COMM 1301 Exam 3 Review Dr Beth Olsen UH Chapter 7 Cognitive Theories 1 Attribution theory Heider Kelley Focuses on the ways in which people infer the cause of their own and others behaviors Notion of na ve scientists People are na ve scientists In everyday activities people engage in a relatively unsophisticated version of the observation and analysis that social scientists use when conducting lab experiments Based on such observation and analysis people attempt to assign causation and meaning to the actions of others as well as of themselves Causal inference e g person stimulus Possible explanations or causal inferences A person attribution affects how we respond to Jae He has a sense of humor He is a guy who always tries to draw attention from people A stimulus attribution His friend or story was really funny A circumstance attribution the circumstance under which the conversation took place was hilarious Examples of fundamental attribution error ultimate attribution error egodefensive bias negativity effects Fundamental attribution error one of the most persistent findings is a tendency to attribute the cause of events to personal qualities dispositions 1 People are not always objective when making inferences about themselves and others 2 People often make swift judgments based on overt clues and emotional factors 3 People generally feel insensitive to circumstantial factors contexts that cause events when considering others behavior observer taken out of context 4 People generally are sensitive to circumstances when considering their own behavior actor Ultimate attribution error Intercultural communicators are particularly likely to commit the ultimate attribution error We view negative acts committed by out group members as a stable trait of the out group and view positive acts committed by out group members as exceptions to normal behavior While fundamental attribution error is about an individual ultimate attribution error is about a group of people People with ultimate attribution error tend to see members of other races or religions as genetically and or dispositionally inferior or flawed while people from their own racial or religious in group upon committing the same negative behaviors are good people who are dealing with specific situations the best they can Ego defensive bias We tend to attribute our successes to internal sources e g ability and motivation and attribute failures outward to such factors as bad luck or unusual task difficulty We make these biased attributions in order to preserve a positive image of ourselves Negativity effects When presented with both positive and negative information about a person the negative information assumes an inordinate weight in the formation of an overall impression of the person Since people expect positive things to occur in everyday lives negative instances tend to stand out more People are also sensitive to potential threats in their environments for purposes of survival High context vs low context culture situation vs disposition High context culture HCC members are for example predisposed toward situational features and situationally based explanations Low context culture LCC members are predisposed toward dispositional characteristics and dispositionally based explanations In initial intercultural interactions HCC and LCC communicators will seek out information deemed salient in each culture e g Social background demographic info for HCC vs Personal individual info for LCC 2 Communication accommodation theory Giles Examines underlying motivations and consequences of shifts in communication behavior 2 premises motives for accommodation1 During communication people try to accommodate or adjust their style of speech to others 2 They do this in order to gain approval to increase communication efficiency and to maintain positive social identity with the person to whom they are talking Convergence and divergence notion examples Convergence is a strategy by which we adapt our communication behavior in such a way as to become more similar to another person e g talking alike Examples slowing down or speeding up speech rate lengthening or shortening pauses and utterances using tag questions verbal intensifiers choice of topics stories listening style attentiveness Powerless individuals tend to adopt the verbal and nonverbal styles of those with power Females may use communication convergence in order to say the right thing and to fit in among organizational superiors usually males a potentially double bind speak like a man but act like a lady Interviewees often shift their speech rate and duration to sound likable to an interviewer Sales people often converge their speech styles with those of customers Divergence Divergence is accentuating the verbal and nonverbal differences between speakers It is often enacted to underscore social differences or maintain a social distance It is likely to occur when individuals believe that others are members of undesirable groups hold distasteful attitudes or display unsavory appearances e g talking differently Examples speaking a dialect or language that the other person feels uncomfortable using a thicker accent monotone exaggerated animation using a formal jargon laden style slowing down speech rate to slow down people who speak rapidly speaking softly or loudly Divergence strategies Maintenance or under accommodation persisting in your original communication style regardless of the communication behavior of the other People with strong ethnic pride often use maintenance to underscore that identity and distinctiveness Over accommodation demeaning or patronizing talk in which excessive concern is paid to vocal clarity or amplitude message simplification or repetition Some nurses use baby talk to the institutionalized elderly regardless of the individual s capabilities People often shout slow down or avoid addressing blind persons 3 Theory of cognitive dissonance Festinger Assumptions People are more comfortable with consistency or homeostasis balance than they are with inconsistency Attitude change can result from information that disrupts this balance 3 types of relationships among cognitive elements null consonant and dissonant 1 Null or irrelevant relationship where neither element affects the other I am a man I eat ice cream I like you I eat ice cream 2 Consonant or consistent relationship where one element follows reinforces or bolsters the other Things go together I have two sweet