Gee describes Discourses as a social experience that helps shape who you are as a person. People who also share a Discourse are usually close friends or family. Other experiences can also happen through previous Discourses, this is called a secondary Discourse. Through these levels of Discourse, is how we live our lives and who we talk or interact with. These experiences shape who a person is and how they are brought up. This can be seen when Cuddy watches students walk into the classroom. From as soon as they walk in you are able to tell a lot about them, “So you have people who are like caricatures of alphas, really coming into the room, they get right into the middle of the room… like they really want to occupy a space”(Cuddy). On the other hand there are people who are the opposite, “You have other people who are virtually collapsing when they come in”. These people are shaped by their Discourses and behave the way they do because of it. The more social people have been made social due to the experiences they have had in life.

 

The difference between primary and secondary Discourse is the time period that they happen. A secondary Discourse is what happens after a primary Discourse. Within a secondary Discourse there are also dominant and nondominant versions with different meanings. A dominant secondary Discourse happens  “ at a particular place and time, brings with it the potential acquisition of social goods”. While a non-dominant secondary Discourse is “ the mastery of which often brings solidarity with a particular social network”. These versions of the same Discourse are just ways of achieving a different experience in a Discourse. An example of these separate sections, is having a job and going to it 5 times a week to earn a living. This is a dominant Discourse because it occupies most the person’s time and is very important to them. An example for a non-dominant Discourse would be having a poker night with friends on sunday each week. This is hobby that only happens during a certain time, and is not as important as going to their job 5 times a week, while poker night is only one day.

 

Throughout the Ted talk Cuddy introduces or hints towards some of her secondary Discourses. The first example she mentions is that she is a social psychologist, which is a dominant secondary Discourse. We know this because this is her reason for coming to speak at a Ted talk, her ideas of social interaction due to her job, led her to that point in her life. Another secondary Discourse she mentions is being a student going to college and struggling with her injury that left her on a lower level than before. This is a Discourse which she left behind, this was an old dominant secondary Discourse. Later in her life she became a professor at Harvard which is another example of the Secondary Discourses she has had in her life. This experience is also a dominant Discourse because it was a main part of her life at that point. We know these are secondary Discourses because they have been major stepping stones in her life story that has shaped her into what she is when giving her talk.

 

Nonverbal communication can be described as body language of someone during a certain event or period of time. This type of communication is very important in life, because it says more than words what the person is feeling at that time. For example at a job interview a person that has good posture and a person who has their legs out with they arms crossed, are feeling very different from each other. From the interviewer’s standpoint the person with standing up straight is a much more engaged and serious about the interview, just based on how they are sitting in the chair. This is seen in Cuddy when she observes kids that are in her classroom. The more powerful people will occupy space and get to the classroom early, showing how they feel non verbally. When other students will show up “virtually collapsing when they come in”, this shows how miserable they are just with their body language.

 

I wrote this question regarding secondary Discourses because if someone moves on from a previous part of their life does it not mean that they in turn have to move on from their past Discourses? This could also be affected by which form of secondary Discourse it is, whether dominant or non dominant. The answer to this question i feel can be answered by looking at your own life. There are many examples that can be seen as leaving a Discourse behind, for example leaving high school and going into college. New Discourses such as friends and clubs a student can join, but also this can be seen as keeping the same dominant Discourse as a student. This is a question that might not have one answer but a couple answers.

 

This next annotation is a question about what happens when someone has to fall back from their secondary Discourse to their primary Discourse. This question comes from the sentence, “ One can fall back on one’s primary Discourse, adjusting it in various way to try and fit the needed functions”. Does this mean that when someone’s secondary Discourse fails, do they automatically go to their primary Discourse or does it mean they could also go back to their secondary Discourse that is related to their primary. Could the person also rely on a different type of Discourse that is not related to both a primary or a secondary? This could be answered with a example that once a person gets a divorce they could go back to dating, or they could be single for the rest of their life.

 

The next annotation is about how our bodies can change our minds, can it or is it just an optimistic phrase. We know that our mind can change our bodies because a person can have different opinions about certain types of bodies. But does this work for our bodies changing our minds? The answer to this one can be seen as a person who thinks they can win a 1v1 basketball game because they have previously have won a basketball 5v5 tournament. This person will go into the 1v1 with a great mindset because they are used to winning and will have more confidence than someone who just jumps into it. I believe that our bodies could change our mindset if the conditions are right.

I wrote this question about if i posed for two minutes in the mirror like i can conquer the world will it make me feel more powerful and boost my levels of confidence. If this really would work then how convenient would it be to instantly change your mood for the better. What if i did this and it worked how much better would i feel if i had been doing this all my life to boost my mood. If so then my body would most definitely change my mind. The problem with this is you actually have to believe in yourself for this type of mental progression to work. But this is a great idea to boost positivity and confidence in yourself. An example of this would probably be after going to the gym, you get back and start flexing in the mirror admiring your newly achieved gains.