Introduction to Communication Studies
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lecture One: Talking about theory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PART ONE
I.
II.
Theory helps us understand and improve human communication.
Theories are maps of reality.
A.
Some depict objective facts “out there.”
B.
Others depict subjective meanings inside our heads.
III.
Theories are categorized according to the primary context in which they operate.
A.
Division I, overview, introduces the nature and scope of the field.
B.
Division II, interpersonal communication, focuses on one-on-one interaction.
C.
Division III, group and public communication, covers face-to-face involvement in
collective settings.
D.
Division IV, mass communication, explores the electronic and print media.
E.
Division V, cultural context, considers systems of shared meaning so pervasive that
their impact is easily overlooked.
IV.
Since communication isn't value-free, ethical reflections are included.
V.
Division VI, Integration, compares theories according to their basic assumptions.
Part Two
I.
What is a theory and what does it do?
A.
Ernest Bormann defined theory as “an umbrella term for all careful, systematic, and
self-conscious discussion and analysis of communication phenomena.”
B.
This definition is purposefully broad, but may not be helpful in providing a direction
for study.
C.
Judee Burgoon suggested that a theory is nothing more than “a set of systemic
hunches about the way things operate.”
1.
Set of hunches.
a.
If a theory is a set of hunches, it means we aren’t yet sure we have the
answer.
b.
Theories always involve an element of speculation or conjecture.
c.
A theory is not just one inspired thought or an isolated idea.
d.
A theory offers some sort of explanation.
e.
A theory offers some indication of scope.
2.
Informed hunches.
a.
A theorist’s hunches should be informed.
b.
A theorist has a responsibility to check it out.
c.
A theorist should be familiar with alternate explanations and
interpretations.
3.
Hunches that are systematic.
a.
A theory is an integrated system of concepts, laying out both relevant
terms and their relationship to one another.
b.
A theory ties together ideas into a unified whole.
4.
Images of theory.
a.
Theory might also be understood using descriptive metaphors.
1
Introduction to Communication Studies
b.
c.
d.
II.
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
Karl Popper described theories as nets, a tool used to grasp an elusive
concept.
Theories can be seen as lenses which help focus attention.
Theories serve as maps, guiding us through unfamiliar territory.
What is communication?
A.
No singular definition of communication is agreed upon by communication scholars.
B.
Frank Dance, who published the first comprehensive book on communication theory,
concluded that we’re “trying to make the concept of communication do too much
work for us.”
C.
Communication is the relational process of creating and interpreting messages that
elicit a response.
1.
Messages are at the core of communication study.
a.
Communication theories deal specifically with messages.
b.
The term text is synonymous with a message.
2.
Communicators usually make conscious choices about a message’s form and
substance.
3.
Messages are symbolically encoded and decoded by people based on the
meanings they assign.
4.
Communication is an on-going relational process between two or more
people, which both affects their interpretation of the messages as well as the
nature of the connection between the people.
5.
Communication has an effect upon the people who receive it, provoking or
eliciting a response.
PART THREE
I.
Introduction.
A.
Theorists grounded in behavioral science approach communication using the scientific
method.
B.
Theorists grounded in the humanities approach communication through interpreting
texts.
C.
Communication theories reflect a variety of methodological approaches, desired
outcomes or goals, and levels of investigation.
II.
III.
Objective or interpretive: sorting out the labels.
A.
The objective approach and the interpretative approach to communication study differ
in starting point, method, and conclusion.
B.
Scholars who do objective study are scientists.
C.
Scholars who do interpretive study are concerned with meaning and reflect a range of
ideological and methodological positions. As a result, there is no single unifying or
accepted label, although Griffin uses the term “interpretive scholars.”
Ways of knowing: discovering truth or creating multiple realities?
A.
Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge.
B.
Scientists assume that truth is singular.
1.
Reality is accessible through our senses.
2.
Collectively, scientists can understand the world.
3.
Good theories are mirrors of nature, true as long as conditions remain the
same.
C.
Interpretive scholars also seek truth, but they are more tentative about the possibility
of revealing objective reality.
1.
Truth is largely subjective; meaning is highly interpretive.
2
Introduction to Communication Studies
2.
3.
4.
IV.
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
The knower cannot be separated from the known.
Multiple meanings are acceptable.
Successful interpretations are those that convince others.
Human nature: determinism or free will.
1. Determinists argue that heredity and environment determine behavior.
1.
