1. Chapter 3 (ch 2, 6th ed.) Em Griffin (4th edition)
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 Sharing 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 ‘haves’ continue to exploit the “have nots”
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. People’s interpretation of their own subjective experience
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 on Page 33
The map on page 33 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?