Muted Groups

Muted groups are groups of people that belong to a low power group who change their language when they communicate publicly, which often results in their ideas being ignored or overlooked (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015).  A muted group (as described by the textbook) is primarily women, but I believe a strong argument can be made that African Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups can be muted groups as well.  I believe many of their struggles can coincide along with the struggles of women.  Just yesterday, I saw a post on Facebook that was circulating through various social media platforms.  The post was about about a store attendant helping a Pakistani customer.  The Pakistani customer did not speak English very well and she told the store attendant that she was visiting the U.S., and she stated, "I'm Pakistani but I'm not a terrorist I promise."  The fact that even though she didn't speak English very well but she knew how to say this phrase shows how the American language and culture oppresses foreigners, especially from the Middle East.  This woman also tried to adjust her language to the American language, as well as in a way apologizing for her culture and thinking that every American would think of her as being a possible terrorist.  This is also a prime example of the co-cultural theory.  The muted group (Pakistanis/Middle Eastern origins) trying to adjust their communication to the dominant group (Americans).  Ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans began to take on the "us versus them" against Middle Eastern people, thereby classifying them as a muted group.

Regarding campus male dominance, I think the example I gave in class this past Wednesday works well for male domination on campus.  Catcalling is a huge part of the male college culture; I think most girls can agree that they have experienced some instance during their time at Fredonia, especially around FredFest time.  I remember last year, my friends and I were on our way downtown when we passed a group of guys sitting outside on their porch drinking.  As we walked past, they whistled at us and made comments about how we looked "fine" and "good" that night.  To most girls, this attention can be classified as harmless and sometimes as being flattering.  But to me and many others, it's very uncomfortable and makes me feel powerless.  I will usually try to respond back with something like, "do you talk to your mother or sister like that?" or just ignore the comments, but I also feel like there could be a chance that if I offend them I could be verbally or physically attacked for not accepting the "compliment."  The catcalling culture is just wrong and even in how far we've come in women's rights and equality, I still think the catcalling culture is still a strong one in terms of male dominated language that is still upheld, especially on college campuses.

                                                                                                                       

References


Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory(9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Face Negotiation Theory and Conflict

I have a friend that I used to be really close with but lately she and I haven't been as close and I would even say that we have been drifting apart.  It's been really hard to deal with because of my personality style; I am a people-pleaser, so I care a lot about what people think of me and the actions that I take that effect other people.  In terms of this theory, I care a lot about my own "facework."  I also think that I do a lot of "face-giving" as well, which is caring about another's person's need for inclusion (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015).  

The conflict with my friend has been constant since the beginning of the semester.  She had felt that I was becoming closer with our other friend and felt left out.  She confronted me about the difference in our friendship a few times during the Fall semester.  Now, I feel like everything I do I try to include her, but there are problems with that as well.  I personally think we have just changed a lot this year, and there's nothing really we can do about it.  But I still feel anxiety about the conflict so I usually try to avoid discussion about it.  This is one of the predictable styles of conflict management;  I also mostly oblige to my friend, because I don't like confrontation.  In terms of this theory, I think that these conflict management styles describe my situation pretty well.  I think the best route to take would be integrating (or problem-solving), but I think sometimes it's hard to achieve that.  Usually there is more going on that is pretty complicated, which makes it hard to actually talk everything out.  I think Ting-Toomey's management styles are pretty spot on to how a common conflict is usually dealt with.  

 References

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory(9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Communication Accommodation Theory and Job Interviews

Based on the Communication Accommodation Theory, knowing how to accommodate your communication behavior for a job interview would be pretty important.  If you are in a job interview, you will probably want to converge your behavior with the interviewer.  Convergence is when you adopt your behavior to be like (similar to) the other person (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015).  You wouldn't want to over-accommodate however, because then the interviewer might feel like you are being fake, or even insulting them.  I think that can sometimes be a common mistake when people try to communicate with someone; when I talk to my grandmother, for example, I sometimes feel like I'm over-accommodating and people will notice, but I don't mean to because I am just trying to converge with her communication style so she understands.