Scientists favor this stance.
2.
They stress behavior shaped by forces beyond our control or individual
awareness.
3.
Behavior is the response to a prior stimulus.
2. Free will proponents maintain that human behavior is ultimately voluntary.
1.
Interpretive scholars endorse this position.
2.
They focus on conscious choices of individuals, not on why choices are made.
3.
They believe that significant decisions are value laden.
3. As individual freedom increases, predictability of behavior decreases.
V.
The highest value: objectivity or emancipation?
. Social scientists value objectivity; personal values should not distort human reality.
A. Interpretive scholars seek to expand the range of free choice; knowledge is never
neutral.
B. Scientists seek effectiveness; interpreters focus on participation
VI.
The purpose of theory: universal laws or guides for interpretation?
. Scientists seek universal laws; interpreters strive to interpret individual texts.
A. Scientists test theories; interpreters explore the web of meaning constituting human
existence.
B. Scientists seek prediction; interpretive scholars strive for meaning.
VII.
Objective or interpretive: Why is it important?
. You cannot fully understand a theory without knowing its assumptions about truth,
human nature, the purpose of theory, and its values.
A. It is helpful when thinking through theories to have a way of organizing them into
objective and interpretive worldviews.
B. Understanding objective and interpretive points can help you decide what direction to
take your course work.
C. Theorists in both camps believe their area of work will improve relationships and
society.
D. Plotting theories on an objective-interpretive scale: Objective and interpretive labels
anchor end of a continuum, with many theories in between.
PART FOUR
I.
Introduction.
A.
Not all theories are equally effective.
B.
The utility of a theory may be judged by applying the appropriate criteria used by
behavioral scientists and a wide range of interpretive scholars to weigh the theories of
their colleagues.
II.
What makes an objective theory good?
A.
Scientific standard 1: Explanation of the data.
1.
A good theory makes sense out of disturbing situations or draws order out of
chaos.
2.
It focuses attention on crucial variables and away from irrelevant data.
3.
It explains what is happening and why.
4.
It explains both the process and the results.
3
Introduction to Communication Studies
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
Scientific standard 2: Prediction of future events. Prediction in physical science is
more accurate than in social science, where it is based on probability.
Scientific standard 3: Relative simplicity. The rule of parsimony dictates that all
things being equal, we accept the simpler explanation over the more complex.
Scientific standard 4: Hypotheses that can be tested. If there is no way to prove a
theory false, then the assumption that it's true is mere guesswork.
Scientific standard 5: Practical utility.
1.
A good objective theory provides increased control.
2.
Don't dismiss a theory as impractical unless you understand it.
Scientific standard 6: Quantitative Research
1.
Scientists favor quantifiable experiments and surveys.
2.
Through experiments, scientists seek to establish a cause-and-effect
relationship by manipulating an independent variable in a tightly controlled
situation in order to determine its effect on a dependent variable. Results are
measured.
3.
Surveys rely on self-report data to discover who people are and what they
think, feel, and intend to do.
4.
It is difficult to support cause-and-effect relations with surveys, but survey
data more closely resemble “real life” than experimentation does.
III.
What makes an interpretive theory good?
A.
Interpretive standard 1: New understanding of people.
1.
Rhetorical theory elucidates texts.
2.
It helps critics clarify complex communication.
3.
It suggests universal patterns of symbol usage.
4.
Whereas science wants objective explanation, humanism desires subjective
understanding.
5.
Klaus Krippendorff's Self-Referential Imperative: Include yourself as a
constituent of your own construction.
B.
Interpretive standard 2: Clarification of values.
1.
Theorists acknowledge their own values.
2.
They seek to unmask the ideology behind messages.
3.
Many theorists value individual liberty and equality. Krippendorff's Ethical
Imperative: Grant others that occur in your construction the same autonomy
you practice constructing them.
4.
Many interpretivist scholars value equality as highly as they do freedom.
C.
Interpretive standard 3: Aesthetic appeal.
1.
A theory's form can be as captivating as its content.
2.
As an artist, the critic sparks appreciation.
D.
Interpretive standard 4: A community of agreement. A theory must have widespread
scrutiny and usage.
E.
Interpretive standard 5: Reform of society.
1.
Theory challenges cultural assumptions.
2.
It generates alternatives for social action.
F.
Interpretive standard 6: Qualitative research
1.
Interpretive scholars use qualitative textual analysis and ethnography.
