Muted Group Theory

Muted group theory is a theory that is first proposed by Edwin Ardener, which talks about how certain groups in the society are muted where it either means not heard or silent. This theory explores mainly on gendered perspectives, and according to Em Griffin (2009) Cheris Kramarae maintains that language is literally a man-made construction, where she states how “language of a particular culture does not serve all its speakers equally for not all speakers contribute in an equal fashion…women are not as free or as able as men are to say what they wish, when and where they wish, because the world and the norms for their use have been formulate by the dominant group, men” (Griffin, 2009). This shows why muted group is an interesting theory to explain such divided world between men and women through their speeches.

Kramae initial concept, on this extension of the Ardener’s is to explore why most women are muted in every society and to find a way to free them away from having this idea that women are muted. Kramarae’s basic assumption on women is that they perceive the world differently from men because each gender’s experience and activities are rooted in the division of work (Griffin, 2009).

Media Text

The film 'The Iron Lady' is a great movie that shows the muteness of women in the world. Showing her struggle to get a seat in the House of Commons, and being in the members of her Cabinet, she was practically laughed at and her ideas to make the society a better place was highly criticised and laughed at by the obnoxious man in the cabinet. This movie clearly shows how the goal of changing the man-made linguistic system that oppresses women is shown through her journey of fighting through the battle of the sexist and to prove to the world that she could be as good or even better than all the men.

Reference.

Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGraw-Hill.

Genderlect Theory

Genderlect theory is an area of study where linguists take part in on an interest of studying the language between sexes. This field of study was first originated in the early 20th century, where anthropologists drew on earlier reports of travelers and missionaries, describing the separation between men and women’s languages in societies removed from Western cultures (Thorne et. al, 1983).

‘Genderlect theory’ is a term that suggests masculine and feminine styles of discourse that are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects rather than as inferior or superior ways of speaking (Griffin, 2009). This theory is seen as something that is relatable to every person in this world because, communication between the opposite sex occurs every day of our lives; it does not matter whether it is an interaction in a personal or professional situation.

When a study of language and gender is conducted, there is no running away from stereotyping between genders to occur. Stereotypes of men and women’s speech have had a long history as the language of men and women have been popularly perpetuated through proverbs, jokes, journalism, literature, and serious scholars (Graddol & Swann, 1989).

However, Tannen believed that many differences between men and women in communication has occurred earlier in one’s childhood and continuing through out adulthood, even though girls and boys may have grew in the same household, however, it can be understood and observed that they are treated very differently (Griffin, 2009). Women are seen to rapport talk as they seek human connection, while men report talk focuses on status independence. Miscommunication happens between sexes happen most of the time because; Tannen believed that both parties are not aware that these ‘miscommunications’ are the encounters of cross-cultural.

The Difference between men and women, according to Tannen:

1. Public speaking versus private speaking
a. Women are a lot more comfortable to speak up and talk more during private conversations, many women feel that their voice are not heard in public.
b. Men, have the tendency to speak up more than women as they having a “one up” lecture style, where they command attention, convey information and insist on agreement.
2. Conversing when telling a story
a. Men tell stories and jokes, more than women do. Telling jokes to one another is a way to negotiate one’s status in a masculine away. Not forgetting, men tend to make themselves the heroes in their own stories.
b. When women tell their stories, they tend to downplay themselves to make them sound modest and humble.


3. Listening
a. When a person tells a story to women, they seem to be a lot more alert by showing verbal and non-verbal cues, to show their attentiveness and interest. Women will interrupt the halfway to show support and agreement.
b. However, as for men they tend to avoid the cues above so it does overshadow their ‘masculinity one-up’ authority. When interruption occurs for men, they regard it as a power move.
4. Asking Questions
a. Men do not as for directions or help as it shows their ignorance and ‘weakness’.
b. Woman are more open to the idea of asking questions because, to them asking questions to establish a connection with others.
5. Conflicts
a. Men are comfortable with conflict as they believe conflict is the best way to reconnect
b. Women find conflict ‘deadly’ and a threat to connection that needs to be avoided at all times.


