COMM 4471: Communication in Marriage and Family

1. COMM 4471: Communication in Marriage and Family Spring 2005

2. Defining Family • Structural • by social role • Task-Orientation • by goals & outcomes • Transactional • by communication behaviors & outcomes

3. Structural Definitions • Nuclear • Stepfamily • Single-Parent • Blended • Gay-Parents • Multigenerational • Adopted

4. Task-Oriented Definitions • Family of Origin • Family of Orientation • Dysfunctional • Abusive • Effective

5. Transactional Definitions • Supportive • Alcoholic • Cold • Neglecting • Open • Conversation oriented • Authoritarian

6. Consequences of Definitions • Social • Legal • Psychological • Theoretical

7. Defining Interpersonal Communication Interpersonal Communication is any interaction between two or more persons who exchange information, create meaning, and influence each other and who through this process create social reality for themselves and others and create and maintain relationships with each other.

8. Circumplex Model of Family Functioning • Two primary dimensions: • Adaptability (Flexibility) • Cohesion • Facilitating Dimension • Communication

9. Functioning Family Functioning Dimension: adaptability/cohesion

12. Family Communication and Facilitation

13. Criticisms of Olson’s Model • Lack of evidence for curvilinear relationships of adaptability and cohesion with functioning • “Communication” largely underconceptualized

14. McMaster Model Problem Solving Communication Family Roles A-response Functioning A-involvement Behavior Control Family Behavior

15. Culture and Family Comm. • Communication takes place in a cultural context • Culture instantiated thru individual psychology • Culture instantiated thru group practices • Culture instantiated thru societal structures

16. Dimensions of Culture • Hofstede • individualism-collectivism • masculinity-femininity • power-distance • Hall • Context • Space & time • Control-fatalism

17. Correlates of Culture • Demographics • Family size & composition • SES • Values & Beliefs • Religion • Political orientation • Gender roles

18. 4 Theoretical Approaches • Systems Theory • Symbolic Interactionism • Attachment Theory • Dialectic Theory

19. Communication Systems • Wholeness: Complete interdependence of parts • Nonsummativity: System is more than sum of parts • Openness: Systems do not exist in isolation • Equifinality: Outcomes are not pre-determined by inputs • Hierarchy: Systems interact with other systems

20. Evaluation of Systems Theory • Strengths • Emphasis on whole family & interdependence • Clarification of role of external factors • Weakness • Complexity and interdependence make testable hypotheses difficult or impossible

21. Symbolic Interactionism Humans ability to interact symbolically with one another is their defining characteristic and has important implications for Meaning, Language, and Thought. (Mead, 1934)

22. Core Concepts of Symbolic Interactionism • Meaning • Root cause of human behavior • Arises from human interaction • Language • Social symbols, containers of meaning • Thought • Symbolic, Reflective & Perspective Taking

23. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • a.k.a. Linguistic Determinism • Thought depends on language • Ungrammatical thought or thought w/o vocabulary is impossible • Consequently, our language determines what and how we think

24. Examples of Language Independent Thought • Emotions (anger, hate, love, etc.) • Visualizations • Spatial Orientation • Pre-verbal Infants • Inability to put an idea into words • Memories of sounds, smells, pain, etc.

25. Sapir-Whorf and Reality • Most thought independent of language • Even if thought were to depend on language, language is generative • Appearance of thought=language result of language facilities monitoring thought for immediate communication

26. Attachment The Strong Bond between Infant & Primary Care Giver • Innate (shared with many other animals) • Necessary for Survival & Development • Characterized by Multi-Stage Reaction to Separation

27. Attachment (cont.) • Necessary for Survival & Development • Secure Base Function • Save Haven Function • Characterized by Multi-Stage Reaction to Separation: • Protest • Despair • Detachment • Rebound from Detachment

