Reviewer in Comm Theory PDF

**REVIEWER IN COMM THEORY \| CHAPTER 1, INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MODELS AND COMMUNICATION AS A FIELD OF STUDY** Lesson 1 \|Definition of Communication **Communication** - is a systematic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create meanings. - - - -...

**REVIEWER IN COMM THEORY \| CHAPTER 1, INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION MODELS AND COMMUNICATION AS A FIELD OF STUDY** Lesson 1 \|Definition of Communication **Communication** - is a systematic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create meanings. - - - - LESSON 2 \| VALUES OF COMMUNICATION 1. - 2. 3. 4. LESSON 3 \| BREADTH OF THE COMMUNICATION FIELD 1. - 2. - 3. 4. 5. - 6. 7. **CHAPTER 2: THE ROLE OF THEORY IN THE PROCESS OF INQUIRY** LESSON 4 \| DEFINITION OF THEORY AND PROCESS OF INQUIRY IN COMMUNICATION **Theory -** comes from the Greek word "[theoria]" which means to speculate or contemplate. - **Proposition -** a statement assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion offer, suggestions, ideas, opinion, something offered for consideration or acceptance or proposal. **Stephen Littlejohn** - defined theory as "unified", or coherent body of propositions that provide a philosophically consistent picture of a subject. - **Phenomena** - something that exists, can be seen, felt, taste etc. It is a fact occurrence or circumstance observed or observable. - - - - - - - - - LESSON 5 \| PROCESS OF INQUIRY IN COMMUNICATION, Basic Model of Inquiry **Inquiry -** is the systematic study of experience that leads to understanding, knowledge, and theory. The process of systematic inquiry involves **three stages**: 1. Types of Questions - - - 2. 3. - LESSON 6 \| THE HEART OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Symbolic Activities **Symbols -** are the basis of language, thinking, and much of our non-verbal behavior. - - - **Meaning** - is significance that is conferred on experiences and phenomena. The human world is one of the meanings. - Some **Definitions** of Theory - - - - Some **Characteristics** of Theory - - - - Theories vs. hypotheses **Hypotheses** - usually predict the relationship between two or more variables. Hypotheses are more specific than theories. - - - - The dynamic relationship between theory and research Theory and research are interrelated in the following ways: - - - - - - - - There is a two-way relationship between theory and research. Social theory informs our understanding of issues, which, in turn, assists us in making research decisions and making sense of the world. Theory is not fixed; it is provisional, open to revision, and grows into more accurate and comprehensive explanations about the make-up and operation of the social world. Theory makes the most significant progress by interacting with research findings (empirical data). In adopting a theory-based approach to research, the researcher must adopt the following assumptions: Research problems must fit within a larger, logically consistent conceptual framework which incorporates research done to date. Variables useful in the explanation and prediction of phenomena become the 'significant' facts. To work towards objectivity, empirical testing and replication by others is essential. Research findings must be situated within the theoretical framework in order to identify further research which can continue the process of theory confirmation. A diagram of a research process Description automatically generated **LESSON 7 \| CAREERS IN COMMUNICATION** Studying communication is a good preparation for a wide array of careers. As we've seen, most professions require an understanding of communication and good communication skills. In addition, there are a number of careers for people whose primary backgrounds and interests are in communication. - - - - - - **LESSON 8 \| DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION THEORY AND BASIC GOALS OF THEORY** **COMMUNICATION THEORY AND ITS IMPORTANCE** **Karen Foss** - stated in her book entitled [Theories of Human Communication] in 2011 that the term communication theory can refer to a single theory, or it can be used to designate the collective wisdom found in the entire body of theories related to communication. **Communication theories** are directly pertinent to real life for they describe and explain what happens when people interact and how it affects one another. Communication theories enlarge our understanding of experiences in our personal lives and patterns in the larger social world. These theories help every individual to learn on which to study and improve in communication skills and those of others. Communication theories offer us valuable tools for understanding our lives, our relationship with others, and the ways in which communication shapes or reflects cultural values. Communication Theories are deemed important to learn for many fields as it requires understanding of human interaction and behavior. The simplest way to define theories is to say that they are attempts to make sense of things. A theory offers an account of what something is, how it works, what it produces or causes to happen, and what should be the case. Put another way, theories are human construction, symbolic ways we represent phenomena. The fact that theories are human constructions implies that they are not objective descriptions of reality, nor are they necessarily true. Instead, theories represent points of view. As we\'ll see, however, not all points of view are equally sound. We\'ll discuss ways to evaluate the quality of various theoretical points of view. Theories pursue one or more of four basic goals: description, explanation, prediction or understanding, and reform. We should consider each of these objectives and see how they operate in the context of particular theories. BASIC GOALS OF THEORY 1. 2. **Mary Lund** (1985) - wanted to explain what caused commitment between romantic partners. Previous research had focused on love as the basis of enduring relationships, and love was viewed as the result of receiving rewards in a relationship. Thus, the common belief was that we love and stay with people who reward us with positive experiences, support, and other things we value. - - 3. 