When speaking to a child, you simplify your vocabulary. on the other hand, when speaking to your professor, you use larger words to gain his/her social approval. which theory explains this process of adjustment?

The theory that explains the process of adjustment above is the communication adjustment theory. It is a way of adjusting a person's way of speaking, their gestures and the pattern of how they deliver their words to the person that they speak to, in which it is suited for the person that they are interacting with. It could be seen above as speaking to a child needs their interactions with them to be simple for they are still young and won't understand large words. In the other hand, in speaking to a professor, it is needed to speak in large words for they are an adult and would likely appreciate it if you interact with them in an adult like manner