https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC The theories of interpersonal communication are important to learn because they’re present in our everyday lives. Effective communication can establish and build relationships with other people. Through nonverbal and verbal communication people are able to actively display themselves. The hit television show How I Met Your Mother successfully portrayed multiple relationships over its nine seasons. How I Met Your Mother tells the story of an up and coming architect, Ted Mosby, living in New York with his best friend, Marshall Erikson. Also in the gang is Lily Aldrin, Marshall's college girlfriend and Barney Stinson, a narcissistic womanizer. Ted is a hopeless romantic who is telling his kids stories of his past experiences and failed relationships leading up to the story of how Ted Mosby met their mother. Through his life and relationships, interpersonal communication theories are applied. So kids... this is the story of how interpersonal communications theories relate to the wondrous life of Ted Mosby. en-us 2016-11-29 20:07:17 UTC 2025-12-13 02:48:14 UTC hello@padlet.com alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/140657958 The expectancy violations theory explains how the behaviors of one person can relate to another person. The effects of this behavior can either be taken as positive or negative. The higher degree of "violation" to norms, then the more negative the response could be to the behavior. The norms, or behavioral rule that is widely accepted by society, are socially conditioned into starting at birth and are expected to follow. This theory explains how someone would react to someone who is acting in a way that is not expected, or socially accepted.

In the first episode of How I Met Your Mother, we meet Ted Mosby.  At the gang's hangout spot, MacLaren's Pub, Ted spots Robin Scherbatsky across the room. Convinced that it's love at first sight, Ted does all in his power to hook her for the first date. Robin, after trying to get out of it, accepts the date with Ted in which they have dinner later. After just the first date, Ted believes he has fallen head-over-heels for Robin. The evening of the first date, once they parted ways, Ted's friends began analyzing all the "signs" he missed Robin giving him to initiate a kiss. In realization of his mistakes, he took the advice of his friends and returned to the restaurant which the date was held. From here, Ted stole the blue french horn that Robin claimed to have wanted for her own living room. Showing up at her apartment, Ted presents the blue french horn and proclaims his love for Robin. After only one date, Ted tells Robin he loves her and she's the girl that he is going to marry one day. 

The average couple can take hundreds of dates and many months before the word love is even thought about. Since the norm for saying "I love you" is usually a while, after each other has gotten to known one another and they're truly in love, Robin was caught off guard when Ted said it after only one night. By violating the expectations of not saying "I love you" within the first 24 hours, Robin slightly freaks out. In addition to Robin's appropriate reaction, Ted's friends and children share the same reaction. Since Ted's action was so out of the norm, it was understandable that everyone reacted in such an astounded way. Being that Ted's verbal affection is so far off the norm scale, the more everyone's reaction is going to be negative. Ted himself explains how he doesn't even know why he had said it, as he proceeds to say "I love you" again. The norm doesn't follow what's expected, causing the reactions.


]]> 2016-11-29 20:34:07 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/140657958 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141632142 Family communications patterns theory titles the relationships of families based on the conformity orientation and conversation orientation. Conversation orientation drawing from how often and to what extent the family really communicates. While the conformity orientation draws from how strict the authority wants all others to agree with what they're saying in ideas and other things. The four titles of familial relationships include: consensual, which is made from high conversation and high conformity. Protective, which is from low conversation and high conformity. Lassiez-Faire, which is from low conversation and low conformity. And lastly, pluralistic, which is a combination of high conversation and low conformity.

As we learn, or lack thereof, Ted's relationship with his parents is absolutely Lassiez-Faire. Both of Ted's parents, Alfred and Virginia, seem to enforce low conversation. We see this in action because Ted's parents really don't talk to him much now that he's moved out of Ohio. Alfred, doesn't feel comfortable talking to Ted unless it's about baseball. Virginia, on the other hand, avoids communication as her and Ted have a low conversation rate. Virginia and Alfred's divorce isn't even learned until the both of them visit Ted in New York, which at the same time, the news is broken that Ted's grandmother has also died.  Virginia later remarries Clint, the hippie. At the wedding, we can learn that Clint has no boundaries as he sings he Ode to Virginia. As Ted isn't used to the sharing of personal details concerning his mom's life, the song comes to a complete shock for Ted. The lack of real conversation that his family has creates the lassiez-faire relationship. ]]> 2016-12-04 23:17:57 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141632142 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141651565 The self discrepancy theory explains how people compare the ideal self, to the ought self. Comparing what oneself wants to be, versus what they know they should be. By comparing the two ideas, a personal discrepancy could arise. 

