Systems Theory

Systems theory states groups are open systems, which are influenced by such independent variables as; openness to environment, interdependence, input variables, process variables, and output variables.
Basically, Systems theory explains the process of inputs, processes, outputs, and environment which groups engage in.
Systems Theory is Deterministic, because the environment and the resources provide the processes that [...]

Constructivism - Jesse Delia

People who are cognitively complex in their perceptions of others have a greater capacity for sophisticated communication that will achieve positive outcomes. They can employ a rhetorical message design logic that creates person-centered message that simultaneously pursues multiple communication goals.

Constructivism is a scientific theory that attempts to explain why some people [...]

Personal Construct theory - George Kelly
A person’s thoughts are channelized through her/his anticipation of events
Constructs are

Individual
Dichotomous (e.g. either friendly or mean, no middle)
Hierarchical
Limited (range) certain thing and area
Revised through (base) your experience
(Qualitative of understanding people? Interpretive theory)

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The Interactional View - Paul Waltzawick
Interactional View is based on Systems Theory

Relationships within a family system are interconnected and highly resistant to change. Communication among members has both a content and relationship component. The system can be transformed only when members receive outside help to reframe the relational punctuation
The Interactional View is dependent on [...]

What makes a good objective theory?
Objective Theories

Explanatory Power – explanation of data

How well it make sense out of chaos. How it provides an order to chaos.
Which are the most important variables to attend to and which are irrelevant. Which things to look at, which things to avoid.
E.g. Weathermen/women use tools like a barometer to calculate [...]

Relational Dialectics - Leslie Baxter
Novelty & Predictability
Self-Disclosure & Privacy (social penetration theory)
Communication parties experience internal, conflicting pulls causing relationships to be in a constant state of flux, known as dialectical tension.  The pressures of these tensions occur in a wavelike or cyclical fashion over time.  Relational Dialectics introduces the concept that the closer individuals become [...]

Social Information Processing - Joe Walther

Opening Question:

What have we heard about how scary and bad the internet is?

They Say:

Social presence theory
Media richness theory

People are fundamentally alone in communication because there is no physical relationship, no physical interaction.
Things are filtered out of your talk, you might be sighing, etc. communication is different, physical expressions are filtered [...]

Politness Theory: communication fights against face threatening acts.

Content and Relationship Levels of Meaning

Two levels of communications

Content: Literal sense of an utterance
Relationship: Who speakers are to each other

“Bring me a coke” vs. “Could you please bring me one too?”

Relationship different. One says I’m the boss and the other one is a bitch

“Hurry up!” vs. “Gee, I [...]

Uncertainty Reduction Theory - Chuck Burger
Initial interactions between strangers are characterized by information seeking in order to reduce uncertainty. Uncertainty is reduced as levels of self-disclosure, nonverbal warmth, and similarity increase.

When people interact, they will act to reduce the uncertainty about the other person, seeking ways to predict their behavior. This is particularly true when [...]

Social Penetration Theory - Altman and Taylor

Theories about the development of relationships

Social Exchange theory

People as highly rational accountants
Economic model, people as accountants.
Informs both EVT (communicating reward valence, how rewarding an individual is to talk to) & Social Penetration Theories.
Three main concepts.
Who is the better investment of your time and energy?
We’re all little [...]

Expectancy Violations Theory - Judee Burgoon
Personal Space Expectations

Burgoon defined personal space as the “invisible, variable, volume of space surrounding an individual that defines that individual’s preferred distance from others.”

She claimed that the size and shape of our personal space depend on our cultural norms and individual preferences, but it’s always a compromise between the conflicting [...]

CMM: Coordinated Management of Meaning – Barnett Pierce and Vernon Cronen

people co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create.
Goal: help people enhance their understanding of communication to improve quality of life.
Their theory starts with the assertion that persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the [...]

George Herbert Mead

1963-1931
Professor at University of Chicago
Posthumous book: Mind, Self and Society
Influenced Sociology and Communications
Mead thought that the true test of any theory is whether it is useful in solving complex social problems.
symbolic interactionism - The term described what Mead claimed to be the most human and humanizing activity that people can engage in—talking to [...]

