Vampire Comms

1. What are the origins of vampire fictions?
In Eastern Europe, Serbia to be precise a man died, a couple of months after he died, a couple of young women in his village also bit the dust probably due to disease another murderer. The villagers linked the Man's death to the death of the people in the village and dug him up to find his body in great condition, blood dripping from his mouth and a bulging erection. This led them to believe that he came back to live and went on sexually motivated killing spree.

2. Why are we attracted to vampire fictions?
The mystery behind them also they always have good skin and are normally good looking in modern films, and represent what culture deems a good looking man or female in that time period.  

3. In what ways are vampire fictions symbolic?
They sometimes symbolize the political and social problems of a country at a certain time, and receive adaptations from different countries with different problems which are then represented by the vampire. 

4. Note down as much information as you can about each, including how the portrayal of vampires has developed;

Twilight; Love story,

Group communication (communication and culture revision) top noch

‘Man is a social animal’. This self-evident truth has provided a basis of enquiry and analysis for sociologists and everyone else interested in the way we operate. Wherever we look we see individuals coalescing into groups and groups interacting with one another.

What makes a group?

Firstly, a group has an identity which its members recognise. This identity may be formally acknowledged, as in a committee or it may be totally informal such as a children’s gang. The establishment of a group identity leads anyone to being an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’ as far as the group is concerned.

The next aspect affecting the creation and composition of groups is that all human beings share the need to belong to one group or another. Very few people survive long periods of isolation.

Belonging to a group involves an individual in accepting and being accepted. The whole purpose of some groups seems to lie in maintaining a jealously guarded exclusivity and in setting often very extensive formal or informal entry ‘exams’. What the individual has to demonstrate is that he or she accepts and is willing to comply with the ‘norms’ of the group – that is to say the established outlooks, attitudes and behaviour patterns which the group displays. It is only by clearly demonstrating similar ideas and behaviour that an individual becomes accepted by a group.

In society groups exist in many forms. The basic, indeed fundamental group is, of course the family. Extensions to this group are formed through relatives and close family friends.

As well as possessing a discernible identity and norms of behaviour, groups also exist to achieve aims and objectives. Such groups will evolve, either formally or informally, procedures for choosing leaders and will also establish ‘pecking orders’ which derive not only from official status, but also from length of membership, degree of assertiveness or demonstrated expertise.

The Attributes of a Group

Identity	It is identifiable by its members and (usually) by those outside it
Norms of behaviour	It requires its members to conform to established norms or patterns of outlook, attitude and behaviour
Purpose	It has aims and objectives either clearly defined or intuitively understood which directs its activities
Hierarchy	It evolves either formally or informally a leadership and ‘pecking order’ or hierarchy which its members accept
Exclusivity	It has the power to grant or deny admission and also to expel anyone from membership
Solidarity	It demands loyalty of its members and is capable of experiencing internal conflict while displaying an external front
Capacity for change	Its life may be either long or short. It may form, disintegrate and re-form depending upon external circumstances and stimuli

 

 

 

 

(People and Communication  - Desmond Evans 1984)
Categories of Groups

HARTLEY identified three types of group :           Friendship

                                                                             Family

                                                                             Work

If we consider these three types of groups we may conclude that there are certain general differences. Work groups tend to be rather more formal than the other types. Some groups are ‘ascribed’ (like our families) and others are ‘achieved’ (like the membership of a team).

Those groups that you spend the most time with are referred to as primary groups, with secondary groups as those you with which you have intermittent contact.

PRIMARY groups are small and intimate; they have regular contact often face to face

SECONDARY groups are much larger and more impersonal. (Organisations can be part of this group)

COOLEY defined a small group:

          2 (a dyad) – 20

          regularly associate and cooperate

share some common purpose

norms and mores are produced

feelings of solidarity are enjoyed

We categorise and stereotype people according to group membership.

Groups are also identified by their degrees of formality. A committee for example is far more formal than a friendship group.

INFORMAL GROUPS	FORMAL GROUPS
Have relaxed contact	Have stated aims
Communicate freely	Some we are required to join
Share with others	Have a defined function
Seek out others who we believe are similar to ourselves	Allow the process of socialization ie we learn the norms of behaviour and values of society
May have no set rules, or rules which evolve and change	Conform to set rules, written or unwritten, and may have a formal constitution
May have no fixed roles, or division of labour, or these may evolve and change	Have fixed roles played by individuals, a division of labour
May have no formal hierarchies, or hierarchies which evolve and change	Have formal hierarchies
Have relationships which are equal

What is a group?

