Definitions

Although it’s not most highly intellectual piece of information in the reading, I found the section on definitions to be strangely intriguing. Being a psych major, my mind set it focused on individuals and the workings of their mind and how they reflect in their behavior and in the book it states that “definitions” are more often “subjective construction”. As I read that I thought to myself how very true that statement is. Our own definitions are based on our knowledge and experience with it. Even the person who entered the definition of a word into dictionary.com had to compile their definition from various perspectives. The book also relates the world and making sense of it to mental representations which, to us, are the definitions. The definition of what makes a house a home, is representative of what we know are our likes and dislikes and both of those come from experience and remembering how we felt at that time. Similarly, fashion comes from our own definitions and interpretations as well.
The same can be said with conversations and communications as well. In a discussion, one person’s way of getting their point across may be very different from the person to whom they’re speaking with. One person’s definition of communicating can be drastically different from the others and this point is very well explained by the psychological approach, which I obviously took too. :)

A speaker that I admire

When I think of a speaker that I admire, I think of a certain psychology teacher that I had. His ability to teach and connect to the students was very special and unlike any other teacher I’ve had. When he spoke, you wanted to listen. He had a way of keeping the class interested by combining knowledge and comedy in his lectures. He would draw from his own personal experiences which also was a great way to mix it up and keep up the energy level. Apart from being a great speaker, he was also the type of person you look up too and get inspired by. With that being said, I think it would be safe to say that his ability to persuade comes from a healthy combination of Ethos, Pathos and Logos which is why he was so great to listen too. When I think of my own ability to persuade, I would think that it comes from Ethos and Pathos. My character and ability to speak on emotion are stronger points for me as opposed to wording and logic. I’m by nature, more emotional and act on emotion rather than rational and calculation.

To be an Orator

I agree that to be a true orator, you must have innate goodness in your heart. To develop and carry out your own words speaks volumes on a persons character and going back to the origins of communications and orators, those who were in that field and built the foundations were there because they had passion and conviction about being an inspiration and a teacher of the truth. Like Plato and Aristotle believed, "the goal of communication was to discover the truth." Truth has morals and morals require truth. To be the kind of person that people want to listen to and look up to requires that that person speaks from the heart. When you think of the most powerful speaches you've listen to, most often times it's the type of experience that awakens you and makes you feel what the speaker is feeling. They are saying something that you can feel in your heart and makes you want to hear what they have to say. Anyone that evokes thos types of feelings during their speaches are the real orators and teachers because what they have and want to share is pure truth.

Introduction

Hello All,
My name is "Lady" and I am a senior here at SJSU. I am eagerly looking forward to being the official graduate that I thought I was back in May untill I got a letter in the mail one month later stating that I had missing credits to complete....Wtf? How can that be possible when all my forms were signed off on and reviewed? BUT, life goes on.
I am not a Comm major but feel as though communication is an important aspect of everyones life. I took a speach class many moons ago and that's about all the experience I have but am looking forward to learning more....

Have a wonderful day!

L