Psychology 409b- May2, 2006

Outline 7- Interruption

By Jessica Pettit

 

Gender Discourseby Deborah Tannen (Oxford University Pres, 1994), pgs 53-67

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm

 

 

• Interruption
• As a form of dominance
• All researchers who report that males interrupt females more than females interrupt males use mechanical definitions to identify interruptions
• Exceptions
• Procedural interruptions: For example, interruption that occurs at a dinner table when an individual asks someone else to pass the food.
• Some researchers believe that procedural interruptions justify the behavior of the interrupter
• Sociological objection to interruption as a form of dominance:
• Conversation is a join production
• For interruption to occur, two speakers have to act. The speaker has to stop and the other person must begin speaking. If the speaker does not stop, this is considered overlap.
• It is wrong for a researcher to conclude that the interruption is the doing of one party.
• Many instances of overlap or supportive rather than obstructive
• It is often not considered interruption until one of the participants feels as though their right to talk has been infringed upon
• Cooperative overlapping
• Supportive, rather than obstructive, evidence not of domination but of participation
• High involvement conversation style
• Style of speakers who leave little or no inter-turn pause, and frequently begin speaking while another speaker is already speaking
• Fast paced conversation usually accompanied by overlap
• Conversation is not disrupted when both people are the same “high involvement” style
• High considerateness style
• Longer pause-favoring, overlap-aversant speakers
• Felt interrupted and dominated with “high involvement” style speakers
• Conclusion
• Interruption relies on a variety of factors including context, culture, gender, and speaker style
• Interruption does not automatically correlate to domination

 

 

Related Websites

 

“Gender Dynamics in Dinnertime Conversation” http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/495/papersS98/paper6.htmlThis website discusses an article concerning interruption. This study showedthat gender differences within communication styles at dinnertime were not asevident in dual-career families.

 

“Thoughts on Gender Styles in Communication” http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/githens/paper511.htmThis website discusses gender styles in communication, and directly examinesDeborah Tannen’s book, You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women inConversation. Within this article, theauthor discusses how gender differences within communication style carry overto computer mediated communication.

 

“Interpretations of Gender Differences in ConversationalInterruptions” http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:frUXPyHjM9gJ:www.teilhard.com/writings/nvc%2520-%2520interruption.pdf+interruption+and+dominance&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4 This article describes how researchers are quick tolink interruption to domination, and that men are more likely to be those whointerrupt. The author further discusses how this assumption does not explainwhy women interrupt, as in an example involving a female continuouslyinterrupting her male teacher. 

 

My Home page:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bs2006/pettit/pettit-home.htm

 

 

Class Home Page

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm