Communication Accommodation Theory By Hoard Giles

Communication theories are important to learn and understand. Learning these theories helps us apply the theory to our own life. It helps our critical thinking skills as well as benefits one to understand the value of research that has been accomplished in this field. Understanding communication theories can help us make sense of our daily life experiences. There are three Communication theories that I have studied that have touched on my personal and professional life. These theories are Communication Privacy Management, Social Penetration Theory, and Organizational Culture Theory.

The pillow method in interpersonal communication is a situation that has four sides to it and to the approaches that can be given to that particular situation. Here, there is no single definite correct answer, but each of the four views that can be given, as will be discussed herein, is correct. The four approaches are normally I'm Right, You are Wrong, then You are Right, I'm Wrong, then Both Right, Both Wrong and finally It Isn't Important Which Position is Right or Wrong. This indicates the complexity behind interpersonal communication and how a simple conflict in communication or situation can take widely varied angles.

I am originally from Puerto Rico, which is a country in which communication is an integral part of society. The cultural norm of the Puerto Rican culture is to speak up when necessary and communicate clearly if we want things to be done. At the same time, I believe that in order to produce results, the manner in which communicating takes place, is an extremely important component. My culture also showed me how the emotions used when communicating, such as the use of the hands and body language, will dictate the tone and flow of the communication. The literature suggests that the majority (as much as 76%) of the message we gibe to another person during conversations is carried by non-verbal or para-verbal communication. Thus, we must be very careful and strategic in our use o non-verbal communication (Van Acker, 1997).

Consider a black person, or any other minority, who enters a room for an interview in hopes of earning a position within an aerospace company at an entry level position. Sitting across from him or her could be three white employees: possibly one from human resources, another was the area supervisor, and lastly the teams’ lead in the area looking to hire. Consider the applicant a black man who grew up in Southern Georgia; however, he then sat at a table in Norther California seeking employment. Understanding the difference in culture and region, the panel of interviewers diverge the conversational tone to accommodate the applicant. According to Ayoko, Härtel, and Callan (2002), “Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) examines the

Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L. (2005). Interpersonal Communication and HumanRelationships. (5th ed.) Boston: Pearson.

Explain how people from different backgrounds may use and/or interpret communication methods in different ways

To function effectively in today’s society people must communicate with one another. Yet for some individuals communication experiences are so unrewarding that they either consciously or unconsciously avoid situations where communication is required. (McCroskey & Richmond, 1979) The term ‘communication apprehension’ was coined by James McCroskey (1976a) and is defined as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons” (McCroskey, 1984). In the last two decades communication apprehension and related constructs, such as reticence and unwillingness to communicate, have received extensive research and theoretical attention by scholars in communication and

It is vital the practitioner considers the different ways they communicate bearing in mind the different background, cultures, linguistic knowledge and styles of their parents and children. If people do not have the same shared experiences they could interpret things in a different way. Some people’s preferred way of communicating may not be face to face as they may be uncomfortable with eye contact, in

Humans act toward people, things, and events on the basis of the meanings they assign to them. Once people define a situation as real, it has very real consequences. Without language there would be no thought, no sense of self, and no socializing presence of society within the individual. (Socio-cultural tradition)

In the article, “Communication: Its Blocking and Its Facilitation” by Carl R, Rogers, a psychotherapist who wrote a book without being a teacher of writing, asserted that psychotherapy will create guidance towards failures of communication and can improve communication between people. Rogers declared that the foremost barrier to be beneficial towards the interpersonal communication is one examining from their perspective. But the barrier can be eliminated if the people stop judging other people’s ideas , opinions without analyzing the other person’s point of view meaning putting themselves in a person 's situation. In fact, he briefly acknowledges the complication of communication towards the people but also provides diverse ways to improve our communication, mainly when contributors are known to support their role. Also, valor is known to be listening compassionately, meaning one extensive towards the risks of changing. In this issue, Rogers elucidates the indifference towards caring about the third party that can improve the adversary achieving mutual understanding by encouraging them as partners to resolve problems, instead of being foes and holding a grudge. Moreover, as social scientist, there is

In this paper, I will use CAT (Communication Accommodation Theory) to explain how convergence, divergence, and intergroup contact are illustrated within the film American History X.

“Expectancy violations exert significance on people’s interaction patterns, on their impressions of one another, and on the outcomes of their interactions” (Burgoon 1993:40). In other words, Judee Burgoon, founder of the expectancy violation theory, concluded from various experiments that people evaluate communication with others in a negative or positive regard, based on their expectation of the interaction and their opinion of the communicator. When people do not act in accordance with ones expectations, one resorts to evaluating their communication behavior, be it verbal or non verbal as well as how this behavior makes one feel. The following essay will further explore and explain the

Theory explains how individual act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things. The meaning comes

Throughout the semester, we have studied numerous communication theories. Their purpose is to help understand exactly what happens when we interact with others. We might not necessarily agree with all of the theories, but the idea is to develop tools to evaluate situations we may encounter. Often, when the theories are explained in the readings or lecture, it is beneficial to apply the concepts to a "real life" situation. Using this approach, I will use a situation that many of us have faced, or will face, and analyze it according to a particular communication theory.

When communicators exhibit associative behaviors, they are utilizing verbal and nonverbal tactics that adapt to their conversational partner. Higher social status or power and commonalities between the individuals may explain why they are willing to do so. In attempt to demonstrate associative behavior, these individuals will partake in accommodation. According to the Communication Accommodation Theory, the interactants converge either upward or downward, unimodal or multimodal, or symmetrical or asymmetrical in order to adapt to the conversational setting (Zhang & Imamura, 2017). For instance, adults would speak slowly and use simple vocabulary when talking with children. In A Class Divided, the teacher would converge downward for her third-grade students to understand the concepts.