Family Communication Theory.pptx

Family Communicatio n Theories FCS210 Salvador Minuchin • “We live our lives like chips in a kaleidoscope, always part of patterns that are larger than ourselves and somehow more than the sum of their parts.” Family Theories Social Constructioni sm Relational Dialectics Narrative Social Co...

Family Communicatio n Theories FCS210 Salvador Minuchin • “We live our lives like chips in a kaleidoscope, always part of patterns that are larger than ourselves and somehow more than the sum of their parts.” Family Theories Social Constructioni sm Relational Dialectics Narrative Social Construction • Social Construction focuses on the meaningmaking function of communication • It is an “active, cooperative enterprise of persons in a relationship” (Turner & West p. 68) • The Construction of Meaning • People make sense of the world by constructing explanations through language of how it works. • Descriptions • Explanations • Accounts • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT6wjgssVK4 Shared Meanings are co-constructed Meaning does not “reside in one person’s head, waiting to be shared” with another but rather “exists in the practice of communication;” thus, meaning are constructed through communication (Turner & West p. 68) • Thus, we are “making and remaking” our world (Turner & West, p. 69) • The formation of new families begins the negotiation process • What are some examples of the ways families make and remake their worlds? Relational Dialectics Dialectics theory suggests that family systems/members experience “tensions” between contradictory • “impulses” Simultaneous • Conflicting The contradictions are viewed as normative The dialectics are interactional and located in the context of the family. Specific Dialectics Autonomy/ connection Openness/ protection Novelty/ predictability • Relational Dialects | Intro to Human Communication | Study Hall - YouTube Strategies for Managing Relational Dialectics Cyclic alternation Segmentati on • Favoring one desire at one time and the polar opposite at another • Example: For young children, it is appropriate to favor connections; for launching children, it is appropriate to favor autonomy • Favoring one pole in one domain of family life and the polar other in another • Example: Being open/intimate/vulnerable to one’s spouse and protective to one’s children Selection • Choosing one pole over the other • Example: Choosing to be monogamous (stable/predictable) in a relationship versus being a “player” (change/novelty) Integration • Fusing the poles Integration Three techniques for integration Neutralizing: • Compromising • Example: Communicating until a “comfortable” level of intimacy is agreed upon (Note: This more often than not is NOT an overt process) Reframing • Transforming the dialectic so that they no longer appear to be contradictory • Example: Swingers – couples who report that varied sexual experiences with partners outside their relationship (i.e. being sexually independent of the relationship) actually creates intimacy in their relationship • Disqualifying • Exempting certain issues from the general pattern • Example: A family who claims it can openly discuss any topic but sex. Dialectic Theory • Places the emphasis on stability and change • Recognizes that stability and change co-exist • Reinforces the ecosystem approach • Being mindful of the interactions among the family • Its individual members • The larger social system • The larger cultural system Narrative Theory “Human experience life in narrative form and find personal meanings for their stories through interpretation, not objective observation” (Galvin et al) Meaning differs from person to person • Assumptions • Human experience is rooted in stories • Individuals accept or reject stories • Decisions to accept or reject are based on history, biography, culture, and character • Stories have cohesion (realistic, meaningful, and consistent) • Stories have fidelity (appearance of truthfulness or reliability) • Humans experience the world as a set of stories. • Stories are chosen to create and recreate experiences. A Map as a Metaphor of Our Identities • No map includes every detail of the territory it represents • Events that don’t make it into the map don’t exist in the map’s world of meaning • The mapping of events through time is essential for the perception of difference, for the detection of change • Narrative therapists became interested in bringing out stories that did not support or sustain problems • Alternative stories opened up new possibilities that went beyond problem-solving • People could live out new self-images, new possibilities Social Constructionism • The beliefs, values, institutions, customs, labels, etc. that make up our social realities are constructed by the members of a culture as they interact with one another from generation and day to day • How does culture influence the way we interpret our daily experience • How do our daily actions influence our stories • Social realities may not be “essentially true,” but that doesn’t stop them from having real effects • Welfare mothers get rich as they make more babies – influenced legislation that influenced deserving mothers and children • You can’t be too thin or too rich • Inner city males are only interested in drugs, sex and killing each other – rationalization for giving up on social policies for the inner cities that might make a difference We listen to others in specific ways • Therapists trying to diagnose will listen with a diagnostic, pathologizing ear • Medical models listen for symptoms and signs • Educational system teaches us to listen for the right answer • These metaphors keep us from listening to the person’s story • The Do's and Don'ts of Conflict Resolution - The Story of Us, 1999 - YouTube