Week 3, Question 1

When I first read this question for this weeks discussion I had to really think about my response. I do believe that there are many different group norms at SJSU. It took a while for me to come up with them, but I thought about some of the experiences I have encountered while I have been at SJSU and I came up with one example that stood out. I think, as a SJSU student, a group norm would be having pride in the work that the students create. One specific example I can think of is the four professors from the communication lab. When I first signed up to be a communication lab tutor I knew that the lab was respected throughout the campus because it had been recommended to me numerous times by these professors. They constantly bragged about all the services the lab offered and how great the tutors were. When I started tutoring in the lab I knew that I had to live up to these standards that the professors had so they could continue to be proud of the work that was being done in the lab.

In my personal group of friends there is one vey identifiable norm that didn’t take me long to notice at all. I have a small group of girl friends that I have known for a very long time. One of my friends is a big time talker. Whenever I get on the phone I know that our conversation will be a minimum of 20 minutes. This is our group norm. I know that whenever I am with my friends I can expect this one friend to always have something to say. I used to get very annoyed with this friend, but as time has gone on I’ve learned to tune her out if she isn’t talking about something important.