Understanding theory using media text:

This image shows a conflict going on between the guy and the girl. It shows how the difference between men and woman communicate turns this; as shown to what Tannen has stated that when women listens to a story they give out verbal and non-verbal cues while me they tend to avoid cues, however if this nature is not understood by both men and women, it would lead to a situation like the picture above.

The picture above is another great example of how men and women converse. When women speak the tend to not leave any information out which shows how specific they are with their stories, while men the tend to filter what they say making it straight to the point and short as possible, this illustrates why women are a lot more comfortable speaking in private because for them there is nothing to hold back while, men they have they style of "one up", and command attend to covey their information. These difference again can lead up to a conflict between one another especially when it comes to relationships.

References:

Graddol, D., & Swann, J. (1989). Gender Voices. Cambridge, USA: Basil Blackwell


Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGraw-Hill.

Thorne, B., Kramarae, C., & Henley, N. (1983). Language, Gender and Society. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, INC.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Uncertainty reduction theory is a collaborative work made by Charles Berger and Richard Calabrese. This theory illustrates how, people have uncertainties during the early beginnings of encountering with people that you have not met, so individuals try to predict the other person’s behavior to try and reduce uncertainties through self-disclosure and by finding our more information about the other person.

There are two types of uncertainties that Berger has stated when you first meet the other person, which are behavioral questions and cognitive questions (Griffin, 2009). Behavioral questions are sets of questions that you ask yourself, to reduce uncertainties in a situation where that person will display accepted behavior protocols to ease the stress (Griffin, 2009) and cognitive question is when that person starts looking and asking for information about the other person.

There are three reasons why people would like to seek information from the person they first meet. The first reason is because of incentive, where they feel that they want to know more about the other person, who controls the reward that he/she is interested in. The second reason would be deviation because human beings has a sense of curiosity when it comes to an individual violating our expectations of the norms and values of society, hence people would want to know more information about them. And lastly, it would be because of anticipation of future interaction, where people would interact with a stranger because they believe that they will be more of this person around.

Throughout the study of uncertainty reduction theory, according to Em Griffin (2009) Berger had proposed a series of axioms to explain the connection between uncertainty and eight key variables, to support this theory and in turn had produced 28 theorems. Thus, information is obtained, uncertainty is reduced; as uncertainty diminishes, there is a reduction in the need to use information gathering strategies like “question asking” (Ayres, 1979).

Media text

This is a pilot scence for F.R.I.E.N.D.S where this scene show Monica introducing Rachel to the group and later everyone asked what was wrong, to reduce uncertanties because deviance can be seen through Rachel where everyone is curios and interested with what was going on with her. It is not likely to see a women in a wedding dress running into a coffee shop and because of Rachel's character she is very open, hence he was able to self-disclose her situation and private matters which made everyone around that table likely to be comfortable.

Reference:

Ayres, J. (1979). Uncertainty and Social Penetration Theory Expectations About Relationship Communication: A Comparative Test. The Western Journal Of Speech Communication 43, 192-200.

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory (7th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGrawHill

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication accommodation theory, formerly known as Speech accommodation theory is a communication process of seeking approval, by meshing with another’s style of speaking (Griffin, 2009). It is a way when one or both party could speak in a way that is more similar to the other’s dialect (Delahunty & Garvey, 1994). Basically, communication accommodation theory takes place when, people from two different ethnic or cultural group interact with each other, and they tend to accommodate the way each other speak in order to gain the other’s approval, to avoid any awkwardness or rejection.

This is achieved through the change in vocabulary of their speech, speed, language choice, accent and etc. Howard Giles, a psychologist have analyzed that, the act of converging and diverging occurs between individuals in social interactions between one another with respect to their forms or styles of speech. When an individual converge, it is a strategy, which a person adapt their communication behavior toward another, in such a way as to become similar to the other person, by reducing linguistic differences between them by using communicative behavior and alternatively, divergence is a communication strategy whereby, a person accentuates the difference between him/her and another, by increasing the differences between their varieties (Delahunty & Garvey, 1994).

There are different motivations for converging and diverging in social interactions between one another. One of the main reason why people converge is because, they have the desire for approval from the other party and it is the way of social identification, where that person communicates not as individuals but as representatives of groups that defines them (Griffin, 2009), and because of the importance of having a social identity, some people diverge in social interaction because they feel that they need to have a social distinct in order for them to feel, acceptance and being comfortable.

