Necessary Convergence Communication Essay

A Theory of Dyadic friendly Interaction and Meanings Michelle Miller-Day In this paper, the reason proposed and learns a hypothesis of the affectionate mental synthesis of meaning in dyadic communicatory fundamental interaction. The author argues that necessity lap communion is a theoretical exemplar useful for explaining how power may squargon up the assist of meaning construction in social chat.This essay describes the features of this theoretical manakin and provides theoretical suppositions for future trial-and-error testing. ChildMom, look at the blue package Mother Its non blue, its teal. ChildIt looks like blue to me. Mother Its non though. Its got green in it too, so its teal. Later that day Friend Oh, thats a pretty package. The blue matches your shirt. ChildIts not blue, its teal. To many of us this scene is not unusual.Children often learn from elders what any given symbol means and at once children learn these meanings they incorporate them into their cognitive schemata. harmonize to Piagets (1972, 1954) theory of cognitive development, from approximately ages 4-7 children argon in an intuitive phase where they can grasp logical concepts, but reality is not yet firm and is often dictated by authority figures. The role of authority figures to digit constructions of reality certainly does not end in childhood.Social constructionists such as Berger and Luckmann (1966) argue that unmarrieds together produce a human environment, with the totality of its socio-cultural and psychological formations and understandings social meanings atomic number 18 a human product (p. 52). It is not unusual, say, for an inglorious romantic better half to convince his or her retainer that the abuse is deserved or symbolic of care or even love. The dyadic construction of acts of abuse as signifying love or care may not e clearly understood by others outside the relational dyad, yet perceptions of abusive behavior as acts of love are commonalty in abusive inter in-person relationships, along with sacrificing ones take interpretation of events so as not to lose the affection of the partner (Woods, 1999). In fact, in a recent episode of the popular television show virtue and Order specific Victims Unit (Denoon & Platt, 2004) a teenager was placed in foster care due to a overprotects complete and utter electric potentiality everywhere the child, with the episode focusing on the control the mother had over how her offspring interpreted the world around him.The psychologist in the episode did not have a name for this wreak of maternal domination, but compared the teenager to a puppet, merely appropriating his mothers interpretations of the world out of fear the fear of losing her love, protection and their relational structure. Although this essay does not focus on children or abusive relationships specifically, it outlines a theory addressing the social construction of meanings in dyadic communicative interaction wherein there is disequilibrium amidst members in that process.Berger (2005), in his review of the social communicating up until the 21st century, pointed out that very few social communication scholars have authentic theories addressing this central tenet of communication meaning. His review argued that for the field to move forward interpersonal communication researchers should look to a greater extent at interaction routines and the process of meaning-making between interactants.Around the same time as this review was creation written, Koerner and Fitzpatrick (2002) published an article in Communication Theory arguing for a similar take aim for research examining intersubjectivity, meaning, and interactivity in the area of family communication. They argued the undermentioned a complete explication of family communication needs to consider two intersubjectivity and interactivity (Fitzpatrick & Ritchie, 1993). Intersubjectivity refers to the sharing of cognitions among participa nts in a communication event, whereas interactivity refers to the stop to which the symbol creation and interpretation are linked. ,Interactivity refers to the way that a family withstands its own structure through patterns of family members responses to for each one others communicative acts (p. 73, Koerner & Fitzpatrick, 2002). Correspondingly, Miller-Day (2004) also presented a indispensable Convergence Communication (NCC) theory which focused on some(prenominal) intersubjectivity and interactivity in family member interactions, while addressing issues of power and dominance involved in the process of meaning-making between communicators.At this junction, in response to these calls for theoretical development in the area of meaning construction and dyadic social interaction in the handle of interpersonal and family communication, and building on the ideas introduced by Koerner and Fitzpatrick (2002), this essay go away briefly review the original ideas of Miller-Days (2004 ) Necessary Convergence Communication (NCC) theory, elaborate on them, and then discuss how this framework might be a workable mid-range theory to assist communication scholars understand how the construct of power or dominance may influence the meaning construction process in interpersonal communication.A theory is a lens through which to examine human interaction and theories have four functionsdescription, explanation, prediction, and change (Griffin, 2000 Littlejohn & Foss, 2005). The foundation of a theory is description and as Wood (2004) points out, before we can figure out how something works, we must describe it (p. 32). Therefore, the first task of building newfound theory is to describe its features. This essay provides a description of requirement product communication and identifies specific features that may be empirically tested.An Introduction to Necessary Convergence Communication Miller-Day (2004) argued that necessary intersection point is a form of intersubje ctivity that fares during a pattern of interactivity when one communicator is dominant and the other slavish. When converging of meaning occurs, meaning coordination