Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism is communication through symbols or better known as human interactions (Griffin, 2009, p. 60). In this post i will use the film Crazy Stupid Love to explain Symbolic Interactionism and how does it affect our lives.

Charon (1998, p. 39) explains that “Symbolic interactionism focuses on interaction in its understanding of the human being rather than on personality, society, or the influence of others. Interaction includes social interaction and interaction with oneself. It emphasizes that human beings define their environment rather than simply respond to it, that a focus on interaction and definition focuses our attention on the present situation as the cause of what we do”. In other words it relies on human interaction. As stated by Griffin (2009, p. 60), Blumer's three core premises are meaning, language and thought whereby self appears when all three core principles are in place.


Blumer's first premise; meaning, symbols already contain pre-determined meanings and human beings understand these already implemented meanings, in the film we can see that Jacob Palmer is a stud, he sleeps with women from which he picks them up at the same bar, the term 'stud' was installed and labelled to him due to his cheesy pick up lines and charm which has never fail to bring the ladies back to his place. Blumer's second premise; language, when Cal Weaver first met Jacob Palmer, Cal was surprised to see how Jacob picks up the ladies with just mere words, Cal does not understand this 'language' by Jacob, he tried to copy Jacob at first but to no avail, so Jacob decides to teach him the ways on how he brings the ladies home and after a few attempts, Cal does so magnificently as he now understands the 'language' used by young Jacob. 


As noted by Griffin (2009, p. 62), Blumer's final premise is "an individual's interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes". This can also be called ones 'inner conversation' or minding. Minding is an inner dialogue or various imagination of alternative outcomes in our minds before we make a decision (Littlejohn, 1996, p. 163). Furthermore, as stated by Griffin (2009, p. 63), "the mental self-image that results from taking the role of the other; the objective self; me" is called the Looking-glass self. Whereby Cal mimics Jacob's role of a womanizer. In other words, as noted by Griffin (2003, p. 63), ‘I’ is “the spontaneous force that fosters all that is novel, unpredictable, and unorganized in the self” whereas ‘Me’ is “the objective self; the image of self-seen when one takes the role of the other". This leads to the concept of Self-fulfilling Prophecy" in which Cal being 'Me' a womanizer as taught by Jacob, is to be accepted by the younger society.

Jacob Palmer (right) teaches Cal Weaver how to be womanizer at a bar.

The Society 'help' us perceive how we display ourselves in public, the 'me' is developed through society's perception of oneself and 'Generalized other' develops. Griffin (2009, p. 65) states that 'generalized other' is "the composite mental image a person has of his or her self based on community expectations and responses. In conclusion, society plays a huge role in our development as a person, how we see and judged ourselves might be due to the people around us, it maybe socially and culturally constructed, hence understanding Symbolic Interactionism is relevant and useful for our daily lives.


References:

Charon, J. M. (1998). Symbolic Interactionism: An Introduction, An Interpretation, An Integration (6^nd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill

Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Muted Group Theory

According to Griffin (2009, p. 455), Muted Group is "People with little power who have trouble giving voice to their perceptions because they must re-encode their thoughts to make them understood in the public sphere; e.g., women." I will use the film 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy' as an example where the Veronica was at a constant struggle to complete and attract attention for air time on TV rather than her more dominant male colleagues to help understand how power privileges in the divided in men and women in our daily lives.

Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Kramarae (2005) states that muted group theory suggest in which women are confines to what they can say, when and with what results moreover, languages are man-made; constructed by man in order for them to express themselves and this leads to women being muted. Kramarae and Ardener established that this mutedness is also caused by lack of power dynamics in any group with low rank and they are deemed as "black holes" due to being overlooked and seen invisible (Griffin, 2009, p. 455). In the case of the Veronica, due to their lack of 'power' as a upcoming female news reporter rather than their male counterparts, she is usually ignored from given any TV air time and are not fully utilized as they should be. Kramarae assumes that women see the world differently from men due to dissimilar experience in division of work, furthermore due to men's political dominance and their perception is dominant, hence it ensures that men have the 'controlling power' especially control of the dominant mode of expression.

Co-anchors; Ron Burgundy and Veronica Comingstone

Men are seen as gatekeepers of communication in the film, the KVWN-TV station was filled with male-dominant news reporters and journalist and Veronica's goal as a lead anchor was challenged by not only Ron but his friends were also a constant nuisance. Ron did not want a 'woman' to be in his workplace and Veronica had to go to extreme measures to be anchor. Kissack (2010) supports by saying that "In a patriarchal society, men create and reinforce their prevailing societal structures, including the formulation and use of language. For women to operate within such a society, they must assimilate to masculine norms, including language usage. Such assimilation mutes feminine voice and renders women as inarticulate due to the necessity of having to express themselves through a language that does not accommodate their experiences." As stated by Griffin (2010, p. 459), "Kramarae believes that in order to participate in society, women must transform their own models in terms of the received male system of expression." In other words, women have to learn make an effort to speak the language of men to get noticed and most importantly being able to express themselves. In the end of the film, Veronica and Ron did managed to settle their differences and became co-anchors for World News Centre.

Muted Group Theory focuses on women who are muted but nowadays more and more women are able to empress themselves such as seen in the movie, women should not be discounted as invisible despite the 'power privileges' that we see in our daily lives.


References:


Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.


Kramarae, C. (2005). Muted Group Theory and Communication: Asking Dangerous Questions. Women & Language, 28(2), 55-61.


Kissack, H. (2010). Muted voices: a critical look at e-male in organizations. European Journal of Training and Development, 34(6), 539-551.

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication Accommodation Theory is a communication theory that offers intercultural communication to communication itself (Griffin, 2009, p.368). In this post I will use the cast from How I Met Your Mother, to view the ‘communication accommodation strategies’ that are offered in Communication Accommodation Theory and view how it plays out in our daily lives.

Howard Giles, a Welsh psychologist, defines Communication Accommodation Theory in Griffin (2009, p. 388) as, “The constant movement toward or away from others by changing your communicative behaviors.” While Imamura, Zhang and Harwood (2011), supports this statement by Giles in "CAT explains how people modify their communication based on what they perceive to be the cognitive, emotional, and conversational needs of their conversation partners and situational cues such as stereotypical views of their partners’ group (Giles et al., 1991)." In other words, for instance when two separate individuals from different culture and ethnic background speak to each other, each of them tries to accommodate or change how they speak or act according to the other individual to help them better understand and they are fueled with their motivations of their own. 

Giles develop two ‘communication strategies’, they are ‘Convergence’ and ‘Divergence’. According to Griffin (2009, p. 389), Convergence is “a strategy by which you adapt your communication behaviour in such a way as to become more similar to the other person.” Whereas another way of adapting is through 'Discourse management' that is a delicate alternative of topics to confer (Griffin, 2009, p. 389). This act of 'Convergence' can be seen in episode 17 of season 1 where Marshall Eriksen changed his accent to accommodate with his friends at work to be socially accepted and in episode 16 of season 3 in How I Met Your Mother when Lily Aldrin changed her accent to the stereotypical African American accent communicate with her friend Michelle, this has led Lily to converge and accommodate to Michelle's original accent. The changed of accents from Marshall and Lily are due to social acceptance and desire for approval.

   

Marshall Eriksen 'Converging' due to social acceptance

Barney Stinson 'convergence' due to sexually approval

According to Griffin (2009, p. 389), 'Divergence' is " a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another person". In other words, communicating in a different dialect to increase distance between two parties. This 'divergence' can be divided into three categories; 'counter-accommodation', 'under-accommodation' or 'maintenance' and 'over-accommodation'.

First, 'counter-accommodation' is the straightforward way of amplifying contrast between two speakers while 'under-accommodation' or 'maintenance' is constant use of our original dialects or accents in communicating despite others demeanor and 'over-accommodation' is the patronizing but well-intended talk to a particular individual and this lead to the recipient feel worse about him or herself. An example of 'over-accommodation' is in episode 17 of season 5 when Anita asked Barney out but he rejected Anita due to his promise to his friend; Robin, Barney kept saying 'no' and this led to Anita being patronized and feeling worse about herself.

References:

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.


Imamura, M., Zhang, Y. B., Harwood, J. (2011). Japanese sojourners' attitudes toward Americans: Exploring the influences of communication accommodation, linguistic competence, and relational solidarity in intergroup contact. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 21(1), 155-132.

Genderlect Styles

Genderlect as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 430), is "a term suggesting that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinctive cultural dialects. In this post, i will use the interactions between the cast from the hit tv series That 70s Show to show how does Genderlect Styles are viewed in men and women and better understand how opposite sex communicate with each other and why is it important to understand Genderlect Styles.

Tannen argues that women more than anything seek 'human connection' where as men seek status in a relationship, or in other words, 'rapport talk' by women where their usual conversation style is to establish connection with others where as 'report talk' by men is a mono-logic style that they establish to command attention, carry information and win confrontations (Griffin, 2009, p. 432-433). Tannen views this as cross-cultural communication. This can been seen as Michael Kelso's constant hook ups with various women such as Laurie Forman, Pam Macy, Angie Barnett, Annette Berkardt and many more women with this Michael Kelso tends to show off his status as a womanizer to the rest of his friends in the series, this supports Tannen's claim that men seek status.  Whereas Donna Pinciotti, a character who is in love with Eric Forman; the lead series character, seeks human connection or love in her case, she doesn't show off her status unlike Michael Kelso does.

Tannen claims that women talk more in private conversation whereas men only talk more in public speaking situations where men always seek a 'one-up' position among men (Griffin, 2009, p. 433). In episode 17 of season 2, we can see that Donna and Jackie are having a private conversation about Eric's and Donna's first time in intercourse, and also can be seen in other episodes, while later in that episode, Eric tries to establish a 'one-up' position among his friends by telling how good was his first intercourse with Donna and insist on an agreement with his friends.

