Communication Theory Test 1

Question	Answer
com theory	the name of this class
Basic components of communication:	1. Linear Model 2. Interactional Model 3. Transactional Model
Image: shannon-weaver_model.gif (image/gif)	Shannon-Weaver Model is Linear Communication
• originator of the message. Sometimes the two are slightly different. The sender may be an announcer while the source may be a script-writer.	source or sender
text or stimulus sent to the receiver. May be verbal, non-verbal, both.	message
means by which the message is conveyed. (voice, print, airwaves, image, etc. )	channel
destination for the message.	receiver
anything that interrupts the process of transmission of the message	noise
response of the receiver to the message and the sender/source. (not overly significant in this model)	feedback
context of the communication	field of experience
Linear Model (sport analogy)	bowling
Interactional Model	ping-pong
Transactional Model	Charades anaology "give and take" process
Communication involves...(3 things)	content, context and relationship
Define communication	"a social process in which individual use signs to establish and interpret meaning in their environment."
"a _____ process in which individual use ______ to establish and interpret _________ in their environment."	social, signs, MEANING
key elements in the Nature of Communication	symbolic, social, co-orientation, requires interpretation, shared meaning, context
it depends on the use of signs:	symbolic
(looks like what it means)	icon
(can figure it out; symptomatic-- it indicates something else as in fever indicates infection)	index
(you must learn it because it is created to convey meaning)	symbol
(combination of something natural and something symbolic -- like the "Mom look"; or a growl when one is angry)	ritual
• act/interact on those thoughts with another human being	social
• sender and receiver being aware of each other	co-orientation
• the receiver must be actively involved to some degree	requires interpretation of the message by the receiver
types of communication contexts:	interpersonal, small group, public, mass, intercultural, family, political
the way people interpret sensory information	perception
involve things like a limp, body odor, race, body size. These things can influence our perceptions of other people without any intentional communication.	Incidental perceptions
Sometimes receivers meanings associated with those kinds of characteristics, and may associate them with intent to communicate in someway when that is not the case. (stereotypes)	Informational communication
communication plan	is a set of behaviors a person believes will accomplish a purpose.
says that we don't like a lot of cognitive activity because it's more work and a restful state is more pleasant o so we tend to take the easy way o 'auto-pilot' through most communication processes	"mindlessness" theory
The Functions of Communication (3 of them)	• to inform • to entertain • to persuade
connects the person's relationships with the environment (be friendly to 'get along' )	linking function:
communication which facilitates mental growth; (ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes)	mentatation
 the ability to think beyond the present, time, place, etc.  to think about the past or the future o a higher mental activity	displacement
o when the child or individual is influenced by other people or elements in the environment o this results in learning	regulatory function
The study of signs	(Semiotics)
(Com is the creation and activity of social reality) Communication produces more than just words or images; it produces culture.	Social Cultural Tradition
Saphir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity	structure of a people's language shapes what human beings think and what they do.
The Critical Tradition	Com as a reflection of and challenge to unjust communication.
Communication Theory traditions	Rhetorical Tradition, Semiotic Tradition, Social Cultural Tradition, The Critical Tradition, Phenomenological Tradition
(com as artful public speaking)	Rhetorical Tradition
(experience of oneself and others through com)	Phenomenological Tradition
the process whereby each individual is continually evaluating experiences and understanding them in relationship to the self and to others.	phenomenology
What is it? What is “knowable”	Ontology
How does it work?	Praxiology
Why does it happen? Also the study of knowledge itself and how we know.	Epistemology
Should it happen? The role of values and morality in research and the building of knowledge.	Axiology
(bowling) dominant until 20th century, though the transition to modernism began much earlier o God exists o truth exists o to find truth, find God	Traditionalism
Dominant until the last quarter of the 20th century (reflected in Ping-pong) o truth exists o God may or may not exist o human beings can find truth through rational means  objective observation  rational analysis and organization	Modernism
(post-positivism) Dominant world view at the present time (but obviously not to the exclusion of the others) o God does not exist (myth) o truth does not exist but is a "construct" based on our perceptions o experience and interpretation are the only means of explaining the world (or rather our perceptions of it)	Post-Modernism
"a set of systematic informed hunches about the way things work."	theory
3 things a theory is compared to	nets, lenses, map
a metaphor for the relationships in a process.	Model--often times used interchangeably with theory
A successful theory must fulfill the following purposes:	description, explanation/understanding, prediction, control
Theories grow by...	--by extension: adding new concepts and ideas which are tested hypotheses --by intension: developing a deeper understanding of the basic concepts.
