Article Critique: Shared Talking Styles Herald New and Lasting Romance
The article ‘shared talking styles herald new and lasting romance’ claims that verbal communication plays a critical role in a relationship. According to this article, the way two individuals who are related communicate verbally it is possible to state their level of relationship. Even though, individuals in the society may develop different relationship verbal communication plays a vital role in strengthening the relationship and making it last for long. This essay explores the claims in the article shared talking styles herald new lasting romance, with the aim of criticizing the article.
Overview of the article: ‘shared talking styles herald new lasting romance
According to the article the article, love flames get fanned when the people in the relationship similarly employees words such as I, it, but and under in the day to day conversation. This conclusion has been arrived at after a series of studies done by a group of scholars from the Pennebaker University of Texas at Austin. The researcher names this unconscious verbal coordination between individual in a relationship as language style matching. This type of conversation is an indication of how one person is paying attention to another person and not signifying how much the individuals love each other. Basing on the findings these researchers have worked on a computer application that is capable of measuring the extent to which people use function words as well as words from other categories while writing or talking. The program has also assisted some enthusiasts in the field to do further research on various types of conversation (Science news 2010).
The article asserts that two individuals who hate one another in most occasion exhibit higher level of language style matching compared to the ones who like each other and those who are highly attentive conversation partners tend to like each other. Matching conversational styles is claimed to be of benefit to a couple since it shows how much one in a relationship is liked (Science news 2010). According to the research, functional words being independent of the conversation topics it taps into the verbal coordination between two people. According to the study article, two different individuals having different professionalism may use the same functional words even though their noun would be varying, and this will make their understanding of each other better. People who have a similar way of communicating are likely to date compared to a pair of individuals who have different speaking styles. Another research conducted to prove the findings of the study finds out that a couple in a committed relationship with similar writing styles and chart (Science news 2010).
Critique
The article has a nice organization, the author of the article is also a credible person and this makes the article more credible, additionally, the author has used empirical results to prove the claims postulated in the article. The language used is also more understandable to the targeted audience. The author has used simple, and common language is making it be easily understood by people from different professionalism. The structure of the article is also easy to comprehend. However, the quality of the article can be improved by the addition of subtopics on it. Adding subtopics would make it easy to capture the main points in it without necessarily having to read deeper into the article. The article claims that individuals who have similar or almost similar communication style are compatible. Basing on the study, programs for the computer have been developed to be used to determine the level of language matching between two individuals. In my opinion, this software and concept are not accurate. This is based on the results that I obtained after using the online version of the software. The results that I obtained after feeding a conversation between one of my best friend and I is what makes me say that the concept was misleading. According to the article, individuals who have similar conversation are the ones who are likely to be in a relationship for long. However, for my case this was different. I have already stayed in the relationship for long but the results obtained from the Software indicates that I and my friend are not compatible. Another factor that interferes with the accuracy of the results obtained is the fact that the program does not put into consideration other factors that might affect the accuracy of the information obtained. Such factors such as translations, error in transcription have not been put into consideration when doing calculation while using the software (Bhattacharya & Sengupta 2007).
Language style matching is not a comprehensive way to the prediction of the quality of interpersonal relationship. This is from the fact that individuals will have different ways of expressing themselves depending on some factors such as cultural background and personality. It is the responsibility of one to be attentive so as to understand the communication from another person. According to the book men are from mars and woman from Venus it is evident that women communication is based on emotions so basing on it how they can have similar communication technique to that of men who use logic while communicating and arguing (Bhattacharya & Sengupta 2007).
He research furthermore emphasizes the use of functional words in a conversation shows the compatibility of individual. Functional words do not have meaning by themselves so how are they important in determining the similarity of communication within individuals. Depending on one’s knowledge and exposure will make the use of those functional words to vary (Bhattacharya & Sengupta 2007).
Conclusion
Shared talking styles herald new and lasting romance is an article that talks about how individuals with similar communication style have a high tendency to be in a relationship for long. The essay has investigated the finding on the article and found out that this method of determining the level of interpersonal skills is not appropriate. Even though the research was conducted by an individual who is credible in the field of psychology. The postulates of the theory do not hold water. This is from the fact that the applications used in doing the language matching are not accurate in any way, most of the individuals who have used such software believes that the results were not accurate. Personally, after using the similar software I realized the results being displayed are not correct. This is a clear indication that the principle used to develop the software is not right because the software depends on the principle. Furthermore, it is expected for different individuals to have different communication styles. What matters is how attentive those people are to each other. Being attentive towards a partners does not call for the use of similar words, it only calls for the understanding of what someone is talking about and being passionate about the conversation.
Reference: Article Critique: Shared Talking Styles Herald New and Lasting Romance
Bhattacharya, M. S., & Sengupta, N. (2007). Emotional intelligence: Myth or reality. New Delhi: Excel Books.
Science news (2010). Shared talking styles Herald New and Lasting romance. Web: http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/11/22/shared-talking-styles-herald-new-and-lasting-romance?page=2