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Symbolic interaction and family
Families influence behavior
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The Interactional view is based on systems theory and was developed by Paul Waltzawick. Waltzawick was a part of the Palo Alto group because he was one of twenty scholars and therapists who was inspired by, and worked with anthropologist Gregory Bateson. The Palo Alto group does not focus on why a person acts a certain way, instead the focus is on how that behavior affects everyone in the group (Griffin, 2012, p.182). “Family system is an autonomous, mutually dependent network of feedback loops guided by members’ rules; the behavior of each person affects and is affected by the behavior of another” (Griffin, 2012, p.182). The Interactional view theory postulates that relationships within a family system are interrelated. The theory infers that relationships do not come together or fall apart because of one individual. A popular song, “Stick to the Status Quo”, reflects the theme of the theory. In essence, everyone needs to continue playing the role they are use to; if they do, then things will not change and everything will continue as is. Sticking to the status quo can also be referred to as homeostasis. A keen analysis of the Interactional Theory places my mother and I at the heart of the theory.
As I examine this theory I realized that my mother and I have established a “status quo” for as long as I can remember. She was the strict parent, very dictatorial in a number of ways, and as long as I did as I was told, all was well. As the years progressed I realized that miscommunication is bound to take place. “Miscommunication occurs because people are not "speaking the same language” (Communication Pragmatics). This often becomes evident in my family when my mother tells me to clean my room. In my mind, she means that I should c...
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... rules and creates its own reality"(Axioms of communication). The four axioms that Watzlawick focuses on are one cannot not communicate, content plus relationship equals communication, the nature of a relationship depends on how both parties punctuate the communication sequence, and all communication is either symmetrical or complementary.
Works Cited
Axioms of Communication. (n.d.). Axioms of Communication. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://cailinburke.blogspot.com
Communication Pragmatics/Interactional View - Interpersonal Communication Context. (n.d.). Communication Pragmatics/Interactional View - Interpersonal Communication Context. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/interpe
Griffin, E. (2012). The Interactional View of Paul Watzlawick. A First Look At Communication Theory (Eighth ed., pp. 181-190). New York: McGraw-Hill.
The interactionist approach is a micro approach - it looks closely at the day-to-day, face-to-face interactions that people have with each other and at how people attempt to negotiate a shared view of reality.
Symbolic interactionist’s like to understand the world through understanding the specific meanings and causes that society attributes to particular events. When analyzing health and illness symbolic interactionist’s like to look at individuals or groups and how they give meaning to their particular illness. Then they take that information and see how it affects their relationships with others and how it makes them view themselves. The symbolic interactionist theory also claims that we socially construct health and illness much like we do with race. For instance if someone spends his days staring at the sun and goes blind people blame him for staring at the sun. They believe that if they do not engage in sun staring then they will not go blind. The same reasoning usually follows people who get lung cancer or AIDS. The person is blamed for having the illness regardless of how they got it; people assume the sick brought it upon themselves.
In sociology, the interactionist perspective tends to use the “micro'; approach, where smaller groups of individuals are studied. The interactionist perspective views society as countless encounters between human beings and everyday social activity. The fact that an interactionist would make a study based on everyday, example by example cases separates them from the other perspectives, which tend to look at the larger scheme of things. Using the above approach to the study, there are three particular questions that this article answers. First, why do individuals do the things they do? Second, do people always mean what they say? Finally, how is society experienced (what was the difference between black and white experience while shopping for a home?) The following will show how the article answers the previous three questions.
Miscommunication is a struggle that lives within the world everyday. Being able to understand what another person is trying to convey is an essential part of the way humans interact with one another. When a message is not translated correctly from person to person conflict arises and heated battles rage within a relationship; whether it is a mother and daughter, or two quarreling lovers, or strangers upon the street. All humans are created differently, with diverse upbringings, perspectives, and mindsets. Particular forms of communications may mean different things to various people. When talking about the concept of miscommunications, one must also address the concept of communication itself.
The main criticism of interactionist theories is the fact that, although they focus on meaning of the actor, they fail to explain how actors even create these meanings in the first place. However, in contrast to this, the labelling theorists which use interactionism as a basis, such as Cooley’s (1922), are often criticised for being deterministic, due to the fact that they try and say our actions are shaped by the way others label them, instead of us taking responsibility for our own actions which may lead to negative consequences. Blumer (1969) built on Mead’s ideas, helps to strengthen his ideas, it builds on his basic idea’s whilst also adding his own, which, makes the theory more credible. There are, of course, limitations to Goffman’s ideas, although, they are useful, there are limitations. The idea that during interactions, everyone plays the part of both actor and audience, fails to point out the fact that interactions are often improvised and unrehearsed, without prior thinking of our reactions. This suggests that interactionism lacks structure as a theory—there is also evidence to support this from Larry Reynolds (1975). A study was conducted in which 124 interactionists, of which, 84 responded, were asked to identify the concepts they felt were essential in theories, 38 chose ‘role, 37 chose ‘self and 37 chose ‘interaction’.
