Traditions of Communication Theory

1. Traditions of Communication Theory Chapter 3

2. Robert T. Craig, Ph.D. • “Communication theory as a field” • Published in 1999 • Lead to the 7 traditions of comm theory • Areas of scholarly focus based on researchers interest in how communication works to spread thoughts, influence individuals, and shape our world

4. Semiotic Tradition • Views communication as the mediation by signs • Objects and words are symbols • Symbols have meaning because: • They relate to other symbols • You organize them to understand life • Semiotics is: • Study of signs & what they represent

5. Signs vs. Symbols • Wedding Rings • How are they a sign? • What do they symbolize?

6. Triad of Meaning Semiosis

7. Three Divisions of Semiotic • Semantics • What meaning? • Ex. Pink Sky at night . . . • Syntactic • Relationship between signs and rules used to combine into meaning • Verbal and nonverbal • Pragmatics • Practical relationship between context and meaning

8. Phenomenological Tradition • Defined: Interpretation by the individual • Key Ideas: • Phenomenon • Observable event, object, or condition through individual perception • Phenomenology • How we understand the world

9. Three Basic Principles of Phenomonology • Knowledge comes from direct experience • How you relate to an object determines its meaning • Language is the vehicle of meaning

10. Variations of Phenomenological Tradition • Classical • Edmund Husserl • Used bracketing to create highly objective view • Phenomenology of Perception • Maurice Merleau-Ponty • Perception provides foundation for understanding • Subjective view

11. Hermeneutic Phenomenology • Martin Heidegger • Knowledge gained by experience through interpreting communication

12. Cybernetic Tradition • Communication is system created by the sum of its parts • Complex system that uses networks to connect different parts

13. Variations in Cybernetic Tradition • Basic System • Formalized structures that can be observed and analyzed from outside • Cybernetics • Emphasis on the feedback loop and how circular forces can be used to maintain balance & create change • Information Theory • Evaluates signal transmission and the impact of noise

14. General System Theory • Looks for commonalities among different systems • Second – order cybernetics • What we observe • Determined by how we observe it • Impacted by what is observed

15. Sociopsychological Tradition • Focus on Individual • Key Ideas: • “Science of Communication” • Research focuses on message processing • Provide insight into how information is processed • Evaluates inputs and outputs of Cognitive system

16. Behavioral Theories • Looks at how people behave in communication situations • Cognitive Theories • Evaluate thought • Biological Theories • How genetics affects behavior

17. Sociocultural Tradition • Evaluates interaction in social groups • Variations: • Symbolic Interactionism • Social structures are created and maintained through interaction • Social Construction • Evaluates how knowledge in constructed through interaction • Social groups create common experience

18. Sociolinguistics • Impact of culture • Philosophy of language • Language games • Ethnography • Groups create meaning verbally and nonverbally • Ethnomethodology • Science of observing behavior

19. Critical Tradition • Evaluates production of privilege, power, and oppression through communication • Key Ideas: • Work to understand power structures that dominate society • Evaluate oppression through communication

20. Rhetorical Tradition • Rhetoric • Use of symbols • Five Cannons of Rhetoric • Invention • Arrangement • Style • Delivery • Memory