Kcm14 Communication Theory

Front 1

Communication

Back 1

Communication is the "umbrella term for all careful, systematic and self-conscious discussion and analysis of communication phenomena."

Communication Theory sees communication as a primary process, as central to all of human experience.

Front 2

Three Forms of

Communication Theory Scholarship

Back 2

Scientific Scholarship

Humanistic Scholarship

Social-Scientific Scholarship

Front 3

Scientific Scholarship

Back 3

Attempts to examine phenomenon from an objective, standardized and generalized fashion.

Front 4

Humanistic Scholarship

Back 4

Research is subjective and seeks creative interpretation because assumptions are that persons are holistic, understand within context, are self-aware, make choice and strive for personal meaning and value.

Front 5

Social-Scientific Scholarship

Back 5

Including elements of both science and humanities, this scholarship focuses on objectively studying behavior phenomena.

Front 6

Philosophical Assumptions

Back 6

A theorist's assumptions of what a theory will become.

Front 7

Three Major Types of

Philosophical Assumptions

Back 7

Epistemology

Ontology

Axiology

Front 8

Epistemology

Back 8

Knowledge

How people know what they know.

Common questions:

To what extent can knowledge exist before experience?

Is knowledge best conceived in parts or wholes?

Front 9

Ontology

Back 9

Existence

Deals with the nature of being.

Four issues:

determinists v. pragmatists

state view v. trait view

Front 10

Axiology

Back 10

Value

The study of values.

Values-conscious scholarship recognizes the importance of values to research and theory and make efforts to direct those values in a positive way.

Front 11

Evaluating Communication Theory

The basis to judge one theory against another

Back 11

Theoretical Scope

Appropriateness

Heuristic Value

Validity

Parsimony

Openness

Front 12

Theoretical Scope

Back 12

A theory can deal with a narrow range of events, but their explanations of these events must apply to a large number of situations.

Front 13

Appropriateness

Back 13

A kind of logical consistency between a theory and its assumptions.

Front 14

Heuristic Value

Back 14

Will the theory generate new ideas for research and additional theory?

Front 15

Validity

Back 15

The truth value of a theory.

Value (worth)

Correspondence (fit)

Generalizability (scope)

Front 16

Parsimony

Back 16

Logical Simplicity: if two theories are equally valid, the one with the simplest, logical explanation is said to be the best.

Front 17

Openness

Back 17

A theory is open to other possibilities, admitting to diversity, inviting dialogue with other perspectives and acknowledging incompleteness.

Front 18

Seven Traditions
in Communication Theory

Back 18

Critical
Cybernetic
Phenomenological
Retorical
Semiotic
Sociocultural
Sociopsychological

Front 19

Critical Tradition

Back 19

This tradition examines questions of privilege, power and oppression and how they are the products of certain communication forms throughout society.

Marxism, Frankfurt School, Postmodernism, Cultural Studies, Poststructuralism, Postcolonial Theory, Feminist Studies

Front 20

Cybernetic Tradition

Back 20

This is the tradition of complex systems in which interacting elements influence one another and explain how physical, biological, social and behavioral processes work.

Systems: sets of interacting components that form more than the sum of the parts

Networks: feedback loops that connect the parts.

Front 21

Phenomenological Tradition

Back 21

This tradition looks at the individual as the key component and concentrates on the conscious experience of the person, finding how we understand the world through experiences, feelings and perception.

Classical phenomenology, Phenomenology of perception, Hermeneutic phenomenology

Front 22

Rhetorical Tradition

Back 22

This tradition encompasses the way humans use symbols to affect those around them and to construct the worlds in which they live.

Five canons of rhetoric:

Invention, Arrangement, Style, Delivery, Memory

Front 23

Semiotic Tradition

Back 23

This tradition studies the signs and how signs come to represent objects, ideas, states, situations, feelings and conditions.

Sign: a stimulus designating or indicating a condition.

Symbol: a complex sign with many meanings.

Front 24

Sociocultural Tradition

Back 24

This tradition emphasizes the social interaction part of communication, examining identity in relationship and interactions with social group members.

Symbolic interactionism, Social construction, sociolinguistics, Philosophy of language, Speech acts, Ethnography, Ethnomethodology

Front 25

Sociopsychological Tradition

Back 25

This tradition originated in the field of social psychology and studies the individual as a social being.

Three branches:

Behavioral theories, Cognitive theories, Biological theories