Een samenvatting van de artikelen van het vak the social psychology of communication voor psychologie minor van Arie Dijkstra
A summary of the following articles for the course the social psychology of communication for the minor psychology in society:
Greene, J. O. (1984). A cognitive approach to ...
Greene, J. O. (1984). A cognitive approach to human communication: An action
assembly theory.
Peirce: “The function of thought is to produce habits of action”. The author of this article wants
to emphasize the need for theories of output processes. Thereby he wants to present an initial
model of cognitive structures and processes underlying the production of verbal and non-
verbal behaviors (communicative behaviour) in ongoing interaction. Cognitive means that
thought processes affect the way in which we behave. Through observations it seems that
communicative behavior is at once novel and creative yet patterned and repetitive. Social
behaviour is a unique combination of repetitive elements. For developing a communicative
output system it suggests two basic processes: selection of old element and construction of
novel patterns (newly composed).
To produce empirically falsifiable predictions, the theory of the cognitive perspective must
specify both the information structures of the mind and the processes which operate over
those structures. Another basic principle of cognitivism is that it is possible to develop multiple,
distinct models each of which is sufficient to account for the observed input-output regularities.
The aim of cognitivism is to develop a sufficient model.
This theory consists of a set of axioms (beginsel) which define a general framework and a set
of specific propositions which serve to specify the structures and processes in greater detail.
A general theoretical framework
As an introduction to the theoretical propositions you should note that the human mind is a
repository of both conceptual (“knowledge that”) and procedural knowledge (“knowledge
how”). The procedural store represents those things we have learned to do, and not to do, in
order to act efficaciously (=effective). At a minimum you should assume that individuals store
action-outcome contingencies (= onvoorziene gebeurtenissen als resultaat uit acties) in
their procedural memory. Further the elements of procedural memory must be essentially
modular. In this way production of novel behaviour doesn’t require decomposition of complex
elements into fundamental units appropriate to the situation at hand and it doesn’t require
immense storage requirements and knowledge acquisition is easier. A procedural record is
formed when a given action results in a particular outcome. Also a strength construct can be
applied: strength of a memory element varies as a function of the recency and frequency of
activation of the element. Also a number of conceptual memory will be activated. Task
facing communicator = integration various procedural records and activated knowledge from
conceptual store to form a coherent output representation of action to be taken. This
representation must be constructed and continually modified in response to the current goals
of the organism and environmental conditions at the moment.
Theoretical propositions
Aim of this section is to articulate a theory of the structures and processes of the output
system which provides the requisite (=vereist) detail for empirical test. Theoretical statements
of the general framework assume the status of these axioms in the present theory:
1. Procedural record= modular entity containing specification for action + associate
outcome
2. Record= characterized by level of strength reflecting status action-outcome
contingency.
3. Output representation of action-to-be-taken = hierarchy of levels of increasing
specificity where each level is relatively autonomous in its execution of output demands.
4. Record processes level of activation, impact output processing must exceed threshold.
5. Activating conditions = occurence of a goal to which is relevant + occurrence
conditions proven to mediate the action-outcome contingency contained in the record.
Behaviour results from myriad activated procedural records, each exerting some limited
influence over the stream of behaviour.
, Theoretical proposition 1: detailed understanding nature of procedural records by
considering the nature of the outcomes which they represent. Relevant outcomes to
production of social behaviour/types of functions:
1. Interaction function: ends people attempt to accomplish. Goals: specific situation-
bound objectives, desire for an interpersonal relationship, management of personal
identity.
2. Content formulation function: formulation (il)locutionary and thematic dimensions
3. Management functions: topic continuity & chaining and initiation & termination
interaction
4. Utterance formulation: articulatory requirements of intelligible utterances (begrijp
uitingen)
5. Regulatory functions: speaker-turn in ongoing interactions
6. Homeostatic functions: need to regulate physiological controlled quantities
7. Coordinative functions: functional integration effector units involved in articulation
Socially competent adults posses records relevant to each of these types.
P2: The hierarchical levels of output representation, from most abstract to most specific are:
interactional -, ideational -, utterance - and sensorimotor representation.
P3: The interactional level represents: assessment of current state + projected states and
transition leading to accomplishment of goals.
P4: Ideational representation serves to implement a specific state change, specifies the
content of a particular move or transition. It contains a specification of propositional content,
illocutionary content and elements of thematic structure.
P5: The utterance level: single clause (= component), specification of lexical (= gerelateerd
aan vocabulaire land) items and their order, is phonological in nature.
P6: In cases of repeated assembly of a particular complex of procedural records, a unified
assembly of those records may be stored in procedural memory.
P7: The activating conditions like 5th axiom.
P8: An assembly of records has a level of strength reflecting the status of the relations among
its constituent elements.
P9: In addition to functionally-based relations between levels of the output representation
there may exist associative links between specific procedural records of the various levels.
P10: The strength of associative links between levels of the output representation is
determined the same.
P11: The degree to which the activation of one procedural record impacts upon another =
level activation first record + strength relation records (includes intra-systemic associations).
P12: The level of activation = degree of match current conditions + activating conditions for
the record.
P13: Speed of activation is a positive function of the level of strength of the record.
P14: Activation occurs in parallel with no demands upon central processing capacity.
P15: The assembly of activated procedural records requires central processing capacity.
P16: Where stored assemblies or assembly of the output representation in advance of actual
production obviates the need for assembly, social behaviour can be output with minimal
demands on central processing capacity.
P17: Within each level of the output representation assembly proceeds serially in order of
level of activation of procedural records.
Conclusion
A necessary requirement for cognitive theories is specification of the nature of the
structures and processes which give rise to input-output regularities. Such specification entails
articulating the structural metaphor(s), information transformations, temporal parameters, and
serial versus parallel nature of the processes which comprise the information processing
system. In order to satisfy this fundamental criterion, the necessary components of a cognitive
model have been developed here. A second criterion for evaluating cognitive theories is that
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