Communication 457 Quiz 3-Scripts, Episodes, and Nonverbal Communication

Goals

-Act toward a desired state of affairs -Goals drive our communication performance

Accounts-Disclaimers

-Disclaimers offered before performing a speech -Hedging: "I'm not sure about this, but" explicit statement that what follows is tentative -Giving credentials: "I'm not prejudiced, but" Soften negative reactions to what speaker says -Sin licenses: "I know its not PC, but" acknowledges what is about to be said violates script for appropriate behavior Cognitive accounts: "I know it sounds crazy, but..." "You may think this is silly," lets speaker know what is said strains reality but the speaker hopes to be thought of rationally -Appeal for suspended judgment: "Hear me out..." asks for opportunity to explain statement before being attacked

Rules

-Episodes have the characteristics of rule-following behavior, rather than a set of specific rules -Conversational principles; Cooperative principle; (quantity of information, truthfulness, relevance, manner (clarity)) -Logics of meaning and action; Felt moral obligation -How did these rules play out in the nonverbal episode we began the class with? -What are some of the rules around communication, social media, and dating?

Accounts-Excuses

-Excuses: Accounts given after a speech act threatens -Accidents: speakers deny their intention to threaten the episode, "I didn't mean to do it" -Mistakes: Speakers blame others/they did not have autonomy "I was coerced," "I lost my head" -Evasion: Speakers deny agency by amnesia "I can't recall having done that" or they did not act alone "She is just as guilty so I shouldn't be punished at all" -Appeals for absolution: Speakers appeal to moral principles "It was self defense" -Appeals for sympathy: Speakers appeal to mitigating circumstances "I've had a rough life, what do you expect?"

Nonverbal Principles

-May supplement or replace verbal communication -May regulate interaction -Often establishes relationship-level meanings •Responsiveness (are you interested?) •Liking •Power

Accounts

-Negotiate what episode is occurring -Negotiate meaning of particular acts within episodes

What do we turn to in episodes?

-Scripts -Rules -Goals

Nonverbal Communication Expresses Cultural Values

-Space Europe -Gestures in Italy -Men walking a head of the women in Greece When have you experience nonverbal communication that differed from your own cultural experiences?

Scripts

-Standardized punctuations of episodes -What people think that other people think goes on in these episodes -Unwritten, widely known, instruct people what to do and say in specific social situations Examples: What is the script of asking a government agency for help? How would we approach that interaction?

Stanford Prison Experiment Description

-The Stanford Prison Experiment was a landmark psychological study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life. It was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. -Subjects were randomly assigned to play the role of "prisoner" or "guard". Those assigned to play the role of guard were given sticks and sunglasses; those assigned to play the prisoner role were arrested by the Palo Alto police department, deloused, forced to wear chains and prison garments, and transported to the basement of the Stanford psychology department, which had been converted into a makeshift jail. -Several of the guards became progressively more sadistic - particularly at night when they thought the cameras were off, despite being picked by chance out of the same pool as the prisoners. -Although the intent of the experiment was to examine captivity, its result has been used to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KND_bBDE8RQ

How are episodes defined?

-They function as frames -Punctuated by conversations that perceive what is "inside" and "outside" of the episode -Punctuated by time: determining when an episode begins, and when it is over; have a beginning, middle and end-the sequence of events is significant -Punctuated by boundaries: deciding what is in (part of them) or out of the episode (not part of them); sometimes clear, sometimes not (What were the things, spaces, people, objects that clearly belong to the episode?) -Punctuated by structure: deciding what fits into the pattern of the episode and what does not (i.e. dinner with a friend must include dinner), certain acts occur in certain sequences (What are the patterns and sequences of interaction that would be typical of other episodes of this nature?)

What types of questions do episodes attempt to answer?

-What is going on here? -What are we doing here examples -fighting with boyfriend -having dinner with family -studying for a test -just goofing off As categories of events and objects in our social world.

