PSYC358: Exam #2

Question 1

What does Grice say about the point of communication?

Answer 1

Communication = rational, purposive and inferential activity
Fundamentally cooperative
Participants work towards a common aim (make sure your contribution is the one that’s required at the time when it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction)

Question 2

What makes contributions to a convo cooperative? Grice

Answer 2

Cooperative principle can be broken down into diff maxims of conversation (quantity, quality, relation, manner)
Speakers will make sure their contributions apply to these maxims

Question 3

Grice’s maxim “quantity”

Answer 3

1- make contribution as informative as required depending on the purpose of the exchange
2- not more informative than required

Question 4

Grice’s maxim “quality”

Answer 4

Try to make your contribution one that’s true:
1- do not say what you believe to be false
2- do not say that for which you lack good evidence

Question 5

Grice’s maxim “relation”

Answer 5

Be relevant

Question 6

Grice’s maxim “manner”

Answer 6

Be perspicuous
1- avoid being obscure
2- avoid ambiguity 
3- be brief 
4- be orderly

Question 7

Implicatures (grice’s maxims)

Answer 7

Give good reasons for not outwardly following maxims, like in this example:
Dad: is she asleep?
Mom: her light is on and I can hear music playing.

By saying Y, X implicates Z if retrieving Z is necessary in order for X not to be a violation of the CP and maxims

Question 8

Grice’s four ways in which CP maxims may fail to be fulfilled

Answer 8

1- speaker ‘violates’ maxim covertly by lying or misleading someone
2- speaker ‘opts out’ on maxims and makes it clear that they are unwilling to participate in a convo at all
3- if the speaker is unable to fulfill maxim (example, not knowing the specific answer to someone’s question)
4- sarcasm; both participants understand what’s going on when speaker says something untrue so still follows cooperative principle

Question 9

Flouting of maxims (Grice)

Answer 9

Hearer guesses that while the speaker is still conforming with the cooperative principle, a maxim has been violated where what they are trying to say may be obvious (just takes some interpretation skills to figure out)
Metaphors, hyperbole, meiosis (understatement) and irony rely on flouting
Innuendo
Hint
Insult
Jokes
Gossip

Question 10

Criticism of maxims (Grice)

Answer 10

-too general and vague even though designed to make CP less so

Question 11

Relevance theory

Answer 11

Began as attempt to deal with the issue of what the maxim “relevance” really is
Grice never came back to this, didn’t know the basis
Just observed the behaviour throughout time
Stays true to grice’s original theory that communication=rational, inferential activity
Central to the process of utterance interpretation is fact that utterances raise certain expectations

Question 12

Pragmatics

Answer 12

Study of meaning in utterances

Question 13

What did HP Grice come up with?

Answer 13

Maxims of conversation
Cooperative principle
Pragmatics and issues in meaning and conversation

Question 14

The cooperative principle (Grice)

Answer 14

When we speak or are spoken to, we proceed based on the cooperation principle
Works based on what the listener can assume about the speakers intentions (assume that they want to carry out a successful interaction, even if content negative)
Usually say that speakers=implicate meaning and addressees=infer meaning but Grice said both=implicature!
Listener=infers speakers meaning, using interpretive skills (not decoding)
Possible meanings narrowed down by assumed use of CP
Addressee assumes possible meanings being created by speaker are restricted by CP and maxims

Question 15

Two conditions of following the CP (Grice)

Answer 15

1- when what speaker says is consistent with CP
2- when speaker’s utterance flouts the CP (to recognize flouting, you are still following the CP; if it couldn’t be figured out it would mean it was breaking CP)

Question 16

Four ways to violate maxims (Grice; diff than flout!!)

Answer 16

1- lie (violate quality maxim)
2- opt out (violate the quantity maxim, ex: I don’t remember)
3- legalese (violate manner)
4- change in topic (violate relevance) can incur inferences about mental health, guilt

Question 17

Who invented self-presentation?

