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Summary Introduction Communication Science
- Instelling
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
All chapters of the book 'A first look at communication theory' for the course Introduction Communication Science
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A First Look at communication theoryChapter 1: Launching Your Study of Communication Theory
A theory consists of a set of systematic, informed hunches about the way things work.
A Set of Hunches
If a theory is a set of hunches, we aren’t yet sure we have the answer. It involves an element of
speculation, or conjecture. It is not just one thought or isolated idea. It gives some indication of scope.
Theory construction involves multiple hunches.
Informed Hunches
Before developing a theory, there are articles to read, people to talk to, actions to observe etc. theorists
should be familiar with alternative explanations and interpretations. Theories can be described as
educated guesses. Theories are not merely based on vague impressions.
Hunches That Are Systematic
Theory is an integrated system of concepts. It lays out multiple ideas and specifies the relationships among
them. The links among the informed hunches are clearly drawn so that a pattern emerges.
Images of Theory
Theories as Nets; We endeavor to make the mesh ever finer and fine the ongoing labor of the theorist.
Theories as Lenses; The way we look to the world, a specific focus, blurring out elements. Theories shape
our perception by focusing attention on some features of communication while ignoring other features, or
at least push them into the background. A danger is that we might regard what is seen through the glass as
so dependent on the theoretical stance of the viewer that we abandon any attempt to discern what is real
or true. You can debate about the theories. There is no desire to find the truth to differ right from wrong.
Eyes of the beholder
Theories as Maps; The map is not the territory. No theory can fully portray the richness of interaction
between people that is constantly changing. It is too complicated. A good theory to understand unfamiliar
terrain. They have a specific focus, drawn for a specific reason. Learns us to understand what is happening.
What is communication?
The term is used to describe almost every kind of human interaction. There is no single, absolute essence
of communication that adequately explains the phenomena we study. Communication is the relational
process of creating and interpreting messages that elicit a response. Sender (encoding) message
(communication channel) receiver (decoding) feedback (encoding/ decoding). The receiver has to
decode the message (work out). Messages are polysemic, they’re open to multiple interpretations. It takes
place between two or more persons. It affects the nature of connections among those people. When
communicating, it is about the response effect of a commercial, learning by students, crying about a
romantic scene in a movie etc.
Compared to other disciplines, communication science is object oriented and inter-disciplinary.
5 features of communication
Messages; (texts; record of a message that can be analyzed by others) this is the core of communication
study. It involves talking and listening, reading and writing, performing and witnessing doing anything
that involves messages in any medium or situation. It is constructed, invented, planned, crafted,
constituted, selected, or adopted by the communicator. Either conscious or unconscious. But they always
gave a meaning.
Creation of Messages; the content and form of a text are usually constructed, invented, planned, crafted,
constituted, selected or adopted by the communicator. Some responses are preprogrammed that were
,selected earlier and stored for later use. The rhetorical critic looks for clues in the message to discern the
motivation and strategy of the person who created the message.
Interpretation of Messages; messages do not interpret themselves. Humans act toward people or things on
the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things. What is the meaning of the text? What
emotional message is behind the message? What does receiving this message through a digital channel
mean for you?
A Relational Process; communication is a process, never completely the same. It can only be described to
what went before and what is yet to come. The process is more about relationships than it is about
content. Communication is not primarily/ essentially a process of transferring information. It is a relational
process because it takes place between two or more persons and is affects the nature of the connections
among those people. The text message will influence the relationship.
Messages that elicit a response; it deals with the effect of the message on people who receive it.
Communication in the broadest interpretation may be defined as the eliciting of a response. It the message
fails it seems pointless to refer to it as communication. We refer to it as ‘falling on deaf ears’ or ‘turning a
blind eye’. Any vocal response indicates that some form of communication has occurred.
Chapter 2: Talk About Theory
Behavioral scientist: a scholar who applies the scientific method to describe, predict and explain recurring
forms to human behavior. Conducts experiments.
