Let's go for a drink? (PART 1)

What goes throgh your mind when someone says, "Let's go for a drink?"

i find this really interesting,

totally like what we learned about male and female intimacy styles.

Male and female definitely have differences in their role of activities; no matter in expressing their emotions or creating intimacy

Males tend to hide their feelings around boys but learn that they can take their feelings to girls and women WHILE females, i'm pretty sure they share almost everything. From tiny matters to their lifetime matters.

Males take things as straight foward and as directly as they can while females tend to complicate things. Just like the pictures above, somehow, i think it's true that females, sometimes love to tangle up things and make them even more complicated.

I learned that it's really completely different how males handle and intepret situations compared to females.



@ posted by, grace (chapter 6)

Body Language!

Body language.....what is it?

and no its not your body talking to you......

Simple, body language is just merely a form of non verbal communication.

We use non verbal communication every day in our lives as it's how we communicate. Body language is one of the most common of non verbal communication's and don't you can't deny that we use it everyday.

We see it happening and we use it a we communicate with others. A clear example that can be used is when a boy talks to a girl, in this scenario when the guy talks he will be most probably moving left and right or swaying. He may even be moving his feet as mostly guys feel shy or its just the way of communicating with the opposite sex.

Heck, even is usual conversations we move our bodies when we talk. Hand and leg movements are also clear types of non verbal communication that are categorized under body language. So as communication matters body language is an important aspect that we use to communicate.

Just Imagine us communicating without non verbal communication.......yeah how dull will it be, so be thankful for that.

As my man Justin Timberlake said, I'm gona rock your body


By Arvind
Cheers

CHAPTER 2: PERCEPTION

The one thing that I find rather hard to practise as much as i try to curb this habit is perceiving others as what they might appear to be rather than applying the we should never judge a book by it's cover phrase. Although i deeply understand this, trust me it's not that easy to refrain any thoughts that come along be it positive or negative. Take a good look at the image on your left, The guy on the left claims that the glass is half full but the guy on the right claims that the glass is half empty. What was your first impression? Mine was the same as the guy on the left. In both ways they are right about the content. I found this example interesting because even though both parties are defining the content of the glass correctly, each are driven by their own perceptions that come first to their own minds. That itself, perception as we call it can create a negative impact on how we look at people just by judging them based on their appearance or how they carry themselves without us realising our thoughts. Our thoughts alone can turn in to our words and actions without us realising. This topic may seem a tad bit deep to ponder on, but as we covered the chapter, my "perception" on PERCEPTION or rather the definition that i had in mind before of the word perception changed. I believe i now understand better and hopefully will be able to apply whatever learned on perception in my day to night activities.

posted by, Haylena. xx

CHAPTER 1: COMMUNICATION.

Communication. Living with a journalist for the past 18 years of my life really opened my eyes in the world of communication. I grew up watching my dad write stories, interview renowned people, lecture classes, give talks and act. Being an investigative reporter, he's gone undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, Member of the Parliment, salesperson, handicapped and as a tourist to highlight on soceity's concern. I have learnt so much from him as he's always on the go to work on assignments given.

In our first weeks lecture we learnt about Communication Competence and that there is no "ideal" way to communicate, it is situational and relational and communication can be learned. As we touched on this slide in class, I couldn't help but to reflect on what my dad always tells me and my sisters that we should be able to communicate in an appropriate manner with our parents, grandparents, teachers, siblings and friends. He's always taught us to treat everyone as we would like them to treat us and not to discriminate between cast, creed and colour and we should be able to respect that everyone is God's child.

From what I gathered in class on communication competence, communication is an ongoing learning process; as we grow, we learn more and more new things, we meet different people, we gain more experiences in our lives and this undoubtedly contributes in moulding us to who we actually are now and who we will be in the future. Having so much interest in this field, I'm appreciating and slowly understanding everything about communication that I learn in my everyday life be it at home, in college during classes, when I'm out at work and when I'm out with friends.
posted by Haylena. xx

SAY NO TO RACISM....

Its unfortunate that some people think that their race or culture is superior.

