Culture

Principles

First conceived by communication professor Howard Giles in 1971, Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) was mainly about speech, but then adapted to involve verbal and nonverbal communication (Hordila-Vatamanescu, 2010). Giles described developing the theoretical perspective in his graduate school days in the United Kingdom, and muses that he still is constantly noticing new ways people accommodate others, such as when his wife lost her voice for a few days, and others would whisper to her, thinking she was whispering for another reason (Gallois et al., 2016).

The theory is about convergence and divergence in accommodation, and says that communicators are likely to accommodate the person they are speaking with by adopting their mode of communication. Soliz, Thorson, and Rittenour say accommodation is performed for seeking approval, inclusion, affiliation, or interpersonal goals,” while nonaccommodation serves to highlight differences between people (2009, p. 821).

Divergent communicators maintain their own way of communicating, and then the communication differs from the other communicator. There is also the concept of over accommodating, as Hordila-Vatamanescu (2010) says, and this means they exaggerate the accommodation. There are three types of over accommodation:

“The first is sensory where people tend to over adapt to others who are perceived as limited in their abilities. The second is dependency, where the person who is talking, speaks to others as if they’re in a lower status than them. Lastly, intergroup occurs when the speakers place listeners in cultural groups without acknowledging individual uniqueness” (Hordila-Vatamanescu, 2010, p. 281).

Within CAT, however it occurs, it’s important to note that communication happens within a context, as always, and that there is always negotiation of relationships within a conversation, including power within a relationship, when communicating. Based on these stereotypes of outgroup members, expectations may arise about people from the culture. Norms of accommodation may appear. When over accommodating happens, it may make the communicator seem condescending, which hopefully, the person does not desire. However, when done well, “communication accommodation becomes a mutual feeling of identification between the source and the receiver” (Hordila-Vatamanescu, 2010, p. 283). Communicators begin to feel more similarity and commonality, which begets affection, or likeability. When people from different cultures accommodate by moving to Texas and trying to act friendlier to others, people will feel more commonality, even if the person from another state wasn’t used to acting friendly to acquaintances.

Applications

CAT can be used in many contexts, as in between cultures, ages, genders, and virtual communities. Between cultures, people may become more comfortable with someone from a different culture if they mirror nonverbally, and topics of conversation that would interest the other.

For instance, communication accommodation was seen when a Muslim family in a suburb in Texas invited their white neighbors to attend the home petting zoo birthday party of their three-year-old child. At the party, the food was halal, as is customary to the culture of the Muslim family, and most of the party-goers were family members. The white family had older children and instructed their daughter to dress a bit more conservatively than her normal short-shorts as an accommodating nonverbal gesture. Both parties had accommodating behaviors and communication.

Many times, accommodating behaviors occur between people of different ages. If there is a big age difference, for instance, professors need to ensure they are giving examples that are relevant to their students. For instance, using an example of nonverbal communication accommodation between cultures could come from the movie European Vacation, which was created in the 1980s, but a more recent example would be something like the television show Blackish.

Over accommodation is often seen in communication between different age groups, as in communication between parents and children, neither of whom may realize they are maturing as fast as they are. One study discussed CAT and estrangement of adult children, and Rittenour et al (2018) found that there were about an equal number of instances of parents using accommodation (65) and over accommodation (61), which is seen as negative, and fewer cases of under accommodation (30), which is also seen as negative.

Cross-gender communication may be another instance where CAT is employed, and stereotypes are often used in this type of conversation. What’s most important in cross-gender communication is not to make assumptions, and let the person communicate for themselves. Respond to how they respond. Mansplaining is a popular term in which a male explains a topic to a female on which the female is more of an expert the male, yet the male talks about it incessantly anyway. CAT can also be seen in environments of virtual communities, as “it may account for discovering how people perceive, assume and express their identity in a boundless community” (Hordila-Vatamanescu, 2010, p. 287).

