Archive for month: November, 2014

I am finally beginning to enjoy the idea of reality TV and why Americans enjoy watching real people do real things. Next stop is watching the Kardashians show, well as soon is there is enough time. Thanks Group Comm!

All jokes aside, The more i learn about group communication and the more survivor i watch, the more the two intertwine.  It is also interesting to find out that a majority of the communication skills that we have seen in the show thus far is a poor use of these skills. We see conflicts that are not taken care of properly. We see the weak group skills and the lack (or often the overzealous) leadership, as well as the function of passive group members and the way that they often hold back the success of the group.

We have seen conflict styles of the group and the often avoidance of conflict by members. It is exciting to wonder how this will play out for those who choose to avoid conflict. Firstly it is because they hope to remain well liked, but it also leads other members of the group to believe that they are overly passive and lack control.

The main communication element that was relevant in this group is listening, or to be more specific hearing. We see in that hunahpu tribe that there is a lot of talking going on and while they all hear each other. There is very little cognitive focus going on, and most of the members of the group are listening in order to respond. They pay for this with there food. They should have taken the class, maybe they could organize and lead there groups better.

In Episode 6 of Survivor Blood vs. Water, members of each tribe had a lot to think about from the previous episode. The things that happened after the switch up on the last episode, had quite an affect on the members actions and emotions.  Tribe Coyopa had some internal conflict that reflected the last vote-off. Dale’s daughter was previously voted off which obviously hurt Dale very much and it was easy to see. Not only was he upset about the vote-off, but he was also  worried that they were planning on voting him off next. He had no real bases for this thought except for the fact that the last person voted off was his daughter. So he had a motivation to make an alliance in order to save himself. He tried to make an alliance with Jon in order to save himself. He even gave Jon a fake “idol” in exchange for Jon to save him from elimination.

The Hunahpu Tribe was having a lot of trouble with their food situation and rationing. The tribe failed to ration their rice and this created some issues. With a week to go, they barely had enough food to last them a couple days.  This not only will make the tribe frustrated and agitated, but they will not have enough energy to complete the next challenges. In order to receive another bag of rice, The Hunahpu Tribe had to give up all of their comforts to get one bag of rice. Hunahpu was basically starting from the very beginning which created a lot of tension.   This could have been a problem caused by Groupthink. This is when a group has problems with their efficiency and it is defined by Yale University Psychologist, Irving Janis. He calls it, ” a mode if thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative course of action. It also refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency reality testing, and moral judgement that result in-group pressure.” This can inhibit the flow of information and promote carelessness. Which was basically what happened when the tribe failed to ration their food.

In the next challenge, they had to run through a series of obstacles blindfolded. They had to find a mask and memorize it. The next part of the challenge was to use puzzle pieces to recreate the mask. The reward of this challenge was a BBQ. So the fact that  Hunahpu won the challenge definitly helped the fact that they didnt ration their food.

In episode 5 of Survivor Blood vs. Water we see the hidden agendas behind all of the tribe members.  Because Hunahpu was careless with their food, they decided to barter with Jeff to get another bag of rice.  This greatly angered Jeremy, in the sense that he felt his tribe was strong enough to go without food for a day and was capable of continuing their domination in the challenges, and would hopefully win food at the next reward.  But because group work is not a dictatorship, he is forced to go with the democracy.  Hunahpu had to give up every piece of reward they had won over their 2 week stay in Nicaragua in exchange for a bag rice.  This consisted of: their tarp that kept them dry, pillows and blankets for warmth and comfort, hammocks for leisure time, their hatchet, their extra bowl, and their flint, leaving them with only one flint, a machete, a bowl, and their rice; taking them back to the very beginning.  Because of their lack of a tarp, they were unfortunate enough to fall victim to a torrential down pore causing one of their tribe members to break.

Due to cold rainy weather, Julie, girlfriend of everyone favorite survivor, John Rocker, was succumbing to the elements.  This is where we see a great deal of nonverbal communication.  Julie is seen with her sweatshirt over face curled up in a fetal position like a baby whining and groaning in agony.  This was quite amusing because I have no idea what she expected signing up for the show if she couldn’t handle one night in the rain.  To my surprise, she stuck it out and cheered her team on as they won immunity.

Thanks for visiting my site! Stay tuned for new posts and site changes.

In this weeks episode, Tribe Hanahpu really messed up. They didn’t think rationally and save the proper amount of food, so they literally had food to last them for a couple of days and the competition still had more than a week to go. They were in desperate need of food so they could last and have energy for the challenges. Their penalty to receive 1 more bag of rice was to give up all of their comfort and tools. Which means the tribe has to practically start from scratch. They were all a bit frustrated giving up all their shelter, but they were really desperate. While that was happening, Tribe Coyopa had some issues with Dale. Dale was still upset/ hurt how they voted his daughter off the tribe. Since his loved one was gone, he thinks he is next off, so he really has to step his game up and become better allies with Jon and Jacklyn. He is confident that he is good enough to stay on the tribe, so Dale tells Jon about the “idol” he has and tries to convince him not to vote him off.

For the immunity challenge the two tribes were competing for a whole BBQ. So the tribes picked who they thought would win ( Baylor VS. Reed). Hanahpu wins this challenge because of Reed and that brought tears to everyone in the tribe because now they actually have more food and wont have to starve. Baylor felt that she let her tribe down and was disappointed in herself, so she gets sent with Nataly to Exile Island. That night after Hanahpu’s feast, it started to storm. Hanahpu had no shelter, so they basically all had to huddle together to stay warm. Julie was crying the whole night because she said she could not handle the rain. People on her own tribe were getting frustrated with her because she did sign up to be on Survivor. The next day when it cleared up, tribe Hanahpu was actually losing at first to Tribe Coyopa; then in the end Hanahpu started listening to each other and picked it up and beat Tribe Coyopa. Once again Coyopa had to vote someone off. Jon and Jaclyn did not really believe Dale about having an idol. So the whole tribe decided to not listen to Dale and voted him off. It almost seemed like Dale was more talk than anything and he was not really honest or loyal with his tribe. In order to be a good leader or be a good member in a tribe you need to be able to listen and speak, not just speak. One needs to be able to take in what everyone thinks or says and ask questions more than just telling what they think or believe. I think Jon and Jaclyn make good leaders because I really think they actually listen to what others think or feel and put their thoughts into consideration.