Role Playing with Wimba

Michael Milburn

Psychology Department

UMass/Boston

The Course• Psych 337—Communication and Society• Narrated PowerPoints• Interpersonal Communication

– Non-verbal Communication– Gender and Communication

• Systems of Communication– Paul Watzlavick—Pragmatics of Human Communication

• First to apply systems theory to communication in the family• Relational/Content aspects of communication• Meta-communication• Feedback loops

– Positive: escalation– Negative: thermostat

• Counterfeit questions• Punctuation

– “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

The Discussion

• What is the setting of the film?

• What is the tone set in the opening couple of minutes of the film? How does it change?

• What counterfeit questions did you observe?

• What are the “games”?

• What is the purpose of the games?

The Discussion

• Who is to blame in the conflict?– Is George a victim?– What about when he refused to kiss her?

• What kind of feedback characterizes the system?

• What role does the myth of the son play in the family system?

• What examples of metacommunication did you see?

• How is Relational Control Theory relevant?

The Assignment

• In your group, you are to take the role of a family therapist to whom George and Martha have come for help with their marital difficulties. You have just viewed their interactions for 2 hours.

• 1) From what you have learned about Relational Control Theory, do an analysis of George and Martha’s relationship

• 2) Make recommendations for George and Martha to improve their relationship

Doing it Online--Wimba

• Enter Wimba• Create Breakout Rooms

– Drag instructor’s name into rooms to move from room to room– Setup eBoard

• Designate a student to have control – Use “Enable” command– Make sure students know how to use Whiteboard

• Keep track of points in discussion on Whiteboard

– Students do a “Save” that sends screenshot to Main Room– Slides saved into BOR folder

• End Breakout rooms, bring students back to Main Room

• Go over different rooms’ discussions

Relational Control Theory

Michael Milburn

Psych 337

Watzlavick, Beavin & Jackson (1967)Pragmatics of Human Communication

• Fox and rabbits

• Psychopathology

• Carnap– Syntactics– Semantics– Pragmatics

Feedback

• Cybernetics

• Positive or negative

• Positive—change

• Negative—stability

• Interpersonal systems

• Metacommunication

• Circularity of communication patterns

Axioms of Communication

• Impossible not to communicate

• Content and relationship aspects

• Healthy/sick relationships

• Punctuation of communication

Axioms of Communication

• Impossible not to communicate

• Content and relationship aspects

• Healthy/sick relationships

• Punctuation of communication

Axioms of Communication

• Impossible not to communicate

• Content and relationship aspects

• Healthy/sick relationships

• Punctuation of communication

Healthy/Sick Relationships

Sick Healthy

Content

Relationship

Information communicated

Axioms of Communication

• Impossible not to communicate

• Content and relationship aspects

• Healthy/sick relationships

• Punctuation of communication

Punctuation

Husband1 3 5 7 9 11

Wife 2 4 6 8 10

withdraws withdrawswithdrawswithdrawswithdrawsnags nags nags nags nags

Punctuation--Husband

Husband1 3 5 7 9 11

Wife 2 4 6 8 10

withdraws withdrawswithdrawswithdrawswithdrawsnags nags nags nags nags

Punctuation--Wife

Husband1 3 5 7 9 11

Wife 2 4 6 8 10

withdraws withdrawswithdrawswithdrawswithdrawsnags nags nags nags nags

Relational Control Theory

• Frank Millar/Edna Rogers

• Main question: “who controls this relationship?”

• Control may vary

• Couples negotiate

Counterfeit Questions

• Make up a list of types of questions

• Come up with an example from your own experience of different types

Counterfeit Questions

• Questions that trap speaker

• Questions that make a statement

• Questions that carry hidden agendas

• Questions that seek “correct” answer

• Questions based on unchecked assumptions