I have been a victim of racism so many times in my life. When i was in elementary school(1999) my dad sent me to boarding school. This school was mainly for whites and it was rare to find black students or teachers. so one day i went to try out for the colts cricket team. As i was approaching the cricket pitch i noticed that i was unwanted but nonetheless i went on to try my luck. To my surprise the cricket coach barked at me, '' are you lost? ''. I was hurt to hear this. As this were not enough the coach went on to say that i should rather go try cattle heading. I was so disheartened by these comments. I am happy the president of Zimbabwe changed the educational policies. Now there are more blacks in the ''white schools''.


And recently, about two weeks i went to the mall to have a hair cut. When i reached the saloon, the barber frowned at me. Before i even told him anything all i heard was, ''can not lah''

RACISM AND SPORT

Eto'o has experienced racial abuse in some away matches; while some ignore the insults, Eto'o, Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry, and S.L. Benfica defender Marco Zoro have reacted by being outspoken in their criticism and threatening to leave the pitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpO-nnFY9g&feature=related

more than just a feeling!!!

I think empathy is more than just a feeling.

Sometime last week one of my friends, Charles Shamu lost his beloved grandfather.
Charles and his grandfather were more than best friends. The bond between them was just to good for a grandpa and grandson.

The type of relationship that Charles and his grandpa had is almost similar if not more than that of my grandpa and I. My grandpa died in 2002 and unfortunitely i have not gotten over it. I just have that feeling that my grandpa is still alive. I think this feeling is brought about by the pictures that are stuck in my room.

So when Charles was breaking the sad news to me, he began to cry. Knowing how it feels to loose a beloved grandpa, tears started dripping off my chicks.

(B0801554 Taku)

Things We Say....Do They Matter?

Of Course They Do!

The first thing in communication is to say the right words.....well, of course you wont want to say something offending towards another person when communicating don't you?

While some actually look out on what they say......most people don't.

Why is this so?????

Simply because most people don't care about what they say to others,may it be accidental or on purpose......the fact still remains that people are ignorant and self orientated.

For instance, in a usual conversation a person may say something wrong when trying to make a joke and this will lead to the other party feeling uneasy or getting angry.

So what I am emphasizing is that the words we say do in fact really matter. If more people are really able to understand and emphasize this, then communication would be better among others.

by Arvind xD

First Impressions????? Are They Necessary?

Hm.....impressions, what can we do without em?

What are impressions?

Simple.....impressions are merely ways of describing how or what type of person an individual is.

Although it may sound easy, it actually isn't. "People" tend to take first impressions as the main characteristic of describing a person and many seem to take this to seriously.

For example, lets say you meet a person who seems to be violent. Based on what you've derived from that person's first impression you'd think he's a negative individual. But lets say on another occasion u see that same person doing charity work. Although this changes many peoples views on that person. Most wouldn't bother to think the same.

Why is this so?

Well in general, people tend to trust and hold thigh to fist impressions. That why everyone is always asked to make a good first impression.

It saddens me to see this type of negativity in society and in which i think is pure garbage considering the fact that we cannot simply judge a person just by their first impressions.

Another important thing that caught my mind was the fact that people tend to see the bad in others than the good. Yes! this statement is inevitably true weather or not we like it.

If we are to communicate with people and understand them better, i think that society or " People" should not be entitled to just first impressions. Instead they should look the other as a whole.

Why i say this is because if a person gives or accidentally makes a bad first impression......then society will look differently towards him. In the context relating to communication, less people will want to talk to someone who has been condemned by society.

So, In the bright side things, Impressions shouldn't be prioritized


Posted by, Arvind (:

End it like Beckham

I'm never really a big fan of football, but I decided to give a shot on the show of Posh & Beck on E! the other day (yes, i admit watching it simply because beckham is just too hot to resist). That is when i came across something.

It really proves how true of our common perceptual tendencies on favoring negative impressions. It is true that it will only take a bad reputation to drop the whole image.

Beckham's 1998 World Cup experience indeed became a major turning point in his career. In the match against Columbia, Beckham scored a spectacular game-winning free kick. However, he went from a hero to zero in just a split of second when in the next match against Argentina, he was "awarded" a red card ( for kicking Argentina's Diego Simeone just minutes into the second half with the score tied 2-2.



