Week 5 - Miscommunication Flashcards
Miscommunication
A sender encodes a message through a certain channel and sends it to the receiver in an environment
4 sources of noise
From the sender
From the channel
From a receiver
From the environment
Forms of miscommunication
External noise: when a sender and receiver try to communicate and noise is introduced
Negative noise: makes outcomes for others more negative than intended
Positive noise: outcomes for others are better than intended
Social dilemma study conclusions
Both generosity and communication lead to benign impressions/trust
Negative behavior is more likely attributed to noise
Egocentric bias
When people think more about their own point of view and assume others see things the same way
The illusion of transparency
People overestimate the extent to which their internal sensations leak out and are apparent to others.
The closeness-communication bias
We believe the closer we are to an individual the more accurate they are at seeing through them
Teasers perceive teasing as more positive than others
Empathic accuracy
The ability to accurately judge the feelings, thoughts and intentions of others
What makes someone good at EA?
Observer’s degree of empathy
Target’s emotional expressiveness
Empathic accuracy model
The ability to accurately infer a person’s thoughts and feelings depends on how threatening the relationship/the topic is
Culture - essentialist perspective
It’s how a group of people share similar ways of thinking, which makes them different from other groups.
Culture - non-essential perspective
It’s the shared understanding that people create and change as they work or do things together.
Descriptive essentialist view
Culture is historically anchored, tradition is an essential part of culture and we learn culture in a society
Dynamic constructivist view
Sees cultural identity as something that is constructed and reconstructed in different situations - not static
Affective empathy
Refers to a perceiver’s ability to share the emotions they observe in others.
Measured as a stable trait
Cognitive empathy
The ability of a perceiver to understand the internal states of targets
Why affective empathy and empathic accuracy do not correlate
Understanding the emotions of someone is independent from experiencing those emotions.
Under which condition did affective empathy demonstrate a relationship with empathic accuracy?
Only under the condition that the target’s inner experience is translated into expressive behavior.
Target’s expressivity predicted empathic accuracy and also interacted with perceiver’s trait empathy in predicting empathic accuracy.
Testing methods for interpersonal accuracy
Testing paradigm (standardized testing)
Vivo paradigm (person-to-person interaction)
Locus of accuracy
If power does influence interpersonal accuracy, is it having power that makes people more or less accurate?
Locus of accuracy - findings
Higher SES leads to higher accuracy in inferences; powerful people were better at recalling
Lower SES people have higher accuracy than high power people
The spotlight effect
People overestimate the extent to which others notice them
Corollary of the spotlight effect
People overestimate the extent to which others are likely to notice the variability of their behaviors and appearance over time.
Why do people overestimate the salience of their own appearance and behavior?
The difficulty of getting beyond one’s own phenomenological experience, people are more self-focused and correction tends to be insufficient.
Anticipating how one will be judged by others
After failure, people tend to expect to be judged more harshly than they actually do
Causes for anticipating how one will be judged by others
Anchoring and adjustment: because they condemn themselves for failure, they worry others will too.
Failure to anticipate the extent to which others will empathize with one’s embarrassing experience.
Why is the descriptive essentialist view of culture problematic?
People do not simply conform to the rules of a specific culture, they adapt their behavior according to the situation and purpose of interaction.
Constructivist understanding of culture
Cultures are not pure limited homogeneous limits, everyone who lives in a certain country belongs to that certain culture, but there are many ways of acting as a member of that culture.
Phenomenological approach
Culture has to be understood and interpreted as something an individual is and does
Individuals create their own interpretation
Identity negation theory
People exchange both verbal and nonverbal messages when interacting. These exchanges can maintain, threaten, or strengthen someone’s identity (either their group identity or personal identity).
Through experiences and interactions, people learn and shape their identity.
Intercultural communication competence
Combining knowledge of different cultures and identities to address identity-related issues
Criteria for intercultural communication competence
Communication appropriateness
Communication effectiveness
Communication adaptability
Mindfulness
Culture-sensitive and identity sensitive knowledge
Open hearted attitudes
Communication skillset
External code-switching
Internal frame-shifting
Dimensions of individualism-collectivism and small-large power distances
The impartial approach
The status-achievement approach
The benevolent approach
The communal approach
Intergroup vitality
Refers to how how strong or lively a group feels compared to other groups. Imagine a group of people who speak the same language or share the same culture. If their group is big, important, and has influence, they have high vitality
Ethnocentrism
When someone thinks their own group is better than others, leading to negative views about people from different groups.
This can create barriers and make it difficult for the weaker group to blend in or be accepted.
Reasons for ethnocentrism
We perceive our ingroup values, culture as correct.
We tend to experience distance from the outgroup.
Ethnorelativism
The idea of understanding and appreciating different cultures and groups.
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity
Captures how individuals experience cultural differences via various change zones:
Ethnocentrism: denial of cultural difference, defense against cultural difference and minimization of cultural difference.
Ethnorelativism: acceptance and integration of cultural difference and adaptation to cultural difference.
Intergroup attitudes based on group vitality affect on communication
Groups with high vitality expect individuals with low vitality to accommodate to them
Unfavourable group attitudes (based on ethnocentrism) can hinder it
Favourable intergroup attitudes (based on ethnorelativism) can facilitate it
3 communication strategies
Convergence accommodation: when two people adjust their speaking styles to be more similar to each other
Divergence or non-accommodation: when people emphasize their differences in how they communicate
Maintenance: people keep their original way of talking, no matter how the other person communicates
Middle Way Approach-Based Dialogue
To resolve intergroup conflicts:
1. Dialogue is key
2. Finding a positive relationship
3. Respecting each other’s dignity
4. Creative thinking helps find solutions
5. Finding a middle ground
Mindfulness (Budhist practice)
Attending to one’s own internal assumptions, emerging emotions, intentions, cognitions, attitudes and behaviors
Mindfulness (Western lens)
Attuning to the other person’s communication, assumptions, attitudes, perspectives and communication styles
Prism of mindfulness
- Being present in the immediate time and space orientation
- Meta-cognition awareness: being aware of your thoughts and feelings as they happen
- Affective attainment: being in touch with your emotions and understanding them
