In Chapter 2, you learn that the self-
Clearly, our group memberships strongly influence our communication. This is because our group memberships are such an important part of who we are. According to social identity theory, you have a personal identity, which is your sense of your unique individual personality, and you have a social identity, the part of your self-
Studies in intergroup communication, a branch of the discipline that focuses on how communication within and between groups affects relationships, find that these comparisons powerfully affect our communication (Giles, Reid, & Harwood, 2010; Pagotto, Voci, & Maculan, 2010). For example, group members often use specialized language and nonverbal behaviors to reveal group membership status to others (Bourhis, 1985). So, a doctor might use a lot of technical medical terms among nurses to assert her authority as a doctor, whereas sports fans use Facebook posts to support their fellow fans, team members, and coaches, and to denigrate those of rival teams (Sanderson, 2013).
Note: The project does not offer any solutions for dealing with bullies or advise students to engage in conflict with those who abuse them. It simply offers them a peer experience, to show them that they’re not alone, and tries to show them that life will go on after the bullying ends.
Our group identification and communication shift depending on which group membership is made salient—or brought to mind—
In addition, your group memberships are not all equally salient for you at any given time, and your communication reflects this. For instance, suppose you are a female Egyptian American Muslim from a middle-
The ways in which others perceive our social identity influences communication on many levels. In the 1960s, Rock Hudson was a Hollywood heartthrob who kept his identity as a gay man a secret. At that time, audiences would not likely have accepted him in heterosexual romantic roles if they knew that he was not interested in women. Today, straight actors take on gay and lesbian roles (such as Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in Brokeback Mountain). But it isn’t certain whether audiences will accept gay and lesbian actors in straight roles. To be sure, the openly gay Neil Patrick Harris has no problem playing the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother. But some actors, including Rupert Everett and Richard Chamberlain, have noted that coming out hurt their careers irreparably, and they have advised young gay actors to maintain their privacy in regard to their sexuality (Connelly, 2009; Voss, 2010).