Berger week 4 article

Question 1

what is word of mouth?

Answer 1

informal communications directed at other consumers about the ownership, usage, or characteristics of particular goods
and services or their sellers

Question 2

what are the 5 key functions that word of mouth serves?

Answer 2

impression-management, emotion regulation, information acquisition, social bonding, and persua- sion.

Question 3

in what ways do interpersonal communication facilitate impression management?

Answer 3

1) self-enhancement, (2) identity- signaling, and (3) filling conversational space.

Question 4

what is self-enhancement?

Answer 4

The tendency to self-enhance is a fundamental human motivation. People like to be perceived positively and present themselves in ways that garner such impressions. people are more likely to share things that make them look good rather than bad

Question 5

what is identity signaling?

Answer 5

If someone always talks about new restaurants, others may infer that they are a foodie. people may talk about particular topics or ideas not only to self-enhance but also to signal that they have certain characteristics, knowledge, or expertise in a particular domai

Question 6

what is filling conversation space?

Answer 6

people also infer things about others based on conversational style.
Transitions from one party speaking to the other, for example, usually occur with no long gap or silence in between. Consequently, taking too long to respond may lead others to make negative inference

Question 7

what are the effects of sharing on interpersonal management?

Answer 7

+ Entertaining content
+ Useful information
+ Self-Concept relevant things
+ High status things
+ Unique and special things
+ Common ground
+ Accessible things
+ When aroused

Question 8

what is emotional regulation?

Answer 8

Emotion regulation refers to the ways people manage which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them

Question 9

how does sharing with others generate emotional regulation? ( the components of emotional regulation)

Answer 9

1) generating social support,
(2) venting,
(3) facilitating sense making,
(4) reducing disso- nance,
(5) taking vengeance ( revenge),
(6) encouraging rehearsal

Question 10

what are the effects of sharing on emotional regulation?

Answer 10

+ Emotional Content
+ Arousing Content
Shapes content valence

emotion regulation should
(a) drive people to share more emotional content,
(b) influence the valence of the content shared,
(c) lead people to share more emotionally arousing content.

Question 11

what is information aquisition?

Answer 11

They use word of mouth to actively seek information. To obtain the information they need, they talk about that product or idea themselves (i.e., bring it up)

Question 12

in what way does word of mouth facilitate information acquisition? (components of information acquisition)

Answer 12

(1) seeking advice and
(2) resolving problems

Question 13

what are the effects of word of mouth on information acquisition?

Answer 13

+ Sharing when decisions are important or uncertain
+Sharing when alternative info is unavailable or untrustworthy

Question 14

what is social bonding?

Answer 14

People have a fundamental desire for social relationships and interpersonal communication helps fill that need

Question 15

what is phatic communication?

Answer 15

Phatic communication to describe conversations whose function is to “create social rapport rather than to convey information

Question 16

What are the components of social bonding?

Answer 16

1) reinforcing shared views
(2) reducing loneliness and social exclusion

Question 17

social bonding should drive people to talk about things that are?

(what are the effects of social bonding?)

Answer 17

+ Common Ground Content
+ Emotional Content

Question 18

what is persuading others?

Answer 18

people use interpersonal communication to influence others. People’s desire to change their relationship partner’s attitudes, for example, affects whether they use relationship referencing influence strategies (i.e., words like “we” and “us”) during an argument

Question 19

persuasion motives should drive people to share things that are?
)The components of persuading other?)

Answer 19

(a) more emotionally polarized
(b) arousing in nature.

Question 20

is word of mount conscious or deliberate?

Answer 20

There are certainly some situations, hwhere conscious choice plays a role. When on a first date, for example, or at a job interview, people may actively monitor what they are talking about to achieve an impression management goal. Similarly, consumers may consciously bring up certain topics in the hopes of persuading others or acquiring information.

However, most word of mouth is non conscious

Question 21

is word of mouth self serving?

Answer 21

Most info suggests that yes it is. eg: studies suggest that over 70% of everyday speech is about the self.
Neuroscientific evidence further suggests that such self-disclosure is intrinsically rewarding. Sharing one’s own personal thoughts and feelings activates the same brain regions that respond to things like food, money, and seeing attractive members of the opposite sex

Question 22

So far we have focused on why people talk and share, but situational factors may moderate when different word of mouth functions have a greater impact. Two key moderators are?

Answer 22

audience, or whom people are communicating with, and the channel, or how people are communicatin

Question 23

key aspects of the communication audience?

Answer 23

Thus three key aspects of the communication audience are (1) tie strength, (2) audience size, and (3) tie status

Question 24

in how many and what ways do communication channels differ?

Answer 24

key dimensions are (1) written vs. oral, (2) identifiability, and (3) audience salience

Question 25

when is word of mounth context driven?

Answer 25

If someone is talking face-to-face with a friend, for example, they might talk about different things than if they were talking online with an acquaintance. In these, and other situations, the context is exogenously imposed. Both the channel (i.e., face-to-face), and the audience (i.e., a friend) have already been set, and the communicator must now decide what to share in that situation

Question 26

when is word of mount content driven?

Answer 26

people can actively choose who they talk to and the channel they communicate through. People that find a particular online news story, for example, can decide who they want to share it with and whether they want to pass it along online or through some other channel.

Question 27

what are the key questions in context driven?

Answer 27

the key questions are
(1) do people talk and
(2) if so, which of the things that could be mentioned are actually discussed.

Question 28

what is the key question in content driven?

Answer 28

key question is whether the content is above a certain threshold of interest,
utility, emotion, or some other factor that drive people to pass it on.