Communication Theory COMS 2901

Communication TheoryCOMS 2901Tara WilkinsonMedia + Communication Lecturer

What is Communication?

Importance of MessagesMessages are at the core of communication study.Communication theories deal specifically with messages.The term text is synonymous with a message.Communicators usually make conscious choices about a messages form and substance.Messages are symbolically encoded and decoded by people based on the meanings they assign.

Communication is a ProcessCommunication is an on-going relational process between two or more people, which both affects their interpretation of the messages as well as the nature of the connection between the people.

Communication involves ParticipationCommunication has an effect upon the people who receive it, provoking or eliciting a response.

What is Theory?A set of systemic hunches about the way things operate.

Judee Burgoon6

What is Theory?Set of hunchesIf a theory is a set of hunches, it means we arent yet sure we have the answer.Theories always involve an element of speculation or conjecture.A theory is not just one inspired thought or an isolated idea.A theory offers some sort of explanation.A theory offers some indication of scope.

What is Theory?Informed hunchesA theorists hunches should be informed.A theorist has a responsibility to check it out.A theorist should be familiar with alternate explanations and interpretations.

What is Theory?Hunches that are systematic.A theory is an integrated system of concepts, laying out both relevant terms and their relationship to one another.A theory ties together ideas into a unified whole.

Behavioural Science vs. Humanities ApproachBehavioural ScienceTheorists grounded in behavioral science approach communication using the scientific method.HumanitiesTheorists grounded in the humanities approach communication through interpreting texts.

Ways of knowingScientistsEpistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge.Scientists assume that truth is singular.Reality is accessible through our senses.Collectively, scientists can understand the world.Good theories are mirrors of nature, true as long as conditions remain the same.Interpretive ScholarsInterpretive scholars also seek truth, but they are more tentative about the possibility of revealing objective reality.Truth is largely subjective; meaning is highly interpretive.The knower cannot be separated from the known.Multiple meanings are acceptable.Successful interpretations are those that convince others.

Discovering truth or creating multiple realities?

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Human NatureDeterminismDeterminists argue that heredity and environment determine behavior.Scientists favor this stance.They stress behavior shaped by forces beyond our control or individual awareness.Behavior is the response to a prior stimulus.Free WillFree will proponents maintain that human behavior is ultimately voluntary.Interpretive scholars endorse this position.They focus on conscious choices of individuals, not on why choices are made.They believe that significant decisions are value laden.As individual freedom increases, predictability of behavior decreases.

The Highest Value:Objectivity or Emancipation?Social ScientistsSocial scientists value objectivity; personal values should not distort human realityScientists seek effectivenessInterpretive ScholarsInterpretive scholars seek to expand the range of free choice; knowledge is never neutral.Interpreters focus on participation.

What is the Purpose of Theory?

ScientistsScientists seek universal lawsScientists test theoriesScientists seek predictionInterpretersinterpreters strive to interpret individual texts.interpreters explore the web of meaning constituting human existence.interpretive scholars strive for meaning.

Universal Laws or Guides for Interpretation?14

Methods: Quantitative or Qualitative?ScientistsScientistScientists favor quantifiable experiments and surveys.Through experiments, scientists seek to establish a cause-and-effect relationship by manipulating an independent variable in a tightly controlled situation in order to determine its effect on a dependent variable. Results are measured.Interpretive ScholarsUse qualitative textual analysis and ethnography.Textual analyses describe and interpret messages.Increasingly, textual analyses expose and publicly resist dominant social ideologies.Through ethnography, participant-observers experience a culture's web of meaning.