Comm250 Exam II Symbolic Interaction Theory SIT created by George Herbert Mead 1934 o fascinated by human s ability to interact using symbols noverbal and verbal Goal To explain how humans through interaction with one another create symbolic worlds and how these worlds affect behavior Assumption People act based on symbolic meaning created between them o Meaning is created through interaction between people social process o Meaning is modified through an interpretive process o Created meaning affects behavior Concepts and Explanations Mind ability to use symbols that have common social meanings meaning can be negotiated based on context the group that is communicating ex little kids in school use the sign language t to ask to go to the bathroom in another setting this would not be understood Explanation o We can not interact with others until we learn language language shared system of verbal and nonverbal symbols organized in patterns to express thoughts and feelings language uses significant symbols symbols with shared meaning basically defines mind by defining language mind is our ability to use language o Through language we share meanings anticipate responses of others o Mind reflects and creates society use language to learn norms of society society creates teaches changes norms of society taught by parents teachers siblings classmates law officials Change norms of society can use language to voice opinions and try to bring about change if we see something in society that we don t like o Mind allows thought inner conversation this makes the theory considered intrapersonal because it is communicating with oneself without social interaction we can t think thought allows role taking taking the perspective of others o Role taking taking the perspective of others leads to empathy the development of self Self ability to reflect on ourselves from the perspective of others awareness of how others perceive you and reflecting on that what we think other people thin about us Explanation o Self develops from role taking taking the perspective of others this is part of mind Looking Glass Self looking at yourself in a mirror concept seeing yourself as others do and trying to understand what other people think of you through this process we internalize what other people think about us and make assessments about ourselves Pygmalion Effect interactions with others live up to other peoples labels for us ex call daughter crazy Alex she acts crazy is she naturally crazy or is she crazy because she is acting the way people call her ex teacher positive reinforcement teachers telling students how smart they are does it make them smart or are they already smart Society the web of social relationships humans create Explanation o exists prior to individuals o created by individuals interacting o creates individual selfs particular others significant others generalized others society as a whole Research Mind Self and Society Chicago School University of Chicago o Mead and Blumer o more qualitative Iowa School Univeristy of Iowa The New Iowa School o Carl Couch Define Communication o correspondence the creation of meaning between two people o human to human symbolic actions Mettheoretical assumptions Is humanist Ontological o Manford Kuhn 20 statements test o more empirical qualitative interested in the development of self o Humans do make real choices we are not just reacting we make choices on how to o Human experience is basically social symbolic INTERACTION how meaning is o Human experience is contextualized behavior will change depending on communicate created between two people surroundings o HARD CORE HUMANIST o studied both quantitative and qualitative but preference for qualitative Epistemological Axiological Evaluation Good o theory is value free o ontological assumptions imply acceptance for value o heuristic has generated research for a long time o parsimonious o valid theory o utility Criticism o Scope too broad tries to explain all aspects of communication o Precision ignores important concepts ignores the role of emotions when evaluating self self esteem ignores how individuals feel about themselves and their character traits Overall it a good theory The Coordinated Management of Meaning CMM created by Cronen Pearce Harris Goal to explain how people co create meaning in conversation Explanation People use rules to create and interpret meaning Use different rules get different meaning Meaning is constantly coordinated CMM is a rules theory It explains o what happens in conversation as a result of following rules communication is a matter of choice because when we have rules we can either follow them or not which makes the way to predict them very difficult o what happens when different rules meet people have their own individual rules for creating meaning when they come together with others they have to understand each other we use rules to negotiate meaning Assumptions People create systems of meaning o organize meaning hierarchically o temporally People co create a social reality o social reality a person s belief about how meaning and action fit within an interpersonal interaction o from current conversations between two people a new social reality is created because they are arriving at the conversation from different vantage points Behavior is not interpretable except in context of larger system o personal meaning meaning achieved when a person bring his or her unique o interpersonal meaning when two people agree on each other s interpretations of an experiences to an interaction interaction Hierarchy of meaning how much weight to give to a particular message content the conversion of raw data into meaning put into a category of context speech acts action we perform by speaking questioning complimenting threatening communicate intention and indicate how a particular communication should be taken o we can praise insult support o ex That is a brilliant idea could be praising someone or said sarcastically helps create meaning in conversation Contract the relationship between two people based on the relationship that the two people have there s different meaning o agreement and understanding between two people two people recognize their potential limitations as relational partners Episodes communication routines that have recognized beginnings middles and endings o sequences of speech acts that are linked together like a story o punctuate an episode how individuals interpret or
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