Multiple Goals Theory PDF

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Lesson 1: Multiple Goals Theory Multiple Goals Theory  Focuses on fundamental aspects of communication, particularly what people do when they are facing challenging communication situations 

Incorporates interpersonal goals: a state that you want to achieve that is tied to another person o Instrumental o Relational o Self-presentational

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Key Points o Multiple goals theory is actually a family of relation theories o A small set of theories in interpersonal communication that have key premises in common ∆ Shared key premises:  They all see episodes as having particular goals that are relevant  People will be evaluated negatively if they do not attend to the expected goal

Fundamental Assumptions of Multiple Goals Theory  People in close relations are interdependent, so they can influence, hinder, and facilitate each other’s goals o Interdependence Definition: one person’s actions affect the other person’s outcomes o Both people are impacted by what happens in a relationship 

Communication situations can be analyzed in terms of instrumental, relational, and selfpresentational goals o All situations have 3 types of goals at play ∆ You can plan for a difficult episode by considering what each person’s goals will be ∆ After an episode is over, we can evaluate how it went in terms of how well people met their own goals as well as their partner’s goals

Key Claims of Multiple Goals Theory  Some messages are more sophisticated than others in addressing multiple goals o The theory rejects the idea that one message is just as good as another message o The theory says that we can make a quality judgement based on how well people’s messages deal with multiple goals at the same time o If the method only focuses on an instrumental goal rather than all 3, for example, then the theory says the message is less sophisticated 

Perception of goals shape the meaning of messages o People form impressions of others over time, and they judge the meaning of messages using those impressions o Relational history matters when making attributions about what kind of goals other people are pursuing o Relational history matters when deriving meaning from messages o The message has different interpretations based on your perception of the goals of your partner

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The quality of communication matters over the quantity of communication o Quality communication has to address a variety of situationally relevant goals ∆ This will make messages more effective and sophisticated

Evaluating Multiple Goals Theory  Strengths: 1. Bridges cognition and communication ∆ There is a powerful connection between what we think and what we do ∆ Privileges the psychological processes involved in communication 2. Specifies why some messages are better than others ∆ Offers a straightforward method for evaluating the quality of messages ∆ If we effectively manage multiple goals within an episode, then that message will have higher quality ∆ If we ignore some goals or overlook the other person’s goals, then we can judge that message as having less sophistication and less quality 

Weaknesses: 1. Doesn’t yet depict how people form goals ∆ We don’t know the cognitive processes involved in goal formation ∆ Gaps that theory does not yet address:  Why do some people form particular goals and not other types of goals?  How can we predict in advance the goals that people will have? 2. Doesn’t yet incorporate the role that culture plays ∆ The theory emphasized cognition, but does not provide much detail about sociocultural factors ∆ Gaps the theory does not yet address:

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How does culture affect the goals we pursue? How are goals judged differently across communities, groups, and cultures?...