Muted Group Theory.

Muted Group Theory as defined by Griffin (2009, p. 455) is where people at the low rank in society have difficulties in expressing their opinions because they must carefully say about their thoughts for others in public, to understand them. This is especially being directed to women. Therefore, to understand this theory better, this post will use a 2003 film , 'Mona Lisa Smile', as an example. 

According to Shirley Ardener in Griffin (2009, p. 455) he stated, "Mutedness is due to the lack of the power that besets any group occupying the low-end of the totem of pole. People with little clout have trouble giving voice to their perceptions". In the movie,the story revolves around the era where men are more dominan than women. Katherine wanted to make some changes and differences around Wellesley College. Insted of following the syllabus set by the college, Katherine used 'Modern Art' work to encourage and teach her female students to discuss and share their opinions on what they see or how they feel toward a certain art piece such as 'Mona Lisa'. However, none of the students and the college staffs agreed to her methods at first, because they believe its not normal nor is it possible for any women to have a career rather than a housewife. Hence at this point, Kathrine's idea was muted.


In West and Turner (2010, p.484), Anita Taylor and M. J. Hardman (2000) commented that some feminist groups can become dominant within their own feminist movement which can mute other voices of other women who question their system of idea. This can be seen when Betty Warren, a conservative student, who oppose Katherine idea of encouraging other girls like her friend, Giselle Levy, to become more liberal in their views then the idealistic of how women should look at things. Betty published a story on how the college nurse, Amanda Armstrong, was giving out contraception; hence this is one of the visible prove of how Betty wants Katherine, Giselle and Amanda views toward women for becoming more than what they should be to be muted.


It is to known that, language plays an important role in this theory which involves with the 'Symbol Interactionism' concepts of naming( labelling or stereotyping) and minding. In naming as stated by Mead in Griffin (2009, p. 456) "the extent of knowing is the extent of naming". Kissack (2010, p. 543) stated the feminine stereotypes are established and systematize within the patirarchal society or male-world dominance. She further stated that to be 'feminine' is to act like one and muted in the way they act, speak and think, which is ideological seen by the masculine community. As seen in the movie, the 'name' or label that was used among the ladies were quite negative then it was against the men. For instance, Giselle was called as 'whore' and Betty was called as 'Bitch'. If it were to be counted, women have more than 200 words of sexual label then men as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 456). Here we can see the male-dominance in terms of language and hence as claimed by Kissack (2010, p.486) "women are silenced by their language".


In minding, as stated by Mead in Griffin (2009, p. 459) "an automatic momentary pause before we speak in order to mentally consider how those who are listening might respond." This did not happen in the movie, because Katherine was determined to make a difference in Wellesle College, she was open to her view about how women should have career rather than just end up as wives or mothers as intended. Katherine believed that women need to depend on her own and not to depend on others in terms of such as her welfare or housing. Hence, it created controversial views about this issue; some agreed to Katherine idea but many were against to the changes that can occur by Katherine's words.


In conclusion, Griffin (2009, p. 461) stated that "the ultimate goal of Muted Group Theory is to change the man-made linguistic system that keeps women 'in their place' ". In other words, it aims to silence what women have to say about what they think and how they act in the world of male-dominance. 'Mona Lisa Smile' made help us to realise that, women should stand on their own and should voice out what they think, in order to be heard in the public sphere. Despite the superior elements surrounding the male community, women should not be disregard of their own existence; they too are part of our daily significant of gender in communication. For Betty, it wasn't until she was cheated by her husband then she realised that Katherine's idea was right; that she needed to depend on her own, since even her own mother asked her to stay silent to settle down the scandal. 


References List;




Anita Taylor and M. J. Hardman (2000). In West, R. and Turner, L. (2010). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. (4th Ed.). New York; McGraw-Hill.


Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7th Ed.) Glencoe, IL: McGraw Hill.


Kissack, H. (2010). Muted voices: a critical look at e-male in organizations. European Journal of Training and Development, 34(6), 539-551.

Communication Accomodation Theory.

It is in human nature, that we tend to make efforts to adapt to different situations when meeting people with different cultural background (behavior, attire) or language speak that they used.  When this happen, one would try to accomodate the other's cultural language and behaviors in order to gain their approval in communicating with them.  For this post, a 2008 film of 'Wild Child' will be use as an example, which this post will be looking at how Poppy Moore adapt herself in a different school in United Kingdom.

The activity of where two different cultures encounter each other, it often takes one or both parties to accomodate the other's cultural language and behaivours. Howard Giles in Griffin (2009) stated that "a theory of intercultural communication  that actually attends to communication" is the deifinition for 'Communication Accomodation Theory'. The meaning of accomodation itself refers to a continous action of moving toward or away from each others by adjusting to one's communicative behavior (Griffin, 2009, p.388). In other words, it is a movement whether an individual would adapt or not towards the other person's culture; by changing the way they behave and communicate. 


According to West and Turner (2010, p. 472 ) in 'Introducing to Communication Theory', there are three strategies to accomodate a conversation differences, they are; convergence, divergence and overaccomodation. Covergence and Divergence is being defined as simply as the methods where the speakers would adjust their language or behavioural distinction to decrease or rise the dissimilarities between them (Giles, 1973; 1984; Giles and Powesland, 1975). 


In other words for convergence, it means that when we aim to be similar as others, we would alter our communication and behavioural styles towards how the others does it. We converge into becoming like them, in order to be accepted by them and therefore communication can be made much more easier. In the movie, Poppy Moore converged herself when she wanted get a 'new change'. Poppy, then, decided to change her hair into brunette and start dressing herself in a proper school uniform, to be seen as more 'British'. She even started to behave proper and speak in a much well-mannered with who she speaks with. Hence, 'fitting' into the British's school community. 