that means they are repeatable; if you do the project in the same way, you will get the same results.	reliability
the measure what they intend to measure	validilty
Does it apply to the real world? Are the conditions in the study like those of the real world or are they artificial.	Isomorphism
Does it apply to more than just the people in queried in the project?	generalizability
It follows the laws of logic, among them that no two mutually exclusive qualities can exist at the same time in the same object. (Water can't be liquid and solid at the same time.)	Logical
Mass Com researchers and those in education or psychology should find the same results when they do the same experiment.	Inter-Subjective
standard steps in scientific study	literature review, questions, methods, collect, analyze, results, discussion
the 3 methodologies	positivism, naturalism, hypothetico-deductive methodology
_______is rooted in the basic qualities of physical science.	positivism. There's a problem with this because in 100 years of studying communication we've never found a communication law.
A way of looking at the world in order to study and understand it. They offer a perspective or world view which becomes a foundation on which theory is built.	paradigms
What are the three key research paradigms in social science?	1. POST-POSITIVSM bowling analogy fits best here. The rhetorical tradition of com theory also fits most often in this category, though it can fall in other research paradigms. The primary research methodology: experiments (real world events or phenomena are recreated in the laboratory) 2. HERMENEUTIC THEORY: The Interpretive Paradigm (or Interactive Model) semiotic tradition, social cultural tradition,critical tradition and phenomenological tradition as well. Rhetoric may also fall into meaning-construction approaches. 3. CRITICAL THEORY: (also dependent on interactive theory) The charades analogy works here, and this falls within the critical tradition of com theory. 4. Normative Theory: (The 'ought") These theories address the way communication "ought" to be conducted.
The positivism/post This paradigm assumes the following: the audience is _________ the meaning is in the ______ _________ therefore _______ is in the content direct effects occur	passive, media content,
Direct Effects:	An immediate and direct reaction that is caused by an agent.
A trade-off effect which occurs because something else is not happening. (ex. Kids who watch a lot of television get fatter not because TV causes them to gain weight, but because they are sitting there eating instead of going out to play and burn calories.)	Indirect Effects
• Number of exposures + duration of the effect	Immediacy:
How important other conditions are for the effect to take place. The fewer the other conditions exist, the more direct the effect.	Directness:
Power of the Effect =	Contingency + Immediacy
While many of the positivist assumptions apply to limited effects theories, Functionalism is based on different assumptions: • audience is ________ • content is ____where the power is (the same content could have different uses) • the audience has ______for media use • assumption of a _______audience	Post-positivist=functionalist 1. active 2. not 3. goals 4. mass
things within society that meet a social need, exchange privilege for service	Institution-
HERMENEUTIC THEORY:	The Interpretive Paradigm (or Interactive Model)
Hermeneutics (def):	the study of understanding and interpreting linguistic and non-linguistic signs.
• Representational theory—	media do represent reality in some way
Those who adhere to the hemaneutic paradigm believe that the subjects of their inquiry are the fields of meaning that make up the projects of human life -- what we do, where we do it, with whom we do those projects • Inquiry is conducted by __________meaning and texts • Such theory can be ___________ to the meaning an individual draws from a text or how meaning is drawn by a society as a whole. • Meaning does not exist as an ____________, but is a construct. • People understand their world in _________ schemes or structures • We're always thinking about what we're doing, what we've done before, what we're going to do next • Things which happen in life are always _________-________ • Empirical methods don't address those things because they can't deal with them • __________ methods are necessary to answer these questions	interpreting, applied, absolute, symbolic, self-referential, qualitative
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONALISM.	Symbolic interaction focuses on the production and negotiation of meaning in our society, and specifically, ways in which 'actors' manage their roles in social interaction.
• Ethnography --	study what people do and try to figure out what's going on and why
• Discourse Analysis --	examines use of signs and symbols in the conveyance of ideas and world view in society
• Ecological Psychology --	analysis of how specific environmental situations effect social behaviors
Cultural Effects:	These are the effects which change the way we see our society and our world and the way it works.
