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Communication Accommodation Theory
Howard Giles

CULTURAL CONTEXT: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Chapter 31
 Intercultural Communication
Face Negotiation Theory 
Chapter 31
 Intercultural Communication
Face Negotiation Theory 

Chapter Outline 9th Edition

  1. Introduction.
    1. Giles claimed that when two people from different ethic or cultural groups interact, they tend to accommodate each other in the way they speak in order to gain the other’s approval.
    2. He focused on nonverbal adjustments.
    3. Speech accommodation is a frequently used strategy to gain the appreciation of people who are different from us.
  2. A simple notion becomes a comprehensive theory.
    1. The scope expanded to answer relevant questions raised by the theory.
    2. Communication accommodation theory is a theory of intercultural communication that actually attends to communication.
    3. One emphasis in the last two decades has been intergenerational communication between those less than 65 and folks past 65.
  3. Communication accommodation strategies.
    1. Giles contrasts convergence and divergence, two strategic forms of communication used to interact with diverse others.
    2. Convergence
      1. Convergence is a strategy by which you adapt your communication behavior in such a way as to become more similar to the other person.
      2. It is a form of audience adaption to reduce nonverbal differences.
      3. Discourse management, another way of adapting, is the sensitive selection of topics to discuss.
    3. Divergence
      1. Divergence is a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another.
      2. Divergence is counter-accommodation, direct ways of maximizing the differences between speakers.
      3. Speakers may also persist in their original communication style regardless of the other person or overaccomodate, creating a feeling of patronization.
  4. Different motivations for convergence and divergence.
    1. The theorists have always maintained that desire for approval was the main motivation for convergence
    2. But this doesn’t account for divergence nor for when speakers act as representatives of a group.
    3. Social identity theory
      1. We often communicate not as individuals but as representatives of groups that define us.
      2. Communication may be used to reinforce and defend ties to reference groups.
      3. Divergence is the result if communicators feel the need for distinctiveness.
    4. Initial orientation
      1. Initial orientation is the predisposition a person has toward focusing on either individual identity or group identity.
      2. Five factors impact the perception of a conversation as an intergroup encounter.
        1. Collective cultural context
        2. Distressing history of interaction
        3. Stereotypes
        4. Norms or expectations for treatment
        5. High group solidarity and high group dependence
    5. No single factor determines a person’s initial orientation, yet if five factors line up in the direction or public identity, they make it almost certain that a communicator will approach it as an intergroup encounter.
  5. Recipient evaluation of convergence and divergence.
    1. Giles and his colleagues still believe that listeners regard convergence as positive and divergence as negative.
    2. Convergent speakers are evaluated as more competent, attractive, warm, and cooperative compared to divergent communicators who are seen as insulting, impolite, and hostile.
    3. What is ultimately important is how the communicator is perceived
      1. Objective versus subjective accommodation
        1. A disconnect may exist between what is actually happening and what a listener perceives is happening.
        2. Speakers who converge may also misperceive the other’s style.
      2. Attribution theory
        1. Heider and Kelley suggest that we attribute an internal disposition to the behavior we see another enact.
        2. Our default assumption is that people who do things like that are like that.
        3. Listeners’ evaluation is based on ability, constraints, and effort.
  6. Applying CAT to police officer- citizen interaction.
    1. CAT can be applied to any intercultural or intergroup situation.
    2. Giles has employed CAT to analyze routine traffic stops for issues of accommodation and race.
  7. Critique: Enormous scope at the cost of clarity.
    1. CAT can be evaluated using the six criteria for good social science.
    2. CAT, which as been a joint effort of Giles and others, both describes and explains behavior.
    3. The theory has consistently predicted what will happen in specific situations.
    4. The structure and underlying terminology are not always represented consistently with even the meaning of “accommodation” slippery.
    5. Falsifiable it isn’t as testing the whole theory is not possible.
    6. Tests of the theory have admirably used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods.
    7. CAT can be beneficially applied to any situation where people from different groups or cultures come in contact.

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MOVIE CLIPS





TEXT COMPARE

Archived chapters (PDF)
from previous editions
are available in
Resources by Type.
See list

New to Theory
Resources?
Find out more in this short
video overview (3:01).


