Daniel Johnson, Jr.

I’m teaching a class on Interpersonal Communications this term at Antonelli College. It’s designed to reinforce and expand interpersonal communication as it relates to having a successful business in the world today. The context for the course encompasses psychological, relational, situational, environmental, and cultural communication. We’re learning how interactions and reactions have a direct connection in the professional setting.

The textbook, which we got from Cengage, called IPC.

Each week I assign for homework a journal entry about something we cover in class. I don’t require that they share it publicly since that may mean they choose not to be as vulnerable as they could be.

I also mentioned that I’m doing the homework along with my students, but I’m doing it here on this blog. As always, you’re welcome to join in the discussion.

Openness to other cultures and worldviews

In class this week, we talked about how culture and worldview affects us in our interpersonal communication.

How can you be more open to other cultures and world views?

Neighborhoods in the Greater Cincinnati area are organized so that residents don’t really need to leave in order to shop for basic necessities like groceries. This is especially true if you’re limited in transportation. Aside from work you probably don’t have even to leave your neighborhood.

The culture on the West side of Cincinnati is different from that on the East side. In 1990 after the Berlin Wall fell in Germany, Cincinnati Enquirer politicial cartoonist Jim Borgman did a about an “East-West Wall” that exists in Cincinnati. It’s among his personal favorites, and you can see the first in the series among the Borgman’s favorites page.

This isolationist perspective also extends to my country as a whole. Like it or not, many Americans like me grow up at some level thinking that the world revolves around the United States of America.

So when I think about how to expand my culture and worldview, I recognize that I need to get out of my neighborhood more often. Get over to the other side of town and see what’s going on over there. Get downtown more often. Get across the river into Northern Kentucky.

Moreover, it’s become more important for me to read and watch news from outside Cincinnati, Ohio and outside of the United States. One of the local PBS stations shows world news, and I’ve found myself lately following it. Hearing reporters talk about the United States as an outsider helps me appreciate that perspective more.

Finally, I’m thankful to be a part of one of the most culturally diverse churches in the Greater Cincinnati area. Spending time in this congregation makes it easy for me to see White, Black, Hispanic, African, Russian, Arabic, and other cultures together.

Interpersonal Communications Series

• Week 1 – Communication apprehension
• Week 2 – Misconceptions of others
• Week 3- Openness to other cultures and worldviews

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Last week I mentioned I’m teaching a class on Interpersonal Communications this term at Antonelli College. It’s designed to reinforce and expand interpersonal communication as it relates to having a successful business in the world today. The context for the course encompasses psychological, relational, situational, environmental, and cultural communication. We’re learning how interactions and reactions have a direct connection in the professional setting.

The textbook, which we got from Cengage, called IPC.

Interpersonal Communications Series – Week 2

Each week I assign for homework a journal entry about something we cover in class. I don’t require that they share it publicly since that may mean they choose not to be as vulnerable as they could be.

I also mentioned that I’m doing the homework along with my students, but I’m doing it here on this blog.

You’re free to join in the discussion, if you’d like.

Misconceptions others have about you

What are some of the misconceptions you believe others have about you?

This is a tricky question, when I consider it in the context of what we learned in Chapter 2, Communication, Perception, and the Self. The main theme is that we cannot always trust our perceptions. This means not only that others have misconceptions about me, but also I have misconceptions about their misconceptions about me.

Right?

All is rosy

I think one of the biggest misconceptions others have about me is that everything is great in my world. I don’t like making my circumstances be the most interesting thing about me, so I try to put on a good face.

It’s a dangerous thing.

Last fall, in a post entitled “Open Up and Get Real,” I wrote:

Whatever we say online builds the brand, the reputation, that others who pay attention to us see. We have a tremendous ability to influence that across so many different channels. It’s become easy to paint a picture that things are rosy, when in all likelihood they might not be.

Online and offline, you form opinions about me based on your interactions with me. It’s what personal branding is about.

I’m influencing your perceptions by what I publish online for you to see.
I’m influencing your perceptions by how I try to present myself when we meet in-person.

All is not so rosy

So I’ll be honest.

I’m going through some harrowing circumstances right now, yet I’m not convinced that this forum is a good place to share what those are. Even now, as I write this, I’m struggling with exactly how much to share. I don’t like my circumstances being the most interesting thing about me.

Feel free to reach out privately if you’d like to know more.

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I’m teaching a class on Interpersonal Communications this term at Antonelli College. It’s designed to reinforce and expand interpersonal communication as it relates to having a successful business in the world today. The context for the course encompasses psychological, relational, situational, environmental, and cultural communication. We’re learning how interactions and reactions have a direct connection in the professional setting.

The communications junkie in me LOVES this class!

I really love the textbook, which we got from Cengage, called IPC.

Interpersonal Communications Series

Each week I assign a journal entry on something related to what we’ve discussed in class. Originally, I was going to require that students email me their journal entry. After talking about it with my peers, I decided not to require them to email me their entry because it may lead to them not being as open and vulnerable in what they write. All I do is have them show that they did it, and they get credit for the work.

I’m doing the assignments, too. But I’m going to post mine to this blog in an Interpersonal Communications series. I invite you to join in the discussion, if you’d like.

Week 1

With whom do you communicate best and worst in a one-on-one situation? Why?

In one-on-one situations, I tend to communicate best with those whom I naturally feel close to. We already have some type of history together and can build on our shared field of experience. When it’s hard to find that shared field of experience with someone, I find it harder to communicate with them.

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Imagine if you woke up one morning, and your hearing was gone. Would you be able to listen with your eyes and other senses?

Learn To Read People

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with how we communicate. It probably goes back to my time an awkward, insecure kid, looking for as many ways I could relate and understand people better. At a book fair in fifth grade, for example, I got a book about handwriting analysis; i.e., what our handwriting tells us about ourselves.  In junior high school, I read a book called Face Language, which talked about how you can discern things from people from their faces. There was another book, I think, called Body Language.  Suffice it to say, I’ve been a lifelong student of reading people. I’m still learning.

Listen With Your Eyes

Have you ever heard of method acting? Many actors, in preparing for a role, do things to put themselves in situations like the characters they are portraying. Francis Ford Coppola wanted Matt Dillon to understand what life in jail was like. To help prepare him for his role as “Dallas” in “The Outsiders“, Coppola had him spend the night in jail.

This past Saturday, my family and I went to the “All About Deaf Kids Fair” at Cincinnati Christian University, put on by the Deaf Institute, and it was a great time.  The theme was how we communicate in ways that are not just with our ears. They even had earplugs that us hearing people could wear to force us to “hear” with our eyes more. (more…)

I’ve been taking an Essentials of Advertising and Marketing Communications course (aka MKT 395) from Arizona State University via iTunes U for a few months now.  iTunes U has the course from Winter semester 2008.  I’ve been listening to the lectures on my commute from Cincinnati to Dayton for a few months now.  Although I won’t get credit for the course in terms of a degree, I am taking the course via iTunes U for the experience.

Assignments

Dr. Vincent Blasko gave the class three assignments before the first exam, to be double-spaced on a single sheet of paper.  I will be completing the assignments through posts to this blog.  The first three assignments were as follows:

1. Service Encounter. Describe a service encounter you recently experienced, whether a good or bad one.  Describe what made it so.
2. Detective. Pick someone you’ve seen in public.  Describe him or her.  What kind of clothes does he or she wear? What is in his or her shopping cart?  What kinds of activities do you think this individual enjoys? Pick a product or service you think you could sell that person.
3. Super Bowl. Pick a commercial that ran during the Super Bowl.  What was the strategy (if you could figure it out)? How was the strategy executed?

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