Mapping the Territory

1. Mapping the Territory Chapter 3 (ch 2, 6th ed.) Em Griffin (4th edition)

2. The Socio-Psychological Tradition:Communication as Interpersonal Influence • Scientific (objective) perspective • Truths to be discovered by careful, systematic observation (experiments) • The central question of this tradition is: What can I do to get them to change? • E.g., the Yale attitude studies investigated 3 causes of persuasive messages: • Who says it (expertise, trustworthiness) • What is said (fear appeals, order of arguments) • Whom is it said to (personality, susceptibiity to influence)

3. Yale Studies • Measured opinion change • Pre-test • Message • Post-test • For instance, a message from a high credibiltiy source produced a larger shift of opinion than a message from a low credibility source

4. The Cybernetic Tradition: Communication as Informaton Processing • Communication as feedback • Feedback was adjusting future behavior by taking into account past performance • The Mathematical Theory of Communication falls into this tradition (little interest in meaning, but rather hi-fidelity sound transmission)

5. Note that this is a linear model Information source Transmitter Receiver Destination Signal Received Signal Message Message Noise Source Shannon and Weaver’s Model of Communication

6. The Rhetorical Tradition:Communication as Artful Public Address • Conviction that speech distinguishes humans from other animals • Confidence in solving problems by public address in a democratic forum • Public speaking-one speaker tries to persuade an audience • Oratorical training as the cornerstone of a leader’s education • Rhetoric as art: to move people emotionally • Oral public persuasion as the province of males--the struggle in the U.S. for women to speak in public

7. The Semiotic Tradition: Communication as the Process of Creating Meaning Through Signs • Semiotics is the study of signs: anything that can stand for something else • high body temperature stands for infection (is a sign of . . .) • birds fly south is a sign of coming winter • an expensive car signifies wealth • an arrow designates which direction to go

8. More on the Semiotic Tradition:WORDS • Words are a special kind of sign, they are: symbols • How do symbols differ from signs? • Let’s look back at the examples of signs given earlier and compare to how words work

9. Semantic Triangle • I.A. Richards on how words work: • Scholars in this tradition are interested in the way signs and symbols (words or pictures) mediate meaning

10. The Socio-Cultural Tradition:Communication as the Creation& Enactment of Social Reality • Based on the premise that as people talk they produce and reproduce culture • Instead of words always reflecting what exists, this tradition says that words shape our view of reality • The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis falls within this tradition (p.43) • language directs our attention to aspects of the world and structures our perception

11. The Critical Tradition:Communication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse • Convinced that “all previous history has been characterized by an unjust distribution of suffering • The ‘haves’ continue to exploit the “have nots”

12. Critical Theory • Critical theorists challenge (among others) 3 features of modern society (p.44): • The control of language to perpetuate power imbalances • The role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression (the average citizen is numbed by the mass media) • Blind reliance on the scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical findings

13. The Phenomenological Tradition:Communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue • The intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint of the person who is living it • People’s interpretation of their own subjective experience • an individual’s story is more important than any research hypothesis or communication axiom

14. Phenomenology • Talk which furthers understanding what it is like to be the person • According to Carl Rogers, 3 things enhance this process (p. 45) • congruence • unconditional positive regard • empathic understanding

15. Congruence • The match between an individual’s inner feelings and outer display • genuine • real • integrated • whole • transparent

16. Unconditional Positive Regard • An attitude of acceptance that isn’t contingent on performance • warmth • caring • liking • interest • respect

17. Empathic Understanding • The caring skill of temporarily laying aside our views and values and of entering into another’s world without prejudice • An active process of hearing the other’s thoughts, feelings, tones and meanings as if they were our own

18. Griffin’s Map of Traditions • The map of traditions represents the 7 traditions of theory in relation to their Objective vs. Interpretive character • cybernetic and socio-psychological on the left are most objective • phenomenology, critical theory, and socio-cultural on the right are most interpretive • What does that mean to you?