Introduction to Communication Theory

1. Introduction to CommunicationTheory Lecture 4 Prepared for Prof. Carlos G. Godoy, PhD, Esq. by Matt Rolph

2. People • Do you have a best friend? • Is it easier to communicate with that person? • How about someone who irritates you? • Is it tougher to communicate with that person? • Can it be easier or more difficult to communicate with family? More difficult with a boss? “Step Brothers” (2008)

3. Relationships • Communication happens in relationships of many kinds, like those at work, in class, or in a family. • Cause-and-effect models of communication can’t easily explain the complexity of relationships and the way they affect communication.

4. Not • A cause and effect chain: a -> b -> c -> d • Instead, a relationship x = b2 + – 5d In other words, complicated. 2a ---- a

5. Interactional View Objective Interpretive Chapter 13 Paul Watzlawick • Individual behavior is better understood as part of a system. • Family system: • A self-regulating, interdependent network of feedback loops guided by member’s rules; the behavior of each person affects and is affected by the behavior of another. (Griffin p. 170) 1921-2007

6. Interactional View Family Homeostasis • The tacit collusion of family members to maintain the status quo; in other words, the way a group collaborates, sometimes unconsciously, to keep things stable – even if they don’t consciously want to. • One explanation involves a ‘symptom strategy’ – explaining the silence using semi-reasonable excuses, i.e. I am too tired for that today.

7. Axioms of Interpersonal Communication Communication is either symmetrical or complementary Communication always includes more than the meaning of the words or message • One cannot NOT communicate. • Communication = Content + Relationship • The nature of a relationship depends on how both parties punctuate the communication sequence

8. Symmetrical v. Complementary • Symmetrical interchange is based on equal power, whereas complementary communication is based on differences of power. • Healthy relationships include both kinds of communication.

9. The Interactional View • Axiomatic description (with corollaries ) of communication as a system. • Emphasizes issues of control, status, and power. • Relationships are assessed through an exchange of at least two messages

10. Rogers and Farace • Coding system categorizes control in ongoing marital interaction. • Bids for dominance do not necessarily result in control of the interaction

11. The Franklin Family • A “disturbed family system” • The Franklin family (p. 169 in Griffin) • Sonia – the concert pianist (and mom) • Stan – the man at work (and dad) • Laurie – honors student (responsible sister) • Mike – the problem child Olympic athlete Michael Phelps -- probably not the image he hopes you’ll remember

14. The Simpsons • Early episodes in particular feature family themes • “Bart the Genius” (Season 1: Episode 2) • Clips: • http://www.hulu.com/watch/29524/the-simpsons-scrabble#x-4,vclip,94 • http://www.hulu.com/watch/29527/the-simpsons-aptitude-test-cheater#x-4,vclip,94 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6qPVWhPUX0

15. Trapped with no place to go … • Family systems are highly resistant to change. • Double binds are contradictory demands on members of the system. • The paradox of the double bind is that the high-status party in a complementary relationship insists that the low-status person act as if the relationship were symmetrical.

16. Changing the game … • … by changing the rules: • Destructive rules can be changed only when members analyze them from outside the system. • Reframing is the process of altering perspective and looking at things in a new light. • Accepting a new frame means rejecting the old one. • Adapting a new interpretive frame usually requires outside help.

17. A Critique • Proposed adjustments to the Interactional View • Not all nonverbal behavior is communication – in the absence of relationship and intentionally shared code, nonverbal behavior is informative rather than communicative Janet BeavinBavelas

18. A Critique • Proposed adjustments to the Interactional View • A “whole message model” integrates verbal and nonverbal communication. • The term metacommunication should be reserved for communication about communication Janet BeavinBavelas

19. Limits of System Theories • Apply well to multivariate systems, but … • Systems theories involving people are difficult to evaluate because of equifinality—a given behavioral outcome could be caused by various interconnected factors. • Equifinality: In the study of systems, the recognition that different initial states can lead to similar end states; the property of allowing or having the same effect or result from different events

20. Influence • Influence research focuses on communication strategies that elicit behavioral compliance.

21. Attitudes • Attitudes are internal responses made us of the ways people think, feel, and intend to act. • Cognitive: What do you believe? • Affective: What does your heart say? • Behavioral: What do you plan to do? Example of a 7-point Likert semantic differential scale

22. Social Judgment Theory: Ch. 14 MuzaferSherif 1906-1988 • Three Latitudes • Acceptance • Rejection • Noncommitment Objective Interpretive

23. Example The location and width of each interrelated latitude may vary a great deal from person to person

24. Ego Involvement • Refers to the importance of an issue to an individual. • The favored position anchors all other thoughts on a topic. • Features of high-ego involvement: • Noncommitment nearly nonexistent • Rejection latitude is wide. • People who hold extreme views care deeply.

25. Judging the Message:Contrast and Assimilation Errors • Sherif theorized that we use our own anchored attitude as a comparison point when we hear a discrepant message. • People “cold” to an idea who hear a message on that topic perceive contrast – even a slight disagreement seems large and the message is rejected. • Contrast: A perceptual error whereby people judge messages that fall within their latitudes of rejection as further from their anchor than they really are.

26. Judging the Message:Contrast and Assimilation Errors • Sherif theorized that we use our own anchored attitude as a comparison point when we hear a discrepant message. • People “hot” for an idea who hear a message on that topic that is aligned with their view accept it even when there are good reasons not to do so. • Assimilation: A perceptual error whereby people judge messages that fall within their latitudes of acceptances as less discrepant from their anchor than they really are.