In contrast, divergence,  refers to when an individual would divert away or refuse to accomodate from towards the communication style used by others; this is to display their uniqueness apart from others. This is supported by Giles and his colleagues (1987, p. 28) in West and Turner (2010, p. 476ay), "deliberatley use their language or speech style as a symbolic tactic for maintaining their identity, cultural pride, and distinctiveness". Before Poppy convert into becoming more 'British-like', she refused to adapt to how the British girls in her school dressed, for example; she wore heels instead of the proper school shoes, and she even behaved inapporpriately. Due to the fact that she originated from California and is from an affluent family background; she is quite spoil, bossy and ignorant, she sees it was not necessary for her to follow how things are done in Britain. Even the way she speaks was quite dictorial and often used American-slangs. At one point where she was being called to the principal office, she stated "I didn't start it and it wasn't my fault. If this was America, I would've sued". Hence, divergence occured. 


Overaccomodation is defined by Jane Zeungler (1991) in West and Turner (2010, p. 477) as method of where an individual accomodate a certain language and behaviour stlyes with good intentions, but instead become patronizing and demeaning in their speak. This often makes the recipent feel worse, when an individual goes 'overboard' on the vocal clarity, repitition, amplitude or message simplification (Griffin, 2009, p. 391).


In Griffin (2009, pp. 388 - 391) stated that Giles and his colleagues mentioned another two accomodation strategies called 'Counter-Accomodation' and  'Maintence or Underaccomodation'; both are under divergence. Counter-Accomodation as stated by Giles in Grffin, is highly making the differences between two speakers directly. Whereas for 'Maintenance or Underaccomodation', Giles claimed that the strategy is basically where an individual would presist and reatain its original communication way without paying the attention on the communication way of the other. This is a similar case as what it was being explained in 'Divergence', where Poppy spoke in a more typical rich American girl way; dictorial and used American-slangs most of the time, directly to the Head Girl of the school, Harriet Bentley, making the distinctive between them more clear.


In West and Turner (2010, p. 486), according to Jessica Abrams, Joan O'Connor and Howard Giles (2003, p. 221) "Accomodation is fundamental to identity construction". Identifying the signifcance of the self and association of group identity was what Henri Tajfel and John Turner (1986, p. 498) stated about the development of Social Theory; in which West and Turner further defined the theory as "that proposes a person's identity is shaped by both personal and social characterisitcs." In other words, we can communicate by using our own identity that is as who we truly are or communicating by representing the group we belong to. This is one of the motivations that motivates any individual to converge or diverge as mentioned in Griffin (2009, p. 391). By using personal characteristics, we are willing to adapt in certain areas while retaining our own identity; for example, Poppy changed her speaking style from being dictorial into more proper and conversational with others, while still using her American accent because personally she is born-American. If we are to communicate by representing own group we belong to, we tend to be defensive and would not adapt to how others communicate. In the case for Poppy, she initially kept her rich-American daugther image by acting spoil and bossy, even dress not-accordingly to the school's rule.


Another motivation to convergence and divergence is 'Initial Orentation', which according to Griffin (2009, pp. 392- 393) means where during a coversation, communicators tendency to pay attention on either individual identity or group identity. There are five factors; first is 'Collectivistic cultural context', this refers to an action where we focus on collecting the similarities and mutual approval within the culture. For example, Poppy and her friends they are similar in speaking English language and because they are girls, naturally they have common interest in every angles suchs manicure and pedicure. Second is 'Distressing history of interaction', where if the previous interaction was negative, the next meeting will be negative. However if the previous interaction was positive, the next meeting will be positive. Third is 'Seterotypes', this is often seen as labelling others in a negative way. For example, Poppy was being labelled as 'American' by Hariett Bentley not because of her origin, but in the school hierarchy; it is seen as the lowest level among the school social status. Fourth,  'Norms for treatment of groups', Griffin defined it as "expectations about behavior that members of a community feel should (or should not) occur in particular situations". When Poppy transformed herself into becoming more 'British' like and reduce in uncertainty with her friends, she felt belong to her new circle of friends. Finally, 'High group solidarity'.


In conclusion, 'Communication Accomodation Theory' helps us to understand how to adapt to different cultural situations much more easier. However, it does not mean that we have to converge everytime we meet people with cultural background. Because divergent does not mean one refuses to communicate, sometimes it is good to have the distinctiveness to be obvious among both parties. This to let that social identity is identified easily and both can learn each other's cultural background; to be fair.




References List;


Giles, H. (1973) Accent mobility: A model and some data. Anthropological Linguistics, 15, 87-105. In Coupland, N. , Coupland, J. and Giles, H. (1991). Language, Society and The Elderly: Discourse, Identity and Ageing. Oxford, United Kingdom; Blackwell.


Giles, H. (ed.) (1984). The Dynamics of Speech Accomodation. (International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 46) Amsterdam: Mouton. In Coupland, N. , Coupland, J. and Giles, H. (1991). Language, Society and The Elderly: Discourse, Identity and Ageing. Oxford, United Kingdom; Blackwell.


Giles, H. , Mulac, A., Bradac, J. J., & Johnson, P. (1987). Speech accomodation theory: The first decade and beyond. In M.L. Mclaughlin (Ed.), Communication yearbook 10 (pp. 13-48). Newsbury Park, CA: Sage. In West, R. and Turner, L. (2010). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. (4th Ed.). New York; McGraw-Hill.