4. - **LESSON 9 \| STANDARDS FOR EVALUATING THEORIES** **Scope -** refers to the range of phenomena a theory describes and explains. Theories vary in their scope with some focusing on very narrow realms of communication and others advancing grand perspectives on all human communication. - Theorists use two broad types of explanations. One relies on universal laws to explain why things happen. Laws-based explanations argue that anytime x happens, y will follow; or x and y are always related. This form of explanation seeks to discover universal laws that explain human communication in a wide range of situations. For example, one communication theory claims that uncertainty (not knowing what is happening in a relationship) fosters increased communication (efforts to figure out what is happening). This is a law about communication. Laws-based explanations may be either causal or correlational. A causal law states that causes y or y happens because of x. For example, we might say uncertainty causes communication: Correlational claim, on the other hand, says only that two things go together, but does not assert that one causes the other. A. **B. TESTABILITY:** Is It Testable? \- a second important criterion for evaluating theories is testability, which asks whether the claims advanced by a theory can be investigated to determine whether they are accurate or not. If a theoretical claim or prediction is faulty, we should have a way to detect this. We should also be able to verify theoretical predictions that are correct. If we can\'t test a theory, we can rely only on faith, guesswork, or personal experience to evaluate its accuracy. **C. PARSIMONY:** Is it appropriately simple? When it comes to theory, complexity is not necessarily desirable. The term parsimony refers to appropriate simplicity. Among this is widely believed that the best theory is the simplest one that is capable of describing, explaining, understanding, and perhaps predicting future events on instigating change. This doesn\'t mean that theories should be simplistic or omit important ideas. What it does mean, however, is that a theory should be as simple as possible without sacrificing completeness. Thus, if we have several theories that provide equally useful explanations, the most parsimonious one is the best. **D. UTILITY: Is it Useful?** Theories are also measured by their utility or practical value. How we evaluate the practical utility of a theory should be based on the goals of that particular theory. A theory that seeks to predict and control communication is measured by how well applying it achieves the desired results. A theory that seeks to understand the subject five aspects of communication, however, is not appropriately measured by whether it allows prediction and control. Instead, a theory that aims to enhance understanding is gauged by whether it achieves that. The practical value of critical theories rests on their ability to motivate or actually direct positive social change. **E. HEURISM: Does it Generate New Thought or Insights?** The final criterion for evaluating a theory is heurism, which refers to the degree to which a theory provokes new ideas, insights, thinking, and research. A theory is judged to be heuristic if it sparks new thinking. **LESSON 10 \| GENRES OF COMMUNICATION THEORY AND TRADITIONS IN THE FIELD OF COMMUNICATION** The **genres of communication** theories are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Philosophical assumptions refers to theorists determining how a particular theory will work. Philosophical assumptions are often divided into three major types: assumptions about epistemology, or questions of knowledge; assumptions about ontology, or questions of existence; and assumptions about axiology, or questions of value. Concepts are also essential in any theory. A theory must show how one concept is related to or causes others. An explanation identifies a "logical force" among variables that connect them in some way. There are many types of explanations, but two of the most common are causal and practical. In causal explanation, events are connected as causal relationships, with one variable seen as an outcome or result of the other. Practical explanation, on the other hand, explains actions as goal related, with the action designed to achieve a future state. In causal explanation, the consequent event is determined by some antecedent event. In practical explanation, outcomes are made to happen by actions that are chosen. A principle is a guideline that enables you to interpret an event, make judgments about what is happening, and then decide how to act in the situation. A principle has three parts: (1) It identifies a situation or event; (2) it includes a set of norms or values; and (3) it asserts a connection between a range of actions and possible consequences. Seven Traditions in the Field of Communication 1. Objects are symbols. Whether words, objects, or actions, the symbols of a person's life have meaning because of how he relates to other symbols and how he organizes these symbols together into larger patterns that help him understand himself as a human being, what is important to him, and how to act in his life. Semiotics, or the study of signs, forms an important tradition of thought in communication theory. The semiotic tradition includes a host of theories about how signs come to represent objects, ideas, states, situations, feelings, and conditions outside of themselves. 2. Theories in the phenomenological tradition assume that people actively interpret what happens around them and come to understand the world by personal experience with it. This tradition concentrates on the conscious experience of the person. Phenomenology is the way in which human beings come to understand the world through direct experience---the perception of a phenomenon, whether an object, event, or condition. We come to know something by consciously examining it and testing our feelings and perceptions about it. 3. A cybernetic perspective is necessary to understand the depth and complexity of certain dynamics. Cybernetics is the tradition of complex systems in which interacting elements influence one another. Theories in the cybernetic tradition explain how physical, biological, social, and behavioral processes work. Within cybernetics, communication is understood as a system of parts, or variables, that influence one another, shape and control the character of the overall system, and, like any organism, achieve both balance and change. Systems are sets of interacting components that together form something more than the sum of the parts. 