Social-Pyschological/Effects Tradition

-Persuasion=Core Concept

-Communication is mediated by social-pyschological factors (Ex: attitudes/emotional states,

personality traits, social interactions)

Historical Context of Social-Pyschological/

Effects Tradition

-WWII (1920's & 30's)

-Rise of Propaganda & Public Opinion

("Pictures in our heads" provided by media become our reality; propaganda=wartime necessity)

-Scientific research on public opinion

*Got people worrying about the power

 of new media*

Comparison of Effects Tradition & Rhetorical Tradition

Effects: social-psych. factors explain how/whether audience is persuaded. (science)

Rhetorical: techniques speaker can use to persuade the audience (art).

*BOTH SHARE PERSUASION AS CORE CONCEPT*

3 Criticisms of the Effects Tradition

(1). Individualistic view of communication

(2). Doesn't look at larger social structures

(3). Doesn't account for cultural differences

Theory of Observational Learning (Bandura)

This theory staes that we model behavior that we observe.

(A result from "Bobo Dolls" Experiments that modeled aggression in children)

Modeling Process (Bandura)

A process defined by attention-retention-production-motivation.

-Symbolic communication is key to this process. (Especially in retention)

Modeling Process in the Media (Bandura)

-Ads show us how modeled acts will bring rewards

-Media have powerful effects: "Magic Bullet Theory"

-Early adopters facilitate media impact

(2 Step Flow)

-Mass media lacks individualized guidance

Hovland's 4 Factors

The study of communication=study of 4 factors:

(1). Communicator

(2). Stimuli

(3). Comunicatee

(4). Response

John Peter's 4 Factors for Analyzing

Message Effects:

(1).Intensity/Strength of Effect

(2). Size of Effect (# of ppl)

(3). How long the effect lasts (duration)

(4). What institutions/practices are affected

(All factors operate independently, but all combinations work)

Third-Person Effect

People overestimate media's influence on others, but underestimate influence on themselves.

Defacing

Measuring the amount of face/body on an advertisement (content analysis)

Men=face as focus

Women=body as focus

Assumptions of Social Norms Campaigns

-People are not good at judging normative behavior

-Once the perceived norm is corrected to match the true norm, individuals will alter their behavior accordingly.

-People want to be like other people

-Actual norm=healthy

Major Finding of Social Norms Campaigns

(Campo & Cameron)

Overall, the majority of respondents developed healthier attitudes following the message exposure, but the heaviest drinkers actually developed unhealthier behaviors. Also, most people guessed the majority drank less than they actually did.

*The results were very inconclusive*

2 Major Theories Addressed in Campo and

Cameron Reading

(1). Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT)

(2). Psychological Reactance/Boomerang Theory

Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT)

This theory suggests that when expectations regarding others' nonverbal behaviors are violated, a corresponding shift in attitudes will be observed.

-Results in increased focus on message content

Pyschological Reactance/Boomerang Theory

This theory states that when a person feels their freedom is threatened, they seek to regain control of their environment by doing the opposite of what has been advocated.

-In social norms campaign about binge drinking, results in increased drinking and backfires.

7 Different Norms from the Campo Lecture

(1). Normative Perceptions

(2). Normative Behavior

(3). Descriptive Norms

(4). Injunctive Norms

(5). Subjective Norms

(6). Proximal Norms

(7). Distal Norms

Socio-Cultural Tradition

-Studies the "cultural side of semiotics"

-Core concept=understanding

-Cultural context is key to understanding communication. (Cultural codes built/maintained)

-Communication=symbolic process that

 creates reality

-Communication creates both the community and the individual

Comparison of Socio-Cultural Tradition

and Semiotics

-Both share concept of understanding or

 meaning-making

-Both define communication as symbolic and social.

Semiotics: signs used/combined to produce meaning

Socio-Cultural: cultural codes built/maintained

Mead was influenced by...

Peirce's Semiotics

Mead's Understanding of the Individual and the Community

-Symbolic communication involves taking the role/attitude of the other.  

-The individual and the community are coerced throough symbolic interaction.

