My Oral Speech for Comm 121 (interpersonal Relationships)
October 15, 2007 - Monday
An interpersonal Relationship with a Chili Relleno Burrito
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Sean Mullen
Rollin-Moore
Comm 121
Prologue: Before I begin my presentation I want to acknowledge the fact that my approach to this project is not ordinary and may be controversial to some. I wish to deeply emphasize that it is not my intention to make a mockery of this project, of this course, or interpersonal relationships in general. On that note I hope that you can appreciate my creative approach to this project and will find that I kept the ball in bounds in terms of following the guidelines and using our communication concepts to analyze an interpersonal relationship.
I. Introduction
A. I chose to do my analysis on the Self-fulfillment Prophecy and the Horn/Halo effect. These concepts taught me about the power of expectation and assumption and gave me the profound ability to see as well as distinguish their ability to shape and form an individual's personality. This newly acquired knowledge helped me to better understand my interpersonal relationship and it taught me that in order to maintain successful communication, one must keep an open mind at all times. Otherwise communication remains one-sided.
B. Today I will be telling you about my interpersonal relationship with a microwavable Chili Relleno Burrito and how this manmade pleasure changed my life. Now before you get caught up in the humor of me discussing my interpersonal relationship with a microwavable burrito I ask you to try and keep an open mind to see the bigger picture. My main goal is to share with all of you the importance of keeping an open-mind as well as acknowledging and accepting the power of expectations and how they influence the way in which we perceive what we are physically receiving.
C.
1. The Self-fulfillment Prophecy
2. The Horn/Halo effect.
II. Self-fulfillment Prophecy
A. The Self-fulfillment prophecy is ones own ability to increase the likelihood of events unfolding and occurring based upon ones own expectations for those events to occur. In other words it is a communication term used to describe the process of our power to paint our future with our expectations.
B. My research revealed the major effect the self-fulfilling prophecy had on issues with race, during the early 1900's, "Taught by society to be inferior, black children learned to feel and act inferior"(Wineburg). This not only captures the self-fulfilling prophecy's ability to spread the effects of something so powerful as racism, but it also shows the ability to move racism from ""out there" in society to inside people's heads"(Wineburg). This article captured the self-fulfilling Prophecy's effect on shaping the human personality.
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C. Through the process of eating a microwavable burrito I not only improved my relationship with microwavable foods I also improved my relationship with myself by opening my mind to see the positive things that come from pre-made meals. This new opened my mind to a new possibility. Maybe, microwavable foods weren't a product of our demise, but possibly this invention was one of many solutions to preserve food and possibly a step to preserve limited resources in an ever-fast growing population.
III. The Horn/Halo Effect.
A. The Horn effect is the process of attributing negative qualities to things you don't like which in turn creates an expectation that everything that stems from the thing you don't like is negative. The Halo effect is the exact opposite; it is the ability to attribute positive qualities to the things you do like. This manifests an expectation that everything stemming from the thing in which you have placed a halo on will be positive and everything you place horns on is negative.
B. The research article I chose, was a segment of Sigmund Freud's analysis on Michelangelo's statue of Moses. His in depth analysis on this work of art was a great way to capture the use of the Horn effect on such a big religious icon. The Horn effect used here captured "anti-Semitic prejudice"(Swales) of that time period. This article was great in completely illustrating the power of our likes and dislikes and how they effect our judgement. Furthermore, it proved an example and lesson to me that showed me how our deeply embedded beliefs effect our perception of others.
C. The Horn effect is a communication barrier that prevents a person from being able to effectively communicate with another by effectively distorting any messages relayed by your co-communicator. By researching this concept further I realized that my own view of our American society as lazy and wasteful, as represented by microwavable foods was a closed minded belief that was hurting my relationship and ability to effectively communicate. An awareness of this concept and its profound effect as a communication barrier helped me to open my mind. To see the Chili Relleno burrito under a new light, one that projected microwavable foods as a clever invention not a weapon of mass destruction.
D. I had found a product of a God that was created while in His human form, His Hercules, and it cost a little over a dollar and took less than a minute to cook in the microwave. The Halo effect and my desire for one product replaced my morality and ambition to save humanity from the plague of being lazy and wasteful, as seen from the horn effect, by indulging in instant gratification. By studying this concept further and applying it to my relationship I had learned that replacing one communication barrier with another, even though it had a sugar coating, was still making the communicative process one-sided and preventing an effective communication.
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IV. Conclusion
A.
1.The Self-fulfillment Prophecy
2. The Horn/Halo Effect
B. My awareness and respect for the Self-fulfillment Prophecy and its effect on our future was greatly increased by doing this assignment. By expecting society to be doomed by our lust for the quick and easy my relationship with all microwavable products was empty. Whether it was facing my fear, being bored and hungry or simply being lazy, that made it possible for me to look past my negative filter on microwavable foods and indulge in communication with a Chili Relleno burrito is irrelevant. What is important is that I discovered the ability to successfully communicate free of the horn effect, which allowed only my side to be heard in communication and free of the halo effect that placed anything with the rudiments of a Chili Relleno burrito in honor of a Nobel Prize.
D. This profound knowledge of communication barriers can improve the future of all my interpersonal relationships as well as my hope for mankind. The knowledge of the Self-fulfillment Prophecy will keep me positive and hoping for the best, which will not only improve my personality, but will also improve my effectiveness to communicate with others. The knowledge of the Horn/Halo effect will go on to warn me when I am turning the communicative process into a one-sided program where only one of the parties involved is being heard. With this new knowledge, I can acknowledge that even if I cloud my mind with a beautiful fog, I am still closing my mind to future any new information. In terms of communication, a closed mind creates communication barriers that distort another's message.
Epilogue: Although some may argue that communication with an inanimate object is impossible I ask you to open your mind to the possibility. The term communication is so broad in definition that our text books acknowledges an inability to accurately define it. An Interpersonal relationship, however can be defined in our text and it states that an interpersonal relationship is a "Perception shared by two people." Although a Burrito is not a person, the second part of the definition of an interpersonal relationship talks of an "ongoing connection that results in the development of relational expectations." This requirement was fulfilled by my ability to apply both the self-fulfillment prophecy and the horn/halo effect to my relationship.
Lastly, the purpose of this project was to gain knowledge of communication and improve our communication, and relationships. Although I used an inanimate object to accomplish this task, I applied real terms, scenarios and communication processes to it.
References:
Swales, Peter J. (2003 Spring) Observations from the Refuse-Heap: Freud, Michelangelo's Moses, and Psychoanalysis. Volume 60, Number 1. pp. 41-104. Retrieved October 1st, 2007, from
http://muse.jhu.edu.libproxy.sbcc.edu:2048/journals/american_imago/v060/60.1macmillan.pdfMullen 4
The Self-Fulfillment of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. WINEBURG, SAMUEL S. (N.D.), Retrieved October 1st, 2007. From
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:5iPlZGbcNTIJ:sciencethatmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/weinburg87.pdf+self-fulfillment+prophecy+in+communication&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us
