The Language and Social Psychology of Savoring: Advancing the Communication Savoring Model

Abstract

Savoring is a well-established construct in positive psychology referring to one’s capacity to recognize and appreciate enjoyable life experiences. Guided by phenomenological inquiry and constructivist grounded theory, I propose communication savoring as a new dimension of social savoring that has theoretical and practical relevance in the fields of positive communication and language and social psychology. Evidence is drawn from young adults’ narrative descriptions of communication moments they savored. From these narratives, I proffer a typology of communication savoring that includes aesthetic communication, communication presence, nonverbal communication, recognition and acknowledgment, relational communication, extraordinary communication, and implicitly shared communication. I also describe the phenomenological experiences of savoring social interactions in the past, present, and future. To advance the communication model of savoring, I offer initial conceptual and operational definitions of communication savoring and recommend future directions for research within interpersonal and intergroup relationships.