tends to be coercive rather than cooperative with the dominant partners interpretive frame privileged over the submissive partners, leading to un sufficient contributions to the process of meaning coordination. Author Ayn Rand (1993) referred to this type of process in her novel The Fountainhead.Rand argued that some individuals tend to be second-handerspeople who dont judge for themselves, who just repeat what others close to them say, embrace it, and make it their own. Miller-Days (2004) argument suggests that when the relational schema for the submissive partner is based on qualified regardthat is, she or he believes that acceptance in the relationship (e. g. , receipt of horny resources) is contingent on meaning convergence the submissive partner go out converge with the dominant partners meanings for relation al maintenance purposes.As discovered in Miller-Days family communication research (2004) and Miller (1995) and illustrated in the Law and Order episode mentioned earlier in this essay, not to converge with a dominant partners interpretation of symbols or events in any consummation would risk already precarious acceptance and approval in the relationship. An interpretive frame is defined here as cognitive structure that contains mental representations of meanings the process of constructing meaning activates interpretive frames.Necessary infers that convergence is perceived as essential to achieving a certain aftermath, and convergence indicates a tendency toward one point (Miller-Day, 2004). Thus, to contract relational approval and avoid rejection, the submissive partner will accommodate the dominant partner by assimilating his or her interpretive frame. Within this model, convergence is relationally adaptive. This introduction to NCC as a theoretical framework offers an overvie w.But, to fully understand how this theory may be applied more generally to interpersonal relationships, I will elaborate on this theoretical framework, present the assumptions linked to it, describe its symptomatics, and provide some theoretical statements for empirical testing. A-Priori Theoretical Assumptions Communication Is an Emergent, Creative natural process through Which Meanings are Coordinated Via Interpretive Schemata People approach the world through processes of interpretation. As human social animals we are in a unalterable state of interpreting and managing meanings, and interpreting meanings is an interdependent process.The assumption is that meanings are not inherent in objects, but instead arises out of social interaction. During social interaction, meanings are directd through interpretive schematamental structures consisting of organized knowledge about relationships. Interpretive schemata represent accumulated knowledgethe sum of past experienceswhich help a n individual interpret, understand, and predict the outcomes of interactions with others (Burleson, Metts, Kirch, 2000 Cragan Shields, 1998 Koerner Fitzpatrick, 2002).Moreover, interpretive schemata include expectations about what should happen in a given situation and serve to guide behavior. Interpretive schemata specific to relationshipsrelationship schematainfluence the encoding and decoding of randomness, the inferences and evaluations people make and ultimately their interpersonal behavior in relationships (Koerner Fitzpatrick, 2002, p. 80). This assumption presumes that the process of making meaning activates interpretive frames.Communicators then coordinate their meaning systems as filtered through these frames and then negotiate agreement. Understanding between the members builds intersubjectivity and hopefully leads to consensus (Crotty, 1998 Solomon, Dillard, Anderson, 2002). Implicit in this assumption are claims of coordination and negotiation. Coordination impli es a state of equal rank, equal power, and harmonious order, whereas negotiation suggests that communicators confer with one another in order to reach an agreement.Coordination involves collaboration of all communicating partners. Communication Enacts Relationships The state of be in a relationship is inherently a communication process and must be understood as a series of transactions in which messages are exchanged. Relationships are formed across repeated transactions, with each new transact adding new information to the one that came before, building a cumulative database of information about the relationship (Burleson et al. 2000 Duck, 1992 Guerrero, Anderson, Afifi, 2001). Transactions are units of interaction affecting both interactants and carrying commentary on the interactants relationship. As Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967) pointed out, each message (both communicative and nonverbal) carries information at two levelsthe content level and the relationship level. The relationship level enacts the current state of the relationship and provides information about how the communicators see each other, themselves, and their relationship.Communicative Transactions in Close Personal Relationships Have Implications for Personal and Relational Identities Relational members encode and decode information about themselves as come up as for their partner, extrapolating this information to the relational unit (Aron Aron, 1986). Within this framework, the self is conceptualized as inseparable from dynamic interaction, with each transaction contributing to both self- and relational knowledge. archaeozoic work by Mead (1934) identified the centrality of essage exchange in personal identity management. More recent work in relational communication points out that both personal and relational identities are cocreated communicatively within the context of relationship (Wilmot, 1995). Personal identity development is really the unfolding of the self while reta ining relational ties identities are constituted and managed through relationships, not to their exclusion (Adams Marshall, 1996). Relational Culture Shapes Interpretive/Relational SchemataRelational cultures consist of shared meaning systems, routinized patterns of interaction, and norms that structure members roles and