Rhetorician: a scholar who studies the ways in which symbolic forms can be used to identify with people,
or to persuade them toward a certain point of view. Interprets texts.
Glenn: An Objective Approach
Objective approach: the assumption that truth is singular and is accessible through unbiased sensory
observation; committed to uncovering cause-and-effect relationships.
After observing behavior, we identify or construct a theory that offers insight into what we’ve observed.
Schwartz. Resonance principle of communication; successful persuasive messages evoke past experiences
that create ‘resonance’ between the message content and a person’s thoughts or feelings. Resonance
leads to persuasion (overtuiging). Not arguments, but memories persuade people. Theories need to be
validated, an objective test is necessary to find out if a theory is faulty. Theory and research walk hand in
hand.
Marty: An Interpretive Approach
Interpretive approach: the linguistic work of assigning meaning or value to communicative texts, assumes
that multiple meanings or truths are possible.
The use of archetypal myths touches off ‘depth responses’ that emotionally resonate at the core of our
being. The archetypal myth is birth-death-rebirth, ‘collective unconscious’.
Objective or interpretive worldviews: sorting out the labels
Humanistic scholarship: study of what it’s like to be another person in a specific time and place; assumes
there are few important panhuman similarities.
Scientist- objective scholar and rhetorical critic- interpretive, not always like this. Most are humanists; they
study what it’s like to be another person in a specific time and place. A growing number of postmodern
communication theorists reject that tradition, they refer to themselves with other names. They all do
interpretive analysis, yet there is no common term.
Interpretive scholars or interpreters are to refer to the whole group rhetoricians, humanists,
postmodernists or critical scholars when singling out a particular subgroup.
The separate worldviews of interpretive scholars and scientists reflect contrasting assumptions about
ways.
Ways of knowing: discovering truth or creating multiple realities?
,Epistemology: the study of the origin, nature, method, and limits of knowledge.
Scientists believe that Truth is singular. It is a single, timeless reality that is not dependent on local
conditions. It is waiting to be discovered by the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Scientist
seek to be bias-free. The evidence speaks for itself. Individual researchers pool their findings and build a
collective body of knowledge.
Scientists consider good theories to be those that are faithful representations of the way the world really is
(lens/nets). Objective theorists believe that once a principle is discovered it will continue to hold true as
long as the conditions remain the same.
Many interpreters regard that truth as socially constructed through communication. They believe language
creates social realities that are always in flux rather than representing fixed principles in a world that
doesn’t change.
Most interpreters hold that truth is largely subjective. Rhetorical critics are not relativists, assigning
meaning on a whim.
Interpreters think that a text may have multiple meanings, they are convinced that meaning is in the mind
rather than in the verbal sign. Rhetorical critics are successful when they got others to view a text through
their lens, to adopt a new perspective on the world. Truth is a struggle, not a status.
Human nature: determinism or free will?
Determinism: the assumption that behavior is caused by heredity and environment.
Free-will purists insist that every human act is ultimately voluntary. Scientists stress the forces that shape
human behavior, interpretive scholars focus on conscious choices made by individuals.
Individuals who feel like puppets on strings speaks in a passive voice. People who feel they pull their own
strings speak in an active voice. The language often reflects views of human nature.
Behavioral scientists usually describe human conduct as occurring ‘because of’ forces outside the
individual’s awareness, this doesn’t include appeals to mental reasoning or conscious choice. They describe
behavior as the response to a prior stimulus.
In contrast, interpreters use explanatory phrases such as ‘in order to’ and ‘so that’ because they attribute a
person’s action to conscious intent. Their world selection suggests that people are free agents who could
decide to respond differently under an identical set of circumstances. True choices demand to be its own
cause and its own explanation.
Human choice is problematic for behavioral scientists as individual freedom goes up, predictability of
behavior goes down. The roots of humanism are threatened by a high restricted view of human choice.
Stripping away people’s freedom and yet expecting them to exercise responsible choice.
