Influence of Communication in How I Met Your Mother Joshua W

Running Head: INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 1 Influence of Communication in How I Met Your Mother Joshua W. DeGrasse-Baumann Carroll University INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 2 Abstract This study compares conversations in How I Met Your Mother to existing research on communication and conflict, particularly focused on directness of communication about conflict. Through a content analysis, 30 episodes of the first eight seasons were sampled and coded for various aspects of communication affecting conflict between the main characters. Though results showed that the sitcom largely differed from extant research, there is some overlap could be worth another look, especially when considering the constraints often faced by television shows. INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 3 Influence of Communication in How I Met Your Mother Situational comedies act as representation of at least some aspect of our society. As a result, they likely contain representations of how our society communicates. Shows, like How I Met Your Mother, offer researchers an opportunity to explore not only how we communicate, but also how that communication is perceived by mass media. Though shows are scripted, the content comes from actual human beings and is typically expected to be plausible, which suggests that even television shows follow some communication norms. Literature Review Media as Representation There is a precedent in communication research for using television shows as subjects. As a form of media, television shows are also a form of communication. However, they also typically include content about communication. The somewhat meta nature of these programs offer interesting research opportunities in the field. As Donald Shields and Virginia Kidd argue in their study of The Poseidon Adventure, media is “the presentation of a total communication event offering visual, auditory, emotional, and intellectual involvement” (1973). It allows for hypothetical situations to play out in a repeatable way. Shields and Kidd found in their study that the film they chose was a suitable outlet for education on small groups, given the films content, suggesting that discussion about popular media could lead to otherwise unasked questions, whether through different interpretations or the accuracies of the portrayals. Other studies have also used media as a backdrop for a communication study, such as Jennifer Gray’s 2007 study about the interpersonal illness experiences in Sex and the City. The study concluded that, while not a perfect comparison, the shows treatment of breast cancer has at least some accurate comparisons to a real life scenario, despite focusing more heavily on certain INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 4 aspects (Gray, 2007). While not all shows will have the same levels of accuracy, Neal Norrick and Alice Spitz argued that “[t]he principles, norms and conventions of use which underlie ordinary conversation are the resource that writers use to create dialogue” (Norrick & Spitz, 2010, pg. 84). Similar studies have argued that, because television has become such a significant part of daily life, viewers will often reflect what they see in their favorite programs. These television shows often create social norms that are followed in society, whether accurate or not. The current study seeks to look at the accuracy of those portrayals. In a study on the portrayal of romantic conflict in adolescent television, for example, researchers argued that if viewers are influenced in their communication by what they see on television, inaccurate portrayals could change communication patterns over time (Sherry & Desouza, 2005). While there are no certainties in communication, television shows that stray from expert opinion may offer further research opportunities about how and why the communication varies. Even fictional portrayals indicate and influence communication patterns. Shows like How I Met Your Mother, which focus on small groups of friends, offer interesting research opportunities to explore the various intricacies of communication as they often utilize them at some point during the show’s run. Television as a medium can help demonstrate how communication is affected by various aspects of different levels of communication in ways that might be too complex to study in non-controlled environments. Conversational Directness Previous research has given many names to what, for the purposes of this study, will be referred to as conversational directness, or the degree to which a conversation is actually addressing the conflict it is about. A study in 2005, for example, defined the term equivocation INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 5 as “the use of vague, ambiguous, or nonstraightforward communication” (Bello, 2005, pg. 285). Other topics that are similar-enough in scope include avoidance, defined in one study as “people’s reluctance to truly engage in a potentially conflict-inducing topic” (Afifi, McManus, Steuber, & Coho, 2009, pg. 357), and to some degree, self-disclosure, defined in another study as “a general willingness to become vulnerable, to become known to the other person in a positive, unambiguous manner” (Fahs, 1981, pg. 41). The question is whether or not the directness of a conversation has an impact on that conversations influence on the concerned issue. The study on avoidance found that avoiding conflict often led to dissatisfaction with relationships, which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to further avoidance (Afifi, McManus, Steuber, & Coho, 2009). Further studies have suggested similarly, arguing that indirectness in conversations is used as a way to prevent certain negative results, such as harm to self-presentation (Afifi & Guerrero, 1998). That study found that “concern for protecting the self was the only motivating factor that significantly predicted avoidance in all friendship sex combinations” (Afifi & Guerrero, 1998), suggesting that indirectness was used as a means to protect from potential harm more than anything else. Further indications that indirectness in conversation tends to lead to negative effects was also found in the 1998 study by Afifi and Guerrero. They found that, generally, as two people become closer to each other, they tend to utilize indirect conversations less, suggesting that indirectness can keep people from truly bonding (Afifi & Guerrero, 1998). Shows like How I Met Your Mother offer the opportunity to examine the directness of conversations between different groups of friends, about a variety of different issues. Television INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 6 can use conversational directness for dramatic effect, and it is that use of those conversations that the present study looks at. Differences in Relationships Different levels of communication stem from variety in the types of relationships people have. Relationships between any two people are unique. Different circumstances lead to different kinds of friendships or romances or rivalries. These differences make communication more complex. There are no guarantees that any one method is going to work for any given situation. However, previous research has indicated trends in certain types of relationships that subconsciously help guide people in their everyday lives. In a 2008 study by Andy Merolla, results indicated that there were subtle differences in the types of forgiveness offered when the recipient changed. Merolla studied three types of forgiveness: direct, indirect, and conditional. His results indicated that romantic partners were more likely to offer conditional forgiveness to each other than to a friend, but also that they were more likely to indirectly forgive friends rather than approach the situation directly. While his results were not statistically significant, Merolla argued that the minor differences implied underlying emphasis in the types of relationships. Whereas romantic couples would want to make sure their relationship is worth ensuring the issue does not arise again, through conditional forgiveness, friends would be more likely to deemphasize the issue as a whole in order to more quickly move past it, thus using indirect forgiveness (Merolla, 2008). Differences in sex might also create differences in communication, especially when it comes to conflict. Tara Emmers-Sommer’s research on negative relational events looked at how three different kinds of pairings viewed potential conflicts: same-sex friends, opposite-sex friends, and romantic partners. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION IN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 7 types of issues the different groups were concerned about (Emmers-Sommer, 1999). Similarly, a 2005 study indicated that there are differences in the level of formality influences the way in which people act. The researchers of that study found that, because of the differences in imagined relationships, respondents varied their responses, specifically their use of equivocation, significantly depending on who they were talking to (Bello, 2005). Emmers-Sommer’s study further reinforced ideas in the 1998 study by Afifi and Guerrero mentioned previously in that differences in sex may affect conversational directness. The researchers found in that study that, generally, people were more likely to use indirect conversation with males over females. Interestingly, the study’s results suggested that men and women, overall, tended to use similar

Load more