4. The study of the individual as a social being is the thrust of the socio psychological tradition. Originating in the field of social psychology, this tradition has been a powerful tradition within communication. The theories of this tradition focus on individual social behavior, psychological variables, individual effects, personalities and traits, perception, and cognition. The individualistic approach that characterizes the socio psychological tradition is common in the study of communication as well as in the behavioral and social sciences. The psychological perspective sees persons as entities with characteristics that lead them to behave in independent ways. It views the single human mind as the locus for processing and understanding information and generating messages, and it acknowledges the power that individuals can have over other individuals and the effects of information on the human mind. 5. Socio-cultural approaches to communication theory address the ways our understandings, meanings, norms, roles, and rules are worked out interactively in communication. Such theories explore the interactional worlds in which people live, positing that reality is not an objective set of arrangements outside us but constructed through a process of interaction in groups, communities, and cultures. This tradition focuses on patterns of interaction between people rather than on individual characteristics or mental models. Interaction is the process and site in which meanings, roles, rules, and cultural values are worked out. Although individuals do process information cognitively, this tradition is much less interested in the individual level of communication. Instead, researchers in this tradition want to understand ways in which people together create the realities of their social groups, organizations, and cultures. 6. - 7. **LESSON 11 \| BUILDING BLOCKS OF THEORY** VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE One of the continuing controversies in philosophy concerns ontology, or views of human nature. The crux of the controversy is whether or not humans have free will and, if so, how great the latitude of free will is. How you answer this question makes a great deal of difference in the theories you find credible and in how you act in everyday life. For example, if you think people don\'t have free will, it makes no sense to blame individuals for bad behavior or praise them for good behavior. In neither case do they control what they do. On the other hand, if you think that humans do have free will, you\'re likely to hold people responsible for their actions. Despite all of the effort and energy devoted to figuring out the nature of human beings, we still don\'t know whether we have free will and, if so, how much. There is no conclusive answer - at least not yet. Consequently, the assumptions theorists make about humans can\'t be proven or disproven scientifically. They are matters of faith or belief. Theorists are divided in terms of whether they assume individuals react to external stimuli or act from free will and, thus, exercise intentional choices. - **Free Will** - at the other end of the ontological spectrum is the belief that humans have free will and that they make choices about how to act. Theorists who believe in freedom will assume individuals interpret experiences and create meanings that then guide what they think, believe, say, feel, and do. These theorists reject the idea that human behavior is an unthinking, automatic response to conditions and stimuli around us. Many years before Graham Allan\'s time, the philosopher Martin Heidegger (1927/1962) advanced the idea that individual freedom is constrained by what he called \"thrownness.\" For Heidegger, thrownness refers to the fact that we are thrown into a multitude of arbitrary conditions that influence our lives and our opportunities. For example, a Caucasian woman born in the United States in 1812 would not have been allowed to pursue professional training, own property, or vote. WAYS OF KNOWING - - - PURPOSES OF THEORY Beliefs about the purpose of theory are related to ontological assumptions, which we discussed earlier in this chapter that human behavior is determined by biological and social forces, and then we would expect to be able to predict behavior with relative certainty. In other words, if human behavior is determined by something other than personal will then patterns of behavior will occur in response to specific stimuli; they will not vary as a result of personal wishes, commitments, or perceptions. **Ontology -** is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of being. In the social sciences, ontology deals largely with the nature of human existence; in communication, ontology centers on the nature of human social interaction because the way a theorist conceptualizes interaction depends in large measure on how the communicator is viewed. At least four issues are important. The first issue on this is to what extent do humans make real choices? A second ontological issue is whether human behavior is best understood in terms of states or traits.\'\' This question deals with whether there are fairly stable dimensions---traits---or more temporary conditions affecting people, called states. The last one is, to what extent is communication contextual? Whether behavior is governed by universal principles or whether it depends on situational factors. FOCUS OF THEORIZING **Axiology** - is the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of values. What values guide research, and what are the implications of those values for the outcome of the research process? Can a theory be value free? Theories and research are believed to be value free, scholarship is neutral, and scholars attempt to uncover the facts as they are. According to this view, when a researcher's values intrude, the result is bad science. But there is another position on this issue: science is not value free because the researcher's work is always guided by preferences about what to study and how to conduct inquiry. Scientists' choices, then, are affected by personal as well as institutional values. The final building block of theory that we will consider is the focus, or content that theories address. This explains the label behaviorism, which refers to a form of science that focuses on observable behaviors and that assumes meanings, motives, and other subjective phenomena either don\'t exist or are irrelevant. Behaviorists believe that scientists can study only concrete behaviors such as what people do or say. Human motives, meanings, and intentions are beyond the realm of behavioristic investigation. In fact, behaviorists would consider such explanations idle speculation, rather than scientific activity. Theorists who reject behavioral views of science believe that the crux of human activity is meaning, not behaviors themselves. Because this group of scholars claims to be interested in what is distinctively human\--namely free will, ability to make choices, and capacity to create meanings-they are often called humanists, and the form of science they pursue is called humanism. Humanists see external behaviors as the outward signs of mental and psychological processes. For them, what we perceive, think, and feel directly affects what we do and what we assume it means. Thus, the reasons for human behavior lie with what happens inside of us.