Answer each of the following questions fully and completely in one or more complete paragraphs. Be sure to include pertinent terminology and demonstrate your familiarity with our textbook and course concepts.
1.How well do the qualities and language Deborah Tannen attributes to men and women equip each sex for the following roles: managers, parents, lawyers, physicians, teachers, friends? Specifically, is one sex better prepared for certain roles than the other sex? If so, is this a problem to be solved or a reality to be lived with?
2.Assess your standpoint. What social group memberships influence it? Which are most influential? How would Sandra Harding and Julia Wood measure your degree of strong objectivity? Do you agree or disagree with their assessment?
3.For many scientists, “objectivity” is an absolute and binary term—in other words, someone is either objective or not. Discuss, then, what Wood and Harding mean when they speak of “strong objectivity” and “weak objectivity.”
4.Some students react strongly to Cheris Kramarae’s criticism of men. In your essay, address the thorny question: Do men mean to mute women? How would Tannen, Wood, and Kramarae answer that question similarly or differently than you do? Whose explanation, if any, do you find most accurate?
5.Write a fictional dialogue putting Cheris Kramarae into conversation with Deborah Tannen. In the dialogue, explore both differences and common ground in the thinking of each theorist.
6.Reflect on your own self-construal. Do you think of yourself in a more individualistic or collectivistic fashion? Does this match the culture in which you were raised or not? Why?
7.Make a list of the three conflict management strategies you most prefer. Then, make a list of the three that you most dislike. Why do you have these preferences? Connect your answer to your cultural background and self-construal.
8.CAT claims that, as a general rule, people respond positively to convergence and negatively to divergence. Can you think of exceptions to this general rule? When might convergence produce negative outcomes? When might divergence produce positive outcomes?
9.Explain the differences among the terms accommodation, divergence, convergence, and maintenance. Provide examples of each behavior.
10.Howard Giles sees CAT as a theory about group identity. Identify three groups to which you belong. How does your membership in these groups influence your communication behavior? When you encounter them, what outside groups are especially likely to encourage you to communicate in ways that support your group identity?