COMTHEO_Traditions and Standards.pdf

Seven Traditions of Communication Theory Features of Communication Messages Communication involves “talking and listening, writing and reading, performing and witnessing, or, more generally, doing anything that involves ‘messages’ in any medium or situation.” – Robert Craig Creation of Messages Th...

Seven Traditions of Communication Theory Features of Communication Messages Communication involves “talking and listening, writing and reading, performing and witnessing, or, more generally, doing anything that involves ‘messages’ in any medium or situation.” – Robert Craig Creation of Messages This phrase in the working definition indicates that the content and form of a text are usually constructed, invented, planned, crafted, constituted, selected , or adopted by the communicator. COMMUNICATION THEORY Features of Communication Interpretation of Messages A truism among communication scholars is that words don’t mean things, people mean things. Symbolic interactionist Herbert Blumer states its implication: “Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things.” A Relational Process The Greek philosopher Heraclites observed that “one cannot step into the same river twice.” These words illustrate the widespread acceptance among communication scholars that communication is a process. COMMUNICATION THEORY Features of Communication Messages that Elicit a Response This final component of communication deals with the effect of the message upon people who receive it. COMMUNICATION THEORY What are the Seven Traditions? These already established traditions offer “distinct, alternative vocabularies” that describe different “ways of conceptualizing communication problems and practices.” COMMUNICATION THEORY Socio-Psychological Tradition Communication is theorized as expression, interaction, and influence. Cause-and-effect relationships can be discovered through careful, systematic observation. COMMUNICATION THEORY Cybernetic Tradition Communication is theorized as information processing, with the goal of getting the most information across with the least amount of interference. Feedback is the key concept that makes effective communication possible within a system. Cybernetics refers to a tradition of complex systems where the interacting elements influence one another. In this tradition communication is seen as a system of processing information, feedback and control. COMMUNICATION THEORY Rhetorical Tradition Communication is theorized as the practical art of discourse. Persuasion in the context of collective or public deliberation is often the focus of teaching and inquiry. COMMUNICATION THEORY Semiotic Tradition Communication is theorized as intersubjective mediation by signs and symbols. Because meanings are in people, gaps between subjective realities are bridged through a shared language or sign system. Signs can be any element capable of representing something else. COMMUNICATION THEORY Semiotic Tradition COMMUNICATION THEORY Semiotic Tradition A high body temperature is a sign of infection. Birds flying south are a sign of winter. Possessing an expensive car is a sign of richness. No sounds or letters of which a word is composed, says anything about the word's meaning. COMMUNICATION THEORY Socio-Cultural Tradition Communication is theorized as the (re)production of social order. Reality is socially constructed through micro level interaction processes. This tradition focuses on the effects of the production, maintenance and reproduction of social formations from small 12 groups to a global phenomenon.” “The socio-cultural tradition is based on the premise that, as people talk, they reproduce culture.” COMMUNICATION THEORY Critical Tradition Communication is theorized as discursive reflection. Social justice can be restored when ideological distortions are recognized through communication practices that enable critical reflection. Critical tradition questions the control of language to perpetuate power imblances, the role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression, and blind reliance on scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical findings. COMMUNICATION THEORY Phenomenological Tradition Communication is theorized as dialogue. Authentic human relationships are sustained, and common ground is established through the direct experience of others. The phenomenological tradition places great emphasis on people’s perception and their interpretation of their own experience. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific vs Interpretive Theory Scientific vs Interpretive COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 1: Explanation of the Data A good objective theory explains an event or human behavior. Philosopher of science Abraham Kaplan says that theory is a way of making sense out of a disturbing situation. An objective theory should bring clarity to an otherwise jumbled state of affairs; it should draw order out of chaos. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 2: Prediction of Future Events A good objective theory predicts what will happen. Prediction is possible only when we are dealing with things we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste over and over again. As we repeatedly notice the same things happening in similar situations, we begin to speak of invariable patterns or universal laws. In the realm of the physical sciences, we are seldom embarrassed. Objects don’t have a choice about how to respond to a stimulus. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 3: Relative Simplicity A good objective theory is as simple as possible—no more complex than it has to be. Yet the rule of parsimony —another label for the same principle—states that given two plausible explanations for the same event, we should accept the less complex version. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 4: Hypotheses That Can Be Tested A good objective theory is testable. If a prediction is wrong, there ought to be a way to demonstrate the error. Some theories are so loosely stated that it’s impossible to imagine empirical results that could disprove their hypotheses. And if there is no way to prove a theory false, then any claim that it’s true seems hollow. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 5: Practical Utility Over time, a good objective theory is useful. Since an oft-cited goal of social science is to help people have more control over their daily lives, people facing the type of thorny social situations that the theory addresses should be able to benefit from its wisdom. COMMUNICATION THEORY Scientific Standard 6: Quantitative Research As the heading suggests, scientists tend to appeal to numbers as they gather evidence to support their theories. Almost all scientific research depends on a comparison of differences —this group compared to that group, this treatment as opposed to that treatment, these results versus those results. Since objective theorists aim to mirror reality, it makes sense for them to measure and report what they discover in precise numerical terms rather than in linguistic terms, which are open to interpretation. COMMUNICATION THEORY  Interpretive Standard 1: New Understanding of People Interpretive scholarship is good when it offers fresh insight into the human condition. Rhetorical critics, ethnographers, and other humanistic researchers seek to gain new understanding by analyzing the activity that they regard as uniquely human— symbolic interaction. COMMUNICATION THEORY Interpretive Standard 2: Clarification of Values A good interpretive theory brings people’s values into the open. The theorist actively seeks to acknowledge, identify, or unmask the ideology behind the message under scrutiny. COMMUNICATION THEORY Interpretive Standard 3: Aesthetic Appeal The way a theorist presents ideas can capture the imagination of a reader just as much as the wisdom and originality of the theory he or she has created. Objective theorists are constrained by the standard format for acceptable scientific writing— propositions, hypotheses, operationalized constructs, and the like. But interpretive theorists have more room for creativity, so aesthetic appeal becomes an issue. Although the elegance of a theory is in the eye of the beholder, clarity and artistry seem to be the two qualities needed to satisfy this aesthetic requirement. COMMUNICATION THEORY Interpretive Standard 4: Community of Agreement We can identify a good interpretive theory by the amount of support it generates within a community of scholars who are interested and knowledgeable about the same type of communication. Interpretation of meaning is subjective, but whether the interpreter’s case is reasonable or totally off the wall is decided ultimately by others in the field. Their acceptance or rejection is an objective fact that helps verify or vilify a theorist’s ideas. COMMUNICATION THEORY Interpretive Standard 5: Reform of Society A good interpretive theory often generates change. Some interpretive scholars, but by no means all, aren’t content merely to interpret the intended meanings of a text. Contrary to the notion that we can dismiss calls for social justice or emancipation as mere rhetoric, critical interpreters are reformers who can have an impact on society. COMMUNICATION THEORY Interpretive Standard 6: Qualitative Research While scientists use numbers to support their theories, interpretive scholars use words. “Qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them” COMMUNICATION THEORY COMMUNICATION THEORY COMMUNICATION THEORY