Argentina went on to win on penalty kicks, eliminating England in the second round. Simeone had flattened Beckham from behind and, in response, Beckham flung his leg out and resulted Simeone to fell dramatically hard.This is a low point for him when Beckham was given the first red card of his career, and was sent off from the match.

After the game, Beckham was vilified. The Daily Mirror's headline read "10 Heroic Lions, One Stupid Boy," and the Daily Star's banner read "What an Idiot. Beckham was hung in effigy outside a London pub, and a Baptist church message board read "God Forgives Even David Beckham." He even received death threats and was continually booed the following season each time he touched the ball.

Beckham not being able to withstand the constant criticism later publicly apologized saying that he will always regret his actions and that he felt sorry to all his fans.

All this open my eyes on how true that human tend to exaggeratingly focus on negative sides. I believe this is why bad news will always be the headline of newspapers. Instead of reporting on how happy a 9 year old girl recover from an incurable disease, they will highlight on how disastrous the injuries suffered by the victims in a major car accident. I guess this is what the world is, because bad news sell and that people love reading bad news.

sources: http://sports.jrank.org/pages/351/Beckham-David-1998-World-Cup-Fiasco.html

@posted by, grace

Filipinos and Maids?

I was halfway watching a singaporean movie when this thought suddenly hit me,

"Why are Filipinos always associated with being maids?"

Maybe this isn't really obvious here in Malaysia, but as long as i know, many of my friends out there especially in Singapore and Hong Kong bear this mindset in their mind.

**********
I remembered Kelly, a friend of mine that went to the SEA games in Manila, told me that she overheard a bunch of kids from Singapore telling their parents: "Wow, look there's a lot of nanies in here" during an event. She even told me way back a well publicized dictionary actually published the term Filipino being synonymous with Maids or Domestic Helpers. It ofcourse, created quite a chaos in the Philippines.
Even in the dramas and movies too, they are always called maria or mariann and the maids are usually represented by Filipinos.

**********

Well, before i move on, let me be frank here that I am not trying to offend anyone. Sorry, if this post offended anyone, but i really have no intention of it.






Back to the topic,
Have you ever wondered why?

Well, most people believe it in this way, at least, i do :

1) Even Filipino people with university or college degrees would have to leave their home country to work as domestic helpers in order to support their family's needs. It just shows how bad the employment issue is and the main factors why they are moving abraod to work as maids. Imagine even when fresh grads can be working as domestic helpers, what more the others?

2) I believe this stereotyping exist because they occupy most of this profession otuside of Philipines, and the fact that they do their job well and generally have better English abilities than others which made them more preferable in this proffesion.

Personally, I think it's not right and it's not fair for all Filipinos to be stereotyped as maids. Like what we learned in Human Communication, it is human nature that we tend to cling on to the first impression. Isn't it unfair when most of the dramas and movies (especially the chinese one) have Filipinos as maids? Well, for most of us, we might know think that way, but what about for others that are outside the Asia, that really do not have any idea on how Filipinos are, don't u think they can fall into this stereotype since it's all on the first impression that they receive?
We also learned that the first impression will always be the lasting impression, isn't in unfair for others in Philiphines to be labeled just like that?
It's just like people in the U.S associating Koreans with dry cleaning, and Vietnamese with nail salons just because that it's all the first impression they have on them which will not suprisingly, form that lasting impressions on them.





@posted by, grace.

WELCOME EVERYONE.

Greetings!
This will be the very first post of our Human Communication blog.
I won't be defining the term because I'm pretty sure all of us have a gist of what it is. Well, at least you would if you were "there" in the class (: (nah, it's okay, we still have the textbook, remember?)

Why THEGHAT? How did we come about selecting a name for our blog?

THE GHAT is the abbrevation for THE Great Humans Are Talking; and if you also noticed, the acronym of GHAT consists all our names: Grace, Haylena, Arvind and Taku. Pretty cool eh? :) So sit back, relax and we definitely hope you would enjoy reading our posts! Thank you.

posted by Haylena and Grace. :)