Blog Post #5 Chapter 7. Listening In Groups

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In the episode “Make Some Magic Happen”  both groups cant believe that Kelley was eliminated from the Coyopa tribe. Dale made up an immunity idol and his hidden agenda was to tell Jon that if he convinces the group to not eliminate him then he would give Jon his immunity idol. That is how empathic listening was brought to this situation. Listening to interpret came up when Reed and Josh were both kissing and being emotional when Reed won the challenge.The tribe was not doing well when they started complaining that they didn’t have enough food to continue the competition.

The host Jeff is walking towards the Hanahpu tribe and he is ready to give the group a bag of rice in exchange of something.  Listen to respond comes up when July shows a shrug of fear when she doesn’t know what Jeff will say about the bag of rice. I thought that July had every right to fear what was coming because Jeff is going by the rules. When Jeremy is using analytical listening he  sees how everyone in his tribe is happy that Jeff took all their comfort supplies he is angry because he didn’t mind passing one more day of hunger. Jeremy thought that in the future challenges their would be opportunities for more food. I thought that Jeremy was being selfish because other people in his tribe where not capable of passing hunger for one more day like he was. This episode showed how these groups came together to win each challenge even if some of them didn’t like each other.

 

 

 

blog post #5 chapter 7

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In the episode “Make Some Magic Happen” it starts with the contestants being shocked that Kelly was the one who was last voted of the island. So since Kelly was voted out it changed the dynamic of the tribe. Dale was obviously upset that his tribe “slaughtered” his daughter and I wasn’t surprised that it lead to his hidden agenda. I thought that that Jon was showing empathtic listening with Dale because Jon realized what Dale’s situation and motives were about offering Jon his idol if he wasn’t eliminated next. Also, I thought that Reed and Josh were listening to interpret with each other because of how emotional they got with each other when it came winning the challenge for their team. You could really see how they were responding to each other emotionally after Reed came out victorious.

In the Hanahpu tribe things were not going well with their supply of rice pretty much gone. So they had asked to make some sort of a deal with the host Jeff. When Jeff shows up Julie instantly is showing listening to respond because she shows a sign of being worried as soon as Jeff shows up and he asks her why she was worried and she had to explain why. After that situation happened I thought that Jeremy was analytically listening to Jeff unlike the other members of his tribe because Jeremy seemed to be the only one who was really upset about Jeff taking all of their comfort supplies. It seems like to me Jeremy was the only one who was really thinking about if it was a good idea to make that trade. At the end of this episode I honestly wasn’t surprised to see Dale’s plan back fire and I wasn’t shocked when he was voted off of Survivor. I thought the Coyopa tribe had played him beautifully and it was pretty funny to see Dales face when he was kicked off. I hope the future episodes have a lot of drama in them like this one did.

 

Fake Idol Fail!

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The Hunahpu tribe starts from scratch at the beginning of this episode. They had to give up everything they have in order to get rice. The original Hunahpu tribe was irresponsible with the portions of rice they were eating so the present Hunahpu tribe has to pay the price. After giving up everything, they won the first challenge and ate very well that night.

The Coyopa tribe loses both challenges once again and Dale knows he is on the chopping block. Dale tells John he has an Idol and John believes him. Dale tells John that if he is safe, he’ll give John the idol. I really believed that John and his girlfriend were going to save Dale but in the end, it was Dale who got voted off. I don’t know if I would’ve made the same decision.  However, I’m glad Dale was voted out because the idol was fake and I considered this cheating. Going into the merge should be very interesting.

 

Listening Types in Survivor

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The time spent communicating is broken down as the following 40-70% listening, 20-35% speaking, 10-20% reading, and 5-10% writing. Therefore, listening is our number one communication activity. Most of us are not very good listeners. Although most of us can hear since it only requires the physical ability, not every one knows how to effectively listen, which requires complex thinking ability to understand, analyze, respect and appropriately respond. Especially in survivor, as Reed comments “there are a lot of strong personalities” listening is that much more challenging in groups than in pairs.

For example, Jeremy was upset that his tribe wanted to make a deal with Probst for more rice. During his one on one time with the camera, “”Why y’all so hungry over a little bit of rice?” He expressed his concern for the exchange although I am sure his group heard him but did not listen. He even questioned their reasoning knowing that they could easily win a challenge soon and they would have a feast. However, they did not listen and they decided to trade their comfort items including the tarp, blankets, pillows, the extra flint and some tools like an axe and pots. They were left with only a few items and “starting from scratch”. Sure enough, they should have listened to Jeremy. In the next challenge, the reward was a survivor grill and a lot of meat—and to their surprise, they win the challenge. They now have food but what if it rains?

This is a perfect example of why is it important to listen effectively in groups. Jeremy was the only one opposed to trading in their group event thought they should have reasoned. To make matters worse, it starts raining. Now, Jeremy is extremely upset that they do not have their comfort items to keep them dry from the long and cold storm. Lesson learned!

Episode 5

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This week I think that chapter eight applied really well to the episode. There was a lot of conflict starting from the very beginning when Jeremy realized that Jon would be trying to make his amends before continuing on in the game with his tribe members. Also, with the whole switch up of the tribes conflict was clear with the new food situation. At Hunapu food was scarce, and their lack of preparation for the days and days to come was silly. At Coyopa, they had been dealing with smaller portions but were feeling alright, knowing that they had enough food to feed themselves for the coming weeks.

One big issue with conflict in this episode wasn’t even mentioned; the lack of communication between the members of Coyopa during the immunity challenge. There were three couples on the team which should of led them to communicate effectively and quickly because they are aware of the personal styles of the other half to their couple. Speaking and walking the rest of your team through a challenge really is the best way to get the most accomplished as quickly as possible. They were even told by Jeff how to move forward in the game with shaking the pole with sandbags because they couldn’t work it out on their own.

When it came to voting someone off, I was shocked to see Kelly go, I was really hoping that they would use this opportunity to get Baylor out and break up the Missy Baylor couple. The different members of the tribe were working to get Jon and Jacqueline’s votes, but the couple never really clarified who they were aligning with. But, they voted off Kelly, threatened by her an her dad’s intelligence as a pair. I really hope the teams can get their act together and realize that conflict will arise inevitably, but they need to learn to overcome it and all of the obstacles that it brings.

Episode 5

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We start this episode with John who’s trying to rekindle new alliances because his passed one may just come back to bite him in the butt. John pleads went to Jeremy who is a pretty strong player and essentially asks for forgiveness but Jeremy gives him a 50/50 acceptance. John feels like he’s gone to far into his own personal goals and as a result he doesn’t have the chance to dig himself out and hell be voted off. The eventual tribe-swap relinquished John of his fear of being targeted.

Jeremy trys to form an alliance with both him and Natia. Dale doesn’t like his new tribe he feels like there selfish and don’t care abut everyone else that’s why they go ahead and eat more irce than they should, and use scare items like htere nothing. Dale views feels like these players are not only harmful for the group but deserve to get kicked out. The copoya have retained the inability to effectively communicate they don’t have there group in myind maybe? In all I feel this episode was on point with wat weve been learning in class, we see how one person can mess up the group. We also see who one group working as a whole unit ultimately wins.

EPISODE 5.

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This episode starts off with day ten. The Hunahpu group begins talking about Drew and how he was kicked off. Once day eleven starts, the other team is totally shocked and his brother is confused because he knew his brother was one of the best competitors. Even more shocking is the tribe swap. The new Hunahpu tribe is Baylor, Missy, Kelly, Dale, Jon, Jaclyn, and Keith. Keith was very nervous about being in his new team. For the first challenge, Hunahpu wins the sand bag toss, which means they were able to use their communication skills, unlike Coyopa. At the tribal meeting, they ended up kicking off Kelly. They voted her off because they saw her father as a threat. He has a lot of experience and it seems like he is doing well.

Listen to Survive

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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.

Things are getting heated…

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So this week, I think, was very intense. I actually enjoyed the episode; I’ve been disagreeing with a lot of things said or done on the show, however now that we are finished with the second week, I feel there is a better opportunity to come back and revisit what roles and conflicts have been set in place.

In the end it was Dale that was voted out, he tried to “buy” his safety from being voted out by saying he had an immunity idol and that he would give it to Jon if they all didn’t vote him out.  I feel that Dale specifically filled the role of the compromiser. Essentially he knew he was going to be voted out so he tried to solve the problem by compromising with his members. Julie, who had a rough time this week, is a follower to me. It seems that she has volunteered or been okay with being asked to sit out multiple times; She was also very upset with being in the cold all night. I don’t blame her even though she is on survivor. The Aggressor is someone who puts others down or is sarcastic to get what they want. Even though they are on separate teams the twin brothers, Drew and Alec, and even though Drew was voted out, are the aggressors of the whole game to me. Both of them continuously put others down or not believe in them because they are a girl, etc. Jon and Jacquelyn are also followers on their team. I feel that most of their decisions are based off of what everyone else has already done. The last two episodes, the vote came down to Jon and Jacquelyn where they had to make a decision that could change the whole team but as long as they were okay they usually voted the safer way.

Jeremy is one of the most interesting people on the show to me and seems to always share his opinion, a lot. I think he fits into two different roles, the encourager-supporter role and the gatekeeper. When Jeremy, even though it was for his own selfish hidden agenda ways, he comforted Julie when she was having a tough morning. He encouraged her to continue with the games he needed her and everyone else did too. It made her feel better, but to me kind of threw her into her follower role, specifically to Jeremy. Jeremy has been a leader from day one and to me is a gatekeeper because he seems to be the one either making the final decision or just doing whatever needs to be done. He monitors everyone else keeping them on task and headed in the right direction. I feel like Natalie is overlooked in a a huge sense. Her sister was voted off right off the bat, I think she learned from her sisters experience not to be too aggressive with the men or they would become a threat. In a way she became a follower to turn the spot light off of her, but when I saw the immunity challenge, where she volunteered to go to exile island she became a tension releaser. After Reed won the challenge for the blue team he had a really tough decision to make because whoever went with Baylor wouldn’t be eating for the night. So by volunteering, Natalie released that awkward tension for Reed having to pick.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about a major conflict that the blue team had.  I feel that when the blue team ran out food and ended up winning food the next day is a procedural conflict. Which then related back to an original Substantive conflict. The blue team thus far, even though they have been winning challenges, have had issues since the beginning; all the boys wanted to vote out the girls and all the girls wanted the guys out. They were so worried about who would lead them that it seemed everyone tried to at the start. They couldn’t even come up with a solid plan for making the fire (losing the flint in the beginning). When they went threw all their food  it made me think overall it was a procedural conflict. Jeremy wanted to conserve rice, where people like julie, natalie etc. were continuously eating the rice. They had to trade all of their protection from rain away because they couldn’t keep everyone on the same page with the rice situation. Then the next day they got food, but still had no shelter. I think if they settled who was doing what once in for all they could make the game a little easier, but that’s a lot easier to say when I am eating mac n cheese and watching the games on my nice fluffy couch.

Episode 6

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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.