Media Text

This is a scene in F.R.I.E.N.D.S where it was Ross's first day lecturing in a new university, and his speech started to converge into speaking in a British accent, because by this he believed that people would take him a lot more seriously, and that he would get a permanent. However, later on he diverged out of his British accent because, he was not getting any approval in his behaviour by his students, hence diverged out because of his 'social identity' of being British felt his students really uncomfortable.

Reference:

Delahunty, G., P., & Garvey, J., J. (1994) Language, Grammar, & Communication: A Course for Teachers of English. United States of America: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7^th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGraw-Hill.

Youtube (2012) Fake British Accent/Rachel finds out. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNLvK0saDVw

Social Penetration

Social Penetration Theory

Social penetration is a theory that deals with the knowledge that emphasizes on the effects of communication on relational developmental between people (Ayres, 1979). Social penetration theory states that as relationship develops, communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more personal ones (Altman & Taylor, 1973).

Altman and Taylor, sees the personality structure of person to be like onion-like layers, which comprises layers of beliefs and feelings about self, others and the world (Griffin, 2009). The deeper the layers of the onions are, the more vulnerable, protected and central to their perception of self-image.

When a person self-disclose, that person chooses to share their personal preferences, attitudes, feelings and secrets with another person. Strangers and friends will use similar rates of question asking, but ask different kinds of questions, where strangers would ask questions that are a lot more descriptive, while friends, ask more evaluative questions than strangers (Ayres, 1979).

When a person self-disclose with another person, there are two ways in which that person prefer to disclose them; through depth or breadth. Depth of penetration is the degree of self-disclosure in a specific area of an individual’s life where information that are told are more intimate and private and breadth is the range of areas in an individual’s life over which disclosure takes place (Griffin, 2009).

The Five stages of Penetration

1. Orientation Stage- small talks occur; following typical social desirability and norms of appropriateness.

2. Exploratory affective stage- The stage where, a person starts revealing something a little more with another person; personal thoughts on topics that are not too “way out of this world”, as this is more of a casual friendship

3. Affective stage- the topics that are shared between one another are more private and relate more to personal matters; criticisms and arguments arises.

4. Stable stage- Relationship between on another is at a level where personal things are shared, and each can predict the emotional reactions of the other person

5. Depenetration- At a stage where, relationship starts to break down, where costs exceed the benefits. Self withdrawal from disclosing one another occurs, which leads to an end to the relationship.

Examples of benefits which occurs in the early part of one’s relationship:

- Physical appearances

- Mutual agreement

- Similar backgrounds

- Common values

Examples of costs in a relationship

- Disagreement between one another

- Dissimilarities of interests

Understanding of this theory on a media text

This scenes explains the orientation stage between Noah and Allie, were walking down the street after watching a movie with friends, and here they were just getting to know each other.

The next scene is the exploratory stage where the scene shows them laying on the group on the zebra cross it can be seen a casual friendship building up where, Allie was a little bit more comfortable being around Noah, that she would even get out of her comfort and trust what Noah is doing is fun.

This scene shows the affective stage where Allie and Noah seems a lot more comfortable with each other where more private matters are shared between them. This playfulness that is presented between Noah and Allie, shows how comfortable they are around each other.

TThis is a stage where Noah's and Allie's relationship are a lot stable. Emotions such and love and lust are pot rayed in this seen. Emotion are also able to be predicted by one another, and from here it can be seen that happiness illustrated between them

Lastly this is a stage where Allie had to depentrate out of their relationship because summer ended, and their relationship began to break. This depenetration in involuntary because they still love each other, but under their circumstances of different social class and difference they were for to get away from each other.

Reference:

Altman, I., & Taylor, D., (1973). Social Penetration: The Development of Interpersonal Relationships. NewYork: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Ayres, J. (1979). Uncertainty and Social Penetration Theory Expectations About Relationship Communication: A Comparative Test. The Western Journal Of Speech Communication 43, 192-200.

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory (7th ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGrawHill