COMM 305 1st Edition Lecture 11 Outline of Last Lecture 1 Expectancy Violation Theory a Nonverbal behavior b Expectations c Violations d Response Immediacy Example 2 Communication Accommodation Theory Outline of Current Lecture 1 Answering questions d Response Immediacy Example 2 Communication Accommodation Theory Current Lecture Facial expressions in general are universal The eyebrow flash is also universal Parsimony is the idea that our theory should be as complex as it needs to be but no more complex or as simple as it needs to be buy no simpler The theories aren t trying to explain the same things in the same way d Response Immediacy Example Immediacy You show you are connecting with someone by leaning forward nodding you turn and face each other eye contact more active listening behavior verbal and nonverbal distance we are closer touch Think of it as not one nonverbal but taken together there is connection between many We think of nonverbals in clusters instead of isolated We are trying to explain a violation The theory is trying to explain what will you do in an expectancy violation Immediacy encompass multiple nonverbals at once An immediacy violation is a noticeable change in one or some nonverbal behaviors A study showed a 20 year old male hit on 120 random women at a night club He said the same thing every time He said Hi my name is Anthony do you want to dance In half of the cases he touched them on the arm in the other half he did not 43 of the women agreed to dance who were not touched 65 who were touched They also did this on the street He said Hi my name is Anthony may I have your number Half the time he touched them on the arm the other half he didn t 20 agreed after a touch 10 without a touch Touch is a sign of confidence It was a confident immediacy exchange The study was done in France There are cultural expectations about touch The U S is not as touchy as other cultures If the response we see is reciprocation we will see matching Anthony may touch you on the arm you may say yes and touch him on the arm Compensation something in the response contradicts the immediacy violation If you are very close to someone on an elevator you will compensate in some way You may look away take out your phone so you may be in your own bubble As personal space is decreasing you find other ways to avoid the situation It is being validated negatively How do we violate an immediacy violation Example Factors Influencing Response to Violation Communicator Reward Valence There is a difference if a boss does something Size of Violation If someone kisses you on the cheek you may not reciprocate because it is a bigger deal Cultural Norms Do we compensate or reciprocate Situational Cues At a family reunion it is more common to hug then at another occasion Different kind of immediacy behavior expected At a wedding you hug the bride and groom even if you don t know them well to congratulate them Going to the dentist if someone puts there hand in your mouth it is okay because it is the dentist Different situations require different things Relationship Expectations Friends do some things versus people that are dating Mood People in a good mood are more likely to reciprocate Maybe because on a dance floor you are more likely to reciprocate than on the street Personal Characteristics Individual preferences in a culture Seinfeld Episode Aaron is a close talker We saw extreme examples of reciprocation when Jerry and Aaron are eye to eye He doesn t lean back Elaine tilts her head other than that she is reciprocating It is easy for her to reciprocate because of the height difference Mrs Seinfield leans back Then he invites them to take them to the museum and she grabs his arm She reciprocates almost because he has to Kramer compensates he throws himself into the kitchen to get away The joke is that Aaron is a close talker It is odd because that close is to close We don t think much about personal distance until someone violates it 2 Communication Accommodation Theory What happens when we are all playing by the rules We we are communicating we follow a core principle the cooperative principle We want to be cooperative We want to be understood We want to understand Accommodation refers to the basic idea that in our communication we try to be cooperative and to adapt to our listener the person we are communicating with Peoples accents tend to converge become more or less around certain people He trained British confederates to interview culturally Welsh participants in a study In some cases he told the interview to be hostile toward the welsh In other cases he trained them to be nice When they were denigrating the interviewees accent became thicker Is the pattern true in other ways Is there something else to it We accommodate in lots of ways