Perspectives on Human Communication – 2005

1. Perspectives on Human Communication – 2005 Dr. Willard Uncapher willardu@colorado.edu Wed-Fri 9/7,9/2005 –Communication & Research Frameworks [Please Fill out Attendance Sheet]

2. What is communication? • Is communication intentional? • Are we dealing with ‘people’ or senders who want to send ‘something’ via communication? • Does it require a sender and receiver? • Is communication symbolic? • Must it involve signs, symbols, or some abstraction? • Is communication concerned with meanings? • Is our study of communication limited to humans? • Can we include animals… or plants? • Is communication limited to speech? • What different ‘channels’ are we going to look at? • When is ‘not doing something’ also ‘sending a message’?

3. Models and Definitions • Models and theories begin with definitions. • Definitions help establish the structure of the model. • Show structure and function. • Models and Theories? • Models are necessarily reductionist • Only some things selected • Models are abstractions (the map is not the territory). • We have to use ‘concepts’ [remember laws of identity, excluded middle, contradiction?] • Models are descriptive tools. • Illustrate, demonstrate, explain, and/or show relationships among entities or concepts. • Illustrate dynamics among components of a theory. • Models may lead to predictions

4. Models and Perspectives • Psychological [Transmission]: communication as the transmission of messages Metaphor: Radios • Social construction: communication as collective world-building Metaphor: Software • Pragmatic: communication as patterned interactions Metaphor: Chess game • Cultural and Critical Studies: communication as a revealer of social and cultural forces • Ethnography of Communication: looking at speech communities as observed

5. Psychological [Transmission] View

6. As Transmission View • Claude Shannon 1947 – “Information Theory” at Bell Labs (Telephone Company) • Asks- How can we make our telephone lines more efficient? • Asks - How much ‘noise’ can we allow on a line…. And still understand what the message is? • Worked with Warren Weaver to make a popular account • Created new theory [don’t memorize – just familiarize yourself] • Information? • Here seen as something ‘unexpected’ • The more ‘unexpected’ the more information • How much ‘information’ needs to be transmitted to understand a message • Redundancy • Because of noise and misunderstanding • IF U CN RD THS U CN GT A JB • Noise • Wilber Schramm includes ‘semantic noise’ – distraction, emphasizing wrong part of message, attitudes toward sender, attitudes toward message, differences in the code • Channel Capacity – what are the limits of communication? • Code – to be encoded and decoded • Can include non-verbal • Norbert Weiner 1947 – “Cybernetics” • 'the science of control and communication in the animal and the machine' • adds notion of “feedback” – like thermostat • General systems become adaptive to changing environment, and more stable

7. Analog and Digital • Analog as continuous • Communication is ‘linked’ continuously • Eg. Phonograph record repeats amplitude and dynamic of the signal • Analog only stores and reproduces similarity; harder to manipulate • Digital as discrete, non continuous • Digital as higher order language or code; discrete, • Code as the represented • Example of the digital: the alphabet • Binary when the code has only two values • Sampling according to some rule (heuristic) • How often, how long, what values

8. Analog and Digital Continuous Analog Original – Sampling/Encode – Digital (Arbitrary) Discrete – Non-Continuous Code – Manipulate Code – Decode back to Analog

9. As a Psychological Model • Trenholm Focuses on this reading • Communication originates and is received in the human mind. • Meanings are exchanged through transmission and reception of stimuli. • Messages are transmitted though channels. • Messages are encoded and decoded through filters (mental sets). • Mental sets are based in experience, attitudes, etc. of sender and receiver. • Noise is anything that interferes with the transmission of the message.

10. Criticisms of Transmission Psychological Model • Why communicate? – What about intentions? • Changes in context – the same ‘message’ might be different – a kiss in the morning • Relationships between sender and receiver are not stressed • What about the bias of the code – what influence does language have in how we see things?

11. Social constructionist perspectivefrom the outside, as a social activity. Looks at: • Collective – Communication is a process whereby groups create collective perspectives • Stresses Importance of Filters – We never experience the world directly, but always though cultural filters. • Knowledge – Suggests Our world is thus a socio-cultural construct, held together by communication. • Ethos/Culture – Communication between people of different “worlds” will be problematic.

12. Social Construction Perspective • Erving Goffman – Communication in ‘frames’: • Frames – are made up of: roles, rules, props, keys • Frames – like the ‘class’ frame, the ‘restaurant’ frame, the ‘dorm hall’ frame • The same people can act differently with different ‘frames.’ • Frames: bus stop, classroom • Frames have Fronts [where activity takes place] and Backs [where activity is discussed and rehearsed.] • Frame Confusion – when you don’t know which frame to use! • What happens when you meet a professor at… the bus stop, the bar, the concert? • You must ‘negotiate’ or ‘key’ which frame to use!

13. Social Constructionist – Benefits • Emphasizes our (social) responsibility for the ways we talk about things and others. • Helps us understand harmful social constructions (e.g., stereotypes) in a socio-cultural context • Reveals/Focuses on: social roles. • Extremely useful in organizational/cultural research.

14. Social Constructionist – Problems • Emphasizes the social self over the individual self. Who is responsible: society or me? • Defines “good” communication as “socially appropriate” communication. • Makes truth elusive. Truth as simply ‘what happens.’ • Easily over-generalized – what does ‘society’ mean, eg. Do ‘Americans’ do one thing or another; do corporations do one thing or another.

15. Pragmatic Perspective • Focus on systems of behavior. • For your thought… but not for a test: • Systems vs Heaps – looking at how things work together rather than examining things independently – Newton’s Science vs a science of complexity • Systems have irreducible properties – Aristotle – properties unpredicted by the parts. • Systems maintain themselves in a changing environment • Systems create themselves in response to challenge from environment… or else dissolve • Systems ‘are coordinating interfaces’ in nature’s hierarchy • Assumes that interdependence will emerge among members of the system. • Unit of analysis is the interaction--a sequence of communication acts.

16. Practical applications of the pragmatic perspective • Helps reveal “scripted” or unhealthy patterns. • Focuses on behavior in communication systems. • Shifts focus from personalities to interactions. • Eg. Intergenerational Psychology – look to how problems are transmitted across generations – approaches to child rearing, anger management, etc. • Provides a basis for effective conflict management.

17. Problems with pragmatic perspective • Systems models are good at description, but weakat prediction • Still used in business, less so in social, cultural sciences. • Things chosen/observed as the model predicts – Colonialists use ‘social evolutionary systems theory’ to distinguish ‘primitive’ from ‘advanced’ society.’ • Holds personality and culture irrelevant. • Except in so far as they are manifest in interaction. • Ignores intentions, motivations, desires, needs, etc. • Intentions are ‘created’ through interactions • The world outside “the game” is not easily considered. • Where does the game exist? Games within games as a problem.

18. Cultural Studies & Critical Studies • Cultural Studies - Values sub-culture and everyday activities • Worker culture, band/music cultures • More anthropological and literary • Critical Studies tends to look at the ‘political economy’ of social and economic hierarchies • Both look to the issues of power in society

19. 5 Approaches to Comm. Research • Rhetorical criticism – a content analysis that relates material to audience • Content Analysis, Conversation Analysis • Ethnography – “observe” or ‘interact with people in their ‘place’ – field research • Surveys – using an research ‘instrument’ that articulates distinct categories to sample a ‘population.’ Open ended vs. closed ended questions. • Experimental (laboratory) – control the environment • Performance studies – describe the rules, roles, props, assessment, context, etc. of a communicative activity • Mixed Methods – Triangulation of several methods