In the context of a job interview, being able to converge is an important communication trait; for example, you would have to mirror the interviewer's professionalism and eye contact.  And in the off-chance (depending on the job you're applying for) that they are laid-back and conversational, you would have to be able to accommodate for the change, even if you weren't prepared for it.  I think the important thing to remember for job interviews is to stay professional and definitely adjust to the person's communication style.  I had a phone interview about 2 weeks ago, and I had a little trouble gauging a good convergence with the woman that was interviewing me.  I think talking on the phone is hard because it's not a face-to-face interaction, but I notice now that I was mirroring her speech pattern and tone; which was concise and professional.  I felt good after the conversation and my roommate had heard me talking on the phone and she commented that I had sounded professional as well.  I, obviously, don't always sound like that; you have to adjust your communication to each different situation.

References

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory(9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Correlation between the real world and "television answers"

I think there is a strong correlation between hours spent in front of the television and the tendency to believe that what is portrayed is reality.  The more television the person consumes, the more likely they will probably be to think that it is real.  I believe everything shown on television is portrayed in a way that is very believable to any person.  A person that consumes this type of media would have to be very critical of everything they were watching, which most often isn't going to happen.  For example, this theory makes sense to me because I believe a lot of young girls sex role attitudes come from television consumption.  Many young girls and teenagers think that relationships or their role in sex should and will be just like what they saw on television.  Then when this doesn't happen, I think a lot of girls don't think they did something right because roles weren't the same as the ones they saw on TV.  The more a young girl consumes this type of message, the more likely she will believe it to be true, thereby fantasizing a role that can never really be obtained.

In terms of the effects of media on myself, I'm definitely gullible in terms of TV being reality.  I started watching "House" this summer and became obsessed with the show.  After about a week and 10 episodes in, I started to think that I might have some of the diseases that were diagnosed on the show.  Obviously, most of the cases that House works with are extremely rare, but the idea still stuck with me that I might be that one in a million case that would have this totally abnormal disease.  I had to stop watching the show because it became a little too real for me; which is ridiculous because it's totally not real, but I still had the idea stuck in my head that it was.  It probably also didn't help that I'm kind of a hypochondriac, so I probably shouldn't have started the show in the first place.  But I see where people can find TV reality to be true to the real world.  We definitely have this idea in our heads that if it's on TV, it must be real, but most often times it's not accurate at all.  

References:

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Development of Parasocial Relationships

When I read Chapter 28 and came across parasocial relationships, I was surprised that the idea actually had a name.  I think parasocial relationships are really common in our age of media.  The example of the death of Glee star Cory Monteith, is a great example cited by Griffin, Ledbetter, and Sparks (2015).  People started following Monteith on Twitter after his death, which was interpreted as a "way of expressing deep parasocial involvement with Monteith" (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015, p. 359).  People were saddened by Monteith's death because of their attachment to Monteith's character, Quinn, on Glee.

Parasocial relationships develop when audiences feel personally attached to a celebrity.  I think if a celebrity or character has a lot in common or connects with an audience, this will lead to a parasocial relationship.  In my own case, I have a celebrity crush on Kristen Bell.  I first started to feel attached to her since her appearance in Veronica Mars, a TV series that aired many years ago.  The show is about a teenager, Veronica Mars (Bell), who's father is a private investigator.  Veronica's best friend is murdered mysteriously and she tries her best to find out who killed her friend.  The show centers on Veronica who is a self-confident, smart, outsider in her school and uses her dad's private investigator skills to solve cases throughout the 3 seasons of when the show was aired.  The show ends after Veronica is in her sophomore year of college, which left a lot of Veronica Mars' fans unsatisfied (including myself).  A few years after the show had ended, a fan began a start up project to make a movie centering on Veronica Mars after college with Kristen Bell.  Bell loved the idea and got the idea out there that if a movie was to be made, they would need money.  Within days of the idea coming into the public eye, Veronica Mars' fans had raised over 3 million within a week for the movie.  Bell is one of my favorite actresses and so many people loved her in Veronica Mars.  People were so emotionally attached to Veronica that after the show ended, fans wanted more and they made that happen.  This is definitely an example of a parasocial relationship, resulting in fans' overwhelming support to make a movie of a beloved TV series and an admirable character.

References

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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