Ted's career as an architect is constantly fluctuating. Ted's dream of creating a skyscraper to make it into the New York skyline was going true as he was working for an architectural firm until he was soon fired for creating a better design than his boss. Ted then gets hired at Goliath National Bank (GNB) to design the new headquarters until the economy tanks and Ted's plans are again scrapped. As Ted searches for success, he creates his own business, Mosbius Designs. His business fails as he is offered a job as a professor at Columbia University. Ted accepts the job as a professor because of his lack of luck in finding an architecture job, contrary to his dream in contributing to the skyline. While teaching, Ted finds himself to be in the best position of his life as he loves his classes, and is re-offered the opportunity to build the headquarters for Goliath National Bank. As the new GNB headquarters are set to be built over a self-proclaimed historic building, Ted is conflicted on whether he should pursue his dreams or risk moving the location so the beautiful standing architecture can stand as is.

]]> 2016-12-05 04:25:12 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141651565 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141876826 The communication accommodation theory is essentially the idea that people are especially motivated to adapt their language when they seek social approval, wish to establish relationships, and when they deem others' language as appropriate. The theory explains how someone will alter their speech and gestures in order to accommodate to others. People tend to eliminate social differences in interaction in order to feel more connected with another person through speech adaptation. 

In the show, we meet Adam "Punchy" Punciarello, Ted's best friend from high school. When Ted and Punchy talk on the phone, or even in person when Punchy comes out to New York to see Ted, Ted reverts to how he acted when he was in high school. When someone reverts to their language and actions from a previous time in their lives, Marshall calls this re-vertigo. During one scene where Ted calls Punchy on the phone, their language is not one that would make sense now that they're older. Punchy, who evidently has not grown up any since high school, establishes the language of their call causing Ted to accommodate his speech to their old ways. ]]> 2016-12-05 20:24:38 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141876826 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141894362 The social penetration theory that you reveal information about yourself in layers rather than all at once. The peripheral layers would include the outermost information of someone containing ideas like age, hometown, or college major. The Intermediate layers would be a step further into the personality containing deeper ideas such as preferred music tastes, political beliefs, and hobbies. The central layers of someone would be the core someone, what truly makes them up. This layer would include ideas such as personal values, self esteem levels, and fears. 

Ted Mosby's multiple relationships throughout his life are all in a different degree to which Ted shares information about himself. Ted's relationship with Marshall started when they were freshman roommates in college. From the beginning of college to their current lives now, still as best friends, Ted has peeled back every layer of himself to Marshall. Ted's relationship with Marshall is even different than the one he shares with his students. Marshall and Ted know each other inside and out since they've been best friends for years. They decided that they were best friends when they took a road trip together. On this road trip, the intermediate level of music taste as they bond over the song "500 Miles". Professor Mosby on the other hand, though he is supposed to remain professional, finds ways to share his personal life with his students. In season 5, episode 10 Ted connects with his students on a personal level as he tells them about the girl who got away. Ted's students counsel him on how to get the girl back, rather than remaining distant. While Ted has really exposed all layers of himself to Marshall, the professor-student relationship remains on the intermediate level. ]]> 2016-12-05 21:54:21 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141894362 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141920429 The symbolic convergence theory states situations where a group of people can share common fantasies, turning the individual members into a cohesive group. With symbolic convergence, a group of people become closer with this overlaying idea that everyone shares. As a whole, the group develops a sort of personality together. The identity of the group becomes larger than the individual personalities which make it up. The cohesive idea of the group represents who they are and how they're connected.

The iconic hangout spot for Ted and his friends is MacLaren's Pub. As the group can almost always been seen hanging out in this bar, they're even more likely to be seen in their booth. Although the booth may seem like their place for everyone to fit and be in close proximity to the bar, the booth stands for more than that. The booth is seen as more of a symbol for their closeness and togetherness of the group as a whole. Instead of called it "the booth", it has become "our booth" as Ted says. Even the staff at the bar knows as much that that booth is where Ted, Marshall, Lily, Barney and Robin can be found. The booth represents their friendship and ties the group together. Whether they're all in the booth at MacLaren's, or anywhere else, as long as they're all together, that is the meaning of the booth. ]]> 2016-12-06 03:18:56 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/141920429 alysha_davis https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/142430150 McCornack, S. (2007). Reflect & Relate: An Introduction to Interpersonal
Communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Symbolic Convergence Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2016, from http://www.leehopkins.net/2011/05/31/symbolic-convergence-theory/]]> 2016-12-07 21:20:57 UTC https://padlet.com/alysha_davis/HowIMetYourMotherIPC/wish/142430150