Answer 17

Erving goffman

Question 18

Presentation of self

Answer 18

We have multiple ways of presenting ourselves
Presentation of self depends on how talk is organized
Gives us wide dramatic birth for communicating (we can use reported speech, analogy, move away from the original, exaggerate)
People influence impressions through the control of personal info

Question 19

Dramaturgy (goffman)

Answer 19

Dramaturgical analysis: relationship between acts we do in everyday life and theatrical performance we put on (social life is theatre, social lives are staged)
Actors have control over their image bc it is language of the self (self=impressions or reproductions of self on others)
As actors, we are fakers and con others into believing our act
Situation determines how we should present ourselves in social situations
Status=what part are you playing? Role=offers a script
To pull it off, you have to believe in your role

Question 20

Dramaturgy and groups (goffman)

Answer 20

In groups, we act in cozy conspiracy
Seems like everyone knows what they’re talking about, remembers names, agrees but we often don’t know that others don’t know either
Suspension of laying cards out on table
We reach surface agreements because nobody wants to stand out or we just agree that one person’s claims will be honoured

Question 21

Dramaturgy: impression management (goffman)

Answer 21

Social interactions and ways of communicating in attempt to control how others see us because others are going to inform an impression of us (and us of them!)
We change strategies depending on who we’re trying to impress
Attempt to avoid embarrassment
Control over:
1- appearance
2- scenery
3- manner

Question 22

How is perception of self divided? (Goffman)

Answer 22

Self=bounded by perceptions, how we want to be perceived which may or may not match how we are perceived

FRONT STAGE:

• where the performance is given
• you who you show for the world to see
• can include gestures, tone, politeness, etc
• what we wear and do is impression management
• acts as social lang that can communicate class, subculture, sexuality, age, mental stability
• present ourselves as acceptable person depending on situation
• use techniques to show ourselves in a way that we want others to see us, relies on cooperation of others

BACK STAGE:

• contradicts how you display yourself in front stage
• front stage constructed here
• area of self free from management

Question 23

Mystification

Answer 23

Goffman
Technique designed to keep your observers feeling in awe of you
Need to maintain social distance, regulate your contacts, control your image

Question 24

Front stage: the audience (goffman)

Answer 24

Different roles and audiences require different forms of impression management
We don’t like our worlds colliding so keep our audiences separate
But prefer to feel like single coherent self

Question 25

Front stage: decorum and its two types (goffman)

Answer 25

Decorum=how one conducts himself in the visual or audio range of the audience
Moral decorum: one needs to be observant of others privacy, observe sexual propriety, follow rules around non-harassment of others
Instrumental decorum: practical requirements; ex: go to a party because boss will notice

Question 26

The outsider (goffman)

Answer 26

To point out others faults to an extreme and exaggerated degree without revealing the self
Revel in anonymity
Also marked by non acceptance into society by society itself
People with mental illness as they have less ability to build a front stage so back stage exposed

Question 27

Unmeant gestures (collision of front stage and back stage; goffman)

Answer 27

Signs that performance is false
Finger pointing, squinting, lose muscular control (yawn, stumble, pass wind)
Stutter, forget words, laugh

Question 28

The interpersonal dimension of talk

Answer 28

Central to social life
Interpersonal considerations are build into talk from BOTTOM UP (in micro details)
Required to satisfy need for:
1- social connection + recognition
2- have ones identity affirmed, created by others

Question 29

Transactional goLs

Answer 29

Speaker wants addressee to recognize his intention (what action they’re performing) and to respond in some way (aka perlocutionary effect)
Transactional goals turn on efficiency but might be rejected if blunt (need to attend to interpersonal as well)

Question 30

General idea of face (goffman)

Answer 30

Face=how we present ourself while interacting with others (we display and create certain selves while suppressing the display and creation of certain other versions of self)
We are inclined to show self respect and respect others
The way we frame our interactions has consequences for how those interactions will unfold

Question 31

Face work (goffman)