Giles, H. and Powesland, P.F. (1975) Speech Style and Social Evaluation. London: Academic Press. In Coupland, N. , Coupland, J. and Giles, H. (1991). Language, Society and The Elderly: Discourse, Identity and Ageing. Oxford, United Kingdom; Blackwell.


Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7th Ed.) Glencoe, IL: McGraw Hill.


Jane Zeungler (1991). In West, R. and Turner, L. (2010). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. (4th Ed.). New York; McGraw-Hill.


Jessica Abrams, Joan O'Connor and Howard Giles (2003, p. 221). In West, R. and Turner, L. (2010). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. (4th Ed.). New York; McGraw-Hill.

Genderlect Theory.

According in Griffin's book of 'A first look at communication theory' of 2009 (p. 429), he stated that Deborah Tannen assured that miscommunication often occurs between men and women. The reason for this was that,she claimed that men and women are voicing "different words from different worlds" and that "Male-female conversation is corss-cultural communication". Therefore Griffin (2009, p. 430) stated, based on Tannen's theory "masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects" is what defines 'Genderlect Theory'. This post will use a Disney film, 'Mulan', as an example to understand how both genders communicate with each other by applying 'Genderlect Theory' and to see the relevance to our daily life.

Women often seek for 'human connection' with others, while the men are more interested with status; this is claimed by Tannen in Griffin (2009, pp. 432- 433). She further stated that women would tend to make 'rapport talk' to establish a better relationship with others, whereas the men use 'report talk' in a mono-logic style to voice out their command attention and convey information. This wass what Tannen tried to explain the meaning of  her quote "different words from different worlds", she sees the conversation between the two gender is cross-cultural environment (Griffin, 2009, p. 429). In the movie 'Mulan', Mulan  seek connection by asking and talking more with the people around her such as Mushu. However, in contrast to Mulan, Shang kept on commanding for the army's training and tell them what they should be doing. Hence, establishing his status around the men. 

Mulan often talks in private with Mushu, to convey her thoughts about her training or her worries of being caught as a female disgusing as a soldier for her father sake, for example. While Shang, as the head army leader in the camp was giving an order to the men to take an arrow from the top pole as part of their training, in which at least one man who succeed it can prove him that they are ready to go for war. This two scenes have prove Tannen's claim where she stated, women talks more in than men in private conversation, while men are much more suitbale in public speaking environment; where they tend to search the establishment of 'one-up' position (Griffin, 2009, pp. 432-433).

In one of the scene, Yao, Ling and Chein-Po were joking around constantly and there was also one part where they challenge among themselves to see who is the strongest. Tannen noted that (Griffin, 2009, p. 433) compare to women, the men tell more stories by joking; which to them is the most masculine way to achieve status, one of the way is like competing one another via 'can-you-top-this?'. Another way for the men to tell their stories, Tannen claimed that the men are the heroes in their stories. This is seen in Mulan, where Chi-Fu was telling how proud he was as being one of the Emperor's close advisor; to him, possessing that status is considered as one of the higly achievement at that time. In comparison to the women, Tannen (Griffin, 2009, p. 433) stated that the way women tell their stories is by talking about others. In one of the muscial scene in Mulan, there was a part where when Mulan was getting ready for her appointment with the matchmakers, few of the women were mentioning how scary the matchmaker is by stating "Scarier than the undertaker. We are meeting our matchmaker". Tannen further mentioned that "woman is a character in her own narrative", which she meant was women would describe themselves silly in their own stories rather than how men would be the heroes in theirs. 

Women, as claimed by Tannen (Griffin, 2009, p. 433), tend to show more aware and attentiveness in a conversation with men. They would interrupt at certain points, to show their careness and support; one of the women's rapport talk. Due to the fact that men often concenred with their status, according to Tannen (Griffin, 2009, pp. 433-434) they avoid or less respond in the conversation as to them, it is taking a 'one-down' stance. Therefore, when a woman is often interrupting someone during a conversation, Tannen noted it is as a 'Cooperative Overlap'. According to Griffin it defines as, "A supportive interruption often meant to show agreement and solidarity with the speaker". Tannen argued (Griffin, 2009, pp. 433-434) on the men sides, that any interruption is regard as the method to take control power of the conversation. Hence, this could be one of the reason why miscommunication occurs between the two gender. One of the example where we can see a man is not listening is in the movie; where Mulan to told Shang that 'The Huns' are in the area, Shang thought she was fooling him around and refused to listen to her, eventhough Mulan repeatedly told him. 

Shang refused to listen to Mulan.

In terms of asking question, Tannen (Griffin, 2009, p. 434) adds that women would be the one to asks to establish relationship with others, while men would avoid asking as to them it is a sign of weakness. In addition to this, Tannen stated women would tend to ask in 'Tag Questions' which soften the prick of potential disagreement and instead invite a more friendly conversation. While the men are far more comfortable with conflicts as they dislike to be told what to do, according to Tannen (Griffin, 2009, pp. 434-435), women in comparison to this would try their best to avoid conflicts as to them it is seen as destroying their connection with others.

