West - Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application - 4e, solutions manual and test bank 0073385077
Part One: Setting the Stage
CHAPTER 2: Thinking about the Field: Traditions and Contexts
Chapter Outline
I. Seven traditions in the communication field
A. Developed by Craig (1999) and Craig and Muller (2007)
1. Provides parameters for understanding the vast and complex field
2. “Traditions” highlights the belief that theorizing is deliberate, not naturally occurring
3. Theorists approach problems from the viewpoint of a particular tradition, which can change over time
B. The rhetorical tradition
1. Reflects an interest in public address/speaking and its functions in society
2. Involves elements pertaining to language and the audience
3. Also acknowledges audience appeals
a. Power of language and emotional appeals
b. Influence of mass media
c. Using personal examples to persuade
d. Addressing a large group of people
e. Truth versus strategic adaptation
C. The semiotic tradition
1. Semiotics is the study of signs
a. Signs are a part of social life
b. Signs stand for something else
2. According to semiotic tradition, meaning is achieved when we share a common language
a. We bring different fields of experience to the communication interaction
b. Words are arbitrary and have no intrinsic meaning
c. Shared meaning is more difficult than one may realize
3. Values and belief structures result from passing down traditions from one generation to the next
a. Things that seem “obvious,” “natural,” or a “given” may not be considered such today
b. Meanings or words change as the people using those words change
D. The phenomenological tradition
1. Phenomenology is a personal interpretation of everyday life and activities
a. A personal and subjective narrative usually influences one’s experiences with phenomena
b. How an individual sees the world is valuable beyond how a researcher sees the world
2. Marked by communication as a “dialogue or experience of otherness”
a. A person tries to attain authenticity in conversations
b. Can achieve authenticity by eliminating one’s own biases, as they should not impact the dialogue
c. This can be challenging, but a “practical impossibility” can exist as we strive toward authenticity and respectful dialogue
E. The cybernetic tradition
1. Communication as information science (Shannon and Weaver)
a. Communication involves noise
b. Cybernetics underscores the unpredictability of feedback
2. Looks at communication from a broader, systemic viewpoint that does not hold individuals responsible for outcomes of the system that individuals cannot control
3. Communication is not only information processing; individuals enter communication contexts with different abilities
F. The socio-psychological tradition
1. Believes that behavior is influenced by one or more variables
2. Communication patterns vary from one person to another but patterns can be detected
3. Social psychologists focused on experimental research designed to detect causality for human behavior
G. The socio-cultural tradition
1. Preexisting, shared cultural patterns and social structures strongly influence our interactions
a. Individuals are part of larger groups that have unique rules and patterns of interaction
b. This tradition emphasizes the need to become sensitive to differences and uniquenesses in individual identity
2. Viewing social order/reality as being co-created helps break down barriers between individuals and groups
a. People produce, maintain, repair, and transform their sense of reality
b. An understanding of “voice” helps dialogue and interaction
H. The critical tradition
1. Concerned primarily with injustice, oppression, power, and linguistic dominance
a. Critiques the social order and structures that impose on people
b. Marx’s ideas about powerful institutions having no regard for the working class are at the heart of this tradition
2. Assumptions that guide a society should be openly questioned
a. Can expose the underlying beliefs and values that guide decision-making
I. Putting it all together
1. Scholars enter the theory-building process with particular standpoints or positions
2. These positions influence the direction of the theories they construct and define
3. Theorists are part of a larger society, which will determine the viability of a particular theory
II. Seven contexts in the communication field
A. Contexts are environments in which communication takes place
1. Provide a backdrop for researchers and theorists to analyze phenomena
2. Situational contexts suggest that the communication process is limited by several factors
a. The number of people
b. Amount of space between interactants
c. Extent of feedback
d. Available channels
3. Most in the field agree on the major contexts of communication, although departments may divide themselves differently
4. Communication is a permeable discipline in which boundary lines among the contexts are not absolute; theories frequently cut across several contexts
B. Intrapersonal communication is communication with oneself; an internal dialogue
1. Intrapersonal communication theorists focus on the role of cognition in behavior
2. Intrapersonal communication includes the time you spend imagining, perceiving, daydreaming, and solving problems in your head
3. Intrapersonal communication includes the attributions you make about another’s behavior and the attributions you make about yourself