The highest value: objectivity or emancipation
Values are priorities and questions of relative worth. They guide what we think, feel and do. The
professional values of communication theorists reflect the commitments they’ve made concerning
knowledge and human behavior. Most social scientists hold to a distinction between the ‘knower’ and the
‘known’, they place value on objectivity that’s not biased by ideological commitments. The ability to
choose is what separate humanity from the rest of creation, they value scholarship that expands the range
of free choice.
Empirical evidence: data collected through direct observation. As behavioral scientist you don’t want your
personal values to distort reality of confuse what ‘is’ with what you think ‘ought to be’. When nature,
however stretched out on the rack, still has a chance to say no- then the subject is science.
As rhetorical critic you are not afraid to bring your values to bear upon a communication text and come
under scrutiny.
Critical interpreters value socially relevant research that seeks to liberate people from oppression of any
sort (economical, political etc.). they decry the detached stance of scientists who refuse to take
responsibility of their work. There is no safe harbor in which researchers can avoid the power of structure.
Emancipation: liberation from any form of political, economic, racial, religious, or sexual oppression;
empowerment. Every general communication theory has two priorities; effectiveness and participation.
Effectiveness is concerned with successfully communicating information, ideas and meaning to others. It
, includes persuasion. Participation is concerned with increasing the possibility that all points to view will
affect collective decisions and individuals being open to new ideas. It encourages ages difference,
opposition and independence. Which concern has higher priority? Objective theorists foreground
effectiveness and background participation. Interpretive theorists foreground participation and
background effectiveness.
Purpose of theory: universal laws or interpretive guides?
As behavior scientist you work to pin down universal laws of human behavior that cover a variety of
situations. You adopt a theory and then test it to see if it covers everyone. As rhetorical scientist you work
to interpret a particular communication text in a specific context. You use a theory to make sense of
unique communication events. As empiricist you can never ‘prove’ anything, you can only show that test
after test you have the same result. As interpreter you explore the web of meaning that constitutes human
existence. You are not trying to prove a theory, you sometimes use the work of rhetorical theorists to
inform other interpretations of the aural and visual texts of people’s lives. Rhetorical critics ought to use
theory this way; ‘we cannot conduct criticism of social reality without benefit of a guiding theoretical
theory that tells us generally what to look for in social practice, what to make of it and whether to consider
it significant’.
Objective or interpretive: why is it important?
You can’t fully understand a theory if you aren’t familiar with its underlying assumptions about truth,
human nature, the purpose of the theory and its values.
Metatheory: theory about theory; the stated or inherent assumptions made when creating a theory.
Scientist is convinced that knowing the truth about how communication works will give us a clearer picture
of social reality. The interpreter is equally sure that unearthing communicator motivation and hidden
ideologies will improve society by increasing free choice and discouraging unjust practices.
Chapter 3: Weighing the Words
What makes an objective theory good?
It is credible when it fulfills the twin objectives of scientific knowledge. The theory predicts some future
outcome and it explains the reasons for that outcome. Social scientists agree on four additional criteria a
theory must meet to be good; relative simplicity, practical utility, testability and quantifiable research.
Scientific Standard 1: Prediction of Future Events
A good objective theory predicts what will happen. It is only possible when we are dealing with things we
can see, hear, touch, smell and taste over and over again. If things happen in similar situations, we begin to
speak of invariable patterns of universal laws. Objects don’t have a choice how to respond. Theories of
human behavior often cast their predictions with confidence, but a good measure of humility is advisable.
Speculations may be true or not, but theorists are willing to make confident predictions about
communication behavior.
Scientific Standard 2: Explanation of the Data
A good objective theory explains an event or human behavior. Theory is a way of making sense out of a
disturbing situation. It should bring clarity to an otherwise jumbled state of affairs; it should draw order out
of the chaos.
It describes the process, focuses our attention on what’s crucial and helps us ignore that which makes little
difference. It also goes beyond raw data and explains why.
It sometimes can sound great, but upon closer inspection it doesn’t explain much. The reason something
happens becomes as important as the fact that it does.
Scientific Standard 3: Relative Simplicity
A good objective theory is as simple as possible- no more complex than it has to be.
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