final Flashcards
Word of Mouth (Berger Reading)
- word of mouth comm=interpersonal communication (written or oral)
- 5 functions of word of mouth=5 proximate factors (though he calls them functions) of word of mouth comm as it applies to spreading information about consumer products-this could apply to gossip or any kind of content
- article geared towards people interested in consumer psychology
- people talking informally-information that spreads socially about goods
- informal communication directed at other consumers about the ownership, usage, or characteristics of particular goods and services or their sellers
Berger-2 important moderators and their impact on word of mouth motivations
(motivations here means what kinds of factors cause you to spread information about consumer products or anything in general)
- structure of audience
- communication channel
Berger-Audience
- tie strength (weak vs strong)
- audience size (review on yelp is to the world, private conversation with friend is just an audience of 1)
- tie status (everyone has relative status-in reading, talks about prestige-high and low status-but there’s also dominance, physical formidability too, which he doesn’t really mention)
Berger-channel
- written vs oral
- identifiability (whether or not you are known as a source-can people see your face, know it’s you-non identifiable often in online comm)
- audience salience (are you aware of who’s in your audience/if you have an audience, can you see it)
Berger-What interactions are considered word of mouth?
- literal world of mouth
- not just looking at ad-but person posting ad on fb wall and someone comments
- has to be interaction between people-not just ad company to person
- direct person to person conversation-online conversation counts-face to face discussions, and online mentions and reviews-Yelp
Berger-what’s our average, natural conversation group size?
4
Berger-the 5 functions of word of mouth
1) Emotional Regulation
2) Impressions Management
3) Persuasion
4) Information Acquisition
5) Social Bonding
Berger-Emotional Regulation
The ways people manage which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them
6 ways that word of mouth can facilitate emotional regulation:
Generating social support, venting, facilitating sense-making, reducing dissonance, taking vengeance (like angry yelp reviews-not necessarily helpful), and encouraging rehearsal (talking about past positive experiences, that brings you to a positive place in the present, strengthens social bonds with people)
-emotion regulation should (a) drive people to share more emotional content (except not things ashamed of), (b) influence the valence of the content shared, and (c) lead people to share more emotionally arousing content (excitement or anger vs sadness/contentedness)
-valence: people tend to share negative things because it makes them feel better-but also want to avoid being seen as negative-depends on context
Berger-why is venting helpful?
It’s cathartic, easier to let go after, social bond associated with it-verbalizing it helps you realize it’s not as dire as it seems
Talking about something helps reduce its emotional impact
Word of mouth enables this-ability to talk out emotions and recover from hema and do something productive about them
Berger-Impressions Management
-to shape the impressions others have of them (and they have of themselves)
making people think you’re a good person
conscious and unconscious
-impression management should encourage
people to talk about (1) entertaining content, (2) useful information, (3) self-concept relevant things, (4) things that convey status, (5) unique and special things, (6) common
ground, and (7) accessible or publicly visible things while also (8) leading incidental arousal to boost sharing and (9) affecting
the valence of the content shared
-incidental arousal (like running in place): sometimes if we’re nervous or active, we share more than would otherwise, something that may not be related
-accessibility: impression management should encourage small talk, and, as a result, lead more accessible products to be
discussed-products talked about more when visible
-valence: evidence for pos and neg things to be shared more, so unsure-seems people generate positive word of mouth when talking about their own experiences (because it makes them look good), but
transmit negative word of mouth when talking about others’ experiences (because it makes them look relatively better).
Berger-3 ways word of mouth facilitates impression management:
1) Self enhancement
2) identity signaling
3) filling conversation space
Berger-self enhancement
Talking yourself up
Make good impressions on people first time we meet them-disclose things that will make them look at us favorably
Berger-identity signaling
Sharing information that represents a bigger part of your identity
Berger-filling conversation space (why?)
why do we tend to fill conversation space?
social expectations when we interact with people-if we fail to conform with them, people will think poorly of you-if disengaged when talk to someone, they’ll think you’re rude or standoffish-so we fill conversation space to adhere to social norms, so that people won’t think we’re abnormal
Berger-Persuasion
What does persuading others drive people to share?
1) Polarized valence
content shared in these situations is polarized-really positive or negative-because trying to persuade-”this movie is SO GREAT” not “this movie is okay” if want to persuade someone to see it
2) Arousing content
eliciting a reaction-anxiety, anger, joy, excitement
In persuasive interactions, conversation is unlikely to be neutral
Berger-Information Acquisition
- seeking advice and resolving problems
- for a consumer: advice on what brand to buy, what to do when receive faulty product
- When do we turn to word of mouth for information acquisition? If really 1) complex/risky/uncertain/important decision, or 2) have a lack of trustworthy info
Berger-Social Bonding
-talking to connect with others and build social bonds
-Phatic communication: talking to built rapport instead of specifically conveying information-small talk
-social bonding should drive people to talk about things that are (a) common ground or (b) more emotional in
nature
-sharing deepens social bonds because it
1) reinforces shared views
2) reduces loneliness and social exclusion
Berger reading-Proximate means for ultimate functions of word of mouth
Prof. Bryant’s issue with his use of the word “function”: used as proximate explanation in this reading, but should be more ultimate-these 5 categories are more mechanisms for social interaction, word of mouth than ultimate explanations-so not their evolutionary function
- the listed “functions” of word of mouth may be better understood as proximate mechanisms fulfilling ultimate functions of facilitating the development of cooperative interactions between individuals
- the content can variable culturally, but the underlying suite of evolved interpersonal communicative behaviors can incorporate these proximate mechanisms
- the content is given by the culture, varies widely depending on where you come from, the mechanisms that are in place that are facilitating this communicative behavior are probably reasonable well described by Berger’s proximate mechanisms he describes
Berger-What does content valence refer to?
-The overall positivity or negative of the content that’s being shared
Berger-What serves as a form of observational learning?
gossip
Berger-Synchrony vs Asynchrony
- has to do with time
- talking in person is synchronized conversation-don’t have time to think of what to say-spontaneous
- asynchronized is something like email-have time to proofread, plan sentences, make sure communicating effectively
Berger-How does audience size change the use of word of mouth for emotion regulation?
-moderates it-less likely to put ourselves out there irl, online we can lean on whole network for support instead of burdening a couple people
Berger-what are weak and strong ties?
-based on how well you know someone, how often you talk to them, how much you trust them-at high level=strong tie, at low level=weak tie
Berger-what is audience tuning?
- tailoring the content that you share to the people that you’re interacting with
- knowing your crowd-talk about information that is relevant to those people