Although Genderlect Theory means "masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects rather than as inferior or superior way of speaking"according to Griffin based on Tannen's idea (2009, p. 430); it is however the fact and norm to see women as the weak and inferior ones as compared to the men who are seen to be much more superior. The reasons why men do not ask question or listen attentively, is because their nature-characteristic of being ego. Status and power, these are few of the main concerned in communicating with others; the more commandly-way they speak the more superior they are in th eyes of others. It can be seen that, what Tannen's theory about the 'cross-cultural communication' between male and female is quite one sided, because she herself portrays the men as more powerful than the women. Despite that, Tannen (Griffin, 2009, p. 435) did however stated  "sensitivity training as an effort to teach men how to speak in a feminine voice, while assertiveness training is an effort to reach women how to speak in a masculine voice." With that being said, she hopes that men and women would adjust their linguistic style. 

Mulan had to disguise herself as a man to join army.

Coates (1998, p. 66) did however claimed, "Women are status-conscuous or polite, men are rough and down-to-earth." This proves that over the years, linguistic between the two genders have changed, because the truth is; in order the women voice to be heard in public, they have to speak in more aggressive style and dress themselves just like the men. Moreove, other factors are need to be taken into account  why women speaks like how men speaks; for example, a girl talks roughly is because she is the only daughter in the family and is surrounded mostly around her brothers.

In conclusion, Tannen's theory possess some flaws but that does not mean it is not valid to apply to our real situation. In politics we often seen that men are more superior in their way of speaking, hence Tannen theory is true in this sense. It is therefore up to every individual to have a better judgment on why and how men and women communicate with each other.

References List;

Coates, J. (1998). Language and Gender: A Reader. (Ed.) Blackwell; USA.

Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7th Ed.) Glencoe, IL: McGraw Hill.

Symbolic Interactionism.

Symbolic Interactionism involves in understanding how individuals develop their own identity, which is drive from communicating with others. This post will focus on what is Symbolic Interactionism and its key terms of; Self and Society by using 'Drive Me Crazy', a film of 1999, as an example.

Movie poster

The definition of Symbolic Interactionism is, communicating or interacting with one another through symbols (Griffin, 2009, p. 60).  In the support of this definition, Priest (1996, p. 56) stated, “Mead argued that our sense of self is derived through interaction (or communication) with others.”  Pampel (2000) further explain, “Like Mead, Blumer claimed that neither society nor the individual precedes other: persons create society interaction, but symbolic interaction creates persons as social beings”. In other words, it simply means in order to for a mind to work as a self-individual or create a society, one must communicate with each other.


In Griffin (2009, p. 60), Blumer stated declared to deal with three central principles of symbolic interactionism; Meaning, Language and Thought, whereby each premises leads to the creation of a person’s self and socialization into a substantial community. 


A 'Meaning' of a certain object or a thing, for example; Brad Seldon is a jock in the movie. The meaning of jock does not exist by itself. It is through the social interaction of others that defines jock as a jock because a jock is often seen by others as an atheletic person and who is very much attach into doing sports than academic-wise. Different people have different views, and thus each individuals would have a different interpretation in defining their own meaning towards a certain object (Bryjak and Soroka, 1994, p.25). 


For the second premise, it involves with ‘Language’, where it is one of the examples of symbols, which already installed with negotiated meaning. Bonvillian (1997, p.1) stated, “Language is an integral part of human behavior. It is the primary means of interaction between people.” In the movie, prom is an essential part of high school life for most of the students, and for Sarah Maris a popular girl in her school, needs a perfect prom date as this would show that she has complete the cycle norm as a high school student. However if we were to bring prom in Bruneian context, some would not understand as we do not practice the culture of Sara Maris's society does. Therefore we would simply intepret it as a simple dance-party, instead of a formal party where we get to dress appropriate for the event.


The final premise, 'Thought' focuses on interpretation. Griffin (2009, p. 62) pointed out Blumer’s believes that, “An individual’s interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought processes”. Griffin (2009, p.62) further adds, that Mead characterize this as ‘Minding’ which means “An inner dialogue used to test alternatives, rehearse actions, and anticipate reactions, before responding; self-talk.” Minding often engage in pre-rehearsed play or imagining different alternative outcomes in our mind before making a decision (LittleJohn, 1996, p. 163). In other words, minding allow us to do self-evaluation on our actions we intended to do, whether it is the best way to response to a certain situation. As mentioned, Sara Maris sees the prom as something that is essential to accomplish as a normal high school student. Therefore she interpreted that prom is important to her and is willing to go out with Chase with the condition she change him into her perfect prom date.


With Blumer's three premises, it complements together in leading to Blumer's theory on 'Self which is more known as 'The Looking Glass Theory'; where Griffin (2009, p.63) defined, “The mental self-image that results from taking the role of the other; the objective self; me”. Griffin (2009, p.63) noted that, “The self is an on-going combining the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’. ” ‘I’ is defined as the subjective; ordinary or unpredicted and not hampered by others, where as ‘Me’ is the objective; a self that is being socially constructed by others (Yun-Hee-Jeon, 2004, p.p 250-251).  For example, Chase Hammond as an 'I' is a school rebel where he acts as himself, wears a less 'cool' clothes and does not care what others would think of him. He would do what he wants and would not follow the mainstream cycle of a normal high school student, such as by refusing going to the prom. It was until Sara Maris who was in a desparate situation asks Chase to be her perfect prom date. This requires Chase to transform into a 'Me', as someone who is not the real Chase Hammond. Sara made him to change his way of clothing, his haircut and the way he behaves. In a way, this transformation was to make sure that Chase is acceptable as  Sara's perfect prom date in the eyes of other students. This leads to the concept of 'Self-Fulfilling Prophecy' where by Chase being a 'Me' means to be accepted in the circle of his school's society.