Donna's and Jackie's many private conversations together

According to Griffin (2009, p. 433), men tell far more stories especially jokes than women do and "telling jokes is a masculine way to negotiate status." Tannen further added that men see themselves are heroes in their stories and women tell stories by sharing stories about others (Griffin, 2009, p. 433). Throughout the TV series, there can be seen a series of 'one up-ship' among the men; Eric Hyde, Fez, Michael especially from Kelso where he more than twice had the 'upper hand' when he had slept with Eric's and Hyde's respective sisters and the way he had told the stories or jokes would always make him the 'hero'. Tannen further claims that woman tend to show more attentiveness during conversations with men while the men are seen avoiding being attentive as they can be seen weak (Griffin 2009, p. 433-434). From this, the reaction how Hyde treated Jackie for 3 seasons in the series, he was the opposite for the more attentive Jackie when having conversations. Hyde shunned himself from being more attentive with eye contact, listening and even agreeing with her most of the time. Tannen also adds that men do not ask questions as it is a sign of weakness while women ask questions to seek connection where women use tag questions to avoid potential conflicts (Griffin, 2009, 434). Moreover, as described by Tannen, men prefer and are more comfortable with conflicts as they are wary of being told what to do in the other hand, women find conflict as a threat to connection which must be avoided no matter what (Griffin, 2009, p. 435). Before and early during Hyde's and Jackie's relationship, Hyde had feelings of animosity towards Jackie due to Hyde's poor perspective on authority. Hyde tries his best to establish conflicts with Jackie as seen in episode 18 of season 2.

Steven Hyde and Jackie Burkhart

In conclusion, as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 435), Tannen suggests "sensitivity training as an effort to teach men how to speak in a feminine voice, while assertiveness training is an effort to reach women how to speak in a masculine voice...hope that men and women will alter their linguistic style." The statement made by Tannen is supported by Gilligan's 'ethical reflection'. Genderlect Style may be heavily sided on the men's side as to the women's. There are flaws in  where these 'styles' between men and women are worth looking into, to have a better judgement how the contemporary men and women communicate with each other.

References:

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Uncertainty Reduction Theory is about how communication between humans were first developed as strangers by focusing on gaining knowledge and understanding at which the initial interactions are filled with uncertainties, these uncertainties are reduces with self-disclosure (Griffin, 2009, p. 125). In this post i will use Peter Klaven and Sydney Fife from the movie "I Love You, Man" on how Uncertainty Reduction Theory is the relevant in our daily life.

The 2009 hit film, "I Love You, Man"

In Dawkins, Uncertainty Reduction Theory claims "that the primary goal of individuals in initial interactions is to reduce uncertainty and increase the ability to predict behavior of others." As supported by Yoo (2009), "The basic assumption of uncertainty reduction is that when two individuals meet for the first time, their primary goal is to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability through communicating with each other, since uncertainty is an uncomfortable state (Berger &  Calabrese, 1975)" Whereas Palmieri, Prestano, Gandley, Overton & Qin (2012), adds that "Uncertainty reduction is the exchange of information between individuals that allows one to form impressions of others and make sense of social situations (Sheldon, 2010)." In other words, when strangers meet for the first time, there is that uncertainty between them and the goal to communicate is to reduce that uncertainty and increase predictability among both individuals.

Peter Klaven is a real estate agent who is getting married with his fiancé Zooey Rice but his marriage has led him to look a best man for his wedding due to his lack of or no male best friends. Whereas Sydney Fife is a successful investor who has keen interest in recently divorced wives. There are three conditions to reduce uncertainty, they are; 'anticipation of future interaction', 'incentive value' and 'deviance' (Griffin, 2009, p. 125). In Peter's situation, his intention to reduce uncertainty with Sydney is; first, to arrange or have more future interactions or 'hang outs' with Sydney; his new male best friend.  Second, to finally get his first 'male best friend' and lastly, Sydney's weird behavior this contrary to Peter’s demeanor is increasing Peter’s desire to reduce uncertainty with Sydney.

Peter Klaven and Sydney Fife

Peter's and Sydney's first interaction was during an open house at Lou Ferrigno's mansion that was held by Peter himself. Peter was astound by Sydney's honesty and hit off very despite having different characters. Peter's first phone call with Sydney was awkward where he hesitated on whether to call him or not, what to say and most importantly what not to say. This is called 'behavioral questions', an uncertainty in which one does not know how to act (Griffin, 2009, 126.). After hitting off well with Sydney, Peter's uncertainty of what type of guy Peter is lead to him arrange a 'man-date' with him, this type of uncertainty is called 'cognitive questions', it is reduces by attaining information such as Sydney's character as cool, affirmative and confident man. Berger suggests a series of axioms as stated in Griffin (2009) are "a self-evident truth that requires no additional proof". While as noted by Dawkins (2010), "a master list of uncertainty reduction concept"; 'verbal communication', 'nonverbal warmth', 'information seeking', 'self-disclosure', 'reciprocity', 'similarity', 'liking' and 'shared networks'. This reduce in uncertainty is essential as supported by Yoo (2009), by decreasing uncertainty, an individual increases his or her ability to predict certainty about his or herself and other's demeanor and this leads to the reduction of anxiety and vulnerability due to initial uncertainty. 