Answer 31

We operate from 2 points of view:
1- defensive orientation towards saving our own face
2- protective orientation towards saving other people’s faces

We can take both perspectives at the same time

We can also offend face; unintentionally, intentionally or as the unintentional outcome of an action

Question 32

Goffman’s ideas on avoiding face-threatening acts

Answer 32

1- ceremonial treatment
2- discretion (don’t question the intentions of others, don’t blab)
3- lie
4- phrase replies with ambiguity, hedge (indirect talk) and humour
5- explain why you are going to engage in a face-threatening act (I’m doing this for your own good… Etc)

Question 33

Politeness theory (brown & levinson)

Answer 33

Talk displays our identity and views of others; so when we negotiate meaning we negotiate or co-construct identity
Three needs:
1- TRANSACTIONAL: to meet our own goals
2- INTERPERSONAL: to protect others
3- INTRAPERSONAL: self, self esteem, need to be wanted

Question 34

Negative vs positive face

Answer 34

Negative face= persons desire to be unimpeded by others (free to choose for self, avoid imposition)
Positive face= desire to be approved of, accepted, respected
**face work= protecting and repairing face

Question 35

Measuring face-threatening acts (brown and levinson)

Answer 35

FTAs= things that threaten negative face (like requests) and things that threaten positive face (like refusing the request)

The weightiness of FTA=power of addressee over speaker plus the social distance between S-H plus rx aka the ranking of the imposition (high or low, has a cultural component)
WFTA = P(A/S) + SD(S between H) + rx

p+s+rx describes interpersonal domain
WFTA predicts kind and how much face work will be done

Question 36

Four degrees of face threat and their face work strategies

Answer 36

LOW: bald on record - be blunt not ambiguous

MEDIUM: on record with positive politeness (redress threats by displaying caring, valuing other) and/or on negative politeness (redress threats by displaying respect and deference)

MEDIUM HIGH TO HIGH: off record (redress by giving freedom in how to interpret action; flout maxims by hint, metaphor, irony, vague etc)

HIGH: do not do the FTA

Question 37

Ways to save positive face of others

Answer 37

Notice things about addressee
Exaggerate interest, approval, sympathy
Exaggerate facts, tell stories
Use in-groups words like we us them
Seek agreement/avoid disagreement 
Assert common ground, joke
Be optimistic
Give gifts 
Etc etc

Question 38

Ways to save negative face of others

Answer 38

Be conventionally indirect
Hedge
Be pessimistic 
Deferential
Apologize
Go on record as incurring debt

Question 39

4 super strategies when performing face threatening acts (how to get what you want)

Answer 39

1- FTA performed baldly (called bald on record): no attempt to acknowledge hearer’s face, thug to another thug “pay up now” (no face saving)
2- FTA performed orienting to others positive face aka positive politeness strategy: shows you recognize addressee’s desire to be respected, somewhat direct but more face saving than BOR “is it okay if I have a cup of tea?”
3- FTA performed orienting to negative face aka negative politeness strategy: somewhat indirect, recognizes the imposition
4- off record, indirect; avoiding making the FTA and maybe they will offer; the classic passive aggressive; imbed the FTA in some other context (ex: I really love your kitchen counter, did you make it yourself? I’d love one but I’m no handyman)

Question 40

Steps of using the FTA formula

Answer 40

Step 1: identity the threat (ex: negative face threat)
Step 2: what strategy was used? What is the language?
Step 3: the strategy used by speaker can often be observed by how A responds

***goal of using formula: weighing the degree of face threat in speech acts (make a scale 0=no threat, 10 = high threat. Total 30)
WTFA= power of speaker over hearer generally or in this situation, plus degree of social distance, plus degree of imposition given culture

Question 41

Narrative

Answer 41

Extremely common, universal, seem to be prevalent throughout our known human history
Humans in all cultures make their identity through narratives
They shape the world and thus ourselves
Narrative underlies our way of being and our way of acting in the world