4. Communication with oneself helps develop one’s self-esteem
a. Self-esteem is the degree of positive orientation one has about oneself
b. Can be difficult to accept one’s accomplishments and confront one’s anxieties
5. Research in intrapersonal communication focuses on cognitions, symbols, and intentions of individual
C. Interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication between people
1. Interpersonal scholars often study the origins of relationships, the maintenance of relationships, and the dissolution of relationships
2. Interpersonal communication takes place in a variety of relationships
3. Interpersonal communication enables maximization of channels such as visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory
4. Researchers study a number of subcontexts and issues
a. Subcontexts include the family, friendships, marriages, and workplace relationships
b. Issues and themes include risk, teasing, attraction, and emotions, as well as the link between interpersonal communication and other contexts
5. Understudied relationships such as gay/lesbian relationships, cohabiting relationships, and computer network relationships are gaining researchers' attention and energy
D. Small group communication occurs when three or more people come together and work to achieve some common purpose
1. Small group research focuses on task groups as opposed to friendship and family groups, which are found in the interpersonal context
2. Concerned with the dynamic nature of small groups, including issues such as roles and trust
3. Researchers disagree about how many people make up a small group
a. Some argue five to seven is the ideal number
b. Others put no limit on size
c. Nearly all agree that small groups must be at least three people
4. The number of group members is not as important as the implications of that number
a. As the number of people increases, there is less opportunity for individual contributions
b. The more people, the more opportunity for more personal relationships to develop and more resources
5. People can be influenced by the presence of others
a. Some small groups are very cohesive, or have a high degree of togetherness and a common bond
b. The small group context affords individuals a chance to gain multiple perspectives on the same issues and benefit from synergy
6. Networking and role behavior are two important components of small groups
a. Networks are communication patterns through which information flows and are related to the question of who speaks to whom and in what order
b. Roles, or the positions of group members, include task leader, passive observer, active listener, and recorder
7. Researchers study a variety of issues related to small group communication including power, juries, gossip, conflict, creativity, and cultural diversity
8. Small group experiences are ubiquitous
E. Organizational communication pertains to communication within and among large, extended environments.
1. Organizational communication pertains to communication within and among large, extended environments
a. Includes interpersonal encounters, public speaking opportunities, small groups situations, and mediated communication
b. Concerned with the climate, rules and personnel in an organization, which influence its functionality
c. A clearly defined hierarchy, whereby a system of things or persons are ranked one above the other, distinguishes the context for organizational communication
i. Unique in that much of the communication is highly structured and roles are predictable
ii. Several modes of communication can substitute for face-to-face interaction
2. The Hawthorne experiments, conducted in the mid-1920s to early 1930s, inaugurated the human relations approach to organizations
a. Indicated that environmental conditions and interpersonal relationships among employees and with supervisors influence employee productivity
b. Concluded that organizations should be viewed as social entities in which workers’ attitudes and feelings are taken into account
3. Human relations approaches to studying organizations have received much attention, but other orientations exist as well, such as cultural systems and scientific management
4. Organizational research has addressed a number of eclectic issues including the Challenger disaster, emotions, whistle-blowing, rumors, the electronic media, the interviewing process, and grapevines
F. Public/rhetorical communication is defined as the dissemination of information from one person to a large group
1. The three goals of public speaking are to inform, entertain, or persuade
a. Persuasion is at the heart of rhetoric
b. Many principles, including audience analysis, speaker credibility, and delivery, are part of the persuasive process
2. Rhetoric is defined by Aristotle as a speaker’s available means of persuading his/her audience.
a. Includes the study of texts of speeches, addresses, and analysis of cultural themes and issues
b. Recent topics include the Catholic church, George W. Bush’s war speeches, talk show host Rush Limbaugh and abolitionist Frederick Douglass
3. Communication apprehension has received much attention
a. Communication apprehension is the fear of speaking before an audience
b. Communication apprehension blurs research boundaries in that it is a public speaking concern that focuses on intrapersonal issues and has been studied among various populations
