dissidence
When we talked about Cognitive Dissidence in class was probably my favorite class yet.
It is so interesting how we, as humans sacrifice our beliefs to get something we desire. What’s
more interesting is most of the world doesn’t know they are doing so. Its like school work and
Fallout 3, one is going to win top priority and lets just say it is not going to be the school work…
I love this game with a passion, however when I do play I tend to spend more than 2
hours doing so. The story like is set in America as if we where still in the 50’s. However there
was a nuclear war what left humanity struggling for existence. Some went underground into the
“Vaults”, a self-contained dwelling underground while the nuclear radiation cleared. The point
of the game is to venture out of the vault to find the charters father who is a scientist on a
mission. On the way you pick up weapons and meet some pretty interesting characters. This is a
non-linear game, which means that there are tons of side quests to distract for days. Ok enough
about the game, yes I love it, however I don’t like to play it because it is a major waste of time!
In those two + hours what have I accomplished in real life? Nothing!
The truth is that I have compromised my values of doing homework to play a silly video
game that makes me feel so guilty afterwards. The problem is that there is nothing to soften the
blow like having the receipt on an expensive item so the compulsive shopper could take it back.
No sadly there is nothing like that in the gaming world except more gaming to ease the pain of a
guilty soul… This is the reason I save Fallout 3 and others for the times that I am not doing
school, therefor not competing with other more important priorities.
Chapter 8: Personal Space and the Artist
At first glance the Expectancy Violation Theory seems pretty straightforward. I myself
have a problem with personal space, being that I don’t like to be to close to people that I have no
connection to. So that excludes everyone that is not my mom, sister, grandma and Nathan
(fiancé), other than you should stay on your side of the line.
The distances on the space proxemics between my family and the Nathan’s family are
totally different. They are kind of a hugging family. When he tells me about his child hood he
always seems to mention his family driving from Beaver, UT to Salt Lake City in a single cab
pickup with all of his four brother, mom, dad, and himself. Yeah kind of tight quarters, but you
know I think both of our parent grew up like that. And my grandmother’s generation was even
closer proxemics.
Could this be because I, personally assign negative valance to people who get to close
right way. In some cases this is a closed minded way of thinking for me. I have tested my
negative thinking theory at concerts and the facts are that I have a lot more fun when I am in the
middle or the front of the crowd during the show. Its a different experience than just standing at
the end where you can barley see what is going on. With that being said I can now move on to
the fact that it may be uncomfortable to violate expectation, even though it may seem like a bad
idea, may actually be a good idea intern. After all this is how we grow as people and change
how we assign positive or negative values to situations.
That was one of my is to start expanding the way I see the world and how it compares to
the treat threshold. I do admire photographers like Ami Vitale who pushes the limits on what
they feel is in their comfort zone, instead of staying where she is comfortable she is documenting
climate changes and other issues in the eastern half of the world.