Communication Accommodation Theory In Practice ~ Welcome to Italy!

A friend was recently traveling abroad in Italy, and while there she came to an interesting conclusion.  She noticed that in many situations, whether it was at the cafe or at a restaurant, most Italians could tell she was American without ever hearing her speak.  They would approach her and speak English, or they would avoid her all together, based observations that they were able to make before every interacting with her verbally. This made her feel a little bit like an outsider. Like maybe she was doing something that people found odd or, even worse, offensive. After a few days of frustration she developed a plan. She thought that maybe if she changed her behaviors and habits maybe people would begin to view her differently, or even accept her. After watching people closely for a few days she began to consciously change the way that she dressed, the way that she she moved her hands and interacted with others, the way that she spaced herself apart from other people.  Then a funny thing happened.  One day an older man with newspaper folded under his arm walked up to her and began to speak Italian to my friend.  Her Italian was excellent, as she had been studying for years, but he was asking directions to somewhere local.  She explained to him that she was not from there, and apologized for not being able to help him.  He asked where she was from and she explained she was from the States.  Upon hearing this he was shocked.  He believed that she was Italian.  The changes that she began to make had fooled him.  After a few days, with more people beginning to believe that she was Italian she noticed that there were other subtle things that were giving away her American-ness.  She realized that there were behaviors and beliefs that she had that continued to give her away even after she had initially convinced people that she was like them.  After she began to assimilate to the culture and actions of people around her she realized that they were much more comfortable and open around her, and it greatly improved her trip.  This begs some very interesting questions.  Why did people know that she was American before they even saw her, and why did changing such subtle behaviors have such a profound effect on people's perceptions of her? Furthermore, was there a reason that her assimilation made her feel more accepted?

            Without knowing so, my friend performed an experiment while she was traveling.  What she experienced was something that people have have studying closely since the 1970s. What my friend was experiencing is what scholars in the field of non-verbal communication refer to as Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). CAT addresses how how people change the way that they act to either increase similarities or increase differences with other people in order to achieve some outcome. (Kimoto, Diane M. 2010.)  When a person changes the way that they act to appear more similar to a group or to another person this is called Convergence.  Convergence is what my friend experienced when she began to alter her behavior and noticed that people were more accepting of her as a result. (Williams, A. 1999.)  Theorist have seen time and time again through detailed experiments that when people change small behaviors such as using hand movement, chaning style, vocal volume, proximity to those they are interacting with etc. that they are able to converge with those around them. (Giles, Howard, & Baker, Susan C. 2012.)  When changing to match the way that Italians stood, talked about time, moved their hands, and dressed, she was converging with the culture around her.  She experienced the incredible change in perception that manipulating small behaviors can have.  In a recent study it was shown that this type of change results in drastically different levels of communication and acceptance when people from different cultures interact. (Cui, Y., Li, H. Z., & Wang, Z. 2010.).  By changing the way she stood or appeared she was able to radically change the way that Italians perceived her.  They saw her as one of their own and she felt the effects of convergence.  CAT says that convergence will result in higher acceptance and assimilation for the person converging with a group or culture around them.  My friend was able to do this, and felt the strong effect.  There is strong evidence that convergence shows the recipient that their way of expressing themselves through increasing similarity. (Giles, Howard & Ogay, Tania. 2009.)  Furthermore, people evaluate those who converge toward them much more favorably.  Convergence is seen as a respectful signal of attraction and seeking approval that ultimately results in assimilation into a group. (Giles, Howard, & Baker, Susan C. 2012.)

            Understanding this research and seeing how my friend was able to harness Communication Accommodation Theory for herself by using convergence to assimilate into Italian culture, and understanding the profound effect it had on her feeling of acceptance resulted in the creation of this blog.  My friends and I are seeking to harness these theories to help you and other traveling abroad in throughout Italy.  We are going to explain different things to understand about how you can alter your non-verbal communication to converge, and be accepted and understood while you are in Italy.  In addition, along the way we hope to save you the embarrassment of always being seen as an obnoxious foreigner during your time in Italy.  Check out our posts to see how you can begin to subtle converge into Italian culture.
When in Rome,
Luke Ward 


Cui, Y., Li, H. Z., & Wang, Z. (2010). Backchannel Responses and Enjoyment of the Conversation: the More Does not Necessarily Mean the Better. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 2(1), 25. 
Giles, Howard & Ogay, Tania. (2009). Communication Accommodation Theory. In Whaley, Bryan B. & Samter, Wendy (Ed.),Explaining Communication: Contemporary Theories and Exemplars (pp. 324-345). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Williams, A. (1999). Communication Accommodation Theory and Miscommunication: Issues of Awareness and Communication Dilemmas. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 9, 151–165.
Kimoto, Diane M. (2010). The Taken-for-Granted Labor of Communication: Seeing Beyond Words. Journal of Public Affairs Education,16(1), 31-51.
Giles, Howard, & Baker, Susan C. (2012). Communication Accommodation Theory. In Wolfgang Donsbach (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication (pp. 645-648).  Malden, MA: Blackwell.