behaviors (Wood, 2000). These cultural norms shape relational schemata (Koerner Fitzpatrick, 2002), and these schemata are socialise across the developmental trajectory of the relationship. Socialization involves the social and communicative processes through which cultural knowledge, resources and practices are made available and internalized by cultural members (Burleson et al. , 2000, p. 35).As Entman (1993) demonstrated, culture is the stock of commonly evoked interpretive schemata and culture might be defined as the empirically demonstrable round of common interpretive frames exhibited in the discourse and thinking of close to people in a relationship (p. 5 3). Relational schemata are the mental structures that are socialized within a relational culture, organize knowledge about relationships, and are used to process information relevant to these relationships. Therefore, relational cultures will share common schemata and should be reflected in the communication practices of relational members.Interpersonal Scripts Emerge From Relational Schemata Scripts are one form of communication practice enacted within relationships that emerge from relational schemata (Koerner Fitzpatrick, 2002). Relational scripts direct interaction, exemplify relational work, and dictate normative ways of issuing directives and responses. Scripted interactions are often routine, habituated, and overlearned through repetitive practice in the family culture (Sillars, 1995) however, these scripts are useful in directing the typical ways in which an interaction should be handled given the particular relational schema.When relational members drive practiced in the se roles and memorize their lines, these enactments become scripted. That is, partners may not think about their day-to-day ways of interacting with each other on a advised level, but they may still tend to communicate in patterned ways with well-defined scripts that enact appropriate relational behavior. These a-priori assumptions are implicit in the theoretical framework of NCC.In summary, they presuppose that relational culture shapes partners knowledge of relationships each partners accumulated knowledge of relationships helps her or him to coordinate meanings patterned or scripted communication behavior emerges from relationship schemata and this communication behavior is consequential for interpersonal relationships. Characteristics of Necessary Convergence Communication Necessary convergence communication can be captured by describing its three separate characteristics, equilibrium, weighted harmonise of meaningfulness, and motivation, and two process dimensions, story and chronicity (Miller-Day, 2004).These characteristics are illustrated in Fig. 1 and can be assessed in terms of their valence and intensity in any given interpersonal relationship. Insert Figure 1 about here Equilibrium When necessary convergence occurs, there tends to be disequilibrium in the relational coordination of meanings. Equilibrium refers to an equality of distribution however when disequilibrium occurs, there is unequal power to determine meanings in interpersonal interaction. Power is a persons ability to control valuable resources and is often tied to status.Any type of power such as adept power, legitimate power, or coercive power is relevant to equilibrium as long as the person is in control of resources considered valuable. Control of resources provide the potential for the exercise of power in most relationships, with resources being all knowledge, skills, emotions, words, actions, and materials that are at the disposal of the person. Given the distribution of resou rces within any specific interpersonal relationship, power might be evaluated by its outcome, which is dominance.Dominance refers to the degree to which a person can influence and impose their will on the other its counterterm, submission, refers to the degree to which a person gives up influence or yields to the wishes of the other. I think it is important to keep in mind that dominance itself is determined by the submissive response of others. Moreover, as Burgoon, Johnson, and Koch (1998) pointed out, While power enables the display of dominance, and dominant behavior may solidify powerthough correlateddominance and power are not interchangeable concepts (p. 10). According to Miller-Day (2004), when NCC occurs the relational member who has blueer status or more power in the relationship (e. g. , parent, teacher, boss, or romantic partner) would be dominant in imposing, rather than cooperatively negotiating, meaning in the relationship. Moreover, as one persons power to determine meanings increases, the other persons decreases, this then leads to an unstable situation in which the importance of one partners interpretive frame outweighs the partners. Weighted Proportion of MeaningfulnessThe second characteristic of necessary convergence occurs when one partner submits to the unequal distribution in the power to construct meanings in interaction. Dominance requires submission. Consequently, when a lower-status partner submits, she or he affords the dominant partners meanings more weightmore significancein the transaction. Developmentally, as most individuals begin to acquire personal authority they course become separate from parents and others in their life, even as they remain emotionally connected (Nadien Denmark, 1999).However, as growns form unique relational cultures, they will develop new connections with others. Some times these relationships are purely social and require accommodation of meanings for social management purposes for example, in the classroom where a professor does not advertise critical thinking but mandates rote memorization and resists any challenge of information. In this case, students are required to accommodate the professors meanings into his or her own understanding (and repeat that on the exam ).Anyone who has ever been in a classroom with one of these instructors may empathize with students placed in a pose where there is a low tolerance for differentiation in thinking among members. But the case of