Comm Theory Midterm

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Transactional approaches to communication

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Transactional approaches: changes in an individual's attitude or behavior
-Focus on explicit meaning
-Focus on short term
-Focus on behavior
-Focus on Psychology- how individuals process messages
Ex: step by step instructions

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Constitutive approaches to communication

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Constitutive approaches: changes in social structure- communication structures the ways we think about the world
-Meaning arises in context
---Created between sender and receiver
---Created in relationships
-Meaning is dynamic (changes over time)
-Focusing on how the message is understood
-Originate in sociology
---Language, messages, signals mean in relation to society
-Doesn't have explicit meaning but grows relationships and bonds.
Ex: the pledge of allegiance

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how the communication field divides itself by channel

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Channel:
-Interpersonal
-Mass
-Computer mediated

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how the communication field divides itself by context.

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Context:
-Organizational
-Political
-Health
-Relational
-Intercultural
-Persuasive

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Typologies:

Elements of Theory

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A description of the social world

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Laws

Elements of Theory

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Statement about the relationships about the phenomena being described

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Theory:

Elements of Theory

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An explanation: a story about why things work as they do / to be powerful, theory needs to be abstract; more generalizable (Occam's Razor)

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Typologies examples

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-Traits of voters v. traits of nonvoters
-Voters: old, homeowners, partisans, wealthy
-Nonvoters: young, renters, independents, poor

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Law examples

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-People who don't move very often are more likely to vote
-People who are very motivated are more likely to vote
-Note that the laws cover everything in the typologies

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Theory examples

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-Registration is serious impediment to voting
-Explains the relationships in the laws:
-Old people and homeowners move less often, so they don't need to re-register
-Partisans and wealthier people are more motivated, so they make the effort to register
-Covers the taxonomy since it covers the laws

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Theoretical perspectives: identify its ontological commitments

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What's real?

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Theoretical perspectives: Identify its epistemological commitments

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How we find out about it?

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Theoretical perspectives: Identify its axiological commitments

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What values do we bring to research?

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Post-positivism:

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-Ontology: Realism, Social Constructionism - Reification equivalent to realism (we create the meanings of the world then treat them as real)
-Epistemology: Objective (stand apart/ look at it)
-Axiology: Value free/ leave values at the door.

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Interpretive:

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Linguistic world of assigning meaning or value to communicative texts; assumes that multiple meanings or truths are possible
-Ontology: social constructionist; meaning arises in interaction; people make the world they live in
-Epistemology: Subjective; you bring your ideas about social life to what you study
-Axiology: Value-neutral; bring your own values and recognize others values without judgement

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Critical: (both Marxist and Gramscian)

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Ontology:
-Marxist- realist/ reified social constructionist; economic base gives rise to superstructure; "material relations of production" (reality) explains human relations
-Gramscian- base/superstructure interact; hegemony: people complicit in their own oppression; false consciousness
Epistemology:
-Marxist- objective
-Gramscian- subjective (how culture works)
Axiology: Value driven; seek cultural forms and practices that celebrate human worth and human dignity

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Falsifiability:

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requirement that a scientific theory be stated in such a way that it can be tested and disproved if it's wrong

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Parsimony:

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given two plausible explanations for the same event, we should accept the simpler version (few moving parts)

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Attribution theory:

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systematic explanation of how people draw inferences about the character of others based upon observed behavior

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Two basic kinds of attribution

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-Internal/ dispositional- act by choice
-external/ situational- situation forces the behavior

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Attribution Error-

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assumptions about other's behavior are wrong; assumptions made without sufficient cause

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Fundamental attribution error-

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attribute others negative behavior to their disposition; attributes your own negative behavior to the situation

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Dramaturgical metaphor

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The big idea: everyday life is like a stage play; effective communication is giving a good performance; onstage/backstage; everyone has multiple roles; role conflict- incompatible roles you are suppose to play in the same communication environment

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Symbolic interactionism:

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Ongoing use of a language and gestures in anticipation of how another will react; a conversation.
Meaning: construction of social reality
Language: source of meanings
Thinking: process of taking the role of the other aka process of mentally imagining that you're someone else who is viewing you

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Coordinated management of meaning: CMM

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Looks directly at the communication process and what it's doing
-humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things
-meaning arises out of social interaction that people have with one another

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Coordinated management of meaning: CMM Rules

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· Constitutive Rules – manage coherence, rules that cover meaning

1. Semantics – what words mean

2. Syntactic – grammar (How words are supposed to go together)Ex… Dog bites man, man bites dog

3. Pragmatics – usage (how words are set)Ex… You’re being polite when you're actually mad

· Regulative Rules – manage coordination, rules that cover activities/scripts, “How do you”

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Expectancy violation theory: Expectancies

Three core concepts

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Expectancies:

what people predict will happen, rather than what they desire

-With known others, idiosyncratic differences are factored in; example-quirkiness, habits, etc.
- Predictive or prescriptive
-With strangers, use social norms for relationship and situation

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Expectancy violation theory: 2