Question 42

Narrative and psychology

Answer 42

Application to psych through Freud and humanism

Narrative psych= a model predicated on Bruner’s more folk ways of knowing versus logical argument

Question 43

Bruner’s 2 ways of knowing

Answer 43

1- social sciences/sciences: classifying, categorizing, formal, mathematical systems of description and explanation

2- folk psych: making sense of the world by connecting events over time through stories

Question 44

Cognition and narratives: 2 tendencies

Answer 44

1- narrative tendencies: an individual’s predisposition to create and identify narratives

2- immersive tendencies: how much you lose yourself when watching a movie, reading a book

Question 45

Narrative transport

Answer 45

Narrative transport is how involved we get in a story (same as immersion)
3 factors that affect it:
1- how much a situation resonates with us
2- degree of empathy we feel
3- familiarity with character types

Question 46

Narrative: cognition and memory

Answer 46

Telling a story affects memory and self
Listener may provide an alternate version, give you things to consider
If you withhold a story you may forget the event, feedback can change your memory
Conversational feedback means elaboration of a memory which strengthens memory of the event
Seeing things in a diff light = point of talk therapy
People construct their memories through stories in interaction with others

Question 47

Functions of narrative

Answer 47

Narratives are stories that bring order to disorder and connect disconnected experiences
Provide a coherent causal account of an event that has occurred or of events expected to occur
-Identity: to make sense of ourselves and others, how we make sense of our experiences
-Autobiographical reasoning: identifying lessons learned, gaining insights, mark our growth, stories tell about consistent self
Only visions of reality
Helps us cope with things not going our way
Means of integrating strange and unknown into everyday life
-personal stories and gossip (aka phatic talk):makes up more than half of what we talk about
-tools for learning and developing relationships in a social group
-as socializers: guide individuals actions in the world, keep track of what others are doing, understand rules of society
-place where we can practice interacting with others and learn customs=rules of society

Question 48

Narrative: structure

Answer 48

Narratives=retelling of sequenced events (ex: conversational stories)
Distinguishing features like time frame, but coherence varies (for example, child makes less sense)
Provides shape and plot to a sequence of events
Structure varies by culture and function (depends on narrator, audience, culture, reason for telling)

Question 49

Labov’s structure and content parts of narratives (5 parts)

Answer 49

1- abstract: what is the story about?
2- orientation: who when what where how (aka time place and events)
3- complicating action: what went wrong, the climax or the highlight. The reportable event. Then what happened?
4- evaluation: editorial, why is this tellable? Moral of the tale
5- coda: return to the present

Question 50

Content of narratives

Answer 50

Power relations: affect what stories get to be told and how (children and the elderly invite impatience)

We tell stories about our lives, people give feedback, building on the stories, asking questions

Reportable events are unusual and therefore less credible (tellings get less credible as they are handed down)

Question 51

Scripts and tendencies (narrative content and structure)

Answer 51

Scripts for how to behave are a kind of narrative
Examples: quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, overcoming the monster, love story etc
Traditional stories invite addressee to listen with the storyteller the driver

Question 52

Developmental trajectory of narratives

Answer 52

Children’s narratives can be disjointed (lack typical structure) and unregulated (take too much time)
Adults fill in the blanks for meaning and can hurry it along
Feedback makes children learn what a good story is and that they have social functions
Children learn more about story structure (who what when where why) as their cognition develops
Late teens/early adulthood: cause and effect, how one event leads to the next, overarching themes
**slowly pay less attention to plot as we age, even 18 year olds pay more attention to plot than 40 yr old

Question 53

Two themes in people’s stories that correlate with better mental health/well being (Adler)

Answer 53

1- agency (feeling like you’re in control of your life)

2- social relationships (good relationships in your life)

Question 54

Valued vs non-valued narratives

Answer 54

Americans: value individualist redemption story (aka you took control and made a bad situation info a good ending) = outcome of people hiding stories of trauma with reason that they can’t trust anyone