relational partners where one partner is dominant in most realms of the relationships and the other submissive, there is both a social and emotional connection between partners. In this case, the dominant partner will typically nearly monitoring device any behaviors that signify the submissive partners movement toward differentiation (uniqueness outside the relationship), regardless if emotional ties remain undisturbed.If the less powerful partner resists the untruth of meaning and challenges her par tners construction of meaning in the dyadic interaction, then necessary convergence communication has not occurred. It is the absence of resistance the convergencethat is a key feature of this kind of communication. According to NCC, the less powerful partner will be motivated to converge because he or she feels it is necessary. indigence Motivation is a reason for action, an incentive.This theory argues that when there is a compelling reason for convergence, such as is to avoid undermining the relationship or to secure relational acceptance, there is increased motivation to converge with the higher-status partner. When acceptance in the relationship is perceived to be conditional on that convergence, then convergence is perceived as relationally adaptive and the lower-status partner is more likely to perceive convergence as necessary. Necessary convergence, then, might be viewed as a form of secondary control.According to Rosenberg (1990), Secondary control is an attempt to accommo date to objective conditions in order to affect a more satisfying fit with those conditions (p. 147). Although convergence tends not to be explicitly demanded, lower-status partners will perceive it as a condition for relational acceptance. Manipulation of resources in a relationship, such as support, regard, or inclusion, emerged as a significant contributor to asserting dominance in the family relationships observed by Miller-Day (2004).As a form of psychological control, higher-status family members offered and withheld these resources contingent on the convergence of the lower-status member. The utilization of emotional resources, therefore, was used to assert psychological dominance with the provision or withdrawal of resources providing a compelling motivation for lower-status partners convergence. According to NCC, once convergence is perceived to be necessary, and one accommodates the dominant partners interpretive frame at the expense of ones own, two supererogatory chara cteristics become important when assessing necessary convergence degree and chronicity.Process Dimensions Degree. The relative intensity or amount of convergence in any given dyadic interaction is important to the process of NCC. The following illustration captures different degrees of convergence. Example An adult woman and a friend are talking. The friend comments that she likes the womans new hairstyle, pulled up on her head with a hair clip. The woman comments that she likes the style too. Soon the adult womans mother walks into the room, looks at her adult daughter, and with a tone of disapproval says, What have you done to your hair? It looks awfulUnder conditions of high convergence, the lower-status woman would change her hairstyle extensively as a ensue of her mothers comment, converging with her mothers interpretation that the style was indeed horrible and altering her original interpretation to fit more closely with her mothers. If asked by another, she would explain tha t the hairstyle looked awful so she altered it. Under conditions of moderately high convergence, the lower-status woman would significantly change her hairstyle as a result of her mothers comment, but just to please her mother or to reduce conflict.The lower-status woman would not alter her own interpretation to fit with her mothers interpretation she would merely accommodate the alternative interpretation. Under conditions of moderately low convergence, the lower-status woman might make minor alterations in the hairstyle to integrate both perceptions of what was attractive into one style. Finally, under conditions of low convergence, the lower-status woman might listen to her mothers comment but keep the style anyway because she likes it.As Miller-Day (2004) comments, there are times when we all perceive that it is just easier, necessary, or politically astute to adjust our interpretations to others view of the world. However, when there is extensive accommodation and convergence, obliterating personal interpretative frames constitutive of self, this might negatively influence personal identity. Chronicity. Convergence may be chronic or the pattern of convergence may occur across time and contexts. When lower-status individuals experience repeated failures in negotiating meanings in transactions with a partner across time (e. . , across the life course) and contexts (e. g. , attitudes, values, behaviors), this may ingrain a generalized prediction of learned helplessness and giving in. Miller-Days (2004) data revealed that women who chronically engaged in necessary convergence had an undefined comprehend of self and lower self-esteem than women who did not engage in convergence. When boundaries between individuals blur in personal relationships, identities may become undefined and convergence communication becomes the modus operandi.Piagets (1972) theory of cognitive development points out that in normal development, both assimilation and accommodation proc esses are used simultaneously and alternately passim life. Assimilation being the process of using or transforming the environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive structures and accommodation being the process of changing cognitive structures in order to accept something from the environment. Necessary convergence communication offers an explanation for those interactions where accommodation becomes the primary means of making spirit of the world.Theoretical Suppositions of Necessary Convergence Whereas theoretical assumptions are claims already supported in the research literature, suppositions are considered true or existing