Job Discussion Forums

[blackwellben]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-language-code

[johnslat]

Dear blackwellben,

Fascinating article:

" One of the most interesting results was part of a study my students and I conducted dealing with status in email correspondence. Basically, we discovered that in any interaction, the person with the higher status uses I-words less (yes, less) than people who are low in status. The effects were quite robust and, naturally, I wanted to test this on myself. I always assumed that I was a warm, egalitarian kind of guy who treated people pretty much the same."

Opens up all sorts of possibilities for research.

"I was the same as everyone else. When undergraduates wrote me, their emails were littered with I, me, and my. My response, although quite friendly, was remarkably detached -- hardly an I-word graced the page. And then I analyzed my emails to the dean of my college. My emails looked like an I-word salad; his emails back to me were practically I-word free."

Some potential theses and dissertations there, perhaps.

Regards,
John

P.S. You did notice, right? No "I," "me," "my," or "mine" in the personal comments in this post.

[blackwellben]

Thanks for the reply, John.
Status was a big frame for this man
http://www.keithjohnstone.com/
working in improvisation. Much of what's being quantified by the book in the article was known, through experience, by Johnstone.
Over the last twenty years, a respectable repertoire of listening exercises have been developed within the craft of improv. I've adapted many for a classroom setting other than scene work.

[veiledsentiments]

Be sure to read the comments too.

VS

[johnslat]

Dear veiledsentiments,

Did so - Like this one, especially:

"What is interesting is the fact that I used to think I got to use more I's to make the conversation look active. But now I recollect (vaguely though) that I used I's when writing to supervisors and not to subordinates. And again I can see that subordinates use more I's when reporting.

Eight "I's"

Regards,
John

Dear blackwellben,

Thanks for that link - improv looks like fun, especially with a high-level ESL class. Think it's worth a try this semester

Regards,
John