Canadians: value social egalitarian story/land (aka came to Canada, bought property, new life, social stability; but if you had land taken from you a lot of sorrying takes place) = outcome of people who talk about equality may be seen as whiners bc can’t trust certain groups

Question 55

Good narrative form vs psychopathological or impoverished

Answer 55

Good narrative: chronological order, coherent, relevant, clear descriptions of problems, awareness of listener, reference to inner feelings, plot, awareness of world around them

Other is impoverished

Question 56

Master narratives

Answer 56

Culture-wide, unstated ideologies that organize discourse and shape the Big N. Implicit assumptions (ex: sisters ought to be close and similar)
Sister discourse example: sisters are expected to support each other; master narratives appear without prompting and are not conscious thing
Master narratives explain why sisters talk about this closeness and distance
Imposed by culture, family

Question 57

Tannen’s big N and small N

Answer 57

Big N= themes speakers develop when talking about their sisters for example, in support of which they tell the small n narratives
Small N= telling of a story using the details about how or why particular sisters are similar and different
Narrator feels compelled to explain and justify why their story does not match master narrative

Question 58

Therapy and narrative

Answer 58

Part of purpose of therapy is to construct new and more satisfying stories
Narrative therapists explore the larger plot of someone’s life story
Traumatized people often have disjointed and unfinished accounts, trauma doesn’t match life narrative, threatens individuals personal connectedness
Some people have to bury the past and build a new self based on new stories

Question 59

The core self story (therapy and narrative)

Answer 59

Core self stories: childhood, coming of age stories; themes of ones childhood form these core stories like love, hate, neglect, loss etc
Often involve parents, friends, even events remembered only by us
Core story= primary events that we perceive made us who we are
Can be centred around loss of identity (things that took away our ability to be who we think we can be)
Therapists job= propose alternatives to core narratives, shift patients perspectives

Question 60

Narratives in therapy: the relationship story

Answer 60

Clients implicate others in their narratives; often ex partners or current partners
Implicate blame through retelling of incidences
Talk about reoccurring negative problems of other
Therapist has to maintain control and bring the narrative to where the couple claims they want to be

Question 61

Two stages of how the therapist moves from the clients version of the problem or of events to the therapists version

Answer 61

1- the therapist defines the problem quickly (what the problem really is)
2- reformulates the problem as initially told and throughout the narrative

Question 62

The art of therapy talk (8 points)

Answer 62

1- therapist describe clients past or present state of affairs, talk about what might happen in the future
2- reformulate the problem; usually tentative or reflect uncertainty (maybe blank is what’s happening…)
3- downgrade the suggestion “I could be wrong but…” This opens the doors to possibilities
4- present their expert view which does not negate the clients view “I agree on that but my own take on that is…”
5- re voicing but often as a better version
6- relabelling “lying is part of your old behaviour but you have been striving to be very honest…”
7- align self with client (agree with them) but then move beneath the surface level of the clients talk “I think that what’s going on is…”
8- agree and confirm but draw a different conclusion than did the client

Question 63

House and kasper’s politeness analysis

Answer 63

Classified complaints and requests on 8 levels of directedness (greater indirectedness = greater politeness)
Depends on modality markers (2 kinds: downgraders and upgraders)
Supportive moves
Determined no clear relationship between use of directness levels and modality markers)

Question 64

Penman’s critique of brown-levinson theory

Answer 64

1- neglects issues of face aggravation
2- underplays self directed as compared to other directed strategies
3- lacks a conceptual structure linking together the linguistic meanings used to realize the higher order strategies

Question 65

Penman’s analysis of politeness

Answer 65

Used concepts of respect and contempt 
Mode of expression of strategies (direct and indirect)
Four types of face work effects:
1- aggravation/depreciation
2- threat
3- protection
4- mitigation/enhancement 
16 super strategies 
Strategies can have dual directions and involve both positive and negative face