Survivor: Philippines – an Analysis Using Communication Theory

SURVIVOR PHILIPPINES An Analysis of the CBS Program Using Three Theories of parley S aloney Annabella Communications 307 Dr. Debbie Way November 2012 No nonp aril has died. Some find been medevacked. Its a rough endorse. The CBS television series Survivor is whiz of the first reality tv registers and is forthwith in its 12th year. It features 18 demonstrators striving to Outwit, Outplay and Outlast each separate to win one meg bucks by the end of the season.While it is important to be in comfortably physical shape (the ch whollyenges be just that, physically challenging) it is imperative to ready impecc equal discourse skills. In watching episodes of the current season, Survivor Philippines, I wipe out noniced Communication Privacy Management scheme, Message normal Logics, Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Politeness Theory, and Social swop Theory. While this newspaper only requires triple theories to be mentioned, I entrust show that all five ar tied together.E ach season Survivor is filmed over a period of 39 days on a opposite remote island. The contestants are divided into 2 or three tribes that lead come out of the conterminoust competing against each other in challenges for a) rewards such as search supplies or an elegant feast and b) the coveted exemption Idol, a keepsake that means they will have the chance to play another three days. The tribe that does not win the idol will have to go to Tribal Council (an event that happens generally every three days) and risk cosmos voted out of the game, hence no chance of winning the million dollar prize.About half-way through the season, the tribes merge into one, each doer now plays for himself, and the remaining challenges are centered around winning Individual Immunity. All of the remaining players now go to Tribal Council and vote out one player. These ousted players now sour the Jury, and they will be the ones to ultimately vote at the end of the game (when there are three rem aining players) on who will fritter home the million dollars. Communication Privacy Management Theory, as utter by Dainton and Zelley on page 68, has four main principles. The one close applic able-bodied in Survivor involves boundaries.A termination linkage is formed when two or to a greater extent parties share study (Dainton and Zelley p. 71) with each owner of the information macrocosm responsible for its privacy. Inevitably, when one player finds a hidden Immunity Idol, they cannot seem to keep the information to themselves. They feel they must entrust somebody else with this extremely private information and this almost certainly is their undoing. Dainton and Zelley show on page 72 that Petronio in 2002 states that boundary turbulence occurs when the rules for privacy caution are not clear.This statement implies that boundary turbulence is unintentional. In watching Survivor, I found that boundary turbulence could also be intentional. In one instance, Player A told Pla yer B she would not arrange anyone that he (Player B) was in possession of a hidden immunity idol, provided she did tell someone else (Player C. ) Player C then confronted Player B, create boundary turbulence with Player A. In another instance (and a different set of players), Players A and B together found a clue to a hidden immunity idol. They promised each other not to tell anyone else.Player A then told Player C. Player C seized an opportunity to plant the clue in Player Bs possessions, devising it appear to Player A that Player B had betrayed her, thus creating boundary turbulence. In Message forge Logics Theory, there are three types of communication, communicatory (p. 35), conventional and rhetorical (p. 36). Expressive is a sender-focused pattern of communication, concerned in the main with self-expression. Some players do not seem to have a ? lter and conquer their thoughts to spew out, whether it be bene? cial to them or not. Conventional operates by rules.In one episode, others in the sort out let one player bash that he was overstepping the assembly line of acceptable behavior when he was snuggling with another particular contestant. They dappleed out to him that it appeared to the rest of the group that he was in a strong adherence with her. He subsequently stopped sleeping next to her to show the group his allegiance was not tied to her. The more successful players of Survivor overtake in the rhetorical fashion. These individuals view communication as a flop tool used to create situations and negotiate multiple goals (p. 6). They pay close attention to what others are communicating in order to be give out able to understand their point of view, and therefore what they might be opinion beyond what they are saying. Those who use this type of communication are seek a balance between their goals and keeping harmony with the recipient(s), even to the point of protecting another? s feelings (such as by not mucilaginous them. ) The y want to maintain a good working relationship with the other person in the future. Survivor contestants experience on a passing(a) basis Uncertainty Reduction Theory.Dainton and Zelley point out on page 43 that, according to Berger and Calabrese (1975), humans regularly experience uncertainty, we do not like the feeling, and we use communication to reduce our uncertainties. In the game of Survivor, the players are in a constant state of uncertainty. They know that, by devise of the game, they and their co-competitors all have the same goal. And only one of them is going to mountain range it. They go into the game knowing they are going to form friendships and they are going to have to lie and accept being lied to.One player stated that nobody wants to betray anybody else and nobody wants to feel betrayed. Politeness Theory also comes into play. Dainton and Zelley show on page 60 that if someone has more power or prestige than you, you will be more cultured to them. This theory also states that if what you have to say may hurt the receiver of the information, you will be more polite. Survivor is all about who has the power. The players all want to be the one with the power, whether they want to let the other players know or not.To tie it to Message Design Logics, if they are a rhetorical communicator, they will be more polite to the one perceived as having the power. The expressive communicator, however, will not be so aware of the convey to be polite. Another theory that needs to be mentioned is Social Exchange Theory. Dainton and Zelley on page 61 show that Thibaut and Kelley in 1959 maintained that humans, by nature, are sel? sh. We determine the relationships we keep or let go by weighing the bene? ts versus the costs of these relationships. In Survivor, the players are continually assessing their relationships with each ther, strategizing which relationships will thrive and which will be detrimental to their ultimate goal of reservation it all 39 da ys and to the million dollar prize. The CBS television show Survivor is a wealth of examples of communication theories in action. A contestant cannot possibly make it to the end and win the prize of one million dollars without being an exceptional communicator. This means not only being able to convey ones own information (expressive Message Design Logics), but also being able to assess how his/her information is being interpreted (rhetorical Message Design Logics. They also need to be able to read the others that are communicating to them, and determine whether the information being pictured is truthful or not. While contestants have had to be medevacked for physical issues, they have yet to be involuntarily removed from the game for lack of communication skills. References Dainton, M. , & Zelley, E. D. (2011). Applying communication theory for professional life A practical approach (2nd ed. ). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage. Website CBS Survivor. http//www. cbs. com/shows/survivor/