Another example of using CAT to study mediated communication is CAT through textisms, which are when people use emojis, shorten words, or use incorrect capitalization in a text. For instance, “R u going 2 the store? :-)” instead of “Are you going to the store?” A study looking at gender and whether people like each other and whether power affects the way people use textisms found that there is a relationship in the use of textisms and whether people like each other and whether they have unequal power balance in a relationship (Adams, Miles, Dunbar, & Giles, 2018). There was a significant correlation between liking and people using more textisms (Adams et al., 2018). Giles (2016) has taken a look at CAT over the years, and showed how it’s truly become multi-disciplinary, it’s studied in many languages, and it’s still relevant today. All of this is amusingly appropriate for a chapter on culture and interpersonal communication.

Summary

Culture infiltrates interpersonal communication, including co-cultures within communities and nations, as well as organizational culture, and occupational culture. Beliefs, values, and norms are pervasive in our social practices, including world view, language, and the dimensions of culture.

Cross-cultural communication involves communication across contexts, while thinking critically and communicating competently. An open mind is ultimately important, while avoiding ethnocentrism, and stereotyping, and attempting to eliminate prejudice, discrimination and racism. We should, however, be aware of our own bias that creeps into conversations, acknowledge it, and fix it.

Communication Accommodation Theory is one way to explain how people of different cultures are constantly adapting their communication styles either in converging, diverging, or over accommodating styles to people in multiple contexts.

Activity 1: CAT in Action

Consider a friend or acquaintance that you have who is from a different culture. Think about a time you have enacted CAT within a conversation interculturally. How did it affect the conversation? Talk with that person now about what they thought was happening in the conversation, and whether they noticed the accommodation was happening. Discuss your observations in a discussion.

Activity 2: First Time for Everything

When was the first time you participated in an activity? For instance, salsa dancing or going bowling. How did you communicate with the people around you who had done it before? Did you feel they were over accommodating in order to make you feel more comfortable? Write a journal entry about this experience.

Adams, A., Miles, J., Dunbar, N. E., & Giles, H. (2018). Communication accommodation in text messages: Exploring liking, power, and sex as predictors of textisms. Journal of Social Psychology, 158(4), 474–490. https://doi org.lsproxy.austincc.edu/10.1080/00224545.2017.1421895

Gallois, C., Gasiorek, J., Giles, H., & Soliz, J. (2016). Communicaton Accomodation Theory: Integrations and new framework developments. In H. Giles (Ed.), Communication Accomodation Theory: Negotiating personal relationships and social identities across contexts (pp. 192-210). Cambridge University Press.

Hordila - Vatamanescu, E.-M., & Pana, A.-D. (2010). The application of the Communication Accommodation Theory to virtual communities: A preliminary research on the online identities. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(4), 279–290.

Rittenour, C., Kromka, S., Pitts, S., Thorwart, M., Vickers, J., & Whyte, K. (2018). Communication surrounding estrangement: Stereotypes, attitudes, and (non)-accommodation Strategies. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X), 8(10), 96. https://doiorg.lsproxy.austincc.edu/10.3390/bs8100096

Soliz, J., Thorson, A. R., & Rittenour, C. E. (2009). Communicative correlates of satisfaction, family identity, and group salience in multiracial/ethnic families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(4), 819–832.

Communication Accommodation Theory: Theory adapted by Giles that says people adapt to others in order who are different than them, and the accommodation can converge, diverge, or be over accommodating

Convergence: Communicating in similar ways interpersonally as someone else to accommodate the interaction, such as adopting a similar tone, accent, or pitch in one’s voice

Divergence: Communicating in different ways than another person in order to maintain differentiation from the person culturally, such as exaggerating a different accent, or speaking much louder than the other person

Multimedia 1: The following clip is an example of convergence. How have you adapted your own behaviors in the past to ‘fit in’ with others?

Mean Girls: Convergence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pchVTkNjzUA

Multimedia 2: This clip illustrates a relative traveling to Malaysia to visit a friend, and the Communication Accommodation Theory is seen in action. What elements of communication accommodation do you see in this clip?

Examples in CAT in Malaysia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv4u45HBr3c