Small Talk
The Negative Bent of Casual Conversations
Rebeccah Pruitt
Issue date: 10/14/09 Section: The Pulse
You slide into the seat of your first class. Having arrived to class a few minutes early, you turn to talk to the girls next to you. The resulting conversations consists primarily of "I'm so tired,", "it's so freakin cold," and "I can't believe how much homework the professor assigned."
Slander, complaints, and discontent often dominate general conversations, regressing much of daily communication to a mere list of annoyances. What motivates this critical outlook? Whether it simply stems from a need to release the irks of daily life, the thought that negative quips draw more attention, or the idea that human nature has a predisposition to dwell on the negative is increasingly puzzling.
"It's all negative stuff we share our opinions about. It's strange you have the need to share a negative opinion because it makes you feel better," Amanda Matousek, a psychology student, stated. She added that "in our society today we overlook contentment. It's seen as a negative thing when being content is a positive thing."
Rebecca Butler, a Law and Society and Business double major, attests that this negative emphasis is "cathartic, but not helpful because studies show that people dwell on these emotions more than if they complain than if they just wrote them down in a diary." Similarly, another student, Jeff Curry, added that he will discuss problems with his peers, but simply to brood.
Butler also said that, "everyone wants to complain and be the center of attention." Spanish major Evangeline Cade suggested that a conversation that dwells on complaints "makes the speaker seem like someone who has suffered so much and deserves pity and respect for having suffered, almost like a martyr."
Aside from attention and catharsis, could this discontent be a light manifestation of the affects of postmodernism, a process which Francis Schaeffer describes in his book "How Should We Then Live?" As the "overwhelming pressures [that] are being brought to bear on people who have no absolutes."
Cade hypothesized that this phenomenon is not a result of postmodernism or even predispositions, but rather a natural social development. "Complaints are an easy topic of conversation because they are frequently universal."
She went on to say that, "you know people will have the same opinion as you if you talk about how cold it is in Frostburg or how bad the caf food is. It's strange that we can all see how beautiful Frostburg fall is, but that doesn't seem to be a common theme in conversation."
Matousek provided an answer for this, saying that "negative experiences bring people together more quickly."
So, the need for an outlet, desire for attention, the universality of maladies, or perhaps a combination of all motivates the negative bent of casual conversations.
Slander, complaints, and discontent often dominate general conversations, regressing much of daily communication to a mere list of annoyances. What motivates this critical outlook? Whether it simply stems from a need to release the irks of daily life, the thought that negative quips draw more attention, or the idea that human nature has a predisposition to dwell on the negative is increasingly puzzling.
"It's all negative stuff we share our opinions about. It's strange you have the need to share a negative opinion because it makes you feel better," Amanda Matousek, a psychology student, stated. She added that "in our society today we overlook contentment. It's seen as a negative thing when being content is a positive thing."
Rebecca Butler, a Law and Society and Business double major, attests that this negative emphasis is "cathartic, but not helpful because studies show that people dwell on these emotions more than if they complain than if they just wrote them down in a diary." Similarly, another student, Jeff Curry, added that he will discuss problems with his peers, but simply to brood.
Butler also said that, "everyone wants to complain and be the center of attention." Spanish major Evangeline Cade suggested that a conversation that dwells on complaints "makes the speaker seem like someone who has suffered so much and deserves pity and respect for having suffered, almost like a martyr."
Aside from attention and catharsis, could this discontent be a light manifestation of the affects of postmodernism, a process which Francis Schaeffer describes in his book "How Should We Then Live?" As the "overwhelming pressures [that] are being brought to bear on people who have no absolutes."
Cade hypothesized that this phenomenon is not a result of postmodernism or even predispositions, but rather a natural social development. "Complaints are an easy topic of conversation because they are frequently universal."
She went on to say that, "you know people will have the same opinion as you if you talk about how cold it is in Frostburg or how bad the caf food is. It's strange that we can all see how beautiful Frostburg fall is, but that doesn't seem to be a common theme in conversation."
Matousek provided an answer for this, saying that "negative experiences bring people together more quickly."
So, the need for an outlet, desire for attention, the universality of maladies, or perhaps a combination of all motivates the negative bent of casual conversations.