2.
Textual analyses describe and interpret messages.
3.
Textual analyses refers to the intensive study of a single message from the
humanistic perspective.
4.
Through ethnography, participant-observers experience a culture's web of
meaning.
IV.
Contested turth and common ground among theorists.
A.
Theorists from scientific and interpretive camps can be friends with guarded
optimism.
4
Introduction to Communication Studies
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
It requires mutual respect for each other’s interest and recognition of their intellect.
It requires a mutual appreciation that scientific theorists are comparing multiple
messages or groups while interpretive theorists are analyzing a single message or
group.
The two sets of six criteria are not as different as they might seem.
1.
An explanation can further understanding of motive.
2.
Both prediction and value clarification look to the future.
3.
Simplicity has aesthetic appeal.
4.
Hypothesis testing is a way of achieving a community of agreement.
5.
Theories that reform are practical.
6.
Qualitative and quantitative research both reflect a commitment to learning
more about communication.
It is important for the two communities to at least be familiar with the other’s work.
Although all theories featured in this book have merit, most have weaknesses
elucidated by the standards set forth in this chapter.
PART FIVE
I.
Introduction.
A.
Communication scholars hold widely divergent views as to what communication is.
B.
Robert Craig suggests that communication should be viewed as a practical discipline;
theory is developed to solve real world problems.
C.
Craig identifies seven established traditions of communication theory.
II.
The socio-psychological tradition: Communication as interpersonal interaction and influence.
A.
This tradition epitomizes the scientific perspective.
B.
Scholars believe that communication truths can be discovered by careful, systematic
observation that predict cause-and-effect relationships.
C.
Researchers focus on what is without their personal bias of what ought to be.
D.
Theorists check data through surveys or controlled experiments, often calling for
longitudinal empirical studies.
III.
The cybernetic tradition: Communication as a system of information processing.
A.
Norbert Wiener coined the term cybernetics to describe the field of artificial
intelligence.
1.
Wiener’s concept of feedback anchored the cybernetic tradition.
2.
Communication is the link separating the separate parts of any system.
B.
Theorists seek to answer the questions: How does the system work? What could
change it? How can we get the bugs out?
IV.
The rhetorical tradition: Communication as artful public address.
A.
Greco-Roman rhetoric was the main communication theory until the twentieth
century.
B.
Six features characterize the tradition.
1.
A conviction that speech distinguishes humans from other animals.
2.
A confidence in the efficacy of public address.
3.
A setting of one speaker addressing a large audience with the intention to
persuade.
4.
Oratorical training as the cornerstone of a leader’s education.
5.
An emphasis on the power and beauty of language to move people
emotionally and stir them to action.
6.
Rhetoric was the province of males.
V.
The semiotic tradition: Communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs.
A.
Semiotics is the study of signs.
5
Introduction to Communication Studies
B.
C.
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
Words are a special kind of sign known as a symbol.
I. A. Richards was an early scholar of semiotics.
1.
His “proper meaning superstition” identifies the mistaken belief that words
have a precise meaning.
2.
Meanings don’t reside in words or other symbols, but in people.
VI.
The socio-cultural tradition: Communication as the creation and enactment of social reality.
A.
Communication produces and reproduces culture.
B.
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf pioneered this tradition.
1.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity states that the structure of
a culture’s language shapes what people think and do.
2.
Their theory counters the notion that languages are neutral conduits of
meaning.
C.
It is through language that reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed.
VII.
The critical tradition: Communication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse.
A.
Critical theory derives from the German Frankfurt School.
B.
The Frankfurt School rejected Karl Marx’s economic determinism, but embraced the
Marxist tradition of critiquing society.
C.
Critical theorists challenge three features of contemporary society.
1.
The control of language to perpetuate power imbalances.
2.
The role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression.
3.
Blind reliance on the scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical
findings.
VIII.
The phenomenological tradition: Communication as the experience of self and others through
dialogue.
A.
Phenomenology refers to the intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint
of the person who is living it.
B.
The phenomenological tradition places great emphasis on people’s perceptions and
interpretations of their own subjective experiences.
C.
Phenomenological tradition answers two questions: Why is it so hard to establish and
sustain authentic human relationships? How can this problem be overcome?
IX.
X.
Fencing the field of communication theory.
A.
These seven traditions have deep roots in communication theory.
B.
