Friday, September 12, 2008
Pragmatic Perspective
After reading the pragmatic perspective, I can see exactly why communication is similar to a game. Although our lives are not a game, it could be save to say that communication is a game. We make moves to get our points across, then usually the person we are communicating with will reciprocate and make a move on us. Like in a game everyone has something to gain. But games are not so fun when they are not going a specific way or how one planned. In communication often times thoughts and ideas are not planned and/or well thought out. This may lead to communication failures such as lack of communication.
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3 comments:
I definitely agree with you on the fact that communication is like a game. I like the way that you related it to making moves and then waiting for someone else to make another move so that we can continue. From reading your post I think one could also say that communication is sometimes not like a game in that in communication we do not always plan out our “plan of action” but in most games people put much thought into each move before making it. However, in both games and communication there is always the idea that something can be lost.
I agree that the way the world looks at communication is definitely in a selfish way which is "what can I gain from this conversation?" If communication were always pragmatic and game like then every conversation would have a winner and a looser.
In that regard I don't agree that communication is like a game, because then every time people interact it would be in a competitive nature. I enjoy conversations to get to know people and to listen to their stories, not to prove that my stories are better.
Another reason I feel communication is not game like is because the human mind can not be predicted. Sometimes things that humans do and the way they act is unexplainable. In a game everything makes logical sense. Humans are much more complex and full of emotion, therefore communication is very different from a game.
I have to say that out of all the models from this chapter, the pragmatic communication chapter was the most interesting. I have never really thought about communication being like a game until I read this chapter. It makes perfect sense though. Everything from how we approach certain situations, the way we phrase our sentences is tailored to getting something, or somewhere. It's like how we act and what we say is specifically crafted to help us reach the next level. If we advance then we can use our communication to help us advance to the next level, or phase. If we cannot make it to the next level, then we have to work our communication in different ways to have it help us reach the next level, or the end of the game. This is totally going to help me when it comes to dating!
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