Applying Communication Theory in Professional Life Summary Chapters PDF

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Applying Communication Theory in Professional Life (3rd edition) Marianna Dainton and Elaine D. Zelley

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Chapter 1 – Introduction to Communication Theory “Good” communication means different things to different people in different situations. The everyday view of communication is very different from the view of communication taken by scholars. Scholars recognize communication as more than just the flow of information. Scholars disagree about the meaning because they all have different perspectives. According to the book, communication is “the process by which people interactively create, sustain and manage meaning.” Back in 1976, Dance and Larson found 126 published definitions of the term “communication”. Dance (1970) then categorized these definitions in three variations: 1. Level of observation: are there limitations on what counts as communication? (does there have to be a response? Does body language count? Can you communicate with your pet?) 2. Intentionality: do only messages sent consciously and on purpose count? (when people unconsciously yawn when you are telling a story, is this communication?) 3. Normative judgement: does the message have to be successfully received to count as communication? (has communication still occurred when people misunderstand each other?) The communication process:

Communication competence Communication competence is most often understood as achieving a successful balance between effectiveness and appropriateness (Spitzberg & Cupack, 1989). Effectiveness is the extent to which you achieve your goals in an interaction. Appropriateness refers to fulfilling social expectations for a situation. A competent communicator considers how to both be effective and appropriate. Concepts, models, and theories Theories provide an abstract understanding of the communication process (Miller, 2002). As an abstract understanding, they move beyond describing a single event by providing a means by which all such events can be understood. Theories provide us with a lens to view the world. Theories can illuminate an aspect of communication so you understand the process better, but they can also hide things from your understanding or distort the relative importance of things. Concepts are different then theories. Concepts refer to an agreed-upon aspect of reality. Time is a concept, just as love, or the colour orange are concepts. These notions can be understood in different 2

ways; you love your cat differently then you love your partner or mother. Models are also different things than theories. The term “model” is used in such different ways that the term “theory” is better. Three types of theory Theories help us to focus attention on particular concepts, clarify our observations, and predict communication behaviour. Type of theory Example • Never data a co-worker, it will always end badly. The Common sense theory • squeaky wheel gets the grease (personal experience) • The more incompetent you are, the higher you’ll get promoted Working theory • Audience analysis should be done prior to presenting a speech. To (generalizations made • get a press release published, it should be newsworthy and written in professions about the in journalistic style. best way to do things) • Effects of violations of expectations depend on the reward value of Scholarly theory the violator (has undergone • The media do not tell us what to think but what to think about systematic research) Evaluating theory All theories have strengths and weaknesses. Scholars should always evaluate the usefulness of a theory. There are five criteria to keep in mind when evaluating a theory: 1. Accuracy: Has research supported that the theory works the way it does? The best theories correctly summarize the way communication actually works. 2. Practicality: Have real-world applications been found for the theory? 3. Succinctness: Has the theory been formulated with the appropriate number of concepts (as few as possible) and is it not overly complex? 4. Consistency: Does the theory demonstrate coherence with its own premises and with other theories? a. Internal consistency: the ideas of the theory logically build on each other. b. External consistency: is the theory coherent with other widely held theories? 5. Acuity: To what extent does the theory make clear and otherwise complex experience?

Chapter 2 – Theory development There are two types of research where the difference lies in what to start with: • •

Inductive: research comes before theory (grounded theory); the best theories emerge from the results of systematic study. Based on the research results, they develop a theory. Deductive: theory comes before research; a hypothesis, or working theory, needs to be developed before any research is conducted. Once the theory has been developed, the researchers collect data to test or refine the theory.

What is research Research has been defined as disciplined inquiry that involves studying something in a planned manner and reporting it so that other inquirers can potentially replicate the process if they choose. With this, we refer to the methodological gathering of data as well as the careful reporting of the results of the data analysis. How the research is reported differentiates two types of research: 3