Nonverbal Communication (As a part of oral speech aspects): Environmental Factors

1. The communication environment or setting including the use of objects

Nonverbal Communication: The communicator's physical experience

2. The communicator's physical experience, including clothing, make-up, scars, and insignia. Very important in western society

Nonverbal Communication: Proxemics

3. The use of social and personal space

Nonverbal Communication: Kinesics

4. Body movements or gestures

Nonverbal Communication: Nonverbal properties of the voice

5. Paralanguage: tone, pitch, inflection, volume •https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zyjLyBp64&feature=youtu.be

Nonverbal Communication: The use of time

6. Including turn taking, punctuality in keeping appointments •http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/dr-phil-on-being-late-video

Describe the time, boundaries, and structure of these episodes

About Last Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsbHt3vPrDg Friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCSoR60PG0E Glee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUEIBiaf1d8

What does nonverbal communication account for in communication?

Account for 65-93% of the meaning of our communication

What are speech acts?

Actions we perform through speaking -Compliments -Insults -Promises -Threats -Assertions -Questions

What is nonverbal communication?

All aspects of communication other than words examples: -gestures -body language -inflection of words -features of the environment that affect communication -personal objects -physical appearance

Silence

Can indicate anger, contentless, awkwardness, or respect. Means thoughtfulness in eastern cultures.

What do episodes and scripts remind us of?

Communication is not common sense

What is an episode?

Communicative routines in which [conversants] view as distinct wholes, separate from other types of discourse, characterized by special rules of speech and non-verbal behavior, and often distinguished by clearly recognizable opening or closing sequences

Analyzing Communication in Episodes

Consider... -How do conversant coordinate their actions? -How do they construct working definitions of episodes in which they are communicating? -What happens when conversants have different definitions of the episodes they are co-constructing? -What happens when conversants realize that they are co-constructing an episode that they did not want or expect? -What happens when conversants run into difficulties coordinating their actions?

What does non-verbal communication do for relationships?

Creates "relationship language" that expresses the overall feeling of the relationship

Chronemics

How we perceive and use time Example: -In western culture there is a norm that important people can keep others waiting

How can words be cultural indicators?

In a conversation, words/terms can have different meanings. New meanings can be created for words/terms. ex. hook up has a different meaning now -context determines meaning -speech acts are co-constructed -insults are only insults if perceived by both sides as such

Artifacts

Personal objects we use to announce our identities and heritage, and to personalize our environment

Additional nonverbal communication: Haptics

Sense of touch; many scholars believe that touching and being touched are essential to a healthy way of life

How should you interpret others' non-verbal communication?

Tentatively, the norm does not include everyone as different cultures act differently

What do episodes and scripts demonstrate?

The contingent aspects of communication

What do episodes and scripts make relevant?

The need to develop communication praxis, rather than prescription

What can we understand about the power of communication?

The power is to construct realities. The Stanford Experiment is an episode that was altered when communicators coordinated their actions in a way that felt authentic rather than experimental.

True or false: Nonverbal channels are believed more

True

True or false: Nonverbal channels carry more information

True They also regulate interaction better, like the flow of conversation between people, and we sense when it's our turn to speak

What ways are episodes made of?

Ways we coordinate our actions

The Stanford Prison Experiment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwfNs1pqG0&feature=player_detailpage Think about... 1. How did the prisoners and guards coordinate their actions in the experiment? 2. What were the working definitions each group seemed to have of the episode in which they were communicating? 3. What different definitions of the episode surfaced? What happened? 4. What happened when the episode went from experiment to real?How did the prisoners and guards co-construct that change in definition? 5. What was the result of having different interpretations of the episode? Then think about -What was the expected script for an experiment? -How did the script change? -What was the goal of communication in the experiment? -How did the goals of the communication change when the experiment began to feel real? -What were the rules of the experiment that appeared violated? In what ways were they violated?

Conversational Triplet

•Anne says:_______•Tom says:________ •Anne says:_______ -If you want to look at the act Tom performed, you must look at it in the context of what was done before and after. -i.e. Fifth grade teacher to fifth grader: "Kennedy, pull your pants down!"-> she had her pants pulled very high up; context