I. Introduction:
Have you watched the Big Bang Theory? Have you noticed how awesome they are? There are multiple shows that could have been chosen to cover this theory. But I feel the Big bang theory has some pretty good examples. They have some pretty interesting interactions with each other. They talk in scientific terms and sometime have to dumb it down for Penny. But today let’s talk about a scene between Sheldon and Penny, and how it relates to the Interaction Adaptation Theory. Throughout the paper, I will give a summary of theory, a quick synopsis, and implications of the scene.
II. Summary of Interaction Adaptation Theory:
The book definition is it’s a theory that suggests individuals simultaneously adapt their communication behaviors to the communication behavior of others. This means when one person says something the other person tries to understand the message by adapting to their communication style. It is probably the most common thing in interactions between humans. . “Broadly construed as the modification of one’s behaviorto adjust to one’s communication partner(s), interpersonal adaptation has beendescribed as accommodation (Gallois, Ogay, & Giles, 2005; Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991), mimicry (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999; Scheflen, 1964), reciprocity(Burgoon, Stern, & Dillman, 1995; Burgoon & White, 1997), synchrony (Bernieri,Reznick, & Rosenthal, 1988; Condon & Ogston, 1966), or style matching (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002; Scissors, Gill, Geraghty, & Gergle, 2009).”(C.L Toma Pg.156) This theory is used to understand the process of adaption. This theory can be used to predict if the listener understands the speaker. The IAT says everyone enters an interaction with requirements, expectations, and desires. The requirements mean the needs during the interaction like speaking louder or closer to the speaker. The expectations mean what to expect based on past experience or general communication, etc. And desires are the preferences and goals of the interaction. These things combine to form a speaker’s interaction position. “This determines the receiver’s behavior will be reciprocated or compensated.” (C.L. Toma 161)
III. Synopsis:
Characters in the Scene - Sheldon and Penny
Idea – Penny is adapting Sheldon’s problem with her personal experience
The clip comes from the hit TV Show, The Big Bang Theory. In this scene Sheldon and Penny are having a conversation. Sheldon is sad over the string theory and Penny is listening. Penny then tells him to move and then she compares it to her own personal experience. I will be focusing on the adaptation theory.
Beebe, Steven A., Susan J. Beebe, and Mark V. Redmond. "Understanding Self and Others." Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others. Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson, 2009. 43. Print.
The term ‘stress’ was generally thought to have been a concept created by Robert Hooke in the 17th century. He worked on the design of physical structures, such as bridges; his concept of stress came from how much pressure a structure could withstand. However, Lazarus (1993) pointed out that the term ‘stress’ has been used as far back as the 14th century, when it meant hardship or adversity. Back then it referred to the external stressor, such as the death of a spouse or financial worry; in the 20th century, there are many different schools of thought on this area. Hans Selye (1956), brought together the work of Cannon and Bernard and devised a comprehensive system of physiological stress; which he termed the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’, and is a 3-stage process. He theorised that a certain level of stress called ‘eustress’ (Cox, 1978) could actually be beneficial to our overall performance. Later In 1976, Cox & Mackay devised another model called the ‘Transactional model’. This model takes into account the individual differences in the perception of the amount of stress experienced by the person. The main difference between these two models is that Selye’s model only accounts for the physiological side of stress, whereas Cox’s model takes into account both the physiological and psychological aspects of stress. Therefore, both models will have slight similarities and differences in their explanation for how stress occurs in individuals, which is the main focus of this essay.
“Beyond Biocentrism is a joyride through the history of science and cutting-edge physics, all with a very serious purpose: to find the long-overlooked connection between the conscious self and the universe around us.”
From an interactionist perspective it is not the structure or system of society that creates and shapes our thoughts, actions and behaviour rather we create society through our constant action and interaction with each other. This is why it is a social action, rather than a social system approach. This is why it is a bottom-up rather than a top-down theory.
2. Conformity, as studied by Solomon Asch, refers to one’s insecurities of themselves which leads to the final result of agreeing with others, even though they did not agree initially, as well as behaving similarly. Asch experimented with college students, and he had the students compare lines to the general, standard line. When answering alone, the answers given proved correct, but when other people answered aloud before the students, they quickly began to doubt themselves and more often than not, they changed their answers.
Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor developed social penetration theory; the theory helps people understand human communication by closeness and self-discloser. The book describes social penetration theory by using the onion metaphor, known as the human personality, which is a multilayered onion. The outer layer of the onion is known as the public self, people’s personalities are rhetorically exchanged easily with people who met someone else immediately for the first time. For example, a persons gender, the way they dress, and occupation. The layer beneath the surfer of the onion is the known as the personal self and attitude. A person may only share information to someone who is closest to him or her such as family and friends. For example,
The Contribution of Interactionism to Our Understanding of Society The key underling principle that the interactionist perspective is based upon is the claim that social reality is constructed through actions and interactions of people. Interactionism developed rapidly in the 1960's as a response to structural perspectives like Functionalism and Marxism. There are 3 main branches of Interactionism, these are as follows. Social action theory argues that social 'actors' carry out actions to pursue goals. Their values and their perception of the situation influences their choice of goals and the selection of the means to achieve them.
...e. This theory went a lot deeper than I thought it would, I was genuinely surprised. Most of the interpersonal communication theories that are taught arguably are common sense theories. Yet, when you consider when these theories were constructed and the certain events that took place inspiring the ideas in the first place…it’s actually quite remarkable. Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann had a fundamental idea inspired by researchers before her time, an idea that explains why all humans think a certain way or don’t think a certain way. Quite remarkable.
Interactionism is a combination of behaviourism and innatism. It involves both sides of the nature vs nurture debate. The theory of interactionism explains that both behaviourism and innatism are responsible for children to acquire language.
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 instances, 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
The first theory we will go in detail with is symbolic interactionism. The significant idea to this theory is that symbols are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with on another. George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley developed this theory. People use symbols in everyday life. Without symbols we would have no sense of relationships with people. With the use of symbols, we are able to tell the difference between our aunt and uncle or brother and sister. If we didn’t have symbols to tell us the difference between the two we would have no idea what our relations to that person may be. If you think someone is your aunt you will behave
In interpersonal communication there are many theories that are similar yet different in many ways. The theories can be combined to describe people and how those people interact and communicate with each other. Many of these theories help explain how people in society form impressions of others, how they maintain these impressions, why people interact with certain people in society, and how people will use these impressions that they have formed later on in life. These theories also help people to better understand themselves, to better understand interpersonal communication, and to better understand people in general. There are two theories in interpersonal communication that, despite their differences, can go hand in hand. The first is interaction adaptation theory and the second is emotional contagion theory. These two theories’ similarities and differences and their relevance to my everyday life will be discussed in this paper. These two theories are very important in understanding how people interact with others and why people do the things they do sometimes.
"The Big Bang - NASA Science." The Big Bang - NASA Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr.
LaRocco, Chris, and Blair Rothstein. "THE BIG BANG." University of Michigan. University of Michigan. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .
Social darwinism is about how one guy came up with the theory how all humans are the same as plants and animals it’s just that we are more advanced and educated in our lives than plants and animals. Although people as a society have these different images of people that are either black or white and that’s not right. People that are black have had to suffer an extrem amount poverty for example some blacks had to drink out of seperate water fountains which probably contained unhealthy elements also the blacks had to go to different areas if they were black or asian or europeon which were lower in quality as if it was a movie or a game or even a resturante. As for Social Darwinsm it is mainly about for the survival of the fittest so if a father