SPC3210 Test 4 Study Guide Notes from the book Dr JJ s PowerPoints and lecture Communication Accommodation Theory Objective Theory Socio Psychological Tradition Author Howard Giles Originally called the Speech Accommodation Theory Premise of CAT o When speakers interact they adjust their speech including vocal patterns nonverbal behaviors etc o Explores the motivations and consequences of speakers adjusting their communication with others Accommodation Adjusting modifying or regulating behavior o Consider dialects style accent non verbals language content in response to others multilingualism Roots of CAT o Social psychology s Social Identity Theory Social Identity Theory proposes that a person s identity is shaped by the groups to which he or she belongs In groups become more like Out groups become less like o Giles adapted Social Identity Theory Focus is on the in groups on individuals speech styles Speech style affects impressions Setting topic and type of person influence communication style Assumptions of CAT o Speech and behavioral similarities and dissimilarities exist in all conversations Interactants have different experiences and backgrounds Experiences and backgrounds influence level of and skill levels accommodation message o The way we perceive the speech and behaviors of others will determine how we evaluate a conversation Perception the process of attending to and interpreting a Evaluation The process of judging a conversation o Language and behaviors impart information about social status and group belonging Primary language reflects the person with the higher status New group members are willing to accommodate o Accommodation varies in its degree of appropriateness and norms guide the accommodation process Accommodation is not necessarily beneficial Norms younger accommodates older higher status accommodates lower status Ways to adapt communication o Convergence Speaking in an appropriate style Selective process based on attraction Typically considered to be a positive strategy May be misused as a result of stereotypes Example Oprah o Divergence May be used to disassociate themselves Different from inattentiveness Reasons for divergence To maintain social and cultural identity e g Korean student at university in China To render another less powerful To contrast self images To exclude linguistic collusion o Over accommodation Sensory person is perceived limited in some way hearing impaired elderly etc Dependency person is treated in a subordinate role e g immigrants catastrophe survivors Intergroup stereotype individual based on group e g racial cultural to which they belong A Major Factor that determines our Accommodation o Ethnolinguistic Vitality The range and importance of the functions served by our culture s language perceived usefulness of our language Influences the degree to which group members will act as a group when interacting with members of outgroups Other factors that determine our language use o Social status of group o Size of group o Institutional support o Degree of identification with one s own group o View of alternatives to subordinate status o Social memberships o Similarity of language to outgroup o Exposure to outgroup culture o View of ethnolinguistic vitality Code Switching the act of converging or diverging verbal and nonverbal communication toward another individual group or culture o Why switch Desire to be like outgroup To gain knowledge of outgroup To increase cohesiveness with outgroup To accommodate other speakers courtesy Survival To avoid accommodating other speakers divergence Privacy divergence To express another perspective of one s identity Respect family member older generation Pride in original culture o When code switching consider it can be perceived as mocking rude and that interpretation of the new language style may be different than native speakers inaccuracies and miscommunication can occur Strengths Heuristic Applied to a variety of communication contexts interpersonal mass Comm business organizational etc Weaknesses Testability Convergence vs divergence oversimplifies conversations Burgoon Dillman Stern 1993 Cultivation Theory Objective Theory Socio psychological tradition socio cultural tradition Author George Gerbner Television is society s institutional storyteller o and a society s stories give a coherent picture of what exists what is important what is related to what and what is right o Example Twilight Grey s Anatomy relationship with superior Glee relationship with same gender Violence o the simplest and cheapest dramatic means to demonstrate who wins in the game of life and the rules by which the game is played Example Game of Thrones The Wire Not Limited to Violence o Gender roles appeal of smoking or drinking popularity of various political positions Example Two and a Half Men Sex the City Paradigm A conceptual framework that calls for people to view events through a common interpretive lens o How we look at the world Institutional Process Analysis Scholarship that penetrates behind the scenes of media organizations in an effort to understand what policies or practices might be lurking there Message System Analysis Scholarship that involves careful systematic study of TV content usually employing content analysis as a research method o Quantitative Analysis Dramatic Violence The overt expression or serious threat of physical force as part of the plot o Eliminated verbal abuse idle threats and pie in the face slapstick o Included auto crashes and natural disasters o Gerbner s team taped shows from 8 to 11 pm and children s programming from 8 am to 2 pm Equal Violence Unequal Risk o 2 3 of the major characters are caught up in some kind of violence o 50 of characters are white middle class males o Men outnumber women by 3 to 1 o Victims are most often the elderly children or women o African Americans and Hispanics are killed or beaten more often than Caucasians Cultivation Analysis o Research that attempts to support the idea that those who spend more time watching TV are more likely to see the real world through TV s lens o How TV s content affect s viewers o TV cultivates ways of seeing the world Accessibility principle o When we make judgments about the world we rely on small bits of information that come to mind most quickly o For heavy viewers of TV the information that is top of mind is likely to come from TV Mainstreaming The process of blurring blending and bending that those with heavy viewing
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