Assumptions
Many of the principles and concepts from social identity theory are also applicable to Communication Accommodation Theory. Under the influence of social psychology, especially Social Identity Theory, Communication Accommodation Theory are guided by mainly four assumptions.
- There are speech and behavioral similarities and dissimilarities in all conversations.
- The way in which we perceive the speech and behaviors of another will determine our evaluation of the conversation.
- Language and behaviors have the ability to communicate social status and group belonging between people in a conversation.
- Norms guide the accommodation process which varies in its degree of appropriateness.
The first assumption indicates that people bring their past experience to conversations. Therefore, communication is not only influenced by situational conditions and initial reactions but the "social-historical context in which the interaction is embedded". People's attitudes and beliefs, derived from those factors, determine the extent to which they are willing to accommodate in a conversation.The more similarities they share with each other, the more likely for them to accommodate.
The second assumption is concerned with how people perceive and evaluate a conversation. Perception is "the process of attending to and interpreting a message" and evaluation is the "process of judging a conversation". When someone enters a conversation, usually he first observes what takes place and then decides whether he should make adjustment to fit in. However, the decision about accommodation is not always necessary.Imagine the encounter of two strangers, they may have a random small talk and simply say goodbye. In this case, neither of them is likely to evaluate the conversation since they have little possibility to meet again.
The importance of language and behaviours is illustrated in the third assumption since they are indicators of social status and group belongings. When two people who speak different languages try to have a conversation, the language they agree to communicate with is more likely to be the one used by the higher status person. This idea of “salient social membership" negotiation is well illustrated in the situation of an interview as the interviewee usually makes all efforts to identify with the interviewer by accommodating the way he speaks and behaves so that he can have more chance to secure the job.
The last assumption puts emphasis on social appropriateness and norms. Here norms are defined as “expectations of behaviors that individuals feel should or should not occur in a conversation”. Those expectations give guidance to people’s behaviors, helping them to figure out the appropriate way to accommodate. Most of the time, the accommodation made according to those norms are perceived socially appropriate. For instance, when a young person talks to the seniors in his family, he should avoid using jargons among his generation to show respect and communicate more smoothly.
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