Relational Patterns Activity
For each interactive activity, you may email your responses to your instructor or to yourself. Or, you may answer the questions and then print your responses when they are displayed on the screen. If you choose to print your response, then leave the spaces below blank.

Your Name:
Your Email:
Your Instructor's Name:
Your Instructor's Email:

For this activity, you will join an online discussion group, observe it for a period of time and then answer the questions that follow.

If you have already joined an on-line group and have observed its interactions for a while, skip to the questions.

If you have not joined a group, read the directions that follow:

1. Subscribe to a mailing list on a topic of your choosing. Check out lists on search engines provided by google at http://groups.google.com/ or yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/ to find a group that interests you. Or try www.coollist.com for a user-friendly menu of mailing list topics.

2. View the email discussion of a Usenet group. You don't really join these groups, but instead you use a mail reader (such as Netscape, Explorer, or Newswatcher) to read the messages of the different groups. There are thousands of groups to choose from.

3. If you have the software available, join a chat group or Cu-SeeMe session. These groups usually have a short lifespan, so their communication will be somewhat different than the groups described above.

At this point, you may wish to return to the Relational Patterns page and observe your on-line group for a period of time.

If you are returning to the activity, please answer the questions that follow.

1. What relational patterns occurred on the group?

2. What steps were taken to control the dysfunctional patterns that occurred?

3. Did your group experience any progressive spirals? If so, describe.


Relational Patterns | Interpersonal Communication


Content author: Tim Borchers, Moorhead State University
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