1. Primary research: reported by the person who conducted it (academic papers, often more valued than secondary research as a source of information). 2. Secondary research: reported by someone other than the person who conducted it (newspaper articles, textbooks, internet, readers risk the chance that writers have misunderstood the initial research). Research methods in communication There are four methods used in the development of scholarly communication theory: 1. Experiments: experimentation is concerned with causation and control. It is the only research method that allows researchers to conclude that one thing causes another. The researcher is concerned with two variables (any concept that has two or more values, such as gender, masculinity, colour, etc.): a. Independent variable: the presumed case, cannot be ‘changed’. “Do bright colours affect people’s willingness to buy products? The independent variable is the colour, bright vs dull. b. Dependent variable: the presumed effect, the value that changes. The amount of willingness to buy a product, number of dollars spend, etc. The researcher controls the participant’s exposure to the independent variable, which is termed manipulation. Experiments take place in two settings; laboratory (controlled environment) and field (participants’ natural surroundings) settings. 2. Surveys: researchers cannot claim one thing causes another. The strength of survey research is that it is the only way to find out how someone thinks, feels, or intends to behave. Surveys capture people’s perception. There are two types of survey research: a. Interview: participants respond orally. Small discussions led by a researcher are called focus groups. b. Questionnaire: participants respond in writing and provide more anonymity. You should think carefully about sampling and questioning when performing surveys. Questions can be open-ended or closed. Samples can be random or non-random. 3. Textual analysis: a text is any written or recorded message. Textual analysis is used to uncover the content, nature, or structure of a message. It can also be used to evaluate messages. There are three forms: a. Rhetorical analysis: a systematic method for describing, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating the persuasive force of messages. b. Content analysis: seeks to identify, classify, and analyse the occurrence of particular types of messages. A deviation on this is text or data mining; the use of advanced data analysis tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data sets. c. Interaction analysis/conversation analysis: focus on interpersonal or group interactions that have been recorded, with an emphasis on the nature or structure of the interaction. It takes place in a natural setting, but misses the actual effects on the audience because you focus on just text. 4. Ethnography: involves the researcher immersing himself into a culture or context to understand communication rules and meanings for that culture or context. There are three roles: a. Complete participant: fully involves in the social setting, and the participants do not know the researcher is studying them. b. Participant-observer: researcher becomes fully involved with the culture or context, but has admitted the research agenda before entering the environment. 4

c. Complete observer: researcher does not interact with the members of the culture or context, which means they do not interview any members of the group under study. Research method Experiments

What it reveals Cause and effect

Surveys

Respondent’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions The content, nature, and structure of messages Rules and meanings of May provide a highly subjective/biased communication in a culture or view of the culture or context context

Textual analysis Ethnography

What it conceals Whether the cause-effect relationship holds true in less controlled environments Cannot establish causality, cannot determine what people actually do The effect of the message on receivers

Social science and the humanities Communication has been described as both an art and a science. There are some differences between the two approaches. While humanism is subjective, one ’s own interpretation is of interest, science is objective, observation with careful standardization. Issue

Social Science

Humanities

Belief about human nature

Determinism; past experience, personality dispositions, and more conditions cause people to behave in certain ways. Understand and predict

Pragmatism; people have control over their behaviour and make conscious choices to communicate to meet their goals, people act dynamically. Understand only

Why are theories developed? Process of theory development Focus of research

Deductive

Inductive

Particularism; standardize and control.

Holism; looking at the big picture

Research methods

Experiments, quantitative research, and textual analysis

Ethnography, qualitative research, and textual analysis

How theories change and grow Theory growth by extension means the theory adds more concepts and builds on what was already established. Growth by intension means scholars gain a deeper understanding of the original concepts presented in the theory. Chapter 3 – Cognition and Interpersonal Communication Messages have no meaning without an individual ’s interpretation. Everyone should make sense of messages and meaning lies in our interpretation of the words or actions. Cognitive process After psychologists have research behaviourism (Pavlov), they moved on to a cognitive approach for understanding behaviour. They stopped focussing on just outside effects, but also took mental processes into account. They described cognition as the process of reducing, elaborating, transforming, and storing stimuli. It refers to what happens in the mind that causes us to behave in certain ways. Four theories about cognitive and intrapersonal aspects of communication are explored; attribution theory, uncertainty reduction theory, expectancy violations theory, and cognitive dissonance theory. 5

Attribution theory This explains the process by which individuals assign causation or motivation to their own or others’ behaviour. This theory can be applied to all human behaviour. The judgements and conclusion that conclude reasons for behaviour are called attributions. In 1958, Heider already researched attribution theory. He found that individuals try to determine whether a behaviour was caused by dispositional (personal/internal) or situational (external/ uncontrollable) factors. External factors vary more than internal factors, because they are not based on stable personality traits. Expanding Heider’s work, Jones and Davis (1965) were concerned with the intentionality of dispositional behaviour. They argued that when a perceiver attributes the cause of a behaviour to dispositional factors, the perceiver also makes judgements about the actor ’s intentions. Jones and Davis refer to these judgements of intentions as correspondent inferences. When a behaviour is intentional, the judgement can correspond. However, determining intentionality is not easy. Several factors can be considered when determining the purpose of someone ’s behaviour, such as choice, social desirability, prior expectations, hedonic relevance (the degree to which you believe an actor ’s behaviour directly affects you), and personalism (do you think the behaviour changes when you are not present?). A more holistic approach to attribution theory is Kelley ’s covariation model. It explains the causal nature of the complete attribution process. This model has a greater scope than Jones and Davis ’ theory has. Kelley identifies four factors that judge causality of behaviour: 1. Consensus, would other people react similarly in the same situation? 2. Consistency, does the person engage in similar behaviours over time? 3. Distinctiveness, does the person act unique in this situation? 4. Controllability, consensus, consistency and distinctiveness combined: an actor has an interior locus of control if he could have controlled the behaviour, an exterior locus if the behaviour appears to have been uncontrollable.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory Berger and Calabrese’s (1975) URT holds that social life is filled with ambiguities. Guided by assumptions and axioms human behaviour, URT seeks to explain and predict when, why and how individuals use communication to minimize their doubts when interacting with each other. Three assumptions guide the uncertainty reduction framework: 1. The primary goal of communication is to minimize uncertainty humans have about the world and the people therein. 2. Individuals experience uncertainty on a regular basis, which is unpleasant. 3. Communication is the primary vehicle for reducing uncertainty. 6

There are two types of uncertainty: • •

Behavioural uncertainty: considers your insecurity about which actions are appropriate in each situation. Cognitive uncertainty: individuals experiencing behavioural uncertainty question how they should act in each situation, those who experience cognitive uncertainty are unsure as to what to think about someone or something.