The prom picture from the movie

According to Chris Woo's notes, Society is defined as "mass aggregates of people who exist in 'a system of social relationships'". (Katovich and Maines, 2003, p.289). Generalised others plays an important role in society, where Griffin (2009, p.65) defined, "The composite mental image a person has of his or her self based on community expectations and responses". In other words, to play the role which is ideologically embedded it means in the society. For example, for Sara Maris to be a popular girl she needs to be socially active with the school news, events and wear pretty clothes. However, the disadvantage of this concept is that it tends to label people without getting to know the actual truth about one-self. For example, Chase is being labelled as rebel just because he does prank to the school in the beginning part of the movie. In actuality, he does for the fun of it.


In conlcusion for this post, Symbolic Interactionism is useful and relevant to our daily life. This is because it helps us to understand how one becomes a somebody or possess an identity to be able identified by others in a group of community. For the case of Chase, Sara had to transform him into someone who he is not. This leads him being open to more people than he had before; he gets to interact with the jocks and other popular kids. However, the disadvantage of this theory is that, it often sees others in a one-sided view and vague. This happens in 'Generalised Others', where it tends to label others based on how one would appear or behave. The theory of Symbolic Interactionism also does not allow a scientific research based nor is it quantitative. Most of the time, it needs a real conversation to actually get to know the truth whether what we interpret of others is correct or wrong.




 Refernces List:


 Bonvillian, N. (1997). Language, Culture and Communication: The Meaning of Messages. (2^nd Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Bryjak, G. J. & Soroka, M. P. (1994). Sociology: Cultural Diversity In A Changing World (2^nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Katovich and Maines (2003, p. 289). In Chris Woo. Lectures Notes. AC-1201 Introduction to Communication: Symbolic Interactionism, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Priest, S. H. (1996). Doing Media Research: An Introduction. California: SAGE Publications,Inc.

 Yun-Hee Jeon (2004). The application of grounded theory and symbolic interactionism. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science, 18, 249-256.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory.

Often we do not know how to greet or respond when we first meet a stranger. Whether to say hello, shake hands or just smile. We tend to be uncertain of the consequences of what we do when we actually do it. For example, if we reach for the stranger's hand to shakehands, would he be doing the same thing? There are, in some cases, people would be unsure if they can mingle well with new people in a new environment. Thus, the more doubts we are with our action when interacting with others, the uncertainty continues. This is where, 'Uncertatinty Reduction Theory' comes in; where in Griffin (2009), Charles Berger defined, "it focuses on how human communication is used to gain knowledge and create understanding." In this post, we will see the usefulness of this theory in our everyday life by using the relationship between Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez from 'High School Musical' movie of 2006, as an example.

Movie poster.

Sunnafrank (1986, p.3) observes the uncertainty reduction theory as an important key point in relationship development of individuals' concern on uncertainty level of knowledge and understanding between selves and others. In Interpersonal Process of Roloff and Miller (1987, p.41),  Berger and Calabrese (1975) included explanation in uncertainty, where it acts a function for both the ability to foresee and the ability to explain actions of other and of self.  Griffin (2009) further add "Uncertainty Reduction increased knowledge of what kind of person another is that provides an improved forecast of how future interaction will turn out". In other words, the more interaction is made between two people it will reduce the uncertainty between them. Hence helps them to understand, why one would act in such behaviour.


Troy Bolton is a the school star captain of East High School's basketball team, whereas Gabriella is a new transfered student in Troy's school who is shy and is academically smart. They first met at a party, where the two were called up to sing karaoke together; which soon the two become attracted to each other, before parting they manage to exchange phone numbers. Unlike Social Penetration, Uncertainty Reduction Theory focuses on when a person interacts with antoher person for the first time. Accroding to Charles Berger in Griffin (2009), we meet three prior conditions; Anticipation of future interaction, Incentive value and Deviance. This can be seen when the act of exchange phone numbers occured, it can be assumed that both may have anticipated another future meeting. The incentive value they would have towards one another is that, they are attracted to each other; thus this is a reward based on cost-benefit analysis used in social penetration. Gabriella was hurt when Troy couldn't admit about him enjoying singing to his friends, this caused her to avoid talking to him. Eventhough this happened, Troy tried his best to talk through Gabriella about the incident. Hence, the more interaction the less uncertainty about each other occur.

Troy and Gabriella first met and karaoke together.

There are two types of uncertainty according to Berger in Griffin (2009), first is the 'Behavioral Question', this refer how one should behave in a certain situation when meeting a stranger for the first time. In the movie, Troy and Gabriella, when the two were called out to sing karaoke duet, both were unsure whether to sing or not as both are shy and stranger to one another. When Troy started to sing, it reduce the uncertainty for Gabriella, that she should join singing with him; as it is on of the obvious thing to do in that situation. At the end of the song, Troy was the first one to mention his name to Gabriella, to which Gabriella mentioned hers. This shows that Troy is a friendly and nice guy to introduce himself first to Gabriella, instead of leaving the. This is known as 'Cognitive Questions', the second type of uncertainty.


To be certain about uncertainty, one must go through a series of axioms to explain the relationship between uncertainty and the eight key variables of; 'Verbal Communication', 'Nonverbal Warmth', 'Information Seeking', 'Self-Disclosure', Reciprocity', 'Similarity', 'Liking' and 'Shared Networks', as proposed by Berger (Griffin, 2009, p. 126). This is supported by Rodloff and Miller (1987, p. 42) where they stated that the "Axioms of the original theory posited the reciprocal relationships between the amount of communication and uncertainty and between nonverbal affilitative expressiveness and uncertainty." They further explained that uncertainty can be reduce with the amount increase in variables of verbal and non-verbal communication.