In order for a group to exist, the following must apply:

• Individuals must exist in some sort of relationship

Burton and Dimbleby (1995)

‘If there is no interaction between the individuals, then a group cannot be formed’

Judy Gahagan (1975)

‘A group should be conceived of as a system whose parts interrelate’

• Share common goals, purposes or interests and recognise these

Burton and Dimbleby

‘a collection of individuals who interact in some way and share some common goals or interests’

• Accept common values or norms of behaviour

O’Sullivan et al (1994)

‘Those sets of social rules, standards and expectations that both generate and regulate social interaction and communication’

• Develop set roles of behaviour

O’Sullivan et al (1994)

‘socially defined positions and patterns of behaviour which are characterised by specific sets of rules, norms and expectation’

• Group members have an identity

Turner (1991)

‘A group exists when two or more people define themselves as members of it and when its existence is recognised by at least one other’

Why do people join groups?

Dimbleby (1998) identified two main reasons:

§  To achieve a shared goal or oppose a common threat (i.e. task-orientated)

§  To have a sense of belonging  (i.e. socio-emotional)

Maslow (1954) suggested that companionship was a basic human necessity in his hierarchy of needs.

Douglas (1979) adopts a more pragmatic approach and lists seven reasons:

§  They choose to do it

§  It is part of doing something else (e.g. a job)

§  They are compelled to do so

§  They are compelled to do so by specific changes in circumstances (e.g. an accident)

§  They drift into it over a period of time

§  They are invited to do so

§  They are proud to do so (this is the ‘achieved’ idea, e.g. gaining entry to a prestigious sports team)

Gration, Reilly and Titford (1992) suggested that groups form because people have communal needs:

§  The need to communicate with others

§  The need to make social contact with others

§  The need for mutual support

§  The need for solidarity with others

§  The need for group identification

§  The need for social status

§  The need to be with people who share a common purpose or interest

Nicholson (1977) set out to establish the factors that had a bearing on the formation of friendships. He suggests that relationships and the joining of groups are primarily about finding something to do and less to do with those factors that influence other personal relationships like love.

§  The need for stimulation

§  The need for reassurance

§  The attraction of similarity ( mixing with People Like Us)

§  The recognition that friendships are expendable (we are prompted into relationships by the knowledge that some, and potentially all, will fail)

§  The fact of proximity (we join with people we constantly see)

§  Physical attractiveness

How Groups Form

Tuckman (1965) and others have suggested that there are four stages in the life and work of groups. Argyle described them as ‘formation’, ‘rebellion’, ‘norming’, and ‘co-operation’. Tuckman described them as:

FORMING         the initial stage of basic interaction in which a number of people come together and communicate regularly

STORMING       the crucial stage of disorder and sometimes conflict through which relationships are forged; the testing stage, which determines whether a group will develop

NORMING         the explicit result of storming, the establishment of group ‘rules’, ways of working, thinking, communicating and self-presentation

PERFORMING     the stage at which a functioning group emerges as a significant communicator, complete with its own ‘personality’ and patterns of behaviour

In practice groups do not always display these exact definitions/ successive phases and are more fluid and dynamic.

How Groups Function

Once groups have formed it is important to consider the way the members communicate, part of this includes the roles we adopt.

Burton and Dimbleby (1995) have described the roles we undertake as interdependent – the model they offer suggests that the role we play in one sort of group influences the roles we play in other groups.

Burton and Dimbleby’s group communication model

Roles can be described as:

Assigned –   generally determined by others and not always within our control –                e.g. belonging to a gender group or a family

Assumed -    roles which we have determined for ourselves – e.g. occupational                   roles, friendship roles

The way we behave in response to the role we have been allocated, or have chosen to adopt, is within our control and can be influenced by a number of factors. These factors include learned behaviour, perception, circumstances, and expectations to name but a few.

Shaw (1981) thought it was important to distinguish between three versions of any role:

§  Perceived role

§  Enacted role

§  Expected role

Stanton (1996) described two types of role within groups: task roles and group building and maintenance roles. Each of these roles requires certain types of behaviour and communication skills.

Task roles include such things as:

§  Initiating activity

§  Seeking information

§  Co-ordinating

Group building and maintenance roles include such behaviours as:

§  Encouraging

§  Gatekeeping

§  Standard setting

Kurt Albrecht is much more rigid in his descriptions of the specific roles within a group:

§  Energisers: those who provide group motivation

§  Ideas people: those who think what to do

§  Action people: those who get things done

§  Organisers: those who make sure things are done efficiently

§  Uncommitted: those who make no real contribution

You might also consider these role designations in comparison to Belbin’s roles.