In its most basic form, communicating involves a sender who takes his or her thoughts and encodes them into verbal and non-verbal messages that are sent to a receiver. The receiver than decodes the messages and attempts to understand what the sender meant to communication. The communication is completed when the receiver transmits verbal and nonverbal feed back to indicate his or her reception and understanding of the message. This process takes place within a context; also know as rhetorical situation, which includes all that affects the communication process such as the sender-receiver’s culture, the sender-receiver‘s relationship, the circumstances surrounding the sender-receiver’s interaction, and the physical environment of the interaction.
Griffin, E. (1997). A First Look at Communication, Third Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
A family system consists of more than one person, they form the most close and personal of groups. Every family has guidelines in place that govern its function and there are behaviors with this informal group which makes them distinguishable from other groups. Every family member plays a critical role in the system. As such, it is not possible that one member of the system can change without causing a ripple effect of change throughout the family system
The opportunity for universal application of the Communication Accommodation Theory gives the field of Communication Studies a method of objectively analyzing conversational strategies and motivations both of which are considered to be overwhelmingly subjective. The ways in which communicators of different cultures perceive one and other [as individuals or members of a group] varies greatly even in a two-person interaction. The number of cultural identifications one certain individual might possess may be numerous, and already makes structured analysis of their communication choices in an interaction difficult. By guiding the process of conducting research with CAT, researchers are able to analyze the communication behaviors of any set of cultural communicat...
Griffin, E. A. (1997). A first look at communication theory (3rd ed). The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
My socialization while growing up had everything to do with my parents. In my household I didn’t have just one certain style of parenting. My mother was a permissive parent, and my father was very much an authoritative dad. This was able to happen because my father travels a lot of the time and is out of the house, therefore giving me the chance take advantage of my mom being so much of a push over. When my father was gone on business I could get away with anything such as not cleaning my room, staying up as late as I wanted, and receiving anything I wanted. If my Mom did not giving in to my requests I would just throw a simple temper tantrum and five minutes later victory would be mine. On the other hand when my dad was around everything was to be done his way. If he didn’t think I needed it, I did not get it, no matter how much complaining and whining. In my Dads mind I had to deserve everything I received, if I did something wrong couple days earlier he would remind me about it as I was asking for a bike or what ever else it is I wanted. Don’t get me wrong my dad wasn’t a mean guy or an abusive father, I knew my limits and when every I would get dumb enough to cross that line, he was right there to put back in my place.
Banner, J. (1986). Virginia Satir's family therapy model. Individual Psychology: Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 42(4), 480-494.
Communication is an interdependent process of sending, receiving, and understanding messages. The definition implies that the components of the communication process cannot be examined separately. Rather, the relationship exists between the sender and the receiver, as well as the environment of the communication event, must be viewed as a whole. According to this perspective, if any of the components and circumstances change (that is, the number of individuals involved in the interaction, seating arrangements, or the time of the day) the communication event is altered. Communication is an ongoing process; we never stop sending and receiving messages. As we will discover, communication is a dynamic process, a process that changes from one communication setting to the next. Although it is difficult to predict, the ways of interpreting communication, certain components are always present in the communication process.
D.E. McFarland defines communication as, “Communication may be broadly defined as the process of meaningful interaction among human beings. More specially, it is the process by which meanings are perceived and understandings are reached among human beings.”
Interpersonal Communication in an Intercultural Setting Cultural growth in the twenty-first century has heightened the emphasis on interpersonal communication in an intercultural setting. As our world grows, expands and becomes increasingly more interconnected by various technological advances, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become quite clear. Due to the advancement of technology in today's world, a world in which some businesspeople are involved in transactions with other businesspeople in faraway countries, the call for knowledge of intercultural communication within this setting has become a reality. Interpersonal communication is a form of communication that involves a small number of people who can interact exclusively with one another and who therefore have the ability to both adapt their messages specifically for those others and to obtain immediate interpretations from them (Lustig et al, 1993). Although interpersonal communication is usually thought of as being perf!