Because we face so many uncertainties during the day, it is impossible to reduce all of them. Therefore, there are three preceding conditions that influence whether people have the motivation necessary to reduce their uncertainty: 1. Anticipation of future interaction suggest you are more motivated to reduce uncertainty about someone you are likely to see again. 2. Incentive value: you are prompted to learn more about someone when the individual in question has the potential to provide you with rewards or punishments. What can this person do for you? 3. Deviance: if a person is odd, eccentric, bizarre, or unusual in some way that counters your expectations, URT suggests individuals will be more likely to reduce their uncertainty about the individual. The process of reducing uncertainty is described in 8 axioms:

There are three strategies to reduce uncertainty: 1. Passive: individuals observe their surroundings and gather clues (without others noticing) about which behaviours are appropriate as well as which attitudes and beliefs others hold. 2. Active: involves seeking information from a third party. You talk to someone else about it. 3. Interactive: you go straight to the source in question and ask as much information as possible.

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Expectancy Violations Theory Developed by Judee Burgoon (1978, 1994), EVT explains the meaning people attribute to the violation, or infringement, of their personal space. What happens when privacy or personal space is violated? It relies on some assumptions: 1. Humans have competing needs for personal space and for affiliation. 2. People desire a certain amount of closeness with others, or affiliation. 3. People respond to a violation by (when your desire is compromised you do something): a. Reciprocating, or matching, one ’s behaviour b. Compensation, or counteracting, one ’s behaviour The core concepts of expectancy violation theory include: Expectancy: refers to what an individual anticipates will happen in each situation. Expectancy is like the idea of social norms and is based on three primary factors that judge whether behaviour is expected and/or acceptable: • • •

Context of the behaviour The relationship with the other person The communicator’s characteristics

How do you respond to something you did not expect depends on: •

•

Violation valence: a breach in expectation. The positive or negative evaluation you make about a behaviour you did not anticipate. You judge someone ’s behaviour as unexpected in that situation or context, which results to judging the person in question. Communicator reward valence: (also rewardingness of partner). This is an evaluation you make about the person who committed the violation. How rewarding or interpersonally attractive do you perceive this person to be? If someone is likeable/attractive/powerful, the person will likely have a positive reward valence.

After assessing these three concepts, it is possible to make specific predictions about whether the individual who perceived the violation will reciprocate or compensate for the behaviour in question. Predicting reactions when expectations are violated: •

(VV+) + (CRV+) = reciprocate

• • • •

(VV-) + (CRV-) = reciprocate (VV-) + (CRV+) = compensate (VV+) + (CRV-) = reciprocate or compensate (VV = violation valence; CRV = Communicator Reward Valence)

Cognitive dissonance theory This theory is a way of understanding how persuasion may be understood as a cognitive event whereby an individual is motivated to create balance between one ’s own beliefs and behaviour. Often, 8

persuasion theories assume that someone must influence a person enough to change its behaviour (like getting smokers to quit with daunting messages about sickness and death). However, this might be incorrect (there are still a lot of smokers despite the consequences). CDT explains that persuasion is not simply the result of injecting new or refined beliefs into others. Instead, CDT predicts that influence is often an intrapersonal event, occurring when incongruence between our attitudes and behaviour creates a tension, resolved by altering either our beliefs or our behaviours, thereby effecting a change. According to Festinger (1957, 1962), when presented with a new or unfamiliar stimulus, individuals use schemata; cognitive structures for organizing new information. These schemata must be linked to previous experiences to understand this new phenomenon. When new info is inconsistent with previously established beliefs, we experience an imbalance or dissonance. It is this dissonance that becomes a persuasive tool because humans feel so uneasy with holding contradictory beliefs and actions they will make every attempt to minimize the discomfort. There are three possible relationships between beliefs and behaviour: 1. Irrelevance: refers to beliefs and behaviours that have nothing to do with each other. 2. Consonance: occurs when two stimuli or pieces of information are in balance or achieve congruence. Humans strive to feel consistency between actions and beliefs. 3. Dissonance: occurs when two stimuli or pieces of information contradict each other. People can think they do not have a problem but their behaviour suggests they do. CDT predicts dissonance will give discomfort. Discomfort can be avoided by changing beliefs or behaviour. The magnitude of dissonance can be measured by: a. The perceived importance of the issue. b....