One obvious role which needs to be discussed is leadership and this is often described as a style of leadership. The key theorist we should be familiar with is Kurt Lewin who designated four main styles:

Autocratic

Bureaucratic

Democratic

Laissez-faire

Essential terms for commy coommy comm comms

a. Key Concepts: Essential

Codes: meaning systems consisting of signs. Signs are anything that has the potential to generate meaning, to signify. When a sign has generated meaning, it is said to have achieved signification. This is fundamental to the semiotic approach to the study of communication.

Communication: a process through which meanings are exchanged.

Context: the situation within which communication takes place.

Culture: a particular way of life which expresses certain meanings and values.

Identity: the sense we have of ourselves, which we then ‘represent’ ‘elsewhere’: a person’s social meaning.

Power: control and influence over other people and their actions.

Representation: refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. (Daniel Chandler’s definition).

Value: the worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody.

b (i) The Nature of Culture: Essential

Bias: a way of privileging one argument or interest over another based on personal feeling rather than rational argument.

Cultural Practice: the things people do in everyday life – such as greeting ach other.

Cultural Product: the things that we encounter in our daily lives.

Elite Culture: the culture of those with power and influence.

High Culture: according to Arnold “the best that has been thought and said”: Art, Literature and Music.

Popular (Low) Culture: the products and practices of everyday life as practised and valued by ordinary people.

Youth Culture: the cultural products and practices of the young.

Ethnicity: a term which represents social groups with a shared history, sense of identity, geography and cultural roots which may occur despite racial difference. Ethnic character, background, or affiliation.

Gender: refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

Meanings and Practices of Everyday Life (MPEL): the codes and conventions that govern the way we live our lives.

Prejudice: a pre-formed opinion, usually an unfavourable one, based on insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings, or inaccurate stereotypes.

Register: is used to describe variations in the use of language or other communication codes associated with a particular context such as a job, an area of technical expertise or social setting. As a student, part of the task is to learn the register of your subject so that you are able to write and speak as, say, a historian or

a geographer or a biologist.

Ritual: the system of set procedures and actions of a group.

Social class: any category based on power, wealth or income.

Socialisation: all of the processes through which we are inducted into society.

Status: the relative position or standing of somebody or something in a society or other group.

Stereotype: a mould into which reality is poured, whatever its individual shape. A stereotype is a simplified and generalised image of a group of people, which is created out of the values, judgements and assumptions of its creators, in most cases society itself. A stereotype of men might suggest their machismo or manliness.

Style: a distinctive and identifiable form in an artistic medium such as music, architecture, or literature: a way of doing something, especially a way regarded as expressing a particular attitude or typifying a particular period.

Taboo: forbidden to be used, mentioned, or approached because of social or cultural rather than legal prohibitions

c (i) Cultural Codes: Essential

Accent: a way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker.

Appearance: the way somebody or something looks or seems to other people: an outward aspect of somebody or something that creates a particular impression.

Bodily Adornment: all the ways in which ‘furnish’ and decorate the body (clothing, jewellery, make-up, tattooing etc).

Dialect: a type of language use specific to a particular area within a country.

Facial Expression: the use of the face as an expressive instrument of communication.

Feedback: the response received by the sender to a message.

Gesture: a movement made with a part of the body in order to express meaning or emotion or to communicate an instruction.

Group: a collection of individuals.

Group cohesion: the tendency of a group to remain intact.

Groupthink: a feature of groups whereby individual performance is inhibited by the priorities of the group as a whole.

Ideal self: the kind of person we would like to be.

Idiolect (idiosyncratic dialect): An individual’s personal language register, it encompasses all our experiences and knowledge of language. The idiolect consists not only of vocabulary but also of the conventions of performance: all our words in all the forms, contexts and with all the differing emphasis we have given to them.

Interaction: communication between or joint activity involving two or more people.

Kinesics: body movement such as gesture, facial expression, posture, head nodding, orientation (where you put your self in relation to others): the study of the way meanings are communicated by bodily movement.

Language: an abstract system of communication using words and sentences to convey meaning.

Non-verbal communication: all communication other than that involving words and language.

Non-verbal leakage: when messages ‘slip out’ in spite of our attempts to control them.

