LECTURE 8- SHARING Flashcards
Explain sharing
Sharing is one of 4 fundamental motivations for communicating (Tomasello, 2008)
Sharing is a function of pointing gestures (as well as pantomiming and language based verbal communication)
Sharing has a social-relational function: establishing and maintaining bonds (Dunbar’s theory of grooming and gossiping. 1996)
Evolutionary function: building a community that shares social norms and values
The producers problem
Lets take the case of ppl sharing a personal trouble
They face a dilemma of sharing vs avoiding imposing on a recipient
Jefferson – people who are about to story tell- both them and recipients can work together to create a favourable space for sharing of a trouble
One practice hat prospective teller can use is pre signal (foreshadow) the presence of a trouble
Sharing becomes the outcome of joint action (a favourable space is collaboratively created for the sharing of a trouble)
The recipients problem
Recipients face a dilemma of empathy
When someone shares an experience, the recipient is expected to show empathic understanding
This is particularly the case when people share strong emotions (both negative and positive)
There is a tension between the expectation of empathy and social norm whereby we should base our judgements on things we know
How can recipients show that they have adequate understanding of the others experience without ‘going too far’ and overstating their understanding of it?
The dilemma of empathy- how can a recipient emphasise with an experience they do not have?
Ancillary questioning
Actions that decline affiliative engagement with the experience reported by the tellor- the least empathetic
Also known as ‘refocusing’= the point where an empathic response to the telling would otherwise be due, the recipient raises a related question about the matter
Ancillary questions require the teller addresses the agender raises in the question- this agenda can be far from the matter which the teller focused on originally.
Ancillary questions= declining empathetic affiliation with the position take by the teller, whilst enforcing a shift in conversational topic
Parallel assessments
Respondents focus on focal elements of the experience described by the teller, by describing a similar, but departicularized, experience or preference.
The recipient may introduce a parallel account- a parallel ‘my side’ experience- the recipient has not experienced the experience directly but in parallel states something similar-
These can be risky- they can be read as flat, pallid, pro forma, or even competitive
It can be seen, by telling their own parallel experience, they are shifting the focus too much to their selves
subjunctive assessments
Efforts at empathic affiliation which suggest if the recipient were to experience the things described they would feel the same way
Lacks direct experiential access
Respondents can find themselves in circumstances where affiliation is required but direct or even parallel experience is plainly lacking
Shows respect for the teller’s ownership of the experience, choosing the words showing appreciation, but not direct experience.
observer responses
Indicate responses in which recipients claim imaginary access to the events and experiences described, but position themselves as observers, to the event.
Recipients place themselves as imaginary witnesses to the scenes- these are particularly appropriate for vicarious empathetic response to scenes of action
They are ‘in the moment’ with the teller, yet remain outside of it, close yet detached.
The recipient claims indirect access to the experience, and thereby to support their empathetic appreciation of it
response cries
Recipients more closely approach empathic connection with the reported experiences of their interlocutors
Response cries, express empathic sentiments primarily through prosody
It is in a non-lexical response