When in Italy, Leave your Schedule in your Pocket

One of the most important facets of nonverbal communication is the different understandings and uses of time across cultures. As communications professor B. Aubrey Fisher (1978) puts it, “time is, without a doubt, one of the most crucial, yet most neglected variables of communication” (p. 79). The importance that Fisher is referring to is derived from the role that cultural perceptions of time play in determining not only the organization, but also the content and meaning of our communication. The field of study concerning time and the different roles time plays in communication is called “chronemics,” which Stella Ting-Toomey (1999) explains as the study of “how people in different cultures structure, interpret, and understand the time dimension” (p. 134).

Chronemics typically divides cultures into two different temporal orientations; monochronic and polychronic (Hall & Hall 1990). The monochronic time-orientation views time as discrete and linear. In such a culture, one’s schedule is maintained as strictly as possible, with one event following another and tasks separated temporally such that one is able to focus on one thing at a time. Polychronic cultures, on the other hand, encourage multi-tasking, and view relationships and interactional harmony as more important than adherence to a strict schedule (Hall & Hall 1990).

            Since the goal of this blog is to help future visitors to Italy avoid the discomfort that accompanies unintended communicative divergence (see above post regarding communication accommodation theory), it is important for me to note that Italy is typically classified as a polychronic culture (Fink & Meierewert 2004). This insight helps explain quite a bit of Italian communication and the culture that frames and structures it. For instance, the emphasis on fully completing a task or a story before moving on to the next item of business, regardless of what one’s schedule says, is manifested in the fact that Italian television programs “continue until they are finished” (Buller, Burgoon, & Woodall, 1989, p. 145) instead of finishing at a consistent time each day.

            If one of your goals while in Italy is to have a harmonious relationship with the locals, it’s crucial that you stay mindful of their polychronic style of communication. Italians have a strong tendency to be immediatist, and live their daily lives based on last minute arrangements and spur of the moment changes of existing plans (Adams & Van Eerde, 2010). Do not be offended if an acquaintance shows up twenty minutes late for a luncheon, since such is the cultural norm in the immediatist, polychronic cultures of Latin Europe. Do not dismay if you happen to arrive late for an informal meeting with your Italian travel agent; what is important is not when the meeting happens, but that the meeting is enjoyable and agreeable to all those involved (Fink & Meierewert, 2004).

            In conclusion, the take away message is this: when in Italy, try to remain mindful of the laid-back pace of local culture. Seeming too anxious or hurried is likely to offend the local residents by giving them the impression that you are uninterested in the conversation or that you are trying to rush through the interaction, both of which could be considered disrespectful (Hall, 1973). Since polychronic cultures tend to schedule multiple events and tasks at the same time (reflecting the lack of a discrete compartmentalization of temporal segments), plan on multi-tasking and be prepared for those around you to multi-task as well, even when engaged in a conversation with you. This behavior should not be interpreted as a personal slight, or a sign of disinterest, but rather as a communicative manifestation of their polychronic orientation towards time.

            Until next time!

                        - Collin Poirot

Fisher, B. Aubrey (1978). Perspectives on Human Communication. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

Ting-Toomey, Stella (1999). Communicating Across Cultures. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Hall, Edward T. (1973). The Silent Language. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press.

Hall, Edward T., & Hall, Mildred Reed (1990). Understanding Cultural Differences: Keys to Success in West Germany, France, and the United States. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, Inc.

Fink, Gerhard, & Meierewert, Sylvia (2004). Issues of Time in International, Intercultural Management: East and Central Europe from the Perspective of Austrian Managers. Journal for East European Management Studies, 9(1), 61-85.

