Communication Theories

• Communication happens daily in various forms.
• Theories are explanations to questions and preliminary guesses.
• Theories can be expressed in multiple ways.
• Not all theories are applicable to real-life scenarios or different types of communication.

Interactional View Theory Communication (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967)

• Communication is a process, not a single act.
• Relationships are shaped by patterns of interaction instead of individual messages.

Communication

• Communication is a concept, phenomenon, and an abstract dynamic process.
• Communication involves community, sharing, and common understanding.
• A social process where individuals use symbols to establish, interpret, and co-create meaning in their environment (West & Turner, 2021).
• Communication is ongoing and never ends (cumulative and infinite).
• Helical Communication Theory by Frank Dance in 1967 views communication as a dynamic, non-linear, and evolutionary process which is represented by a spiral or helix.
• Each interaction builds upon previous ones, leading to a deeper understanding and evolving relationships.
• Understanding (mutual/shared meaning) is an essential and primary goal.
• Communication is instrumental in human relationships.
• The environment has to exist for communication to take place in person, physically, or mediated.
• Social interaction involves other people.
• The process consists of different elements.
• Symbols represent something.
• Meaning has different interpretations that are in people, not in words.

Communication in Human Relationships

• Risk managers must be good communicators.
• Doctor-patient communication is essential for patient recovery (Korsch, Gozzi, & Francis, 1968).
• Affirming feedback/student conformation positively affects student learning (Tisworth et al., 2015).
• Communication influences athlete motivation and competitiveness (Cranner, Gagnon, & Mazer, 2019).
• Cross-platform messaging sites help intergenerational families communicate realistically and practically (Taipale, 2019).

Expectancy Violation Theory (Judee K. Burgoon, late 1970's and 1980's)

• Originally known as nonverbal expectancy violations theory.
• It examines how people react when someone violates their expectations in social situations, which originally focused on personal spaces (proxemics) but later expanded to encompass various nonverbal behaviors.
• Everyone has expectations.
• Expectations lead to questions like, do we communicate more, or cut them off?
• Expectations can be premeditated disappointments.

Standpoint Theory

• Every person has their own standpoint, their own perspective on the world.
• Without sharing some meanings, It would be difficult to speak the same language or interpret the same event.
• When we listen, we seek understanding.
• Fake News is used as a buzz term against media.
• Historical Revisionism is revision based on evidence and facts.
• Historical distortion removes historical context without facts or based on wrong information.

Communication Accommodation Theory (Howard Giles, early 1970's)

• Adjustments in status or level of communication should be expected.
• Explains how people adjust their communication styles (verbally & nonverbally) to converge, diverge, or maintain their original style.
• This influences social distance and relationships.
• An individual should be aware of the status of the person they will be talking to.
• Those of different status should be willing to meet halfway.

ERC Principle

• Explain, Repeat, and Clarify.

Models of Communication as Action, Interaction, & Transaction (West & Turner, 2021)

• Communication as Action: The Linear Model
• Sender, message, and receiver
• Noise barriers can be semantic, physical, psychological, & physiological, e.g., SMRC

Communication as Interaction: The Interactional Model (Osgood & Schramm, 1954/1950's)

• Each person brings a unique field of experience to each communication episode.
• This frequently influences communication between people
• The goal is to find a common denominator.
• Communication as Transaction: The Transactional Model

Factors include

• Context
• Situational
• Socio-cultural
• Physical
• Interpersonal
• Organizational
• Influences from both contextual influences and noise
• Noise which includes physical, age, culture, gender, education, religion, mood, memory, attitude, and technology.
• Field of experience and behavior including communicator, encode behavior, decode message and feedback.
• Noise can also be semantic, psychological, physical, and physiological
• Both fields of experience can create a shared field of experience/s
• The field of experience exists, but overlap occurs, and interactants may have separate experiences that merge.
• An example of this is the helical model.

Communication Model of the Future: The Holistic Model

• Shared technology is present and one of the most important elements.
• Examples include: Dating apps, where interest depends on mutual understanding while swiping.

Technological Field of Experience

• Refers to a person's use of technology because it influences or is influenced by their culture, past experiences, personal history, and/or heredity.

Context in Communication

• Communication occurs in a context, which is an environment in which a message is sent.
• This can be cultural or situational.
• Communication models are usually incomplete and unsuitable for all purposes (Perse & Lambe, 2017).

Some Communication Models:

• Anxiety Management Theory
• Social Penetration theory
• Social Information Process Theory
• Good Theory which is a heuristic value.
• All communication models are improvements from the previous one.
• Critical study is a must to improve the theory.
• Is it virtually impossible to study the dynamic process of communication?
• Recognizing a pattern across cases permits generalizations to other unobserved cases (VanLear, 1996).

