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.