Buller, David B., Burgoon, Judee K., & Woodall, W. Gill (1989). Nonverbal Communication: The Unspoken Dialogue. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

Adams, Simon J. M. & Van Eerde, Wendelien (2010). Time Use in Spain: is Polychronicity a Cultural Phenomenon? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(7), 764-776.

Everyday Italian Gestures

I remember my first time in Brindisi on the southern coast of Italy. I was sitting outside of a coffee shop and watching the locals go about their business. I noticed many hand gestures and thought they were just really passionate about speaking. Little did I know that it was part of the language and that their nonverbals were just as important as their verbal language.

Now after several trips to Italy and numerous experiences with hand gestures, I can finally show others the power of nonverbal gestures in Italian culture. According to Adam Kendon (1994), there are two gestures I will help you focus on. The two are considered emblems.  Emblems are gestures that can be replaceable for words and vary from culture to culture. The first one and very common throughout Southern Italy is the, mano a borsa or purse hand.

 

It can be moved up and down repeatedly by the speaker with distance and speed also dependent on the speaker. The mano a borsa is understood as when the gesturer is asking a question. It can also be used to accentuate different tones of a question. This is a gesture that is seen in everyday Italian life.

The second gesture is the mani giunte or ‘joined or praying hands’.  According to Kendon, “it is said to indicate that the person using it is making an entreaty of some sort” (p.259). However, according to De Jorio (1979), “one of the more gestures more used among us for denoting that one is begging for indulgence” (p.262). Like the mano a borsa gesture, mani giunte also accompanies spoken utterances and makes obvious certain meanings that is being said that wouldn’t have been made verbally.

I hope this post will help you next time you are traveling through Southern Italy. Remember that gestures are an important part of language and these two emblems can be used to accentuate or even signify a meaning without speaking a word. From yours truly, see you next time!

Dat Trieu

De Jorio, Andrea (1979). La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano.  Bologna,

Italy: Arnaldo.

Kendon, Adam (1994). Gestures as illocutionary and discourse structure markers in Southern

Italian conversation.  Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.

I Thought I was Fluent!

As I and my fellow classmates stepped off the plane for our first day in Italy, I was nervous and excited to use my American-learned Italian to communicate with the locals. After four long years of studying and practicing the Italian language at The University of Texas with other English speaking students, we were eager to put our skills to the test as we ventured out of our language comfort-zones.

After only three encounters with local Italians, my friends and I quickly realized that although we were well versed in the spoken language, we stood out for not knowing any of the culturally significant non-verbal gestures that seemed to flow naturally in every conversation. I recalled a statement I had read that relayed that “since gestures are largely produced and received consciously, we quickly become aware of the foreign gestures and the “foreign accent” they produce” (Kirch 416). Although our spoken accents were perfect, had we been labeling ourselves as foreigners just by the way we moved? It became clear that just because we were fluent in vocabulary and grammar, we were far from fluent in Italian.

Allen suggests that “nonverbal [can] enhance comprehension by providing additional contextual information” (Allen 472). As students studying a foreign language, coupling important nonverbal cues would help by providing a visual backboard that correlates to syntactic and grammatical information. I wish my Italian teacher would have incorporated more of these cues into daily lessons because “nonverbal in the foreign language classroom can facilitate comprehension by activating concepts already stored as mental representations in the student’ memories” (472). Allen explains that in a study performed by Ward and Raffler-Engel in which students were learning a foreign language, it was found that students recalled more dialogue lines when the instructor exhibited nonverbal behavior conducive to learning” versus students who learned the language from audio memorization alone (473). Integrating non-verbal communication into foreign language classrooms would not only help students learn the language more completely, but could promote the foreign language at a faster rate.

Non-verbal communication is as equally part of a country’s culture and identity as the spoken language itself. When I arrived in Italy thinking I was fluent in the language, I recognized how my Italian education was incomplete because of this lack of non-verbal knowledge. If you plan on taking a trip to a foreign culture, take the advice from my friends and me, and learn how they communicate non-verbally! You will be able to fit in and feel as if your foreign language education paid off.

I have so much more to learn being here in Italy with my friends. Check in tomorrow for more updates on what my friends and I are learning from this great culture!

Shelly Rawson

Kirch, M.S. (Dec., 1979). Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures. The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 63, No. 8. Wiley-Blackwell.

Allen, L. (Feb., 1999) Functions of Nonverbal Communication in Teaching and Learning a Foreign Language. The French Review, Vol. 72, No. 3. American Association of Teachers of French.