c. Researchers have developed ways to reduce communication apprehension
G. Mass/media communication targets large audiences
1. Mass media refers to the channels for mass messages, such as newspapers, videos, etc.
2. Mass communication is delivered to a large audience via these channels, which include new media technologies
3. Allows both senders and receivers to exercise control
a. Sources make decisions about what information to send
b. Receivers decide what to read, listen to, watch, or review
4. Some believe the media serve the interests of the elite
5. Mass media research has focused on many topics, such as sex on prime-time television, online support communities, television makeover programs, e-mail flaming, grandparent personal websites, etc.
6. Rapid changes in technology mean that theorists must constantly evaluate the universality of their theories
H. Cultural communication refers to communication between and among individuals whose cultural backgrounds vary
1. There are many definitions of culture, but for our purposes it can be viewed as a “community of meaning and a shared body of local knowledge”
2. Co-cultures are groups of individuals who are part of the same larger culture but who create opportunities of their own
a. They do so through unity and individual identification around such attributes as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion
b. The term co-culture has widely been accepted as a contemporary and more accurate substitute for the older term “subculture”
3. Intercultural communication is a relatively new concept in the academic world, dating back only to the 1950s
a. The growth of this field can be attributed to globalization, technological change, population shifts, etc.
b. Communication between and among cultures can be difficult
4. The intercultural context differentiates itself in several ways
a. It is the only one that specifically addresses culture
b. Study in this context means researchers inherently accept human behavior as culturally based
I. Putting it all together
1. Basic category system for dividing the broad field of communication
2. There is, however, often overlap among the categories; they are not completely exclusive and distinctive from each other
Classroom Activities
- If You Were a Communication Scholar…
OBJECTIVE: To help students differentiate between different traditions in the communication field
MATERIALS: None
DIRECTIONS:
1. Divide the class into seven groups.
2. Assign a particular tradition to each group, and ask the students to imagine themselves as communication scholars rooted in that particular tradition.
3. Have students discuss and write down the major beliefs and topics of interest for that particular tradition, as if they were explaining their own tradition to scholars who come from other traditions.
4. Allow class time for groups to share and discuss their ideas.
- Visualizing the Transactional Process in the Various Contexts of Communication
OBJECTIVE: To afford students the opportunity to integrate information about communication and the communication process
MATERIALS: None
DIRECTIONS:
1. In small groups, have students describe how the elements of the transactional model of communication work in at least three different communication contexts.
2. Have groups provide a diagram for each context. In each diagram, students should identify all elements and indicate how they relate to the others.
3. Have groups share their diagrams with the class, explaining the elements and their relationships to each other.
- Communication Contexts and Research Topics
OBJECTIVE: To have students analyze their likes and dislikes of the communication contexts and begin to outline research topics
MATERIALS: None
DIRECTIONS:
1. Have students write down the context(s) of communication that most appeals to them.
2. Ask students to specify three issues or topics related to each context they want more information about, encouraging them to state their issues or topics as questions they could answer through research.
3. If class time permits, have students share their work. If there are any theories that relate to their issues/topics and that will be discussed later in the course, mention them to show the relevance/importance of the students’ ideas.
- Theory Application in Groups
OBJECTIVE: To have students begin to understand the challenges associated with research in each of the seven contexts of communication.
MATERIALS: None
Directions: Break students into small groups and ask them to rank order the contexts from most difficult to easiest. Upon completion of this rank ordering process, ask them to explain what guided their rankings, what they consider difficult, what they consider easy, what disagreements existed between group members and what group members did agree on.
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