Comm 250 08 29 2012 9 5 12 Defining Communication 1970 Frank Dance looked for one definition of communication in literature He found 126 different definitions Problematic to our field The fact we do not have one single concrete definition is a problem People outside our field criticize us for not knowing what we study Issues involved in defining communication o Is communication intentional Watzlawick Beavin Jackson 1967 You can not not communicate This represents the idea that communication can be unintentional As long as we re in the presence of another human being there is the potential for communication As long as we attribute meaning to the message in some way communication takes place o Must communication have correspondence Does the message sent have to equal the message received Is it communication if we only sort of understand the message Art example o Does communication need to be successful In order for communication to fully take place do we need to achieve our goals Benny Bigot example o Ethical Honest Should we as communications scholars study things that are not ethical or aren t honest Many study lying behavior but if we study this are we encouraging people to lie Is this ethical If we study persuasion Hitler are we being ethical Manipulation lying persuasion o Include Symbolic Actions Most communications scholars believe we have verbal language systems as well as non verbal communications Should we include all non verbal communication Yawning growling stomach how we dress Things we do that have no intention behind them do they count as communication o Include Cognition Thought Perception Contemplating consequences and solving problems internally is this communication Is it psychology Is this part of the communication process is it communication in and of itself o Be Human to Human Can we communicate with animals In the field of communication we study human to human communication 9 10 12 The Main Theories Class Definition of Communication o A process in which individuals use symbols to establish and interpret meaning in their environment Models of Communication o Linear Shannon Weaver 1949 Aka One way model Noise travels from sender to receiver but nothing travels back Created when communication studies was focused on speeches and how to create a message and send it to others Not concerned with whether people believed what you said or acted on it only concerned with sending a message Sender person who has meaning they want to get across The message is that actual meaning Sender encodes taking pure ideas thoughts and feelings in mind of sender labeling them with symbols and organizing them in some way a message Channel how we send our messages We use our five senses We see nonverbal hear verbal touch ex hugging smell interpreting or remembering a smell taste whether you like or dislike how something tastes cooking food for someone if we care for them Receiver person who receives the message Receiver s role in this model is to decode process the message interpret meaning from the message receiving symbols decoding symbols the message Noise anything that interferes with the sending or receiving of messages Physical external any noise that is external to the participants Ex construction fans visual Semantic based on word meaning Ex someone uses a word you do not understand slang or distraction etc technical etc Psychological internal noise in the sense that it is in the mind of sender or receiver Ex bias Physiological biological interference Ex tired sick hungry poor hearing etc Examples speeches watching TV listening to radio Limiting this model no feedback o Interactional Interaction Schramm 1954 field of context feedback Aka Circular model When this was created communication scholars were interested in effects of persuasion interaction in groups etc Essentially the same as Linear model but it adds the concept of feedback response from receiver response to message Feedback lets sender know the meaning that receiver got from message did they understand Not understand Very start stop oriented Real life examples email texting Field of Experience everything that you bring to the communication situation age sex ethnicity culture every experience in your life you have had There needs to be some overlap in fields of experience in order for understanding to take place Sometimes speaking the same language is the only shared field of experience Because of nonverbal communication scholars don t believe this theory fully explains communication o Transactional Barnlund 1970 context mutually responsible for meaning simultaneous communication Ongoing process not start stop may not be a clear There is no sender or receiver but there are 2 The sender and receiver are sending and receiving messages simultaneously a lot of this is because of beginning or end participants nonverbal Because we are sending and receiving messages simultaneously both parties are responsible for the creation of meaning It s a back and fourth series of messages to understand meaning All communication takes place in a context or environment think of a box around the model Context or environment may change rules classroom conduct versus hanging out with friends conduct for communication but does not change the process in and of itself When this model was being developed communication scholars were studying interpersonal communication communication designed to establish and maintain relationships Her favorite definition of leadership o The transactional process of creating meaning Contexts of Communication o Intrapersonal communication w self interpersonal between people small group organizational public rhetorical mass mediated TV radio film intercultural communication between or within cultures health what she studies 9 12 11 Defining Theory What is Theory o Any conceptual representation or explanation of a phenomenon Stephen Littlejohn Would consider a taxonomy a theory because it is a conceptual REPRESENTATION Would consider a model a theory because he thinks a theory is a representation OR EXPLANATION and a model is a representation with relationships o A set of statements specifying an explanatory relationship between two or more classes of phenomenon Mary John Smith She would NOT consider a taxonomy a theory because she clarifies an EXPLANATORY relationship must exist Would consider a model a theory because the model has RELATIONSHIPS between things o Taxonomy a conceptual representation of categories
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