Verbal communication happened to increase ever since Troy and Gabriella introduced themselves, such as; they got to know where they both come from, opinion on each other's voice and the truth of what Troy thinks about singing. Nonverbal warmth occur when they look at each other for a long time towards the end of the karaoke during the party they were at, they even shakehands as way to greet one another. Thus, from these two variables key, it has reduce the uncertainty between them. 


Curiousity often plays a major role in interacting with a new person; the curiousity of how he would react, say or even behave ,would lead to the third variable, 'Seeking Information'. According to Berger in Griffin (2009, pp.130-131) there are three approaches in reducing uncertainty of how the other person would react . After the incident where Troy lied to his friends that he did not care for the 'call-back audition', Troy had to only see how upset Gabriella was at him as she walked away from him and sat down with the other students.  This act is known as 'Passive Strategy' where one would observe the other person's interaction with others. The second approach is 'Active Strategy', refers to asking information about a specific person from a third party. This simply can be seen when Troy asked Mrs. Montez where he can find Gabriella. Finally, the 'Interactive Strategy' where a face-to-face interaction involve between two parties. 


Troy made it clear to Gabriella and even apologised to her for lying to his friends, which made her believe  that he did not care about the 'call-back audition'. Troy also admit to Gabriella that singing is what he enjoys doing to apart from Basketball, therefore 'Self-Disclosure' occur; being transparent was what Berger had described in Griffin (2009, p. 131). It also include 'Reciprocal' as well as 'Similarities' as Gabriella agree to do the 'call-back audition' together with Troy and this is due to their in common of interest in music. This has made a deep reduction in uncertaintu between the two as they are growing in 'Liking' each other, or in other words are attracted to one another. In addition, they become so much close as their 'Shared Networks' or groups of friends are the same people such as their friends; Taylor, Chad, Kelsi and Zeke.


When an individual planned the future interactions, he would have prepared two or three different option of squence in his mind. This process is known as 'Message Plans', Berger in Griffin (2009, pp. 129-130) defined this concept as, "Mental representations os action sequences that may be used to achieve goals". He further added that the message plans often portray in a a hierarchically order, where the abstract action representation is on the top then goes down to bottom for more progressively concrete representation. Troy and Gabriella top representation was to get to know each other as they were attracted to each other, then it slowly develops into becoming more than just 'getting to know' to work together as a team for the 'call-back audition'. 

Working together for the 'call-back audition'

In message plans there are about four strategies; First is 'Seeking Information'. Second is 'Choosing Plan Complexity', where Griffin (2009, p. 131) stated as, "A characteristic of a message plan based on the level of detail it provides and the number of contingencies it covers". Third is 'Hedging', Griffin (2009, p. 131) described it as a method of humor and ambiguity for both parties to cover up from a fail conversation that aims to reach their goal, or another way to understand, making a joke out of an embarassment situation. Finally 'The Hierarchy Hypothesis', in this strategy Griffin (2009, p. 131) claimed that when the other person do not understand the message send by an individual, he would change his way of delivering the message via change of voice or speed of speaking.


To conclude this, Uncertainty Reduction Theory helps one to understand what is to be expect when meeting with new people in early encounter. However, eventhough this theory aims to help us understand why people behave in such a way (deviance), we tend to assume about others beforehand. For example, Gabriella might assume that Troy is an honest guy because he was nice enough to introduced himself during their first interaction. But in turn, Troy lied to his friends just to safe his 'basketball-captain-pride' that he does not care about the 'call-back audition'. Despite that, Uncertainty Reduction Theory is still relevant to our everyday life as it helps us to strategized a 'good actions' when interacting with others for the first time.


References List;




Berger & Calabrese (1975). Theoretical Evolution. In Roloff, M. & Miller, G. (1987, Eds.). Interpersonal Processes: New Directions in Communication Reseacrh (pp. 41-42). Vol. 14. SAGE Publications: California.


Griffin, E. (2009) A first look at communication theory. (7th Ed.) Glencoe, IL: McGraw Hill.


Sunnafrank (1986, p.3). Relational Development and Uncertainty Reduction: Review and Critique. In Coupland, N. , Giles, H.  & Wiemann, J. (1991). "Miscommunication' and Problematic Talk. SAGE Publications: California.

Social Penetration Theory.

Entering a new relationship with another person, would often lead an individual to go through number of stages or level of closeness and intimacy; to achieve from being stranger to familiarity. This process is known as 'Social Penetration Theory'. Ayla Abdullah (2011), noted that the theory is "an objective, interpretative theory from the socio-psychological tradition that aims to explain the process of relationship development." The relationship of Nick and Norah from a movie called "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" will be use to demonstrate the theory of Social Penetration and how it is relatable in everyday life.

In social penetration, there is a concept of where two or more people interact with one another called, 'Interpersonal Communication'. This concept involves an interaction between a group of people and their environment; for example, an intreaction between two coworkers in an office environment. People tend to create the truth about each other, where by the actuality of the truth is only communicate in internal perception (Myers and Myers, 1992, pp. 7-8). 

Griffin (2009) supported Ayla's definition by stating that social penetration is "The process of developing intimacy with another person through mutual self-disclosure and other forms of vulnerability". The theory explains how one individual would get close or attach to another stranger by going through levels of intimacy and hence would be comfortable to one another as they go on with the flow of relationship development. In other words, the more we spent with each other, the deeper level of relationship development we will be at and the more personal issues are disclosed. To which is further supported by Altman and Taylor (1973), "Social penetration theory states that as relationships develop, communication moves from relatively shallow, non-intimate levels to deeper, more personal ones."

