Sociocognition Issues Affecting Working Relationships Between Deaf Professionals and Interpreters

The focus of this paper is to review the literature on socio-cognition issues for deaf graduate students and professionals working with interpreters in order to assess its usefulness in developing key conditions under which deaf graduate student/professional- interpreter working relationships might be implemented more effectively. Theories on cognitive dissonance and stereotyping will be examined in relation to their possible implications in the working relationship, and included in this review if they related to the development and maintenance of an ongoing working relationship between the deaf professional and the interpreter. The concept, cognitive dissonance, will be introduced in this discussion and examined for its relevance to the inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors that emerge in the deaf professional or the interpreter as they enter the working relationship. This paper may provide insights into the mechanisms of developing an ongoing working relationship which may guide development of advanced or specialized interpreter training programs.