Areas of communication

• Social
• Process
• Environment
• Meanings
• Symbols

Theory

• Hypothesis and guesses
• Theorizing helps us answer "how's" and "why's."
• Systematic, informed, and multiple sets of hunches (educated guesses)
• Patterns enable results and conclusions through systematic processes.
• Information (theories) is related with one another while looking into different and informed situations.
• Through these systematic processes, conclusions (theory) may be formed.

Theories

• Nets - capture different situations, develop theories, and be specific in capturing specific situations
• Lenses - focus on situations with specification which comes from the communication scholars who believe that perspectives are unique.
• Maps - help navigate through communication to show the broad overview while not being the territory.

Definition of Theory

• Formalized extension of everyday sensemaking and problem-solving (Craig & Muller, 2007).
• Developing ideas to explain events (Turner, 1986).

Example for Communication Situation:

• Research - Theory Link - Product (Grounded Theory) utilizes it to debunk or solidify the theory.
• Grounded theory is a qualitative method to develop theories from data.
• Theory - research link (process)
• Research - theory link (product)

People are Implicit Theories and Scholarly Theorist bases on Research

• Abstract system of concepts with indication of relationships to help understand phenomena (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011).
• A Eurocentric cultural bias problem when understanding a theory (Craig 2013).
• Pahiwatig (Melba Padilla Maggay, 2001) which is a high context culture of Filipinos when it comes to communication.

Two Components of Theory

• Concepts-elements present in situations
• Relationships-interrelated to each other

Reception Theory (Stuart Hall, 1973)

• Dominant, agrees info is presented totally
• Negotiated, belief or point of view are being weighted.
• Oppositional, non-affirmative or rejecting the message.
• Symbolic Interactionism is vital in understanding information in mind, language, and society.

Four Goals of a Theory

• Description-look into present concepts/elements in the situation.
• Explanation-explain the interrelations of information to each other.
• Prediction & Control-add, reject, revise concepts: “what could happen if”: info is wrong or removed, etc.
• Reform-form new theory out of an old; highest goal of theory is to seek change to update.

Functional Perspective on Group Decision-Making (Hirokawa & Gouran. 1983)

• Analyze the problem/situation, set goals, identify alternatives, and evaluate positive and negative effects or outcomes for high-quality decisions.
• Criteria for Evaluating Communication Theories:

1. Scope: categorization, set of boundaries.
2. Logical Consistency: the main assumption; result of a theory shall be aligned with the main assumption.
3. Parsimony: simplicity.
4. Utility: can it be applied in real-life situations?
5. Testability: can it be researched, experimented on, or empirically measured?
6. Heurism/Heuristic: born new ideas for new theories from other theories; to further research/theorizing.
7. Test of Time: are old theories effective to this day like the magic bullet theory?

• Theories come from theories and there are no clean theories.

COMMUNICATION TRADITIONS

• Communication theory is an open unwieldy area of study (Robert Craig, 1999).
• People speak in stadiums, which requires a large group of audience members.
• This helps communicate with the public and persuade audiences.
• Logos is to persuade people with a message while including factual evidences.
• Pathos helps messages convey an emotion.
• Ethos helps convey credibility and trustworthiness through relevancy and body of work.

There are 5 Canons of Rhetoric (steps that journalists do)

1. Invention to pick ideas and gather information
2. Arrangement to organize and prioritize relevant information
3. Style to use formal or casual language
4. Delivery to change intonations and movements
5. Memory to memorize the message

• Semiotic Tradition: Communication and the Co-Creation of Signs include sharing meaning through signs.

The process involves

• Surrounded by signs & symbols
• Study of signs, which are part of life, challenges the notions that words have appropriate meanings.
• Words change as the people using those words change, too.
  • Eg. high body temperature means sign of illness; adult crying in funeral means sign of sadness

Phenomenological Tradition: Communication and the Analysis of Everyday

• The process occurs through dialogues
• Includes "Experiences of others” to Understand & feel their experiences
• Phenomenology is a personal interpretation of everyday life & activities.
• A personal system of beliefs should not influence the dialogue taking place, but this is not easy.

Cybernetic Tradition: Communication and the Process of Information via Feedback

• The process involves Information processing to unravel the complexities of message meaning through chuchu
• There are system & sub-parts with 2 theories:
• 1. Information Ecology by Nardi & O'Day, 1999,
• 2. Information blank blank di ko mabasa notes q Approach
• Socio-Psychological Tradition: Communication and the Science of Human Behavior involves Interactions & influences on the Human mind & behavior (different cognitive functioning)
• Socio-Cultural Tradition: Creation & reenactment of reality
• Critical Tradition: As a ways to reform with 4 goals of theory, critiquing social order with structures that are fair, and Questioning.
  • Feminist
  • Aesthetic
  • Socio-economic
  • spiritual