I really love to laugh, so comedy
films are my favorite. Tommy Boy is a film starring comedians Chris Farley and
David Spade. They were often on SNL together and are downright hilarious, so
naturally I love this movie. It is about Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley), an
incompetent, immature, dimwitted heir to his father’s auto parts factory. It
falls upon his shoulders to save the family business, with the help of his
father’s smart yet brownnoser right hand man, Richard (David Spade).
After studying a variety of
theories in class I’ve found this movie to be a great example of
Constructivism. Constructivism is a
theory that explains the differences in people’s ability to successfully communicate
with others in social settings. When we meet new people, we automatically
categorized them based on our impressions of them from their traits and how
they interact. This ability to distinguish these traits and communicate in a
way that relates properly with who you are talking to is called cognitive complexity. Generally, those who have a higher level of cognitive
complexity have better social perception skills and a better ability to craft
person-center messages. A person-centered
message is one’s ability to anticipate a response and adjust accordingly.
In this scene, Tommy is trying to
sell his brake pads to a number of buyers, who are consistently turning him
down. Their anticipated response of the potential buyer is “no” but when one
man says “maybe”, they must use their cognitive complexity to craft a
person-center message and decide how they should follow up his comment.
First Richard begins by informing
the potential buyer of technical advantages of the brake pads. Richard does not
exemplify a high level of cognitive complexity here. We can assume this businessman
is the head of the company, and most people with a high level of cognitive
complexity would know that he probably doesn’t know anything about the science behind
the brake pads and what makes a good versus a bad one in terms of technical
talk. Richard is unable to continue in this conversation because he does not
understand how to communicate with someone that does not speak in “his language”
of technical terms. The potential buyer even stated to him “…you’re not speakin’
my language”.
Tommy decides to take a different
approach than Richard and put things in simpler terms…perhaps a little too
visually. Most anyone with a high level of cognitive complexity would know that
smashing a collectors’ car and lighting it on fire just to prove a point is probably
not the smartest way to sway the decision of a potential buyer in your favor.
Tommy also does not exemplify a high level of cognitive complexity in this
scene. Neither Richard nor Tommy has the mental ability to distinguish the
personality traits of their potential buyer which causes them to lose another
possible sale.
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This is a really great theory to
understand for anyone. Our world is very diverse and everyone communicates
differently. We must all have some sort of understanding that helps us recognize
when we should say what and how we should say it. For sales in particular, this
theory is an extremely important ability to possess. I believe that any successful businessman has a high level cognitive complexity. Without the ability
to read others, know how they think, and know what they want to hear and how
they want to hear it, a salesman will get nowhere. They must have a high level
of cognitive complexity to succeed in their field; as does anyone in a communicative
profession.
Communication
competence is the ability to choose a communication behavior that is both
appropriate and effective for a given situation; it is an intersection between
psychology and communication. In Tommy Boy, his father always used a funny
saying to get people to laugh a little and be able to relax enough to trust
him. This next scene is one where Tommy begins to use the saying (though he
butchers it every time) when he realizes that is not the best approach to use
with the man he is trying to sell to. In his face, you can see a light bulb
turn on and he figures it out. He learns what is required of a good salesman.
He showed great communication competence, improving his cognitive complexity in
the meantime.
Cognitive complexity is something
that is always changing and evolving with time and experiences. In this scene, his level of cognitive complexity flipped a 180 and he learned how to read
people and speak to them in a manner that suited them too, not himself. In
learning this, he was able to make a lot more sales and become a better
communicator in the business world. Business is in everything we do, so I feel
having this knowledge and ability of communication is something I think we are
all striving for.
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