According to Ayla Abdullah's notes (2011), there are three essential levels of openning up personal discussions to another party; Personality as an onion, Self disclosure based on 'Breadth and Depth' and the Cost-benefit analysis. 

The personality as an onion or better known by Griffin (2009) as 'Personality Structure: Multilayered onion' is, "Onion-like layers of beliefs and feelings about self, others, and the world: deeper layers are more vulnerable, protected, and central to self-image." As mentioned before, the relationship of Nick and Norah will be use as an example in this post. Nick O'leary from New Jersey , is a heterosexual male bass player in an 'all gay band' called "The Jerks Off",  who just broke up with his girlfriend, Tris, and continued to be heartbroken in the beginning of the movie. He made Tris 'mix-CDs' of "breakup", which can be assume that he is trying to win her back. Then we have Norah, an acquantince of Tris, who has no idea who Nick is, but admire his 'mix CDs' which she always saves them from being thrown away by Tris. Here we can see, at the surface level both Nick and Norah are fan of musics. As the movie goes on, they learned more about each other, such as; where they come from, which band they like and what they plan to do in their future studies. It got more deeper and deeper, when Norah reveals to be falling for Nick and how she dislike Tris because of her attitude to which she even asked Nick "What do you see in her?". While Nick reveals to Norah that he thinks she's jealous of Tris and keeps on taunting her, until Norah gave a punch at his throat. In one of the scene, Nick asked Norah "Who are you?" because of the free pass entrance they got at the first club they went, and Norah did not specifically answer to his question; she only asnwered "I'm Norah.... Daughter of my dad". Towards the end of the movie, Nick finally got to know Norah's actual personality and her family background, a famous record producer's daughter; one of the thing that she did not mention during their first meeting. 

Self- Disclosure is defined as "the process of revealing personal information about oneself to another, is one of the most important fcators in the development of initmate intercultural friendships (Barnlund, 1989; Gracis, 1999; Kuda & Simkin, 2003). This means that, with self-disclosure one would know the real personality of a person in terms of his attitudes, beliefs or secrets, for example. There are two sections under self-discosure, there are; Breadth and Depth. Breadth involves in disclosing on different areas of an individual's life, whereas Depth involves in disclosing on a specific area of an individual's life (Ayla Abdullah, 2011). Another way to see it, Breadth is getting to know the person randomly by talking about different topics on a surface level, with no deep conversation occur. Depth, on the other hand, is talking about only one topic, involving deep conversation as this is where true emotions or feelings are known by another person. In the case of Nick and Norah, they briefly disclose personal information on different areas; from their origins to favourite music bands, this is what Breadth is. As for Depth, it was when Norah explain about herself, her father and what her father does.


Under depth, it deals with the degree of intimacy which is known as 'Depth of penetration'. The first stage is, "Periphal items; are exhanged more frequently and sooner then private information", again fro this we see how Nick and Norah slowly open up each other about their basic background information rather then staright ahead into personal details. Second stage, "Self disclosure is reciprocal, especially in the early stage of development. Law of reciprocity; A paced and orderly process in which openness in one person leads to openness in the other".This means that, as one person start to introduce a specific topic, the other might giving back their side of the story on the same topic. Third stage, "Penetration is rapid at the start, but slows down quickly when more private inner layers are reached.", this happened when Nick asked Norah about her being a daughter of someone, to which Norah decline to asnwer him and walked away; afraid to expose herself from becoming vulnerable, therefore her action in a way slows down their development in getting to know each other. Fourth stage, "Depenetration is a gradual process of layer-by-layer withdrawal", whereby relationship ends suddenly after going through various deep conversation shared. (Griffin, 2009).


As mentioned in the introduction, Social Penetration theory involves an individual going through number of stages or level of closeness and intimacy; to achieve from being stranger to familiarity. The first stage is 'Orentation Stage', which usually begins with small casual talk. In the case of Nick and Norah, their begining of relationship development starts of at 'Affective Stage', the third stage; where Norah had to kiss Nick in order to show Tris that she was dating someone, without even knowing who Nick really was. However they did go back to 'Orentation Stage', when they were at the scene in the car trying to find Caroline, a friend of Norah. 'Exploratory Affective Stage', a second stage, also played its role in opening and revealing informations to each other bit by bit. This occured, when Nick and Norah talked about their personal background, such as where they came from. The fourth stage is, 'Stable Stage', it is where relationship has become completely personal and one can tell how the other person would react to a certain topic. Although it did not happened in Nick and Norah's relationship, it did however shows that Norah reveal one of her personal details that she is a daugther of a famous record producer to Nick at the near end of the movie. Finally the 'Depenetration Stage', which it did not quite happened between Nick and Norah, eventhough they did argued, because in the end the benefit exceed the cost as the two end up staying together.


Accroding to Thibaut and Kelly in Griffin (2009), "People try to predict the outcome of an interaction before it takes place."Therefore the outcome can be a reward or a costs. If the benefits is more than the costs, often social penetration would move on to the next stage. Whereas, if the costs is more than the benefits, social penetration may either stop suddenly or one of the party withdraw from the relationship. This is also known as 'Cost-Benefit Analysis' which depends on 'Social Exchange Theory', which Griffin (2009) defined; "Relationship behavior and status regulated by both parties evaluations of perceived rewards and costs of interaction with each other." As for Nick and Norah, the benefits they got from their relatinship is that both have the same interest and are quite attracted to each other, as they got intimate towards the end of the movie.


