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4
Mapping the Territory
(Seven Traditions in the Field
of Communication Theory)
A First Look at
Communication Theory
8th edition
Em Griffin
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Mapping the Territory
The Socio-Psychological Tradition
The Cybernetic Tradition
The Rhetorical Tradition
The Semiotic Tradition
The Socio-Cultural Tradition
The Critical Tradition
The Phenomenological Tradition
Fencing the Field of Communication Theory
The Ethical Tradition
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
Mapping the Territory
Craig suggests communication theory is
a coherent field when we understand
communication as a practical discipline
Traditions of communication theory
offer “distinct, alternative vocabularies”
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
The Socio-Psychological
Tradition
Communication as Interpersonal
Interaction and Influence
Scholars believe communication
truths can be discovered by
careful, systematic observation
• Cause-and-effect relationships
• Usually means designing a series of surveys or
controlled experiments
• Longitudinal study of college friendships
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
The Cybernetic Tradition
Communication as a System
of Information Processing
Cybernetics – study of information
processing, feedback, and
control in communication systems
• Theorists ask “How can we
get the bugs out of this system?”
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
The Cybernetic Tradition
Parks: studies personal relationships
by asking both partners to
describe their social networks
•
•
•
•
•
Prior contact
Range of contact
Communication
Liking
Support
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
The Rhetorical Tradition
Communication as Artful Address
Rhetoric – art of using all
available means of persuasion
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
The Rhetorical Tradition
Characterized by 6 features
• Speech distinguishes
humans from other animals
• Public address more effective than decrees
• A single speaker attempts to influence an
audience (one-way communication)
• Oratorical training is
cornerstone of a leader’s education
• Rhetoric is more art than science
• Oral public speaking, until
the 1800s, was province of males
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
The Semiotic Tradition
Communication as the Process of
Sharing Meaning Through Signs
Semiotics – study of verbal
and nonverbal signs that
stand for something else
• How their interpretation impacts society
Symbols – arbitrary words and
nonverbal signs that bear no natural
connection with the things they describe
• Meaning is learned within a given culture
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
The Semiotic Tradition
I. A. Richards: railed against
the semantic trap he labeled
“the proper meaning superstition”
Most theorists try to explain and
reduce misunderstanding created
by use of ambiguous symbols
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
The Socio-Cultural Tradition
Communication as the Creation
and Enactment of Social Reality
Culture produced and
reproduced as people talk
• Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic
relativity – structure of a language
shapes what people think and do
Persons-in-conversation coconstruct their own social worlds
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
The Critical Tradition
Communication as a Reflective
Challenge of Unjust Discourse
Critical theory from German
scholars called “Frankfurt School”
• Originally set up to test the ideas of Karl Marx
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
The Critical Tradition
Critical tradition challenges:
1. Control of language to
perpetuate power imbalances
2. Role of mass media in
dulling sensitivity to repression
3. Blind reliance on scientific method and
uncritical acceptance of empirical findings
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
The Critical Tradition
Culture industries –
entertainment businesses that
Reproduce the dominant
ideology of a culture
Distract people from recognizing unjust
distribution of power within a society
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
The Phenomenological
Tradition
Communication as the Experience of
Self and Others Through Dialogue
Phenomenology – intentional analysis
of everyday experience from
standpoint of person who is living it
• Explores possibility of understanding
experience of self and others
• Emphasizes people’s perception and
interpretation of subjective experience
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
The Phenomenological
Tradition
Rogers: “Neither the Bible nor
the prophets – neither Freud nor
research – neither the revelations of
God nor man – can take precedence
over my own direct experience”
Why is it so hard to establish and
sustain authentic human relationships?
How can this problem be overcome?
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
Fencing the Field of
Communication Theory
Traditions have deep roots in the
field of communication theory
Hybrids possible across traditions
Charted traditions might not cover every
approach to communication theory
• Pragmatism – applied approach to
knowledge; the philosophy that true
understanding of an idea or situation
has practical implications for action
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
The Ethical Tradition
Principles of ethical communication
Advocate truthfulness, accuracy,
honesty, and reason as essential
to integrity of communication
Accept responsibility for short-term
consequences of our communication
and expect the same of others
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
The Ethical Tradition
Ethical communication (continued)
Strive to understand and respect other
communicators before evaluating
and responding to messages
© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.