Paralanguage: consists of the non-verbal elements that accompany speech. It includes the way we speak (also known as prosodic features); volume; pitch; intonation; speed of delivery; articulation; rhythm; the sounds we make other than language; laughter; crying; lip smacking; yawning; sighing; screeching; coughing; filled pauses such as ‘Mmmm’, ‘Ahhh’, Errr’, Ummm; unfilled pauses.

Persona: an adopted form of the self/identity.

Perception: the process of making sense of sensory data.

Personal Style: the specific features of our individual communication.

Posture: the way we sit, stand and hold our bodies.

Proxemics: the study of how we use space and distance including seating arrangements, queuing and territoriality.

Proximity: the ways in which the space around us creates meanings for ourselves and others.

Role: a part we play.

Role model: a person whose behaviour, persona and/or appearance provide an influential model for others to follow.

School of thought: a set of beliefs or ideas held by a group of academics; a shared way of thinking about a particular issue.

Self-concept: is the idea we have of ourselves as individuals.

Self disclosure: the act of revealing ourselves, consciously or otherwise.

Self esteem: a measure of our own self worth.

Self-fulfilling prophecy: refers to how our belief that something is true can cause it to be so. For example, if we believe we are confident, we act as if we are confident, and so become confident.

Self image: the view we have of ourselves.

Self presentation: the conscious process through which self becomes text.

Verbal communication: communicating with words and language (as opposed to images, actions or behaviours)

d (i) Toolkits: Essential

Anchorage: directing receivers towards one particular meaning from a range of possible meanings. A caption can anchor the meaning of a photograph.

Barrier: anything which interferes with the processes of communication.

Channel: a communication route or connection.

Connotation: the meanings in a text that are revealed through the receiver’s own personal and cultural experience.

Convention: a rule of artistic practice.

Decode: to convert an encoded message into a form that can be understood.

Denotation: the specific, direct or obvious meaning of a sign rather than its associated meanings: those things directly referenced by a sign.

Encode: to convert a message into a means capable of being transmitted.

Form and Content: these describe the essential relationship between the ‘shape’ of a text (how it’s been made) and ‘what’s in it/what it’s about’.

Function: what a text, group of texts, or indeed communication itself, ‘does’ (inform, persuade, entertain, socialise etc).

Gatekeeper: someone who controls the selection of information to be offered to a given channel. Thus, for example, newspaper editors are significant gatekeepers, but we are all gatekeepers in an interpersonal sense, deciding as we do what we communicate and what we omit or hold back.

Genre: this term describes the subdivisions of the output of a given medium (e.g. television, film, magazine publishing). A genre is a type, a particular version of a communication medium. For example, soap opera is a television genre, for it represents a particular approach to theme, style and form.

Icon: a sign that works by its similarity to the thing it represents.

Index: a type of sign (in C.S. Peirce’s categorisation) that has a direct or causal relationship with its signified. The sign points (like an index finger) to its signified. Smoke is an index of fire.

Medium (and media): the method(s) we use to communicate.

Message: the meaning carried by an act of communication or text.

Model: a graphic or verbal representation of communication processes or aspects of them: a diagrammatic representation of a communication issue.

Noise source: the origin of any barrier to communication.

Open and closed texts: Eco talked about two tendencies of texts: the tendency to be ‘open’ and allow/invite/encourage a wide range of different interpretations: the opposite tendency presents ‘closed’ text which can only be read in a limited number of ways, sometimes only one way.

Process School: a school of thought in which communication is conceived as a process whereby information is transmitted.

Reader: the active interpreter of a message.

Reading: Hall et al. conceive of three distinct ‘varieties’:

a) Dominant-hegemonic: the ‘intended’ meaning or ‘preferred’ reading

b) Negotiated: an interpretation of a text that identifies the dominant reading but also seeks to mediate this

c) Oppositional: any reading that rejects or significantly ‘quarrels’ with the dominant reading and/or presents different/contrary meanings.

Receiver: someone to whom a message is directed.

Register: a form of linguistic performance which is responsive to the situation in which communication is taking place.

Semiotics: the study of signs and how they communicate.

Sender: the originator of communication.

Sign: That which stands for or represents an object, idea or mental concept.

Symbol: an arbitrary sign that works by the agreement among people as to what it represents.

Text: this term is used to refer to anything which can be 'read' for meaning. In this

sense, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a bowler hat, a television advertisement and Buckingham Palace are all texts.