Rebel With a Cause

Comm101 80% of the couples Brother Williams has counseled over the years have come to him because of communication problems. Contrary to popular belief, we are unable to not communicate (Lauer & Lauer, 194). Communication is both verbal and nonverbal. Therefore, the real problem is communicating effectively ; having the receiver understand what the sender intended. This takes effort on both sides of the conversation. According to Lauer and Lauer, “All rules for improving communication skills revolve about the goals of making us more effective senders and more effective receivers” (208). The sender must constantly be evaluating what he/she has just said in order to ensure that it matches what he/she actually wants to communicate and that it is not threatening. The receiver, on the other hand, must be a good listener and take an active part in trying to understand what the sender is telling them.             Brother Willi...

This week’s topic was The Family Under Stress. A stressor is something that puts strain on the family or family relationships, and a crisis is anything that mandates a necessary change in the family’s system. The way that a crisis is determined can be explained with something called the ABCX Model. A represents the stressor, B is the resources and methods used to cope with the stressor, C is the perception of the stressor, and X is the result of those three combined: the crisis. A+B+C=X. A crisis can either destroy a family’s functioning or the family can become stronger and more unified because of the crisis. The key lies in B and C of the model. If the family uses ineffective coping methods such as denial, avoidance, or blaming, and sees the stressor as something that is impossible to overcome, the restructuring that occurs in the family will not be beneficial. On the other hand, if the members of the family choose to find and/or take advantage of resources available to them (whi...

Hi ya’ll Today’s post is going to be short. This week we talked about sex and infidelity. (In a dispassionate tone:) it was cool. I think that the main thing that I learned personally is that sex is important, but it isn’t the biggest part of life. To quote my psych111 professor, Fred Woolley, (we talked about this in psych this week, as well) “it’s the most powerful form of emotional connection you can make naturally,” and to paraphrase him, it’s also the highest high that the brain can experience naturally and without killing off brain cells. That’s a big deal. Sex is something very powerful. It binds emotionally, it creates strong emotions, it can create another human being. “If handled naturally it can be the most destructive force on the face of the earth” (Brother Williams), if handled correctly it can be a strength to a family and a marriage. But at the same time, people can live happily and successfully without it. I’m a virgin, I’m happy. I’m glad that I have chosen to...