Peter's and Sydney's first interaction at Ferrigno's mansion

In the 2009 hit film, "I Love You, Man", after Peter's and Sydney's initial interaction in Ferrigno's mansion, they went on a man-date, the amount of 'verbal communication' increases from their conversation on intercourse, nicknames, fish tacos, hybrid cars, etc. This reduces their uncertainty of each other. Whereas for 'Nonverbal warmth', Sydney's relaxed and laid back body language and approach made Peter interested while Sydney finds Peter as a 'pretty cool guy' and this again reduces uncertainty between them. Peter's high level of uncertainty about Sydney and this caused  Peter to 'Information Seeking' about him more. Berger claims that for 'seeking information', there are 3 approaches, firstly as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 130), 'Passive strategy' is "impression formation by observing a person interacting with other", Peter observes Sydney 'testosterone outburst' during their lunch out at the Venice Boardwalk and seen something that he's never used to this has surprisingly made a good impression on Peter. Second, 'Active Strategy' is asking others or a third party regarding that person while the quickest route to reducing uncertainty is the 'interactive strategy' which is face-to-face interaction with the individual (Griffin, 2009, p.130-131). The 'interactive strategy' is often used by both Peter and Sydney throughout the film during their 'hang outs'.

Those frequent jamming sessions to reduce uncertainty

'Self-disclosure', Peter shares his personal intimate relationship about Zooey with Sydney where Sydney disclosure his personal 'man-cave', this is not only a process of 'self-disclosure' but also a 'reciprocity' process between them. The 'similarities' in their interest in Rush and jamming session further decline uncertainty and they become close and as the film goes on they both a 'liking' for each other and went out on more 'man-date' with each other where their 'shared network' of being Rush fans decreases their uncertainty. Through pairing theorems, as noted in Griffin (2009, p. 128), are "a proposition that logically and necessarily follows from two axioms", and axioms, this creates 28 theorem altogether.

Message plans are mental images of action scenarios that may be applied to acquire goals, they are used to confront uncertainties and Berger argues these plans are 'hierarchically organized' where vague illustrations of the top hierarchy to the bottom are assumed (Griffin, 2009), in other words, Peter's top priority in the film was to find a male best friend and subsequently a best man for his wedding according to his chronological order of 'plan'. To these message plans, there are strategies; 'Seeking Information', 'Choosing Plan Complexity', 'Hedging' and 'The Hierarchy Hypothesis'.  'Choosing Plan Complexity' as claimed in Griffin (2009), "A character of a message plan based on the level of detail it provides and the number of contingencies it cover". Furthermore, 'Hedging' is the strategic use of vague and ambiguity for both individuals to 'save themselves' from embarrassment after failing to attain their goals, or in other words, this can be a joke to cover up a failed attempt in communication between two parties (Griffin, 2009, p.131). Lastly, 'The Hierarchy Hypothesis', this is when a parties does not understand the message that is sent by this the individual tries to alter his or her voice by making it louder and repeating it again and again, this can be seen when Peter and Zooey had a fight which lead to Peter's failure to explain and reason why Zooey, he tries to alter his voice and tone but to no avail.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory is relevant in our daily lives because it encourage people to critically think when they meet new people as the Uncertainty Reduction Theory has its own flaws such as most often communication is done due to care and interest, uncertainty does lies beyond the first few interactions and in terms of moral panic; sometimes, it is best to know less than more. Hence by studying Uncertainty Reduction Theory we can choose our 'best moves' during interaction or encounters by not so depending on the axioms, theorem or even the message plans.

References:

Dawkins, M. (2010). How it's Done: Using Hitch as a Guide to Uncertainty Reduction Theory. Communication Teacher, 24(3), 136-141. doi:10.1080/17404622.2010.489511

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Palmieri, C., Prestano, K., Gandley, R., Overton, E., & Qin, Z. (2012). The Facebook Phenomenon: Online Self-Disclosure and Uncertainty Reduction. China Media Research, 8(1), 48-53.

Yoo, J. H. (2009). Uncertainty Reduction and Information Valence: Tests of Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Predicted Outcome Value and an Alternative Explanation?. Human Communication, 12(2), 187-198.

Social Penetration Theory

Social Penetration deals with how a relationship between individuals becomes close or intimate. As noted by Ayla Abdullah (2011), Social Penetration Theory is "an objective, interpretative theory from the socio-psychological tradition that aims to explain the process of relationship development: how closeness and intimacy are achieved." In this post I will use the relationship between Tom Hansen and Summer Finn in 500 Days of Summer to further explain what is Social Penetration and how does it affects our daily lives.

In Griffin (2009), Social Penetration is defined as the process of initiating deep intimacy with individuals via mutual self-disclosure and various forms of vulnerability. This theory examines relationships at a personal area, penetrates close relationship between individuals or groups or in other words describes the dynamics of relational closeness. As supported by Altman and Taylor (1973), "Social penetration theory states that as relationships develop, communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more personal ones". Whereas as claimed by Baack, D., Christine Fogliasso, C., Harri, J. (2000), "As a result, Social Penetration Theory is sometimes called the “onion theory” of personality, since “layers” of personality are penetrated as time passes and intimacy grow"


The statements clearly reveals that as we get to know that person more and more, the level of closeness increases and more personal information will be disclosed by both parties. This exposure of personal information depends on the 3 crucial elements; first, Personality Structure: Multilayered Onion, second; Depth & Breadth of Self-Disclosure and lastly, Costs-Benefit Analysis (Ayla Abdullah, 2011).

