2. Seven Established Traditions of Communication Theory Or Chapter 4

3. How to Look at Communication zPractical discipline -- Robert Craig zCraig identifies seven established traditions of communication theory

4. Socio-Psychological Tradition zScientific Perspective zTruth can be discovered by careful, systematic observation zLook for cause/effect relationships that predict when communication behavior succeeds and fails.

5. Socio-Psychological Tradition zHovland -- studied the relationships among communication stimuli, audience predisposition, and opinion change. zExplored 3 separate causes of persuasive variation.

6. Socio-Psychological Tradition z1. Who -- the source of the message. (expertise, trustworthiness) z2. What -- content of the message. (fear appeals, order of arguments) z3. Whom -- audience characteristics (personality, susceptibility)

7. Socio-Psychological Tradition zDiscovered: ysource credibility is vital to opinion shift zLooked at two types of credibility -- expertness and character zExpertness was more important for boosting opinion change zbut its effect didn’t last

8. Cybernetic Tradition zCommunication as information processing zTerm coined by Norbert Wiener -- described the field of artificial intelligence

9. Cybernetic Tradition

10. The Rhetorical Tradition zCommunication as artful public address zor, how to do it. zA Greco-Roman tradition zWas the main communication theory until the 20th Century

11. The Rhetorical Tradition 6-Characteristics z1. Speech distinguishes humans from other animals. z2. A confidence in the efficacy of public address z3. A setting of 1 speaker addressing a large audience with the intention to persuade

12. The Rhetorical Tradition 6-Characteristics z4. Oration training as the cornerstone of a leader’s education. z5. Emphasis on the power and beauty of language to move people emotionally and stir them to action. z6. Rhetoric was the province of males.

13. Semiotic Tradition zCommunication as the process of sharing meaning through signs. zWhat does a symbol mean? zSemiotics is the study of signs. zWords are a special kind of sign know as a symbol.

14. Semiotic Tradition zI.A. Richards was an early scholar of semiotics. z“Proper meaning superstition” zMeanings don’t reside in words or other symbols, but in people.

15. Semiotic Tradition

16. Socio-Cultural Tradition zCommunication as the creation and enactment of social reality zCommunication produces and reproduces culture

17. Socio-Cultural Tradition zEdward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf were the pioneers in this tradition. zHypothesis -- the structure of a culture’s language shapes what people think and do.

18. Socio-Cultural Tradition zIt is through language that reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed. zThe use of a word =‘s the reality that surrounds us -- thus language structures our perception of reality.

19. The Critical Tradition zCommunication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse. zComes from the German Frankfurt School which rejected Karl Marx’s economic determinism, but embraced the Marxist tradition of critiquing society.

20. The Critical Tradition Three Features z1. The control of language to perpetuate power imbalances -- gender areas. z2. The role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression. -- Media z3. Blind reliance on the scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical findings

21. The Phenomenological Tradition zCommunication as the experience of self and others through dialogue. zThe intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint of the person who is living it.

22. The Phenomenological Tradition zCarl Rogers established three conditions for personality and relationship change. z1. Congruence z2. Unconditional positive regard z3. Empathic understanding

23. The Field of Communication zThese seven traditions have deep roots in communication theory. zHybrids are possible across traditions zThis framework of 7 traditions helps make sense of the great diversity in the field of communication theory.