In conclusion, the usefulness of Social Penetration Theory is that it informs us how every relationship develop into; that is at what stage they are at or what stage they stopped and 'back-off'. The theory also helps us to understand how our actions can bring us up or down to a certain stage during getting to know one another. Although, not every stages would occur for some people. There are people who are comfortably open directly to others by going ahead with discussin intimate conversations. In some cases, 'Depentration' may not even happen such as Nick and Norah. However, we must take this into account that this is only a fictional film which only portrayed how they met, going through the nights and end up together in the movie. Different people may experiences the social penetration theory differently or may neve at all. The main point of Social Penetration is therefore, focuses in predicting the future result of a relationship based on cost-benefit analysis.








References List;


Altman and Taylor (1973). In Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th Ed.). Glencoe, IL: McGrawHill.


Ayla Abdullah (2011). Lecture Notes. AC-1201 Introduction to Communication. Universiti Brunei Darussalam.


Barnlund (1989), Gracis (1999), Kuda & Simkin (2003). In Chen, Y. & Nakazawa, M. (July 2009). Influences of Culture on Self-Disclosure as Relationally Situated in Intercultural and Interrascial Friendships from a Social Penetration Perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research; 2007, Vol. 38, Issue 2, p. 77-98. Retrieved 28 March, 2012.


Myers, G.E. and Myers, M.T. (1992). The Dynamics of Human Communication: A Laboratory Approach (6th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.

Cultural Studies.

Culture is generally define as a shared beliefs, values and ideas among a certain community or a group of people. Cultural studies is, however, concerns on studying of what people do in their everyday life, how an individual's perception becomes an ideal meaning for everyone and more importantly, on the cultural differences among a society. Therefore, this post will discuss the key concept of culture in terms of; representation, discourse, ideology and politics, by using 'America's Next Top Model' (ANTM) as a text for this study.


Culture, according to Hartley (2011, p.77) is the production, circulation, experience and transformation (over time and space) of meaning, identity and relationships, to which he refer each respectively as; language, consiciousness and social networks. Whereas Storey (2003, p.3) defined culture as "the practices and processes of making meanings with and from the 'texts' we encounter n our everyday lives... cultures are made from the production, circulation and consumption of meanings. To share culture, therefore, is to interpret the world - make it meanigful - in recognisably similar ways". 


In cultural studies, visual culture is included to understand cultural studies more in the prespective of media such as through; Television and printed materials. Visual culture means, its shared meaning by a group of people or community through the world representation of visual, aural and textual are due to the engagement with symbolic and communicative activities (Sturken and Cartwright, 2009, p.3).

Representation stands as the equivalent of something in the material world or it is also known as a 'referent'. America's Next Top Model or ANTM, was established and started its first cycle back in May 2003. ANTM became part of American Culture as it represent how women should look like through modelling for 'Vogue' magazine and cosmetic commercial.


Discourse refers as cultural framework, or "framework of interpretation". Moreover, it also act as a system to create a social shared-culture. Fairclough (1999, p. 310) defined Discourse as, "the language used in representing a given social practice from a particular point of view". This means that, discourse interacts with a social groups by sending the sturcture of words or images to make dominate their beliefs towards a particular topic. If the word 'Goal' or 'Offside' is a discourse of football, then when any individuals hear 'You wanna be on Top?'; they would know it is referring to 'America's Next Top Model' or ANTM. On the other hand, Griffin noted, Ideology is "Those images, concepts and premises which provide the frameworks through which we represent, interpret, understand and 'make sense' of some aspect of social existence". In other words, a certain idea that we understand as a commonsense to which it shapes our perception as an ideal meaning. The main ideologies for ANTM are; Flawless or unique face and body, which is highly required in a fashion as well as media industry. The show often portray girls in sexy clothes with pretty make-up combination; according to the theme chosen for each episodes. 


Both discourse and ideology often comes hand in hand together; where there is discourse there is ideology. However, the major problem with ideologies in a discourse is that they do not represent the whole truth. The reason for this is initial existence of the counter-discourses and counter-ideologies, in the sense it has been implemented in our minds. This is supported by Hartley's (2011, p.132) statement, "Ideology is seen as the practice of reproducing and social relations of inequality within the sphere of signification and discourse." Therefore, if the ideology of ANTM is being flawless then the counter-ideology of it would be, possessing a flaw or being imperfection.


Stuart Hall defined Politics in term of media as "struggle over meaning". In the case of ANTM, the show has the power to promote the politics of materialistic, fashion, consumerism as well as being beauty conscious. With that being said, ANTM use its authority to shape any individuals in the society, in making young women especially, to do what it takes to achieve the ideal face and body which ; for example, practicing of 'bulimia'. Another way to see it, being fat is wrong. This therefore create a conterversy of the true meaning of 'beauty'.


As a result, Cultural Studies allows us to understand how an idea or concept shared can become a practice for the masses and how it brings everyone to understand of the created social shared-culture. In the case of ANTM, it did create a social community and bring them together in a common understanding of the show; fashion and beauty. However, the ideology of the show can be quite controversial in the media industry as it influence the young ones to appear how the society culture expect of them instead of letting them be who they look like. This is where the politics play it roles in whether to positively or negatively influence the audiences of the show, as they have the power to direct the audiences perception. 
















References List;


Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.


Hartley, J. (2011). Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts (4th Ed.) New York; Routledge.


Fairclough, N.(1999). Critical Analysis of Media Discourse. In Marris, P. and Thorham, S. (1999). Media Studies; A Reader (2nd Ed.).


Storey, J. (2003). Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture.


Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. (2009). Practices of Looking.