The multilayered onion or better known as Personality Structure is defined as ''Onion-like layers of beliefs and feelings about self, others, and the world; deeper layers are more vulnerable, protected, and central to self-image" (Griffin, 2009). Let's take Tom Hansen and Summer Finn from the hit-film 500 Days of Summer, where I will apply the multilayered onion to Tom and Summer. Tom is from New Jersey who is a skilled architect who is employed as a greeting card writer in a greeting card company in Los Angeles and a fan of “The Smiths”, the fact that we only know that Tom is a greeting card writer and is a fan of The Smiths shows only the outer surface of the onion, as we go deeper, the movie reveals that Tom believes in falling in love and true love and his affection for architecture, as the movie goes on, Tom finally exposes his true feelings about greeting cards; about his jobs, that people buy greeting cards because they can't say how the feel and they rely on other to do it for them. At the end, Tom finally quits his greeting card writing job and pursues his true ambition as an architect. By applying the multilayered onion, Tom gets deeper and deeper into the inner core of the onion and reveals his true emotions and feelings.

Whereas Summer is form Michigan who just moved in where Tom works and she is the boss' personal assistant as seen early in the film, she also pointed that she loves “The Smiths” and was called "Anal girl" back in college because of her neatness and organization. As the movie went on, the depth of the onion gets deeper too where Summer says that there is no such thing as true love. About half way through the movie, Summer reveals something to Tom that she had never told anyone before, she became more intimate with Tom and told her secrets and dreams; the inner core of the onion. In addition Summer further exposed her past by telling her former boyfriends and girlfriend and eventually realizing that true love does exist. This is an example of an application of the multilayered onion. These onion-like layers consist of our thoughts, belief and feelings about the individual, others and the world as the layer goes deeper the more personal information is unfold. This act of voluntary sharing of intimate information, attitudes, feelings, beliefs, secrets of an individual is called self-disclosure (Griffin, 2009). 

Self-disclosure can be categorized into two. First, breadth of penetration is according to Griffin (2009); "the range of areas in an individual's life over which disclosure takes place", in the case of Tom and Summer; the breadth are Tom's job, where he is from, a fan of The Smiths while for Summer, her breadth are Summer’s job, where she is from, a fan of The Smiths and "Anal girl". Second, depth of penetration; Griffin (2009) states that "the degree of disclosure in a specific area of an individual's life". In other words, it is the depth at which one individual reveals his or her inner core; deep dark secrets, true feeling and emotions about something or someone and their true behavior. The application of ‘depth of penetration’ or degree of intimacy can be applied to Tom Hansen’s and Summer Finn’s relationship. First, “peripheral items are exchanged more frequently and sooner than private information”, in the movie 500 Days of Summer, we can see that the initial reactions between Tom and Summer are only limited to the basic information, they both only reveal very little information about themselves rather than private information (Griffin, 2009). Second, “Self-disclosure is reciprocal, especially in the early stages of development” and social penetration theory is applicable with law of reciprocity; “a paced and orderly process in which openness in one person leads to openness in the other”, as seen early, Tom and Summer interaction was fairly based on disclosure of basic information but it was a reciprocal process, when Summer revealed that she was from Michigan, Tom oblige by revealing some of his personal information to Summer (Griffin, 2009).

Tom Hansen and Summer Finn

Third; “Penetration is rapid at the start, but slows down quickly when more private inner layers are reached”, the disclosure between Tom and Summer was rapid from the beginning but drastically slows down as both of them started to reveal more about themselves such as Summer’s former paramours and Tom’s true feeling about his job (Griffin, 2009). Lastly; “Depenetration is a gradual process of layer-by-layer withdrawal”, as the movie goes, Tom and Summer began to drift apart, the process of depenetration occurrs, when Summer finally understood Tom’s understanding of ‘true love’, she became distant with Tom, she revealed her intention as being Tom’s best friend rather than paramour (Griffin, 2009).


Depth and Breadth of penetration is further explain by Yea-Wen Chen & Masato Nakazawa (2009), "The first is an area-based dimension of breath with not only breadth category but also breadth frequency. The second is a central-peripheral dimension of depth that starts at peripheral layers associated with biographical characteristics and moves toward central layers associated with less observable and more idiosyncratic characteristics".


Penetration goes through a number of processes when a relationship is developed, parties involved began to reveal deeper private matters and this can lead to, first; “Orientation stage”, the simple talk between Tom and Summer when they first met. Second, “Exploratory-affective stage”, this is when Tom and Summer first knew that both of them love the band “The Smiths” and in this stage both parties start to reveal themselves regarding opinion of a particular matter, third, “affective stage”; the point where Summer and Tom argued about labeling themselves with the terms ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ even though they had done sexual intercourse with each other, as seen in the movie, when a stranger ‘hit’ on Summer, Tom began to show anger as he subconsciously did not realized that he had labeled Summer as his girlfriend. Fourth, “stable stage”; a point where Tom’s and Summer’s relationship was at its peak, they were comfortable with each other, Summer shared her past boyfriends and girlfriend, Tom’s affection for architecture and his favorite spot of the city. Lastly, “depenetration”, this is when Summer started to realize that ‘true love’ does exist after watching the movie "The Graduate" the depenetration phase began, Summer began more distant to Tom, she labeled him as her best friend and not boyfriend and Summer was more conservative; less touching and kissing which eventually led to Tom’s and Summer’s relationship downfall where the cost of being together exceeded the benefits.

