IIs

The other day I stumbled into a comm studies course by accident and it turned out to be a box of Legos unto itself. Divine intervention may have had something to do with it. I was hoping for a lightweight course and picked "interpersonal communication" out of the catalog. On week 3 this course has proven to be anything BUT lightweight: so far I've run into new theories, some higher level stats, and what I think is the statistical software equivalent of a Lego box: AMOS. So far I've just run a few confirmatory factor analyses in it (and don't believe for a second that I have a handle on interpreting the results)!) and I think its main application is structural equation modeling, which I know zip about.

The professor has published extensively on IIs (Imagined Interactions), which refers to the conversations we have with others -- in our heads. This is particularly relevant to entertainment theory, as we all have IIs in some form or another with the various characters in television shows.

I for one have imagined telling Colonel (more recently, "General") O'Neill -- with 2 l's -- Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, and Colonel Carter all about what the bad guys are planning, but they never listen. Thankfully, the writers of the show know this and give me exactly what I want at the end of the episode -- to be proven right in my assessments of the galactic situation. Stargate SG1 makes me feel smart, which is one of the habit-forming properties of any television show.

As described by Honeycutt (2010), there are several measurable characteristics to IIs: Frequency, proactivity (rehearsing for interaction), retroactivity (reviewing real interactions), variety, discrepancy (in real-life and IIs), self dominance (we like to be in charge), and specificity (details in the II). There are also several functions that IIs serve: relational maintenance, conflict linkage, rehearsal, self-understanding, catharsis, and compensation (for lack of interactions).
So there we have it: IIs as another Lego in the collection of moving parts that comprise entertainment theory.

As I dig deeper into IIs and all the theories they feed in to, I will certainly have to update this post or create new ones. For now, I'm just going to identify IIs as a Lego in the Dissertation Lego Box. They belong in there, but I still don't fully understand them.