They have been mapped with respect to the objective/interpretive dichotomy.
C.
Hybrids are possible across traditions.
D.
They might not cover every approach to communication theory—thus the addition of
the ethical tradition.
The ethical tradition: Communication as people of character interacting in just and beneficial
ways.
A.
Since ancient Greece, scholars have grappled with the obligations of the communicator.
B.
The NCA recently adopted a “Credo for Communication Ethics,” which includes the
conviction that ethical communication:
1.
Advocates truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason.
2.
Accepts responsibility for short-term and long-term consequences of
communication.
3.
Strives to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and
responding to their messages.
C.
Concern for ethics spreads across the objective-interpretive landscape.
D.
Craig’s framework of seven traditions helps us make sense of the great diversity in the
field of communication.
6
Introduction to Communication Studies
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
KEY NAMES AND TERMS
Judee Burgoon, Ernest Borman, Stanley Deetz, Robert Craig
Theory - A set of systematic, informed hunches about the way things work.
Communication - The relational process of creating and interpreting messages that elicit a response.
Text - A record of a message that can be analyzed by others; for example a book, film, photograph, or any
transcript or recording of a speech or broadcast.
Behavioral Scientist- A scholar who applies the scientific method to describe, predict, and explain recurring
forms of human behavior.
Rhetorician -A scholar who studies the ways in which symbolic forms can be used to identify with people, or to
persuade them toward a certain point of view.
Objective approach- The assumption that truth is singular and is accessible through unbiased sensory
observation; committed to uncovering cause-and-effect relationships.
Source credibility -Perceived competence and trustworthiness of a speaker or writer that affects how the message
is received.
Identification -A perceived role relationship that affects self-image and attitudes; based on attractiveness of the
role model and sustained if the relationship remains salient.
Interpretive approach -The linguistic work of assigning meaning or value to communicative texts; assumes that
multiple meanings or truths are possible.
Burke’s dramatistic pentad - A five-pronged method of rhetorical criticism to analyze a speaker’s persuasive
strategy—act, scene, agent, agency, purpose.
Humanistic scholarship -Study of what it’s like to be another person, in a specific time and place; assumes there
are few important panhuman similarities.
Epistemology - The study of the origin, nature, method, and limits of knowledge.
Determinism - The assumption that behavior is caused by heredity and environment.
Empirical evidence - Data collected through direct observation.
Emancipation - Liberation from any form of political, economic, racial, religious, or sexual oppression;
empowerment.
Metatheory - Theory about theory, the stated or inherent assumptions made when creating.
Rule of parsimony (Occam’s razor) - Given two plausible explanations for the same event, we should accept the
simpler version.
Falsifiability - The requirement that a scientific theory must be stated in a way that it can be tested and disproved
if it is indeed wrong.
Experiment - A research method that manipulates a variable in a tightly controlled situation in order to find out if
it has the predicted effect.
7
Introduction to Communication Studies
Compiled by Anna Kuzio, Ph.D.
Survey - A research method that uses questionnaires and structured interviews to collect self-reported data that
reflects what respondents think, feel, or intend to do.
Self-referential imperative -Include yourself as a constituent of your own construction.
Ethical imperative - Grant others that occur in your construction the same autonomy you practice constructing
them.
Critical theorists - Scholars who use theory to reveal unjust communication practices that create or perpetuate an
imbalance of power.
Textual analysis - A research method that describes and interprets the characteristics of any text.
Ethnography - A method of participant observation designed to help a researcher experience a culture’s complex
web of meaning.
Cybernetics - The study of information processing, feedback, and control in communication systems.
Rhetoric - The art of using all available means of persuasion, focusing upon lines of argument, organizations of
ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking.
Semiotics - The study of verbal and nonverbal signs that can stand for something else, and how their
interpretation impacts society.
Symbols - Arbitrary words and non-verbal signs that bear no natural connection with the things they describe;
their meaning is learned within a given culture.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity - The claim that the structure of a language shapes what people
think and do; the social construction of reality.
Culture industries - Entertainment businesses that reproduce the dominant ideology of a culture and distract
people from recognizing unjust distribution of power within society; e.g., film, television, music, and advertising.
Phenomenology - Intentional analysis of everyday experience from the standpoint of the person who is living it;
explores the possibility of understanding the experience of self and others.
Pragmatism - An applied approach to knowledge; the philosophy that true understanding of an idea or situation
has practical implications for action.
8