1. Traditions of Communication Theory
Chapter 3

2. Robert T. Craig, Ph.D. “Communication theory as a field”
Published in 1999
Lead to the 7 traditions of comm theory
Areas of scholarly focus based on researchers interest in how communication works to spread thoughts, influence individuals, and shape our world

4. Semiotic Tradition Views communication as the mediation by signs
Objects and words are symbols
Symbols have meaning because:
They relate to other symbols
You organize them to understand life
Semiotics is:
Study of signs & what they represent

5. Signs vs. Symbols Wedding Rings How are they a sign?
What do they symbolize?

6. Triad of Meaning
Semiosis

7. Three Divisions of Semiotic
Semantics
What meaning?
Ex. Pink Sky at night . . .
Syntactic
Relationship between signs and rules used to combine into meaning
Verbal and nonverbal
Pragmatics
Practical relationship between context and meaning

8. Phenomenological Tradition
Defined: Interpretation by the individual
Key Ideas:
Phenomenon
Observable event, object, or condition through individual perception
Phenomenology
How we understand the world

9. Three Basic Principles of Phenomonology
Knowledge comes from direct experience
How you relate to an object determines its meaning
Language is the vehicle of meaning

10. Variations of Phenomenological Tradition
Classical
Edmund Husserl
Used bracketing to create highly objective view
Phenomenology of Perception
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Perception provides foundation for understanding
Subjective view

11. Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Martin Heidegger
Knowledge gained by experience through interpreting communication

12. Cybernetic Tradition
Communication is system created by the sum of its parts
Complex system that uses networks to connect different parts

13. Variations in Cybernetic Tradition
Basic System
Formalized structures that can be observed and analyzed from outside
Cybernetics
Emphasis on the feedback loop and how circular forces can be used to maintain balance & create change
Information Theory
Evaluates signal transmission and the impact of noise

14. Second – order cybernetics
General System Theory
Looks for commonalities among different systems
Second – order cybernetics
What we observe
Determined by how we observe it
Impacted by what is observed

15. Sociopsychological Tradition
Focus on Individual
Key Ideas:
“Science of Communication”
Research focuses on message processing
Provide insight into how information is processed
Evaluates inputs and outputs of Cognitive system

16. Behavioral Theories Cognitive Theories Biological Theories
Looks at how people behave in communication situations
Cognitive Theories
Evaluate thought
Biological Theories
How genetics affects behavior

17. Sociocultural Tradition
Evaluates interaction in social groups
Variations:
Symbolic Interactionism
Social structures are created and maintained through interaction
Social Construction
Evaluates how knowledge in constructed through interaction
Social groups create common experience

18. Philosophy of language
Sociolinguistics
Impact of culture
Philosophy of language
Language games
Ethnography
Groups create meaning verbally and nonverbally
Ethnomethodology
Science of observing behavior

19. Critical Tradition
Evaluates production of privilege, power, and oppression through communication
Key Ideas:
Work to understand power structures that dominate society
Evaluate oppression through communication

20. Rhetorical Tradition Rhetoric Five Cannons of Rhetoric Use of symbols
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory