The Break Up - Movie Interpersonal Communication Essay

In Chapter 3, Listening, Gregory discusses the importance of listening to the speaker. Gregory points out that although the words “hearing” and “listening” are used interchangeably, they have two separate connotations. Hearing is picking up soundwaves with our ears, while listening is making sense of what the speaker is saying with our mind. I have now grasped the concept of what listening actually is. Two behaviors that I have observed or participated in are electronic usage during a speech or presentation and becoming distracted. As a result, I have decided to emphasize the importance of rejecting electronic intrusions and resisting distractions.

1. Stephen R. Covey writes, "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen

Provide 3 signs of poor listening seem throughout the film. Provide ways that their listening could be improved.

All these poor listening styles are a bad habit if you want to become a better listener. As explained in the book on page 168-169,”Spacing out is when someone is talking to us but we ignore them... pretend to listen isn't paying much attention to the other person... selective listening is where we pay attention only to the part of the conversation that interests us... word listening occurs when we actually pay attention to what someone is saying but we listen only to the words not to the body language, the feeling, or true meaning... self-centered listening happens when we see everything from our own point of view”. You will be better at communicating if you don't get any of the poor hearing styles.

The Break-Up is categorized as a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, as Brooke Meyer, and Vince Vaughn, as Gary Growboski. The film portrays what happens when individuals in a relationship gets comfortable. Romantic comedies are typically funny with a happily ever after, but this movie was more dramatic than funny. It gives us a glimpse of the actions taken at times to get the others attention. The Break-Up shows the heartache of what happens when people don’t communicate, because sometimes it is too late once the heart is so broken.

The first speaker, Peter Johnson, is not someone you would expect to be speaking on non-verbal communication due to his job focusing on verbal communication. He too told of his astonishment of being

Thank you for your help on my discussion. When I read your thesis statement it sounds like your goal is to complete your degree. I also sense that learning the material in this class seems to be a vital piece to completing the entire degree. Is that where you are going with this paper?

context of the message and have a better understanding of what the character is trying to portray.

The story depicts a date between the two main characters, who both admit that they are not happy within their relationship. They are prevented from breaking up with each other, however, due to their anxiety of the consequences and their pride for a good reputation. This, although not the focus of the piece, comments on how the opinions of other people can have a great influence on our decisions and actions, in this case, the action of the characters to begin the relationship and their decision not to end it.

(Birdwell, 1999) By this point in history, motion pictures had become ingrained in American culture and were becoming less of a “luxury” and more of an “every day” thing. The messages of the movies in this time period subsequently became

One question that must be raised is why the understanding of the listener is given the preference over the understanding

“You are at a party and the person in front of you is not really listening to you. Yes, she is murmuring occasional assent to your remarks, or nodding at appropriate junctures, but for the most part she is looking beyond you, scanning in search of something or someone more compelling.

For example, the “Streetcar Named Desire” movie was a real example of how theatre was a very powerful of art that addressed one of the big social issues at that time in the US. I also liked other examples and movies that we watched in class regarding theatre as a very influential form of art that was banned and faced by the power of the government. The government did that because they recognized the negative impact of theatre on their benefits and its impact in raising people’s awareness. In addition, I liked the movie in which orchestra members were interviewed to talk about how music is a form of art that bring people together and may solve big issues. I liked that many of the orchestra members were from different backgrounds and from different cultures as well; however, they all agreed that playing music is a very important aspect of their lives. In my view, that was a very good example of how music is a very powerful art tool that touch people’s feelings no matter where they are from and it may also contribute in bringing people together.

People tend to process incoming information quicker than its output by the speaker causing them to quickly jump to conclusions, evaluate, or predict what will be said next. "Most individuals speak at the rate of 175 to 200 words per minute. However, research suggests that we are very capable of listening and processing words at the rate of 6000 to 1,000 words per minute....This unused brain power can be a barrier to effective listening, causing the auditor to miss or misinterpret what others are saying."(Lewis 2003). Listeners are often side tracked when listening, whether it be internal or external distractions. People have a habit of only listening to what they want to hear instead of what is actually being said.

Due to the fact that this type of listening is done in order to learn something new or simply understand a message, paying attention to information that only supports one’s values and beliefs while they ignore information that does not can significantly hinder how well someone engages in informational listening (Floyd, 2017, p.226).