Communication Accommodation Theory
Howard Giles

CULTURAL CONTEXT: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Chapter 31
 Intercultural Communication
Face Negotiation Theory 
Chapter 31
 Intercultural Communication
Face Negotiation Theory 

Chapter Outline 9th Edition

  1. Introduction.
    1. Giles claimed that when two people from different ethic or cultural groups interact, they tend to accommodate each other in the way they speak in order to gain the other’s approval.
    2. He focused on nonverbal adjustments.
    3. Speech accommodation is a frequently used strategy to gain the appreciation of people who are different from us.
  2. A simple notion becomes a comprehensive theory.
    1. The scope expanded to answer relevant questions raised by the theory.
    2. Communication accommodation theory is a theory of intercultural communication that actually attends to communication.
    3. One emphasis in the last two decades has been intergenerational communication between those less than 65 and folks past 65.
  3. Communication accommodation strategies.
    1. Giles contrasts convergence and divergence, two strategic forms of communication used to interact with diverse others.
    2. Convergence
      1. Convergence is a strategy by which you adapt your communication behavior in such a way as to become more similar to the other person.
      2. It is a form of audience adaption to reduce nonverbal differences.
      3. Discourse management, another way of adapting, is the sensitive selection of topics to discuss.
    3. Divergence
      1. Divergence is a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another.
      2. Divergence is counter-accommodation, direct ways of maximizing the differences between speakers.
      3. Speakers may also persist in their original communication style regardless of the other person or overaccomodate, creating a feeling of patronization.
  4. Different motivations for convergence and divergence.
    1. The theorists have always maintained that desire for approval was the main motivation for convergence
    2. But this doesn’t account for divergence nor for when speakers act as representatives of a group.
    3. Social identity theory
      1. We often communicate not as individuals but as representatives of groups that define us.
      2. Communication may be used to reinforce and defend ties to reference groups.
      3. Divergence is the result if communicators feel the need for distinctiveness.
    4. Initial orientation
      1. Initial orientation is the predisposition a person has toward focusing on either individual identity or group identity.
      2. Five factors impact the perception of a conversation as an intergroup encounter.
        1. Collective cultural context
        2. Distressing history of interaction
        3. Stereotypes
        4. Norms or expectations for treatment
        5. High group solidarity and high group dependence
    5. No single factor determines a person’s initial orientation, yet if five factors line up in the direction or public identity, they make it almost certain that a communicator will approach it as an intergroup encounter.
  5. Recipient evaluation of convergence and divergence.
    1. Giles and his colleagues still believe that listeners regard convergence as positive and divergence as negative.
    2. Convergent speakers are evaluated as more competent, attractive, warm, and cooperative compared to divergent communicators who are seen as insulting, impolite, and hostile.
    3. What is ultimately important is how the communicator is perceived
      1. Objective versus subjective accommodation
        1. A disconnect may exist between what is actually happening and what a listener perceives is happening.
        2. Speakers who converge may also misperceive the other’s style.
      2. Attribution theory
        1. Heider and Kelley suggest that we attribute an internal disposition to the behavior we see another enact.
        2. Our default assumption is that people who do things like that are like that.
        3. Listeners’ evaluation is based on ability, constraints, and effort.
  6. Applying CAT to police officer- citizen interaction.
    1. CAT can be applied to any intercultural or intergroup situation.
    2. Giles has employed CAT to analyze routine traffic stops for issues of accommodation and race.
  7. Critique: Enormous scope at the cost of clarity.
    1. CAT can be evaluated using the six criteria for good social science.
    2. CAT, which as been a joint effort of Giles and others, both describes and explains behavior.
    3. The theory has consistently predicted what will happen in specific situations.
    4. The structure and underlying terminology are not always represented consistently with even the meaning of “accommodation” slippery.
    5. Falsifiable it isn’t as testing the whole theory is not possible.
    6. Tests of the theory have admirably used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods.
    7. CAT can be beneficially applied to any situation where people from different groups or cultures come in contact.

 
 
 
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