but not yet proved. Miller-Day (2004) provided the groundwork for this theory development and I seek to build on that by offering the following suppositions about NCC. I believe these suppositions may provide the necessary building blocks for theory development and offer future directions for empirical testing. Supposition 1 Interactants wi th more power (e. g. expert, legitimate, reward) in a dyadic social interaction will exert more influence in the construction of meaning than interactants with less power. Coordination of meaning involves power and control and according to this theory meanings can be hijacked. When both partners share moderate levels of power in the relationship, it would be predicted that they would enjoy the equilibrium and co-construction of meaningshared cognitions with a relatively high degree of match between symbol creation and interpretation. But most theories assume co-construction and equilibrium in sharing cognitions.According to NCC, we need to factor in power status of the interactants in the dyadic construction of meaning. Although studies exist that explore social stratification and power in terms of race, gender, and larger cultural hierarchies (see, e. g. , Altheide, 1995 Lyman, 1994), seldom do scholars explore interpersonal dominance and perceptions of status in their attempts to understand meaning construction. Supposition 2 Under conditions where there is disequilibriumunequal powerin determining meanings in dyadic social interaction, both partners will afford the dominant partners meanings more significance.If one participant in the communication event is dominant in the dyad then it is predicted that connections between symbol and interpretations can be coerced, and the interpretations of the dominant partner are privileged in that communication event. Supposition 3 Converging with a higher-status partners assigned meanings will function to maintain the relational identity. The act of convergence is relationally adaptive. The act of convergence in any given interaction will serve to protect the entangled identity of the participants and function to maintain the relational status quo.Partners in dominant-submissive relationships will maintains their relational culture through this patterns of responding to each others communicative actsby one requiring co nvergence and the other converging. Supposition 4 Among submissive partners, necessary convergence communication will be positively related to an undifferentiated self. Relationships demonstrate varying degrees of tolerance for intimacy and autonomy through interactions. In differentiated relationships partners are provided with autonomy, while maintaining respect and intimacy.In undifferentiated relationships boundaries are regulated, with high demands for connectedness, and ultimately impeding individual identity (Skowron Schmitt, 2003 Skowron, 2005). Supposition 5 The manipulation of emotional resources by the dominant partner in relationship with an undifferentiated partner will positively predict necessary convergence communication. It is posited that a communication partner who encourages emotional and psychological dependence through the manipulation of emotional resources (e. g. , love, acceptance) will also coerce a high degree of convergence in the communicative interacti on.Respectively, a communication partner who is undifferentiated and submits to the dominant partner will perceive that convergenceor a shared interpretationis necessary to maintain the relationship. Supposition 6 The more chronic and the greater the degree of convergence, the more likely the submissive partner will have a generalized expectancy of learned helplessness predicting increased risk for depression. The theory of learned helplessness (Seligman, 1975) offers a model to explain human depression in which apathy and submitting to more dominant others prevails, causing the person to fully rely on others.This can result when life experiences cause the individual to understand that their own cognitions are irrelevant. compend This essay introduced necessary convergence communication as a theoretical framework to help explain how meanings can be hijacked by others in interpersonal relationships. Under certain conditions it is predicted that dominant members in interpersonal rela tionships may be able to control the coordination of meaning in the relationship, subverting the interpretations of the submissive communication partner.Outlining characteristics of NCC (equilibrium, weighted proportion of meaningfulness, and motivation), two process dimensions (degree and chronicity), and posing 6 testable suppositions about NCC, this essay argues that this mid-range theory may be useful in understanding intersubjectivity and interactivity in dyadic social interaction where one partner is dominant and the other submissive. Whether that partnership is interpersonal or relational, there are implications for this kind of communication in understanding interpersonal influence and possibly even mental health outcomes such as depression.Future Directions There are criteria by which theories are judged to be effective. According to Shaw and Costanzo (1970) and Wright (1998), the following criteria may be used for evaluating theories and future research should examine this theoretical framework to assess if it meets these criteria. First, there is explanatory powerdo the suppositions of the NCC theoretical framework enable scholars to explain as much of the communication phenomenon as possible? Next, is the theoretical model parsimoniousdoes it contain as few suppositions as possible, is it as simple as it can be?Is NCC internally consistent, that is, do the suppositions contradict each other? Does NCC have heuristic potential does it suggest hypotheses to be tested through additional research? Finally, does NCC promote new understanding and have societal value? This essay outlines the features of NCC and proposes suppositions for empirical testing. Future research should test these suppositions with the potential to falsify and/or delimit this theoretical framework.