Chapter 2 Topics for Discussion

Think of a topic, say, a current event. How will communication about it change as communicators move from interpersonal to group, organizational, public, and mass communications contexts? Discuss changes in both the content and form of communication. Do you think there will also be changes in the reason the topic is discussed? Discuss the functions of communication at each level.
Think about a close personal relationship you have now. How did your communication change as you got to know your partner? Are there any times when you move back to the interpersonal level? Do you believe couples shift between being impersonal and interpersonal, or do you believe that once a relationship is interpersonal, it stays that way until it dissolves?
Respond to Peter Andersen’s statement: “In each relationship we become greater and lesser than we were prior to the relationship.” Think of a relationship that is or was important to you. In what ways have you been changed by that relationship? How have you been made greater and lesser? How would you have been different had you not had that relationship?
Think about how computers are changing the ways we communicate face-to-face. Do you communicate online often? If so, what have you observed about the special properties of this form of interpersonal communication?
Think about the ways interpersonal bonds change self-awareness. List five people you encountered today. Did they make you aware of any aspects of yourself or your surroundings? What kinds of self-evaluations did you make on meeting them?
In what ways do others constrain the ways we behave? Think about the five people you listed in topic 5. Did you act the same way in front of each? Is this how you act when alone?
Think about how computers and wireless technology are changing the ways we communicate face-to-face. How is communication over Instant Messenger different from co-present communication? What challenges does it impose? How do text messages supplement face-to-face interaction? When do you text, when do you call, when do you talk in person? Why?
Discuss some of the different relational prototypes that you hold. What is your idea of the perfect roommate, marriage partner, romantic partner, child, etc.? Where have your ideas come from? In what ways have culture, media, family, and friends influenced you?
To what extent do the media set up unrealistic expectations for relationships? What does the media leave out when it portrays its idea of romantic or family relationships? What do the media add
When you’re feeling stress (money worries, job problems, too much schoolwork, etc.), how does this stress affect the way you handle relationships? How could friends and loved ones lessen your anxiety in these situations? What communication rules could you follow so as to maintain your relationships in times of stress? 
Many social critics have suggested that our culture places undue emphasis on private relationships. Americans, they argue, are overly familiar. Discuss ways in which our culture encourages rapid development of private bonds (for example, the norm for clerks to tell strangers to “Have a nice day”). Discuss advantages and disadvantages of this push toward “instant intimacy.”
Think of people you have known who fall into Harris’s competence categories. Describe their behaviors.