27. Attitude Change • According to social judgment theory, we judge each received message, comparing it to our anchored position – this is the first stage in attitude change. • In the second stage, we shift our anchor in response to the message. • Sherif thought that both stages take place below the threshold of consciousness.

28. Discrepancy and Attitude Change • How much our attitude changes – how much our anchor shifts – depends on the level or discrepancy between the message and our initial anchor point. • The greater the discrepancy, the more people adjust their attitudes. • According to Sherif, volition (will) is not a factor for the hearers.

29. Boomerang Effect • Attitude change in the opposite direction of what the message advocated; listeners driven away from rather than drawn to an idea.

30. Sherif’s Advice for Persuaders •  For maximum influence, select a message right on the edge of the audience's latitude of acceptance. • Persuasion is a gradual process consisting of small movements. • The most dramatic, widespread, and enduring attitude changes involve changes in reference groups with differing values.

31. Evidence supporting this theory • Evidence that argues for acceptance. • Research on the predictions of social judgment theory requires highly ego-involved issues. • Studies have demonstrated three significant findings. • Messages from highly credible speakers will stretch the latitude of acceptance. • Ambiguity effectively places statements within the latitude of acceptance. • Dogmatic people have chronically wide latitudes of rejection.

32. Critique • How wide is your theoretical latitude of acceptance? • Application of the theory raises ethical problems. • The theory has practical utility for persuaders. • Like all cognitive explanations, social judgment theory assumes a mental structure and process that are beyond sensory observation. • While it has not been widely tested empirically, research does support it, validating its claims while proving the theory falsifiable. • Despite these reservations, social judgment theory is an elegant, intuitively appealing approach to persuasion.

33. Social Neurologist John Cacioppo Objective Interpretive Ch. 15 Richard Petty & John Cacioppo Elaboration Likelihood Model

34. Central Route Mental Effort: High High message elaboration Peripheral Route Mental Effort: Low No message elaboration

35. Message Elaboration • The extent to which a person carefully thinks about issue-relevant arguments contained in a persuasive communication. • ELM has been a leading communication theory, perhaps the leading theory, for the past 20 years

36. Central Route • The path of cognitive processing that involves scrutiny of message content • Mental work, thinking about the message • Petty and Cacioppo assume that people are motivated to hold ‘correct’ attitudes but are not always logical in their approaches to meeting this goal. • There is only so much time and energy, and there are many, many messages – a large-mesh mental ‘spam filter’ (heuristic processing) is necessary. • Message elaboration

37. Peripheral Route • A mental shortcut process that accepts or rejects a message based on irrelevant cues as opposed to actively thinking about the issue. • Robert Cialdini’s six cues that trigger a programmed response: • Reciprocation – “You owe me” • Consistency – “We’ve always done it that way” • Social Proof – “Everybody’s doing it” • Liking – “Love me, love my ideas” • Authority – “Just because I say so” • Scarcity – “Quick, before they’re all gone”

38. Motivation for Elaboration • Motivation plays a role in cognition and message elaboration • Some individuals have a high need for cognition, will ‘think about it’ even if ‘it’ is not personally relevant • 4 Question Need-for-Cognition Scale • I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems. (Yes = high need) • I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve. (Yes) • I like tasks that require little thought once I have learned them. (No) • Thinking is not my idea of fun. (No)

39. Ability to Elaborate • Issue-relevant thinking (elaboration) requires more than intelligence; it requires concentration. • Distraction disrupts elaboration. • Repetition may increase the possibility of elaboration.

40. Biased v. Objective Elaborations • ‘Thinking about it’ does not guarantee objectivity. • Biased elaboration: Top-down thinking in which predetermined conclusions color the supporting data. • Objective elaboration: Bottom-up thinking in which facts are scrutinized without bias; seeking truth wherever it might lead.

41. Strong, Weak, and Neutral • Arguments may be strong, weak, or neutral – influencing the way they are processed via the central route. • ELM presumes argument strength is an important variable. • Strong arguments generate favorable thoughts when examined, and may increase the message’s likelihood to persist over time, resist counterpersuasion, and predict future behavior • Weak arguments look even worse on closer examination, offend sensibilities.

42. Peripheral Cues • Petty and Cacioppo include the kinds of social transactions based on the influence of the speaker or source, likability, credibility, as when an idolized, attractive, or famous person speaks a message • These, however, can fail to achieve the desired persistence over time, resistance to counterpersuasion, and to predict future behavior – the audience pays more attention to the speaker or source than to the message

43. Nilsen’s Significant Choice • ELM describes effective persuasion techniques, can, in theory, be used to design messages that bypass rational faculties • Thomas Nilsen is concerned with what is ethical communication and persuasion • Advocates message design that fosters free, informed, rational, and critical choice – significant choice

44. Leon Festinger Cognitive Dissonance 1919-1989

45. Aesop’s fable of the Fox and the Grapes Unable to leap high enough to reach the grapes, the fox concludes that they are sour and best left uneaten.

46. “Graveyard smoker” by Florida artist Chris Boone Smokers experience cognitive dissonance, particularly when they know a lot about the consequences

47. Cognitive Dissonance • The distressing mental state caused by inconsistencies between a person’s two beliefs or a belief and an action • What are some other examples?

48. Reducing Dissonance • Festinger hypothesized that there are three mental mechanisms people use to reduce dissonance: • selective exposure • postdecision dissonance • minimal justification

49. Selective Exposure • The tendency people have to avoid information that would create cognitive dissonance because it’s incompatible with their current beliefs

50. Postdecision Dissonance • Strong doubts experienced after making an important, close-call decision that is difficult to reverse