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.