George Herbert Mead's Theory Of Symbolic Interactionism In Communication

To most People, communicate is just an essential element with everyday life without thinking too much about what is going on, during communication with each other a multitude of things transpire that effect how our messages are received and how they are responded to. One of such ways is labeled as Symbolic interactionism, which is a sociological outlook on oneself and on society, meaning the human interaction and communication that is aided by words, gestures, and other symbols that has meaning. The theory was formulated in the middle of the twentieth century by George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and several others who helped with the making of the theory. Although there were many who contributed to the theory, many considered Mead, …show more content…
To better understand this here are some examples: imagine you have a sibling (younger brother) with whom you have had competition with your whole life. You see your brother receiving everything that he ever wanted more than you have which is unfair. Your brother notices on how he receives more items than you and consider it fair so he starts picking at your insecurities whenever you mention how unfair he receives everything. All of this is an experience that took place through series of social situations, communication, and thoughts you have about your brother. Certain events will be presented and important to you. For example, the company that your brother works at has given him a promotion in less than a year of working there. You’re “happy” for your brother for getting the promotion but you believe he does not has the skills for the job, you give the situation a particular meaning, that it is unfair and another example of how your brother always gets what he wants. Perhaps then your brother loses his job abruptly with no other job in sight and comes to you for emotional support as he recovers from the loss. You and he grow closer as he expresses appreciation for your help and solicits advice from you on how to move forward. Your role changes from that of a …show more content…
When I start my day, I usually tell my roommate a pun or something that happened to me during the week which she responds with laughing at the pun and telling something relatable that is happened to her. On my way to class I greet almost everyone on campus and they respond with a “good morning” or ignore me. Now I’m in class, the professor is explaining music theory, he asked everyone a question expecting us to listen and interact to the subject and to the class but instead of that, we give him the “deer caught in the headlights” look which then he’ll try to water it down for us. Whenever I see one of my friends I usually greet them with the middle finger, an awful pun, and last but not least, an insult about their appearance which they will perceive it as an joke. I’ve been doing this every day without realizing that I was using almost all forms of