Expectancy violations

Three core concepts

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Expectancy violations:

perceived positive or negative value assigned to a breach of expectations, regardless of who violator is
-Violations cause arousal and divert attention to the source of the violation
-Positive violations: going above and beyond the expected OR meeting expectations when others expect less; ex-dressing up for class
-Negative violations: doing less than expected

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Expectancy violation theory: 3

Communicator Reward Valence

Three core concepts

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Communicator Reward Valence:

sum of positive/negative attributes brought to encounter plus potential to reward/punish in the future
-Reward: desirable communicator, relationship, and interaction; physical attractiveness, teacher more likely to be forgiven for being late to class vs. a student being late, being rich, etc.
-The benefits of interacting with this person outweigh the costs
-Interacting with the person has tangible rewards
-Where meaning is equivocal or ambiguous, reward plays a greater role

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Uncertainty reduction theory:

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Increased knowledge of what kind of person another is, which provides an improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out; Drive to reduce uncertainty about new acquaintances gets boosts from 3 prior conditions
-Anticipation of future interaction
-incentive value-: they have what we want; how worthwhile is this relationship going to be? Do you have the power to help me achieve my goals?
-Deviance: they act in a weird way

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Strategies for Reducing Uncertainty

4 Strategies

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-Passive Strategy – impression formation by observing the person interacting with others

-Active Strategy – impression formation by asking a third party about the person

-Interactive Strategy – impression formation through face-to-face discussion with person

-Extractive Strategy – impression formation by searching the internet for information about a person

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Relational Turbulence Model:

3 Strategies

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·Relational Uncertainty – doubts about our own thoughts, the thoughts of the other persons, or the future of the relationship

·Partner Interference – occurs when a relational partner hinders goals, plans and activities

·Relational Turbulence – negative emotions arising from perceived problems in a close relationship

- Ex: Modern Family, Phil meets Dylan

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Social penetration theory:

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Process of developing deeper intimacy with another person through mutual self disclosure and other forms of vulnerability

Self-disclosure – voluntary sharing of personal history, preferences, attitudes, feelings, values, secrets, etc. with another person; transparency

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Social penetration theory:

Onion Model + Breadth & Depth

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· Onion Model – disclosure begins on the surface, deeper layers are more vulnerable, protected and central to self-image

· Breadth – surface, superficial information about oneself shared with many people, range of areas in an individual’s life over which disclosure takes place, early

· Depth – significant information, degree of disclosure in a specific area of an individual’s life, shared with few people later

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Social penetration theory:

Law of Reciprocity

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-when one shares something personal the other will too

-How Relationships deepen - invitation

- Not always liked- not everyone like to return the conversation on that personal level

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Social information processing theory (SIP):

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explain how people form relationships across the communication technologies that have become popular such as email or CMC (computer mediated communication)

Information → Impression → Relationship

Process is slower than F-t-F (SIPs not gulps)

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Non Verbals for CMC

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· Time – how long does it take to respond?

· Emoticons, smiley faces

· ALL CAPS

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Hyperpersonal perspective:

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Claim that CMC relationships are often more intimate than those developed when partners are physically together

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Hyper-personal Relationships

(ideal relationships)

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· Sender: selective, self-presentation (lets you present your best self)

· Receiver: Over attribution of similarity, assume they’re like the sender (Gives the other attributes they want them to have)

· Channel: Asynchronous – communicate on your own time

· Feedback: self-fulfilling prophecy, hear what you want to hear

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Predicting and explaining: (goals of theories developed in the major perspectives)

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Predicts future outcomes and explains reasons for that outcome
-describes the process, focuses attention on what's crucial, and helps ignore that which makes little difference
-Prediction is only possible when dealing with things we can hear, touch, smell, and taste over and over again
-Theory is a way of making sense out of a disturbing situation
-Should bring clarity

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Understanding: (goals of theories developed in the major perspectives)

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relative simplicity

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Schema Theory

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Schema – cognitive structure that helps organize information, a set of ideas and categories that seem to go together

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Key Kinds of Schemas;

Prototype

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What we are expecting people to be like

The ideal used to answer, “What is it?”

Ex: Mom – big purse, mom jeans, minivan, children

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Key Kinds of Schemas;

Stereotypes

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prediction about behavior, used to answer, “What will it do?”

- Not always negative or bad

-Blind us to characteristics that they don't have -Usually used because they work

-We have a tendency to extend characteristics of an individual to a group and vice versa

-Can be offensive

Ex: Chinese boy must be smart

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Key Kinds of Schemas;

Script

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Prediction about patterns of behavior

Ex: How class will go – there will be a PowerPoint, you will take notes, get out late because teacher talks a lot, go to next class

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Social Exchange Theory

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We evaluate relationships in terms of rewards and costs, why we stay in relationships, regulated by both parties

Rewards > cost= Stay

Benefits/rewards < cost= Leave

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Equity Theory

(subset to social exchange theory)

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You stay in a relationship & find it satisfying if both you and your partner have the same cost-reward ratio

Same amount of work same rewards

More work more rewards

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A marriage counselor is doing research in order to predict what kinds of conflict management styles are more likely to produce long marriages. Her research must be.

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Post-Positive

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According to the dramaturgical metaphor, an airplane cockpit is?

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It depends on what it is used for.. backstage and on-stage space