A Rock and A Hard Place

Pick one other concept in the book that you feel needs further discussion?

A concept that I feel that needs further discussion is equivocal communication.
Equivocal communication is a response that is given when you have to choose between two unpleasant alternatives.

For instance, if a friend suggests that she brings her special dish to your Christmas Party and you know it's not as good as she thinks, what do you tell her? Do you tell her how you really feel about the dish and requests she brings something else or do you let her bring it and come to realize by the end of the party that it's the only dish left. . . untouched?

There are many times that we have and will continue to face these scenarios. My daughter just turned 16 and one of her teachers got her a gift. The thought and gesture was wonderful. The gift was a jacket with a tank top. However, it was completely the opposite of how my daughter's style was.

I think further discussion needs to, not only give deeper insight in how to respond in such cases, but it would also be helpful to know how we should deal with responses that don't always feel good to us.

Concept (s) of Interest

What concept(s) in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about the concept(s) that you found interesting?

I found that the concepts of complementary and symmetrical patterns to be very interesting. These concepts were very beneficial because it allowed me to evaluate my relationships.

A complementary pattern exist when the power in the relationship is not balanced; one person has the upper hand. The symmetrical pattern both parties are fighting for the controlling position, even when at times it may not seem like it.

I've learned that I have a lot of relationships and the pattern of the relationship with each person is not the same. Upon studying these concepts, they allowed me to see the things I liked in my relationships and they also exposed the areas that I would like to do away with.

Research Method

Which research method in table 13.3 seem the most interesting? Assume you want to study some aspect of deception. Frame a research question. Which Method would you choose to answer the question?

The research method that I found most interesting was Ethnography. I found this method to be exciting because it allows you to observe the subjects in their natural setting.

On the other hand, this research can be really risky. For instance, the text explained that some researchers may go undercover in order to understand why or how people may join a cult or how cult members recruit. I feel this research style is risky because the researcher has to play a very convincing role, while undercover. Who's to say that they will not be convinced themselves.

If I were to conduct a study about deception, my research question would be:

At what age do children start to display cues of deception? I ask this question because deception does require a higher cognitive load, thus causing a delay (sometimes) when responding to a question. However, children may experience high levels of cognitive load when asked a question because they are simply still learning and therefore are trying to decipher the correct answer; which may appear like they are lying.

I would use Survey Research in order to conduct this study.