Cost eventually exceeds the Benefits

According to Griffin (2009), as noted by Thibaut and Kelley, individuals try to predict the outcome; "The perceived rewards minus the costs of interpersonal interaction" before a relationship occurs. In the case of Tom's and Summer's relationship, from early on the movie portrayed Tom's intention of meeting his true love and finding Summer in a population of 3.8 million is fate. In Griffin (2009), this basis of 'Cost-Benefit Analysis' relies on the 'Social Exchange Theory'; "Relationship behavior and status regulated by both parties' evaluation of perceived rewards and costs of interaction with each other". In other word the decisions made by both parties in a relationship mirrors the perceived cost and benefits. This utilize by maximize of rewards and minimize of cost or better known as the 'Minimax Principle of Human Behavior" and in which 'Outcomes' are assumed benefits after the reduction of Cost in an interaction (Griffin, 2009).


Outcome is usually relate with Comparison Level (CL); it is the threshold level above at which the outcome seemed appealing (Ayla Abdullah, 2011). Summer's relational satisfaction in the 500 Days of Summer was not that satisfying when she was with Tom, she realize that Tom was not her true love and this led to their eventual break up. Moreover the second standard is Comparison Level of Alternatives which is the best outcome that is satisfying in a relationship (Griffin, 2009). This explains Summer decision to leave Tom as she has met a better guy for her than Tom and this is usually driven by self-interest.


Social Penetration explains how relationships develop and this theory help us to understand and predict why and how people weigh in the benefits and cost of a potential relationship, in which the degree of disclosure of personal information is central to one interaction with another, social penetration is central to our daily lives a from the moment we were able to intellectually interact with one another.





References: 


Ayla Abdullah (2011). Lecture Notes. AC-1201 Introduction to Communication. Universiti Brunei Darussalam.


Baack, D., Christine Fogliasso, C., Harri, J. (2000). The Personal Impact of Ethical Decisions: A Social Penetration Theory. Journal of Business Ethics; 2000, Vol. 24, p. 39-49. Retrieved 26 March, 2012 from http://www.springerlink.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/content/h728003u43q04142/fulltext.pdf

Chen, Y. & Nakazawa, M. (2009). Influences of Culture on Self-Disclosure as Relationally Situated in Intercultural and Interracial Friendships from a Social Penetration Perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research; 2007, Vol. 38, Issue 2, p. 77-98, 22p. Retrieved 26 March, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5a3368ab-386b-436c-8d73-533d46ec11b8%40sessionmgr11&vid=2&hid=19

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Cultural Studies

As defined by Storey, J. (2003) in Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, culture is “the practices and processes of making meanings with and from the ‘texts’ we encounter in our everyday lives… cultures are made from the production, circulation and consumption of meanings. To share a culture, therefore, is to interpret the world – make it meaningful – in recognizably similar ways” (p.3). In this post i will use World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as my text to explain the terms  representation, discourse, ideologies and politics and study how WWE affects the American culture.

According to Griffin (2003, p. 334), cultural studies is "A neo-Marxist critique that sets forth the position that mass  media manufacture consent for dominant ideologies." Whereas Littlejohn (1996, p. 234), "cultural studies involves investigations of the ways culture produced through a struggle among ideologies.

As stated by Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. (2009) in Practices of Looking, The term ‘visual culture’ means “the shared practices of a group, community, or society through which meanings are made out of the visual, aural and textual world of representations and the ways that looking practices are engaged in symbolic and communicative activities” (p. 3). In other words, culture that are seen and practice by a group of community and these groups engaged in human interactions. For example the WWE culture among the American society. Moreover, culture can be defined into two part. First, a similar belief within a particular society in which they understand on. Second, a way of life in a community (Littlejohn, 1996, p. 234) 

WWE Superstar John Cena (centre with cap) among the WWE fans

Representation stands as the equivalent of something in the material world or what we call a referent. The WWE, formerly known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF), has been part of the American culture since it's establishment in 1982, this wrestling entertainment company represents the American entertainment culture; where WWE involves the music, films and professional sports.

As noted by Griffin (2009, p. 337), discourse are "frameworks of interpretation". Usually written or spoken “communication” on a particular topic which are coded by religion, tradition, law and culture. My discourse in this post if the World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. Ideologies on the other hand are frameworks where a society all agrees on and develop meaning to the particular discourse (Griffin, 2009, p. 335). In other words, ideologies are commonsense, Ideologies determines what we understand as unquestionable “truth” and shapes our view on certain agendas. Hence, when there is ideology there is discourse. The ideologies of WWE are; professional wrestlers are superstars and divas where they are 'actors' of the entertainment industry, championship belts are titles, professional wrestling is not a professional sport but a sort of entertainment, superstars are body builders with large muscular physique, WWE incorporates itself with music and films where each story-line in WWE is similar to a movie plot. Ideologies in a discourse does not show the whole truth, this is a major problem and due to the pre-existent of a counter-discourses and counter-ideologies, meaning are already embedded in minds. As stated by Fairclough (1995), "The concept of Ideology often implies distortion, 'false consciousness', manipulation of the truth in the pursuit of particular interests."