How to Dress

Italy has a reputation for being one of the most stylish places on the planet, as well as having some of the best looking people one has seen. When one visits Italy, right away you can tell that the style of dress of the Italian people is very specific and unique to their reputation. However, what you may not realize right away is that this unique style that Italians live is a way for Italians to communicate things about themselves to other Italians. How you dress yourself is a very important aspect to Italians when communicating whether it is with or without words.

            For centuries people have used dress and looks to uncover or decipher certain attributes of other people without having to question them. For example the way you dress can often times indicate to others something more permanent like your age, sex,  what your socioeconomic is, even things like personality, values, and attitudes. (Knapp & Hall, 2009) In Italy everyone is obsessed with making sure that the people each person they see is impressed by them. They call this obsessive mentality, “la bella figura”. (Facaros & Pauls) Clothing is one of the ways la bella figura is conveyed among other ways. Italians have always been crazy fashion lovers and show it off. For example it is said that when going into a large city, shorts are never ever worn and jeans are always worn along with very high quality attire and the even clothing in America that we wear for formal occasions can be seen in an Italian’s casual attire. Men also wear strictly Italian clothing work and in highly sophisticated and proper suits. You won’t see too many business casual days in Italy. Women will even wear dresses that accent the local brick or the stone in their own areas. (Winter & Jermyn, 2003) Italians seem to always be wearing the flashiest, newest, and highest quality attire. This says a lot about how important dress is to Italians and how from the moment that you are seen you have already been analyzed and judged based solely on dress. A person’s entire persona is determined jus from first glance in Italy.

            So if you are ever curios about exploring the beautiful country that is Italy, here are some things you might want to be mindful of. When traveling out and about in the cities, make sure to look sharp. Otherwise you may catch a few disapproving or condescending looks. Also don’t feel alarmed if you feel under-dressed. Italians are all one-uppers when it comes to looking their best. It’s not that they think they are better than you, it is in their culture and part of the norm to be extravagantly or overly dressed. It is how they keep their “la bella figura” standard that they are so proud of. As long as you do your best to wear clothing that is similar or familiar to the local Italians, you shouldn’t come across any problems.

  Happy Trails!

  Parker Graham

References:

Winter, J. K., & Jermyn, L. (2003). Cultures of the world. (2nd ed.). Cavendish, Marshall Corporation.

Facaros, D., & Pauls, M. (2004). Italy. (5th ed.). London: Cadogan Guides.

Knapp, M. L., & Hall, J. A. (2009). Nonverbal communication in human interaction. (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Touch and Proxemics

One of the first things you’ll notice upon reaching Italy is the great amount of physical contact between people. If you’re from another country, it would easily appear that way, but in order to gain the full experience of being abroad, it’s best to learn to accept and initiate touch more often in order to better immerse yourself in the new culture. 

The concepts of proxemics and touch are often overlooked until one is actually in a predicament where personal distance is misinterpreted between people of different cultures. In Italy, personal bubbles are typically much smaller than in the US, so the closer you stand to your group, the less likely you’ll be spotted out as non-Italian if you truly wanted to blend in. It’s also particularly important to note that Italians in general are “typically portrayed as a high-contact culture, whereas the United States is typically considered a low-contact culture” (Dibiase & Gunnoe, 2004, p. 6). This means that interpersonal touching is less frequent in the US (a low-contact culture) versus in Italy (a high-contact culture). In fact, according to Dibiase and Gunnoe, Southern Europeans are more affectionate by nature than Northern Europeans so this particular trait is a likely influencing factor on their touching habits. A good example to illustrate the differences would that hugging and kissing as greetings are much more common in countries like Italy as opposed to countries like Sweden (and certainly in comparison to the US where we like the classic handshake). Since “Italians are known for their expressive communication, and touching appears to be an important aspect of their social behavior” (Dibiase & Gunnoe, 2004, p. 7) if you are hugged or kissed by someone you were just introduced to during a visit, just keep in mind that all countries have different cultural standards and meanings attached to these same gestures. Don’t be too standoffish as that might be interpreted as rude behavior. No harm is meant! The more we are conscious of these little details, the better we will be able to communicate with the people of Italy. After all, the point of traveling abroad is to learn and have fun (preferably with as few embarrassing moments as possible). Alright, I’m off now, until next time.

Ciao!

Cindy Bai

Dibiase, R., & Gunnoe, J. (2004). Gender and Culture Differences in Touching Behavior. The Journal of          Social Psychology, 144(1), 5-7.