Fantasy Theme Theory
of Ernest Bormann
also known as Symbolic Convergence Theory

Ernest Bormann, professor at University of Minnesota uses his theory to study small group communication. His theory states that "the sharing of group fantasies creates symbolic convergence." (Bormann, 1990)
He calls his method of studying this phenomenon Fantasy Theme Analysis. Bormann and many other communication scholars who subscribe to his theory use fantasy theme analysis to show a link between the fantasies people use when they talk to each other and the level of cohesion there is among them.

Now that I have used the term "fantasy" in three consecutive sentences you are probably wondering exactly what this Bormann guy means by it. He says it is "the creative and imaginative interpretation of events that fulfills a psychological or rhetorical need"
(Bormann,1985).


He says that, and then all of us without PhDs in Communication say "huh??"

So let's break this down. Within a group context we are talking about references to the group's past or speculation about their future as well as comments about anything in the world outside of the group. What is excluded here is what is going on in the present within the group, because present events aren't really imaginative; they are what is happening. Fantasies are found in jokes, stories, analogies, metaphors; they are our interpretation of and how we feel about familiar events. What happens when we are all talking, using these fantasies is that we are all brought to the same page because of them. When group energy increases and there is a common emotional response to the imagery used this is a fantasy chain reaction. When a fantasy 'chains out' a fantasy theme runs through the group. Now we are all laughing together, or getting worried together. We are becoming a cohesive group!! Bormann calls this process Symbolic Convergence . It is through this symbolic convergence that a bunch of people are transformed into a group, a community, a family!

Larger cultures are even made when the same set of fantasy themes is used repeatedly across many groups creating a new view of social reality, which Bormann calls a rhetorical vision . Using the concept of rhetorical vision you can apply Fantasy Theme Theory to a whole lot more than just small groups!!

But I'm sure that you can see that with your new understanding of Symbolic Convergence and Fantasy Theme theory!
Now aren't you interested in seeing what some other students thought about it?

Ernest Bormann, Small Group Communication: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed., Harper & Row, New York, 1990

Ernest Bormann, The Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Ill.,1985

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I made an application page that will show you some practical applications of this theory from everyday life.

Chuck has read some interesting research about Symbolic Convergence and wants to tell you what he thought of those.

Lindsay has a critique of this theory where we can see how well it really holds up.

Our group also did a page on a theory called Coordinated Management of Meaning, or CMM. This htoery is similar to the one you just read about. Click here to read about CMM.

All three of us hope that this page has helped you with your studies, or at least opened your mind to this interesting theory of group communication.
Thanks for stopping by!