Journals

Directions: The purpose of the journal assignment is to help students identify their own implicit theories of communication. Journals should be typed, a minimum of ½ a page and maximum of two pages per journal (ie, answer all questions below in no more than 2 pages). Please note that there are no right or wrong answers to these questions per se – please provide your honest response.

Reminder: No emailed or electronic copies of your assignments are accepted. Please bring a printed copy to class.

Journal 1 - Due Thur 3/2

1. As you begin this class what is your understanding of “communication”?

2. Have you given a speech in public before (class speeches count)? When? What was your topic? How did it go?

3. What, if any, SPCH classes have you already taken?

4. What is your goal in taking this class?

5. Is all communication persuasion?

Journal 2 - Due Tues 3/14

1. Please visit the Communication & Mass Media Complete database available on the Mt. SAC library database.

2. Find a communication research article that interests you. You can type in almost any topic and you should find an article. For example, "First Day of Class."

3. Please list out the full MLA 7th edition citation for the article.

4. Provide a 1 paragraph summary of the article. 

5. Please print the article and bring it into class.

Journal 3 - Due Tues 3/21

1. In class and in Chapter 3 (Gass & Seiter) we explored the Theory of Reasoned Action. Please provide a short summary of the theory in your own words.

2. In the Comm & Mass Media complete database, please find the article "Facebook Friend Request: Applying the Theory of Reasoned Action to Student-Teacher Relationships on Facebook." by Pavica Sheldon in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 

3. Please provide the full MLA 7th edition citation for the article.

4. Apply the first 10 steps from Dr. Jennifer Raff's blog post to the article.  Please write 3-4 sentences for each step.

5. Be ready to discuss in class!

Journal 4 - Due Tues 4/18

1. One way that language can persuade is through the use of gendered language. Please think of one or two examples of gendered language and an alternative that could be used instead. (For example, "fireman" implies that the the job of putting out fires is a "man's job" opposed to "firefighter" which is gender neutral).

2. Given the discussion of powerless language in Gass Chapter 7, have you used powerless language to your advantage? If not, can you think of an example where you could have used it to achieve a persuasive goal?

3. Given the discussion of profanity in Gass Chapter 7, do you think it's appropriate or not for professors to use profanity in college classes at Mt. SAC?

Journal 5 - Due Thur 4/20

1. Given the different types of non-verbal communication, which type do you think is most important for persuasion?  Why?

2. In what ways have you used non-verbal communication to persuade someone recently?

3. Given the discussion of haptics, is it ethical for a server at a restaurant to touch their client to elicit higher tips?

Journal 6 - Due Tues 4/25

1. For your second paper, which of the sequential persuaion strategies do you want to study?

2. What communication problem do you want to study for your second paper?

3. Do you find free gifts with purchase persuasive?

Journal 7 - Due Thur 4/27

1. Were you surprised about the results of Asch's experiment? Have you been in a group situation where you felt pressure to conform?

2. Of the five reasons for conformity (group locomotion hypothesis, social comparison, consistency, epistemological weighting, hedonistic), which do you find the most persuasive?

Journal 8 - Due Tues 5/2

 XX No Journal #8 - 10 free points XX

Journal 9 - Due Thur 5/4

1. Do you find that you are more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated?

2. If you wanted to motivate someone to let you borrow $20, would you use a fear appeal, pity appeal, or humorous appeal? Please provide an example of your appeal.

3. Do you agree that distinguishing between logical and emotional appeals is difficult/impossible?

Journal 10 - Due Thur 5/11

 1. Please print a copy of the results from your survey.

2. Did the results from any question surprise you? What do you think explains the discrepancy?

3. Did the survey generally support your hypothesis?