For example a positive discourse of professional wrestling is  wrestling without the guidance of professional trainers is bad therefore the unspoken opposite rule would be that wrestling with the help & guidance of professional trainers is good. While a discourse that does not really tells the truth is that it does not necessary reflects the actual representation of a particular subject. 


To be more clear, the discourse of a WWE Superstar; the ideologies are big muscular physique, confident and good 'actors', entertaining, able to do promos and perform wrestling moves in front of a large crowd.


Politics in Media as defined by Stuart Hall is the 'struggle over meaning'. In other words, one struggle to define a particular text. In the case of the WWE, its politics are politics of gender relation, politics of masculinity and femininity, politics of consumerism, this struggle over meaning especially in politics of masculinity in the WWE creates controversies as preferred Superstars  should have large muscular physiques and a sense of macho and manliness of a man, to show that they're tough and rough, this is controversial due to the old 'professional wrestling ethics' where back then it was not about size but it was more about skills and talent.

Discourse of a WWE Superstar

In conclusion, the WWE plays a role in the American Culture especially in the entertainment business, as not only it affect the politics of consumerism but it also subconsciously affect the politics of masculinity via the visual media that is the television.

References:


Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Arnold.

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill


Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Agenda-Setting and Framing

Week 6; Agenda-Setting and Framing

Newspaper or broadcast companies in the media industry most often practice 'Agenda-Setting and Framing' in choosing and organizing news around the world, these companies have to consider which news agenda is considered relevant or important to its country. In this post i will use The Brunei Times' front cover of the recent national day to explain why Agenda-Setting and Framing is crucial in the media industry.


First and foremost, Agenda-Setting is usually defined as the "process of mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the public come to perceive those issues as more important than others" - (Coleman et. al., 2009) but according to Littlejohn (1996, p. 341) the best way to describe Agenda-Setting Function is by understanding  Donald Shaws's & Maxwell McCombs' quote;

"Considerable evidence has accumulated that editors and broadcasters play an important part in shaping our social reality as they go about their day-to-day task of choosing and displaying news....This impact of the mass media -the ability to effect cognitive change among individuals, to structure their thinking-has been labeled the agenda-setting function of mass communication. Here may lie the most important effect of mass communication, its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."

Furthermore, as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 359), Agenda-Setting Hypothesis is ''the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda." 


Whereas, as noted by Denis & Coleman (2009), "Agenda Setting is the phenomenon of the mass media selecting certain issues and portraying them frequently and prominently, which leads people to perceive those issues as more important than others. For more than thirty-years, the main concept of agenda setting theory has been the transfer of issue salience, or how media emphasize of certain issue raises their importance to the public."

Therefore, from my understanding of Agenda-Setting Theory, it is how the media portrays news agenda through various mediums to the public and it set the tone on not what to think it but how you perceive about it. So is Agenda-Setting similar to 'media manipulation? You decide, but let's take the cover page of The Brunei Times below.

The Brunei Times

The Brunei Times agenda or main priority is always about the country, the country is set as priority no. 1, especially His Majesty the Sultan, he is the main agenda of every newspaper outlets in the country, the beside the news about the Sultan, news about the development of the country comes afterwards.


This purpose of choosing Agendas are as follows, first; prioritization, this is all about hierarchy of importance, choosing the main objective first and the Sultan of Brunei is the main priority of every newspaper company especially in Brunei. Secondly; prediction in which The Brunei Times assume (and sets) agendas for public and at the same time predicts what the clientele wants. Lastly; organizing power which mean that the The Brunei Times selects news that constructs how we view and see the world.

Choosing the 'right' news agenda.

But Agenda-Framing is prone to bias in my perspective, as according to McCombs' and Shaw's research where the Media is most often viewed as the the truth by the public this affirms  the power of press and individuals may reject the news completely due to disagreement, which can be based on religion or way of life of a certain country(Culturally constructed). So the question is, is The Brunei Times biased? Are you easily 'offended' by certain news due to religion? This is where communication specialist comes in.


The prioritization of the Sultan in every Brunei newspapers is called the First level Agenda-Setting; transmission of object salience and according to Weaver (2007), ''Whereas the ‘‘first level’’ of agenda setting is focused on the relative salience (usually operationally defined as perceived importance) of issues or subjects...". 

An example of the Sultan as the First Level Agenda-Setting in The Brunei Times cover page.

Whereas the new that comes after the Sultan is called the Second level Agenda-Setting: transmission of attribute salience. This is where the news becomes more specific and branches out and according to Weaver (2007), "...the ‘second level’’ examines the relative salience of attributes of issues...". 


The main difference between the first and second level is that the first level is a far more general agenda whereas the second level focuses on specific part of subject that more specific to a certain agenda and details of the 1st level.

