1:What do we talk about?

1:What do we talk about?

1. Gossip

   • Bonds people together
     • 1. Bonds strengthen when communicating
     • 2. Sharing information
     • + Teaches people about culture and society
       • Gossip is observational learning of a cultural kind
       • Powerful way of transmitting information about NORMS and RULES of a certain culture
   • Bad experiences can be made lighter with gossip
   • Bad Gossip
     • is more informative than good gossip: stories about norm violation versus stories about norm confimation
     • is almost never challenged: no questioning aobut the truth of the story
     • listeners can have an input
   • Reason for gossip
     • Passing informaiton in order to heko someone
     • Gaining status by showing understanding of social norms
   • Experiment
     • The more negative emotions were associated with the gossip, the more likely the participants say they had learned from the gossip
       • People learned useful general lessons usually
         • Gossip > leanring about living effectively in a society
     • 84% of the time gossip was about someone known (friend/ family)
       • Gossiping about somebody you know ads moer 'power' to the story

2. In social and interpersonal relationships

   • SPEEECH EVENT
     • jointly enacted communication episode
     • Basic unit of social communication
       • Beginning
       • Ending
       • Internal coherence
   • Taxonomy of 29 categories of speech events
     • Dimensions
       • 1. Formal & goal oriented
       • 2. Importance /deep/ involved
       • 3. Positive valence
       • Supragenres:
         • Superficial talk
         • Informal talk
         • Involving & positive talk

3. Linguistic abstraction and interpersonal distance

   • Abstract language
     • connected to enduring behaviour
       • "you are someone who is..."
         • present tense!
     • Positive feedback:
       • the receiver feels closer to the person giving the feedback
     • Negative feedback
       • the receiver feels more distance to the feedback giver
   • Concrete language
     • connected to momentary behaviour
       • "in this situation, you behaved..."
         • past tense!
   • In- group members:
     • people describe positive actions of in-group members in an abstract fashion
     • negative actions are described in a situation specific way (concrete)
   • Outgroup members:
     • Negative actions: abstract language ("they are always like that...)
     • Positive actions: concrete langugae (today they behaved...)

4. Motivational interviewing

   • = patient centered directed approach to enhance intrinsic motivation
   • +
     • States of Change (SOC)
       • 1. Precontemplation
       • 2. Contemplation
       • 3. Preparation
       • 4. Action
       • 5. Maintenance

5. Interpersonal influence messages

   • Goal- planning- action (GPA) seguence
   • EXCHANGE THEORY APPROACH
     • Primary goals
       • Influence goals
         • Initiate the influence process
       • More central:
         • Define interpesonal influence situations
     • Secondary goals
       • Identity goals
       • Interaction goals
       • Resource goals
         • Relational
         • Personal resource
       • Arousal management
       • < Shape and constrain
   • FINDINGS OF EXPERIMENTS
     • PERCEPTUAL DIMENSIONS OF INFLUENCE MESSAGES
       • Directness
         • = extent to which it is clear which change the target is expected to show
       • Positivity
         • = was the masseg good or bad
         • extenct to whic positive outcomes of compliance are specified
       • Logic
         • = degree to which the source makes use of evidenc and reason