A First Look at Communication Theory

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. G. (2019). A first look at communication theory (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Annotated Link

Notes are taken with Stanford COMM 208 Media Processes and Effects with Prof. Robby Ratan

Chapters 2 & 3: Talk about Theory and Weighing the Words

Objective vs. Interpretive Theory

The objective theory assumes that truth is singular and is accessible through unbiased sensory observation, committed to uncovering cause-and-effect relationships.

Evaluation criteria for objective theory

• Prediction of future

• Explanation of data

• Relative simplicity

• Testable hypothesis

• Practical utility

• Quantitative research (experiment, survey ...)

The interpretive theory assumes that multiple meanings or truths are possible.

Evaluation criteria for interpretive theory

• Clarification of values: what kind of values are built into the theory and of the author

• New understanding of people

• Aesthetic appeal

• Community of agreement

• Reform of society: aim to generate change

• Qualitative research (textual analysis, ethnography...)

Chapter 4: Mapping the Territory

1. The socio-psychological tradition - communication as interaction and influence

   • Cause and effect of different communication processes

2. The cybernetic tradition: Communication as a system of information processing

   • How things flow in the system (e.g., relationship network)

3. The rhetorical tradition: Communication as artful public address

   • How communication changes the minds of others

4. The semiotic tradition: Communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs

   • A sign is anything that can stand for other things

   • A symbol is an arbitrary word / non-verbal signs that bear no natural connection with the things they describe.

   • How are signs and symbols used and have their meanings changed

5. The socio-cultural tradition: Communication as the creation and enactment of social reality

6. The critical tradition: Communication as a reflective challenge to the unjust discourse

7. The phenomenological tradition: Communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue

   • It's all about understanding personal experiences (specifically to that person) and how to build a mutual connection

Interpersonal Communication Theories

Chapter 5: Symbolic Interactionism of George Herbert Mead

Media Effect Theories

Start with the Magic Bullet Hypothesis (1940s) where media effect is conceptualized as a hyperdermic needle.

In 1950s - 60s, the field transit to limited effect approaches, such as:

• Selective Exposure: people only attend to aggregable media and avoid contradiction (Cognitive Dissonance)

• Uses and Gratification: People choose media to fulfill their needs, which differ by individual and medium

• Indirect effect: two-step or mlti-step flow model of communication, such as

  • Media -> Opinion Leaders -> Masses

  • Media -> Masses -> Opinion leader validation I

In 1970s - 90s, the field transit to Powerful-Effect Models

• Explanatory links became clearer

• Excitation Transfer Theory

• Social Cognitive Theory: vicarious experience with attention, retention, motivation give raise to learning

Relationship Development

Experiential approach by humanist psychologist Carl Rogers

• Congruence

• Unconditional positive regard

• Empathic understanding

Rewards and cost of interaction by economist Gary Becker

• People interact with others to maximizes personal benefit and minimize personal cost

Chapter 8 Social Penetration Theory of Irwin Altman & Dalmas Taylor

Influence

Chapter 16 Cognitive Dissonance Theory of Leon Festinger

Original: Cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state caused by inconsistency between a person's two beliefs or a belief and an action.

Three Hypothesis:

• Selective exposure prevents dissonance: People tend to avoid information that would create dissonance

  • Entertainment, humor can bypass this.

  • Selective exposure doesn't kick-in if people don't see the information as threat

• Postdecision Dissonance Creates a Need for Reassurance: People feel dissonance after making an important close-call decision that is difficult to reverse.

  • Aspects that increases dissonance: importance of issue, time it takes to make the decition, difficulty to reverse

• Minimal Justification for Action Induces Attitude Change: The best way to stimulate an attitude change is to offer just enough reward / punishment to elicit overt compliance

  • $1/$20 experiment: Providing too much incentive give a justification to the inconsistent behavior, and thus reduce cognance, and means no incentive to change attitude.

Three Reversion

• Elliot Aronson: Dissonance is caused by inconsistency between self-concept and cognition, not purely logical inconsistency.

• Joel Cooper: Dissonance is caused by knowing that the behavior causes adverse events but still did it.

• Claude Steele: Strong self-esteem can reduce dissonance. People will focus on other great achievement and render inconsistency as a minor aspect.

Critique:

• Daryl Bem: too complicated. Self-perception theory can explain the phenomenon too.

  • Self-perception theory: We determine our attitude the same way an outside observer do, i.e.,: by observing behavior.

• Lack of clear metrics to detect and quantify dissonance

  • potential breakthrough in neural-imaging.

Chapter 29 Cultivation Theory of George Gerbner

Summary: TV power comes from symbolic content. Heavy TV viewer's perception of reality is influenced by TV

Three components

• Institutional analysis: why companies produce the content that they are producing

• Message system analysis: analysis of the content

• Cultivation analysis: how TV content affects viewer's perception of reality.

Mainstreaming: The blurring and blending process of heavy TV viewers forming a single homogenous group

Resonance: The condition that exists when viewer's real-life environment is like the world of TV, makes viewer more susceptible to TV

Critique:

• Lack of testability on causal directions

Media Equation (Archived Chapter)

Theory:

• People respond to communication media as if they were alive.

• It is counter-intuitive and people may claim "not me"

• Evolution as mechanism, human are evolved to think things are real.

Expperiment

• Interpersonal Distance: When figures in media are up and close, peole have stronger response.

• Similarity and Attraction: Students more socially and intellectually attracted to computers that matched their personality.

• Source Credibility: Viewers who watched the news tape on the specialist television rated the reporter's stories are better.

Critique:

• Dangerous potentual use case. Theory offers no way to defend against Media Equation way of thinking.

• Uses social-psych definition of communication, experiments only focus on one way communication.

Computer as Social Actors (CaSA)

• More restricted compare to Media Equation

• Requires:

  • Social cues: individuals must be presented with an object that has enough cues to lead the person to categorize it as worthy of social response

  • Sourcing: Individuals can see computer as source of information

• Applies to Human Computer Interaction, not Computer Mediated Communication

• Influence factors

  • Experience level

  • Individual wellbeing

  • Perceived humannes

  • Anthropormorphic cues and repeated interactions