The Function of Agenda-Setting has 3 components. First, Media Agenda which means that The Brunei Times selects news that are consider vital, also stated in Griffin (2009, p. 360) Media Agenda is ''the pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by the prominence and length of stories"


Secondly, Public Agenda which is issues discussed in public and that are considered important, i.e. depends on public, they consider what are important at times and as claimed by Griffin (2009, p. 361), public agenda is also "the most important public issues as measured by public opinion surveys." lastly, Corporate Agenda which is issues that business corporation consider important, i.e. depends on how big the news is. 

'Important' News Agenda are usually on the front page of the paper.

As noted by Scheufele & Tewksbury (2007) "It is based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences.''

As claimed by Griffin (2009), "The selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when particular object or issue is discussed. 

From my understanding framing is basically 'choosing the order of news according to 'function of agenda-setting' as different people may have different perspective on the same news and everyone has different frames of an issue. Framing is part of the tradition of Agenda-Setting where Agenda-Setting looks at what topics are important while Framing looks at how those topics could be organized to advance a point-of-view that public would accept. Framing is social construction of a social event by media to influence public perspective and is always draw on existing culture codes.

These 3 agendas vary in prioritization, even though the Sultan is the main priority in The Brunei Times, the disaster news that is consider important by the public can be taken as the main priority, one example would be the bus accident that happened in Sabah in which the accident involved Bruneians. This also applies to Corporate Agendas.

An example on how the public sets the 'Public Agenda' as main priority

Framing


Framing as noted by Scheufele & Tewksbury (2007) "It is based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences.''

As claimed by Griffin (2009), "The selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when particular object or issue is discussed. 

From my understanding framing is basically 'choosing the order of news according to 'function of agenda-setting' as different people may have different perspective on the same news and everyone has different frames of an issue. Framing is part of the tradition of Agenda-Setting where Agenda-Setting looks at what topics are important while Framing looks at how those topics could be organized to advance a point-of-view that public would accept. Framing is social construction of a social event by media to influence public perspective and is always draw on existing culture codes.

The Brunei Times as any other newspaper companies in the world practice Frame Processes. Frame Amplification  is clarification of a set of problems, Frame Extension is adding ideas or issues to an argument, talks about what happens or result of a news. Frame Bridging is linkage of 2 or more ideas, similar to Frame Extension and Frame Transformation is structure and or content of a frame to something else, doctrine, changes content but still part of the 'main idea'.

eg. of Framing Extension

eg. of Frame Bridging

Assignment -

"Public Gone Wild"

The Minister of Health of a country "X" is very concerned that the older citizens are spitting and urinating in public places and the younger generation believes that to be a cultural norm. This will adversely affect the image and economy of the country as foreign companies will be less willing to invest in a country that cannot manage public deviance that fosters an unhealthy environment. The government believes that public education must start immediately. 

At the same time, a public survey was recently conducted by an independent body and the predominant public concern is the lack of primary schools for younger children who are working and running amok in the streets, which is causing a rise in criminal activities. The public believes that public education must begin with the development of schools so that a higher educated population will curb the acts of social deviance. In the long run, these changes will attract investors and help the economy.

First Level Agenda-Setting: public education (general topic).
Second Level Agenda-Setting: public deviance, criminal activities, image of country, investors and economy.


Framing (in order of importance) -

1. Public Education of the country.
2. Criminal Activities, i.e. Youths running amok in streets.
3. Image of the country.
4. Public Deviance, i.e. Spiting & Urinating.
5. Investors.
6. Economy.

Prioritization as a national agenda would be on Public Education as it is the general or the main topic, public education can branch out into different areas such as criminal activities, public defiance, etc. Public Education is the focal point, hence, it is the First Level of Agenda-Setting and the Frame Amplification.


'Criminal Activities' is a far more specific topic as it is belongs under the Second Level of Agenda-Setting, 'Criminal Activities is a branch under the main topic (public education). For instance, 'Help curb criminal activities among youths by strengthening the public education', here shows that the main topic(public education) leads to a more specific agenda; criminal activities, hence a Frame Extension to Frame Amplification.


Image of the country, Public Deviance, i.e. Spiting & Urinating, Investors and Economy all are under Frame Bridging as they are all similar 'stories' that can be branched out from the main topic (public education), they still act as Second Level of Agenda-Setting as they become more and more specific. 

References


Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill


H. Denis Wu & Coleman, R. (2007). Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory: The Comparative Strength and New Contingent Conditions of the Two Levels of Agenda-Setting Effects. Journal of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from  http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/pqcentral/docview/216940500/fulltextPDF/134F8F04A273B5B6D78/6?accountid=9765


Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.


Scheufele, D. & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The Evolution of Three Media Effects Model. Journal of Communication; Mar2007, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p9-20, 12p. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=47bc3857-097a-40c8-b2f9-8c99567ac887%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=10

Weaver, D. H. (2007). Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing, and Priming. Journal of Communication; Mar2007, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p142-147, 6p, 1 Graph. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from  http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b7005b08-7983-4fbe-badf-efffd8202509%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=10