The process by which a culture's social structure is preserved.	• Hegemonistic Effects
Normative Theory:	(The 'ought")
• ________ those in formal research, experiments • __________ those in survey research • ________ those in qualitative, more informal research	Subjects, Respondents, Informants
The ability to repeat the study and get the same results. It may not always be expected, partial replication is all we can hope for.	Replication :
does it measure what you want it to measure?	Internal Validity:
does it measure what you want it to measure?	Internal Validity:
Does it measure what we say it does?	Construct Validity:
Do the findings relate to the real world? Is it isomorphic?	External Validity:
The study of WHAT words/signs mean.	semantics :
The study of HOW signs mean.	semiotics:
the study of how signs fit/work together.	syntactics:
the study of how signs are used.	pragmatics:
the means of transmission of the sign	medium:
Basic Requirements of Communication:	1.A base of common experience 2. A system with which to reference that base 3.A relationship which makes that process possible
The study of signs; the process of creating and maintaining signs	Semiotics: (def)
Something that stands for something else .	Sign:
o __________ is the tendency of people to over-value youth and to expect themselves to be forever young and physically attractive. It emphasizes the privilege given to youth and youthful appearance.	Juvenilization
A collection of signs within a system of signification that have a set of rules for governing the relationship among its signs.	Sign System:
A reality defining system. Some call this a reality-producing system. Language is the most important and thorough example here.	Semiotic System:
o interpretive biases for the spoken word; hearing is better than seeing	phonocentrism:
o linguistic communication is better than non-verbal forms and unspoken feelings; eye and ear offer better information than touch or taste or smell.	logocentristm:
o bias toward that which is seen: SEEING is believing and text is better than spoken word	graphocentrism:
People in cultures agree to use the same signs to name things.	sociological scale :
(or agreement to use the same signs) is held on a broad scale-- we're born into it	semiotic contract
o _________= data that can be received from a communication o __________ = the significance and application of the message to the receiver	information, meaning
o _________= data that can be received from a communication o __________ = the significance and application of the message to the receiver	information, meaning
o _________ are all types of signs governed by specific rules which may be spoken or unspoken	conventions
The underlying world view of the culture; this is the final goal or product of deconstructive criticism	Ideology:
The stories used to transmit these values and ideology;	Myth:
A VALID ACT OF COMMUNICATION IS TO MUTUALLY ESTABLISH A COMMON __________!	meaning
"a cognitive act involving the creation of a concept transcending experience and referencing that concept with a sign."	Signification: (Def )
"The product of interpretive performances by which the sign(s) are made sensible in some ongoing action."	Meaning: (Def)
Characteristics of conversation: (3 things)	Intentional production, Referenced reception, Mutual participation, Reciprocal supervision
• The mass society theorists who argued from a position based in cultural norms, ideals, and values. Seen as biased toward "the way we were"	Academicus:
• Those people IN the media who defended media. Their concerns were practical and business/industry-related. Perceived as biased toward "what's good for business." (saw "few if any effects")	Practicus:
• Social Scientists studying mass communication and using empirical research methodologies.	Empiricus:
August Comte	• He believed that society functioned much like an organism • He believed that societies go through an "evolutionary process" • The natural process of growth of specialization is problematic • Specialization could become so extreme that is could cause severe problems which could rip the society apart.
Herbert Spencer	• He also believed that society functioned like an organism • He wrote Laws of Evolution in Principles of Sociology in 1863 which formed the basis of his ideas • Believed that division of labor was a natural process and should not be inhibited in any way • Had a totally laissez-faire position because he believed that any intervention would disrupt the natural order of things.
Ferdinand Tonnie and THEORY OF SOCIAL BONDS	• A Gemeinschaft society is one based on strong reciprocal ties among members of a group which binds them to that group. Based off of WHO they are and not what they do. Example--John from Indiana story
Gesellschaft societies:	based off of what they do instead of who they are. contracts.
Durkeheim's Analysis of the Division of Labor	• Durkeheim calls the society in which everyone is doing the same thing (i.e. a primitive or rural society) a mechanical society • The society in which there is heavy division of labor is an organic society  people become pre-occupied with their own interests and not the interests of the society  no longer bound by traditional social values or ideals  result of declining morality and de-emphasis of religious and moral institutions and values  so people go after what they want regardless of the impact of those actions on others  chaos results
7 psychological theories	1. BEHAVIORISM: Basic Stimulus - Response Theory (S-R) No mental powers engaged until AFTER the stimulus was received 2. FREUDIANISM: • Human psyche composed of three points: o EGO = rational or logical mind o ID = darker, pleasure-seeking side of the psyche o SUPEREGO = internalized set of cultural values (restrictive) 3. THE MAGIC BULLET THEORY: 4. Harold Lasswell, • Combined behaviorism and Freudianism 5. Walter Lippman's THEORY OF PUBLIC OPINION FORMATION 6. John Dewey: (Humanism) Education is key. 7. John Carey • Media are not EXTERNAL agents, but are SERVANTS of the society to facilitate public discussion of issues
5 filters of modern propoganda theory:	ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, support the status quo
• increased media concentration and control of gate-keeping and information flow	ownership --
• - promoting consumption and focus on THINGS and not issues which might threaten those elites	advertising -
• limit number of resources which can be accessed	sourcing --
P.R. efforts to spin or manipulated impressions and truth	• flak
• -- miracle market; market is everything valuable...	support the status quo

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