Beschreibung:
Explaining Conversations offers a different way of interpreting people’s social exchanges than has been available in the past. The book is replete with examples of people’s verbal interactions in the form of chats, arguments, debates, and negotiations, both within a culture and across cultures. The volume’s subtitle, A Developmental Social-Exchange Theory, identifies a theme featured in Chapters 2 and 5—the typical pattern by which social-exchange skills evolve over the first two decades of life.
Explaining Conversations offers a different way of interpreting people’s social exchanges than has been available in the past. The book is replete with examples of people’s verbal interactions in the form of chats, arguments, debates, and negotiations, both within a culture and across cultures. The volume’s subtitle, A Developmental Social-Exchange Theory, identifies a theme featured in Chapters 2 and 5—the typical pattern by which social-exchange skills evolve over the first two decades of life. Throughout the book, the underlying meanings of conversations are interpreted in terms of (a) the needs people seek to fulfill through their conversations, (b) the influence of a person’s culture on what is said, (c) individuals’ patterns of thought (metacognition) during a conversation, (d) how people’s expectations about a conversation affect what they will say, and (e) strategies individuals adopt to achieve their goals. The book includes a chapter designed to guide parents and teachers in promoting young children’s and adolescents’ social-exchange skills.
Preface
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: The Nature of Social Exchanges
Chapter 2: The Anatomy of the Theory
Part II: The Theory Components
Chapter 3: Needs as Motivators
Chapter 4: The Significance of Culture
Chapter 5: Developmental Stairways
Chapter 6: The Role of Issues and Beliefs
Part III: Enhancing Social-Exchange Skill-Development
Chapter 7: Further Features of Exchanges
Chapter 8: Coping with Cross-Cultural Encounters
Chapter 9: Promoting Social-Exchange Skill-Development
Part IV: Afterthoughts
Chapter 10: Unfinished Business
References
Index
About the Authors