The Socio-psychological tradition – communication as interpersonal influence

epitomizes the scientific or objective perspective
scholars believe there are communication truths that can be discovered by careful, systematic observation. They look for cause-and-effect relationships that will predict when a communication behaviour will succeed and when it will fail
Works within a framework of “who says what to whom and [...]

What is Communication?

What, if any, communication is occurring?
Who is communicating with whom?

Define Communication

Paradox of fuzzy foundations
The basic concepts are often the most difficult to define
Issues
Intention: selected attention to your receiver, not the surroundings. Therefore, looking at the consequences. Perhaps consequences > intention.
Meaning (interpretation) – gestural
Between persons
An action or a process

Objective: undistorted by emotion or personal [...]

State Sponsored Technological Development

State and private sector development of technology, privatization
State involvement with legislation, regulation, resources and infrastructure
State involvement with technological innovation questioned, competition and efficiency
Polymer Incorporated, Canadian Crown corporation, manufacturing synthetic rubber
Polymer altered [...]

Iron, rail and steam, 1st Industrial revolution
“Second Industrial Revolution”, internal combustion engine, electrical technology and chemicals
Industrial developments were interdependent
The Merger of Science and Engineering

Scientific R+D was appropriated by industrial interests
Scientific research:
Increased productivity
New methods of production
Required innovation and capital access
Scientific R+D was long, and expensive, this required excess capital from:
Traditional manufacturing [...]

Review of last class

Mass audiences vs. niche audiences:

link between these 2
although we speak of smaller markets, the mass audience hasn’t disappeared (e.g. superbowl)

(fragmentation of the audience?)

We don’t have fragmentation that is final and absolute. There are smaller markets, but still larger markets (see [...]

Space Exploration

Large rockets for space travel, predecessors in Germany during WWII
Connections to literature and film, parallel with nuclear power
Jules Verne “From the Earth to the Moon” and H.G. Wells “The First Men on the Moon”
German technological superiority, Werner Von Braun
Solid fuel rocketry in 10th century China
Germans amateur rocket program, secrecy, slave labor
US and Russian [...]

NOTE: This is an abbreviated lecture

Mid-1800’s, oil was found in open ponds in parts of the US
This oil was taken to chemists for analysis, commercial applications were suggested
Gasoline was originally a by-product of refining, it was disposed of as it was dangerous
Early 1900’s, electric lighting replacing kerosene, internal combustion could increase demand for gasoline
Gasoline: low [...]

Iron, rail and steam, 1st Industrial revolution
“Second Industrial Revolution”, internal combustion engine, electrical technology and chemicals
Industrial developments were interdependent

The Merger of Science and Engineering

Scientific R+D was appropriated by industrial interests
Scientific research:
Increased productivity
New methods of production
Required innovation and capital access
Scientific R+D was long, and expensive, this required excess capital from:
Traditional manufacturing profits
Financial speculation
Industrial consolidation (vertical [...]

Late 19th century possibility of life on Mars

Astronomy borrowed representational tools from geography (e.g. mapmaking, travelogues)
Images of geometrical lines in the landscape implied canals to some people
There was considerable discussion of this debate in the popular press
Life on Mars, plurality of worlds thesis
Information about Mars was conveyed through maps
Astronomers and techniques from geography: travel [...]

NOTE: THIS SUMMARY IS ABBREVIATED

by 1800 math teaching in England was better than math teaching in France
in addition, after 1750 British math was oriented towards practical teaching, French towards developing calculus and astronomy
The British market was less regulated and less controlled by guilds
Both the British and the French were increasingly influenced by markets, and markets [...]

Steam Engine and Thermodynamic Theory

Thermodynamic theory and steam engines
Vacuum and atmospheric pressure
Christian Huygens & Denis Papin (1673) small charge of gunpowder exploded in cylinder, vacuum causes cylinder to be pushed downwards by air pressure, lifting 1600lbs through 5 feet
Steam engine: piston covers chamber, steam pushes it up, cooling the steam causes it to condense, creating [...]