Social Interaction and Diversity Chapter 7

BINGO Get to know your classmates

Socializing By the end of this section, you will be able to: Define interdependence Describe benefits of social interaction in college Identify communication strategies for effective communication Identify social conflicts and resolution strategies

Interdependence Interdependence is defined as the mutual reliance, or mutual dependence, between two or more people or groups. “In an interdependent relationship, participants may be emotionally, economically, ecologically, and/or morally reliant on and responsible to each other.”[1]

Interdependence in College Interdependence is valuable in college because it contributes to your success as a student. When you feel comfortable with interdependence, for example, you may be more likely to ask a friend to help you with a class project. You may also be more likely to offer that same help to someone else. You may be more inclined to visit a faculty member during office hours. You may be more likely to attend the tutoring center for help with a difficult subject. Perhaps you would visit the career counseling center. Overall, when you have a sense of interdependence, you cultivate support networks for yourself, and you help others, too. Interdependence is a win-win relationship.

Interdependence Struggle Mode Interdependence Success Mode Students in struggle mode maintain a stance of dependence, co-dependence, or perhaps dogged independence, but not interdependence Students in success mode develop relationships that support themselves and support other people, too Students in struggle mode may avoid cooperating with others in situations where the common good could be achieved Students in success mode develop networks of friends, family members, professionals, and others as a support team Students in struggle mode may be reluctant to listen compassionately and attempt to understand the perspective of another person Students in success mode actively and compassionately listen to others as an action of support; they demonstrate care and concern

Benefits of Social Interaction in College Form Deep and Lasting Relationships Develop Good Study Habits Minimize Stress Share Interests Develop Social Skills

Communication Strategies for Effective Interactions Whatever your natural inclinations are, you can learn how to communicate more effectively with others and foster supportive interactions. The “doors” of change to more effective interactions are threefold: Examine your reservations Engage with others Expand your social circle

ACTIVITY: REFLECTIONS ON SELF-CONFIDENCE Directions: Make a list of your positive qualities. Acknowledge your accomplishments, talents, and good nature. Ask yourself the following questions to get you started: What have I done in the past year that I am proud of? What is my proudest accomplishment of all time? What unique talents do I have? What do people tend to compliment me for? What positive impact have I had on other people’s lives? Print and post your item in the room. Walk around and read what others wrote. Be social.

Too Much Social Networking From tweeting about a football game, to posting an album on Facebook about your spring break, to beefing up your LinkedIn profile before a job hunt, to Instagramming picture of party hijinks, social networking is everywhere in college, and it’s likely to say. The following video gives an insider look at why college students use social media. https://youtu.be/12P2H8gjcNk

Diversity and Accessibility What Is Diversity? There are few words in the English language that have more diverse interpretations than diversity. What does diversity mean? Better yet—what does diversity mean to you? And what does it mean to your best friend, your teacher, your parents, your religious leader, or the person standing behind you in a grocery store?

Surface Diversity and Deep Diversity Surface diversity and deep diversity are categories of personal attributes—or differences in attributes—that people perceive to exist between people or groups of people. Surface-level diversity refers to differences you can generally observe in others, like ethnicity, race, gender, age, culture, language, disability, etc. You can quickly and easily observe these features in a person. And people often do just that, making subtle judgments at the same time, which can lead to bias or discrimination. For example, if a teacher believes that older students perform better than younger students, she may give slightly higher grades to the older students than the younger students. This bias is based on perception of the attribute of age, which is surface- level diversity.

Surface Diversity and Deep Diversity Deep-level diversity, on the other hand, reflects differences that are less visible, like personality, attitude, beliefs, and values. These attributes are generally communicated verbally and nonverbally, so they are not easily noticeable or measurable. You may not detect deep-level diversity in a classmate, for example, until you get to know him or her, at which point you may find that you are either comfortable with these deeper character levels, or perhaps not. But once you gain this deeper level of awareness, you may focus less on surface diversity. For example: At the beginning of a term, a classmate belonging to a minority ethnic group, whose native language is not English (surface diversity), may be treated differently by fellow classmates in another ethnic group. But as the term gets under way, classmates begin discovering the person’s values and beliefs (deep-level diversity), which they find they are comfortable with. The surface-level attributes of language and perhaps skin color become more “transparent” (less noticeable) as comfort is gained with deep-level attributes. The following video is a quick summary of the differences between surface-level and deep-level diversity. https://youtu.be/4QsF8_IwmXs

Campus and Student Life Refer back to POC #2 Presentation What are some of the groups available on campus for students? What resources are available for learning more about campus organizations? Describe the benefits of participating in student life.

ACTIVITY: CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES Extra Credit Opportunity: Objectives Attend campus activities/events to heighten a sense of connection with your institution Use social media to display artifacts from these events Directions Choose two activities to attend. Collect mementos (such as a ticket stub, a program, take pictures and/or video). Digitally archive them (for example, take a digital picture of the ticket stub). Create a written presentation about your two activities. For each activity, include the following: what, when, and where the activity occurred why you chose the activity uploads of the related mementos into your paper what you learned from the experience Follow your instructor’s directions for submitting this activity.