Communication accommodation theory suggests that we adapt our communication when interacting with others. Giles and Coupland (1991) refined speech accommodation theory (Giles, Mulac, Bradac, & Johnson 1987) to better understand our adaptations during interpersonal communication. The major components of communication accommodation theory are convergence and divergence. While convergence is the adjustment of our speech to match the other party, divergence is the altering of speech to differ from the group. People may converge in attempt to blend in and join the in-group. However, if they do not want to be associated with a group, they may diverge. Communication accommodation theory takes a positivistic approach to knowing. Therefore, it is studied through experiments and surveys dealing with quantitative data. Technology causes many questions about its effect on communication. In “Politeness Accommodation in Electronic Mail,”. Bunz and Campbell studied the effects technology has on communication accommodation, mainly through politeness in email. Bunz and Campbell used a sample of 106 students at a large midwestern university. “An original self-report questionnaire was used for this study assessing participant age, sex, years of
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When politeness indicators were given in the email, the response was more polite than when they were not in the message. Differences among people including age, gender, and frequency of the use of email were found to not influence the politeness used in messages. The result also showed that it is easy to express politeness in email, just as it is in verbal communication with a social cue. It is proved to coincide with Communication Accommodation Theory; people converge with their politeness in emails. It is stated in the discussion section of the report that more research is needed and so is a bigger sample of people in order to further the
When politeness indicators were given in the email, the response was more polite than when they were not in the message. Differences among people including age, gender, and frequency of the use of email were found to not influence the politeness used in messages. The result also showed that it is easy to express politeness in email, just as it is in verbal communication with a social cue. It is proved to coincide with Communication Accommodation Theory; people converge with their politeness in emails. It is stated in the discussion section of the report that more research is needed and so is a bigger sample of people in order to further the