This I Believe

I believe in smiles.

Questions of Inquiry

Topic Proposal:

How do we manipulate the world around us?


Original Inquiry Proposal:

I would like to research more about how our diction, inflection, and our body movement assist in the manipulation of others. There is some sort of science behind the words we use and the way we present them. There is a pattern involved with the effects of these certain things and I want to find out more about that pattern. I have always been really interested in psychology and as such I have a little bit of knowledge in this field already; in fact, most people already do they just don’t realize it. When I think to respond to someone I consider all aspects of my response: Not just what to say but how to say it. In what position should I be? How my face should look? In what manner and tone of voice should I speak? A lot of these things race through my head, and they probably race through a lot of others as well. It really interests me that we can find these subtle patters without thinking about it and change the way we behave in order to acquire the outcome we want. Children are seen learning this incredibly fast as they begin to fake cry when they want something because they know it will grab attention. I have a lot of the little examples already, as I've stated, but what I don't have is any research. The type of information I need would be that of a scholarly journal or a research project. Seeing the pattern is simple as we only have to look internally at how we behave in conversation, but tracing that pattern and digging deeper is harder. I want to know why some words have some effects and why a certain facial expression can alter an entire message. Specifically I want to look towards speeches. It's much easier to see the subtle things people do in person when they know who they are talking to and how they will feel about something, but it's not so simple when you are speaking to the masses. I want to understand how the great speeches of the world were constructed and who are the ones that create them. Why can the mere words someone says that knows nothing about you feel empowering? Is it because that’s what we wanted and we leaned ourselves in that direction, or is it because the words really did manipulate the way we thought and felt. I know there is more underneath the surface. An understanding of how language can be used as a means to impose our will onto others and a mastery of that ability. Nothing short of mind control.

Why and how do diction, inflection, and body language assist in the manipulation of others?

The Blog

The purpose of this blog is for me to maintain my writing and work in my English 1102 class.