Blog Post #7
1. In what ways does knowledge of Tannen's theory make us better or worse communicators? Make sure your answer includes examples from real life and identifies specific communication encounters that Tannen discusses in her theory (e.g., report v. rapport talk, etc.).
Tannen’s theory states that women seek human connection, whereas men are concerned mainly with status. While women are focused on cultivating a sense that they’re in touch, men are working hard to preserve their independence as they jockey for position on a hierarchy of competitive accomplishment(Griffin, pg. 385). She also says that men communicate in a way known as ‘report talk’, which seeks to command attention, convey information, and win arguments (Griffin, pg. 386), and women communicate in what is known as ‘rapport talk’, which seeks to establish connection with others (Griffin, pg. 386). Being aware of these various aspects of her theory can make us better communicators because they can help us make sure we don’t fall into only one of these categories. I know sometimes I can go straight to ‘report talk’ as a guy, and I think it’s healthy to also know that rapport talk is another way of communicating that maybe men should use more often? Maybe men genuinely do ‘jockey for position on a hierarchy of competitive accomplishment’, but I don’t want to come off as that in my day to day conversations with people, so I think it’s healthy to be aware of these things to establish better and more healthy relationships.
What social groups to which you belong shape your standpoint? In other words, how do they affect your worldview? Are some more influential than others?
Standpoint theorists believe our view of the world depends on our social location. That location is shaped by our demographic characteristics, including sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and economic status. (Griffin, pg. 396) For me personally, I belong to the social group of white, male, and straight: and that absolutely does affect my worldview. Along with growing up in those social groups, I’ve also grown up in a nice and affluent neighborhood, which made it a huge wake up call once I became older and would drive to places that weren’t so nice and wealthy. Especially living near New York City, when I’d drive to places in Yonkers or the Bronx which weren’t nearly as wealthy as the neighborhood I grew up in, it was a huge wake up call: and made me aware of a whole different side of the place I live in, just twenty to thirty minutes away from where I live.
3. Imagine that Julia Wood and Deborah Tannen were delivering a seminar at Target Corporation. What advice would they give a man seeking to improve his communication with woman colleagues? This answer should explain differences and similarities among the two theories.
Standpoint theorists believe that knowledge starting from the social location of marginalized people “can provide a more objective view than the perspective from the lives of the more powerful.” (Griffin, Pg. 396). For communication researchers, taking women’s location seriously means heeding Wood’s call to choose research topics that are responsive to women’s concerns(Griffin, Pg. 396) In this case, I think Julia Wood would use this standpoint theory to encourage men to look at the knowledge and encourage research starting from the perspective of women. Knowing where their female colleagues come from, what they think of their workplace, and other things like that can help them gain a new perspective on their female colleagues so they can provide a more ‘objective view’ of the world, one in which they can understand the social location for women. As for Deborah Tannen, her theory of Genderlect Styles believes that “We try to talk to each other honestly, but it seems at times that we are speaking different languages—or at least different genderlects.” (Griffin, pg. 385). For her, it wouldn’t be about trying to get to men to try to understand women more and their place in society, but rather to understand how women communicate differently than men, and to work with both of their styles of rapport and report. Tannen believes that male and female communication is most similar to a ‘cross-cultural communication’ of different languages, so the answer is for both men and women to try to take each other on their own terms rather than applying the standards of one group to the behavior of the other (Griffin, pg. 390)
Hi Justin!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week. I found it interesting how you acknowledged that as a male you often use "report talk" but think that it could be healthy to engage in "rapport talk" as well. I can totally relate to that because I feel like as a woman I engage in "report talk" especially with my friends because I am very assertive and command attention (Griffin et al., 2019). I wonder how Tannen would react to hearing us discuss the idea of crossing over conversational styles LOL! Your points about how you grew up were very interesting because I hadn't even thought about that as being a "social location" that could have shaped your worldview (Griffin et al., 2019). Your take on Tannen's approach to better communication between co-workers was particularly interesting. I too think the styles would be the way she would go about offering advice on improving communication. Great post!
Hi Justin! Great post! I really liked what you said about how where you grow up influence how you view different areas, in terms of the example you used about growing up in a more affluent area then traveling into other areas that may be geographically close to you but light years away in regards to what you're used to. I know we touched on this a little bit today in class and some of the adjustments Yani had to make when coming to Fredonia from the city. I am from a small town but have spent a bit of time in larger cities and my perspective is definitely influenced by my small town upbringing. Another example of this is my boyfriend was originally from Long Island and worked in NYC at different points in his life and went to college in the city so then a few years ago he moved to Albany and then last year moved in with me, in my small town, population around 2,500 people. We also do not have a traffic light. So it was a big adjustment for him too and things are very different than what he's been used to. Every time we come across one of these things he says, "must be a regional thing."
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you said in terms of how Wood would help a Target employee get along better with his female co-workers. I think she would try to get the man to see things from a feminine standpoint and a female perspective. Wood says that strong objectivity can be achieved through critical reflection of these perspectives (Griffin, et al, pg. 402). I agree that is an effective way to effect change. I think it sort of boils down to putting ourselves in someone else's shoes.