28. Ainsworth’s Attachment Styles(determined by Strange Situation) • Secure - briefly upset, then happy & satisfied • Avoidant - no emotional response, then avoid mother • Anxious/Ambivalent - very upset, then initially avoidant

29. PCG’s Behavior and Infant’s Attachment Style • Reliably Available  Secure Attachment • Reliably Unavailable  Avoidant Attachment • Unreliably Available/Over Involved  Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment

30. Kobak’s Attachment Dimensions Secure Secure Dismissing Preoccupied Dismissing Avoidant Preoccupied Insecure

31. Bartholomew’s FourAttachment Styles Model of Self _ + + Preoccupied Secure Model Of Other _ Fearful Avoidant Dismissive

32. Infant Complementary Parent or Other Adult Exploration System easily overwhelmed Adult Reciprocal Peer & Sexual Partner Separation has to be sever to elicit attachment like reaction Comparing Infant and Adult Attachment

33. Relational Dialectics • Unlike Hegelian Dialectics, no synthetical resolution • Most crucial in 3 dimensions • Affiliation • Predictability • Intimacy • Dialectics are internal & external

34. INTERNAL Connectedness – Separateness Certainty – Uncertainty Openness – Closedness EXTERNAL Inclusion – Seclusion Conventionality – Uniqueness Revelation – Concealment Internal & External Dialectics

35. More Functional Spiraling Alteration Segmentation Integration Reaffirmation Less Functional Denial Disorientation Balance Recalibration Responses to Dialectics

36. Ways of Learning • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning • Social Learning

37. Classical Conditioning • Before: CS --/--> R; UCS ----> R • Conditioning: UCS + CS ----> R • After: CS ----> R CS = Conditional Stimulus UCS = Unconditional Stimulus R = Response

38. Operant Conditioning • Associating behavior with an outcome through reinforcement • Reinforcement • positive = presence of outcome • negative = absence of outcome • Outcome • positive = desirable (reward) • negative = undesirable (punishment)

39. Social Learning • Associating behavior with an outcome through observation • Observation of • presence/absence of positive & negative outcomes • approval/disapproval of behavior by socialization agents (incl. significant others)

40. Children’s Learning • Children learn in all 3 ways • Because social learning requires extensive cognitive representations of social world, social learning is dependent on child’s cognitive development

41. Active vs. Passive Learning • Passive Learning • focus of traditional learning theories • how environment is structured determines what is learned • Active Learning • focus of social learning theory • how learner constructs (perceives) environment determines what is learned

42. Family Interaction Norms • Quantity of time spent • No great changes in last 20 years • Quality of time • Type of activity • Warmth & intimacy of interaction • Increase in last 20 years?

43. Family Communication Patterns • Associated with Shared Social Reality • Two means to share reality (McLeod &Chaffee) • concept (conversation) orientation • socio (conformity) orientation

44. Two Dimensions ofFamily Communication • Concept (Conversation) - Orientation - open discussion of ideas - family values interaction • Socio (Conformity) - Orientation - children’s adoption of parental values - family values conformity

45. Significance of Conversation Orientation • facilitates socialization of children • increases cognitive complexity • validates children’s opinions, enhances self-esteem

46. Significance of Conformity Orientation • determines autonomy and independence of children • determines children’s decision making

47. Family Types Protective Consensual Conformity Orientation Laissez-Faire Pluralistic Conversation Orientation

48. Assignment • Think about 2 important rituals in your family and what they mean to you (i.e., the family) • Write about it in 1-2 paragraphs and bring to next class

49. Family Routines & Rituals • Routine: repetitive behaviors structuring family life devoid of meaning or special significance • Ritual: repetitive behaviors that give meaning to, celebrate, or honor family relationships

50. Family Rituals • Patterned Family Interaction • Frequent, informal, everyday interaction • Family Traditions • Infrequent & family-specific, affirm family’s uniqueness • Family Celebrations • Infrequent, culture-specific, affirm family’s ties to community