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 [...]
