Payoffs, we are all in for
the payoffs. How is it that we as a society think that whatever we do needs to
have a payoff at the end. Okay so maybe it's not necessarily a monetary form,
but how many people do you know spend the time and energy on a situation
without getting some form of pay off. It may be recognition, a promotion, an
award, or flat-out fame. Humans as a species are selfish creatures. There are
very few out there who will say something or do something without
subconsciously thinking "what's in it for me". When the book refers
to payoffs under patterned communication I was intrigued. It was almost like
validation for a comment I already knew the answer to. The book is right,
communication is like a game. If there wasn't a way to better the game, nobody
would want to play. This is why there is an, employment field, and educational
institutions completely dedicated to communications. Ironically both of those
have natural payoffs.
I can definitely concede your point. Even if the payoff is only to relieve my boredom while standing in line, there is something in it for me. That may not be my motivation for starting a random conversation with someone that I will probably never speak to again, but it may just be a lack of conscious motivation. Even in making this comment, I get something out of it, meeting the requirements of the class. As a whole your observations are spot on. I do have a little bit of a problem with the generalization that you apply to the species in regards to selfishness. There are plenty of people out there that do selfless things, giving no thought to receiving recognition, fame, or compensation.
ReplyDeleteI used Sherlock Holmes as an example in one of my posts and your posting made me think of an episode of Friends. I probably seem like a huge couch potato naming all these shows and movies, but the examples fit. There was an episode where one of them set out to do a selfless good deed just to prove that there was such thing as doing something for another without personal gratification. I did laugh a little because your post kind of ingrained in me that there really is no selfless good deed. Communication is very much like that. We say things to please ourselves and even when we purposely lose an argument- you feel good about it because you did it for someone else. It does make me feel guilty to think that everything I do is really done for myself in the end. Even if what I do and say benefits someone else, I feel good about helping that other person.
ReplyDeleteI think we learn about the payoff process from a young age. When I was young, my parents would get me to clean or behave in exchange for a candy bar or a little gift. Even look at elementary schools, kids get fun little gifts if they do what their teacher instructed them to do. I think this process gets embedded into us at a young age and when we have grown up, we respond to motivations like this in a quick and effective manner. I agree that certain behaviors like this can be seen as a pattern of a behavior. But I don’t think it applies to every aspect in of our lives.
ReplyDeleteI sooo agree! I think this topic was very interesting! I love how you put your words together in this post. You’re right in everything we do we hope for some type of reward or pay off in the end. I agree with what “The answer is: 42” said about making the comments on others blogs are in hopes of getting the grade points. We may not want to do it, but it’s a rewarding feeling to get the grade you want. That’s true when we are communicating we are hoping to gain or get something out of it in the end. It’s all like a game! The payoff process helps us get what we want by playing by the rules.
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