-When we use symbols, we move back & forth between different social roles and perspectives

---->creates us as individuals

Ritual Model (Carey)

*Communication as Dramatization* 

Basic Metaphor: Ceremony

 Participant Roles: Participants

 Role of Meaning: Created & Received

 Criterion of Success: Shared Experience

(Community)

 Basic Function: Community Across Time

Transmission Model (Carey)

 Basic Metaphor: Transportation

 Participant Roles: Sender & Receiver

 Role of Meaning: Sent & Received

 Criterion of Success: Receiver "Gets It"

(Transmission)

 Basic Function: Influence Across Space

Newspaper Example of the Ritual Model (Carey)

-Although the newspaper transmits information, the readers engage in different dramatic roles

as they read

Bernard Berelson: "What Missing the Newspaper Means" (1949)

-Meanings arise out of reading the newspaper

-Provides comfort through knowledge

-Provides sense of belonging to culture

Ways in Which Communication Creates Reality (Carey)

-Communication is the means by which people come to have things in common

-Communication creates community

-Communication imposes order & meaning on reality)

*We cannot access reality w/o communication*

3 Criticisms of Socio-Cultural Tradition

(1.) If Effects Tradition has individual bias, socio-cultural tradition has community bias.

(2). Community based on ceremony, communion, consensus.

(3). Avoids the subject of conflict; Advocates a transformation based on gradualism

The Critical Tradition

-People are unaware of the aspects of the world they live in & need to be woken up (fantasy world)

-Marxist view that our concept of reality is shaped by underlying economic relations of production

-Critique of Capitalism

-Critique of Ideology

Critique of Capitalism (Critical Tradition)

States that capitalism exploits and alienates people as workers & consumers.

Critique of Ideology (Critical Tradition)

States that ideology disguises economic interests & dupes the masses. (False Consciousness)

Marx on Ideology

Ideology is a system of ideas & values that maintain & legitimate the economic system

-Material relationships represent dominant ideas

-Provides a deceptive or illusory worldview;

false consciousness

Marxism Basics (Marx & Engels)

-Dominant interests represent themselves as common interests

-Dominant ideas are represented as universal truths or common sense

-"The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas"

*Capitalism: the owners of the means of production (Bourgeosie) exploit the workers (Proletariot)*

Base & Superstructure (Marxism Basics)

-The base (economics) determines superstructure of society (culture, media)

-Base shapes superstructure

-Superstructure maintains and legitimates the base; nonmaterial things hide the

material things (base)

Western Marxism

-WWI--> a formative moment; a failure in Marxist model because the elites told the middle class to go to war. (shift from competitive to

 monopoly capitalism)

-Rise of PR & Advertising

-Rise of Propaganda & Fascism

-New attention to culture & ideology

Frankfurt School--> Critical Theory

-(Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, GER)

-Why did Nazi Fascism succeed?

     -New media mobilized the masses

     -Propaganda promoted obedience, dependance on authority, and a sense of community

*Horkheimer & Adorno saw parallels between Nazi Fascism & U.S Mass Culture*

"Culture Industry"

(Horkheimer & Adorno)

-Standardized culture creates standardized tastes/consciousness

(Culture as a business model; no longer artistic-simply a commodity)

Critique of Fascism & Culture Industry

-Media & propaganda are used similarly in the U.S for commercial ends.

-Ideology of choice hides manipulation

-Irrational dependance on authority=key to success

(We are not thinking for ourselves)

Example 1: Radio Hits (Critical Tradition)

McDougald: "The Popular Music Industry"

-Ideology: A song becomes popular because listeners really like it & make it a "hit"

-Reality: The music industry manufactures hits by "plugging" & promoting songs via radio

Example 2: Astrology Columns (Critical Tradition)

Adorno: "The Stars Down to Earth"

-Mass culture promotes irrationality & self deception

-Mass culture promotes an ideology of dependance and obedience

----> prevents criticism of reality

Strategic Action (Habermas)

Action oriented towards achieving goals and controlling outcomes

Communicative Action (Habermas)

Critical Organizational Communication

-Communication in the workplace

-Communicative action=good business

-Distorted communication leads to bad business

 & bad decisions

-Strategic Action similar to distorted comm.

Systematic Distortion (Deetz)

-When communication has a "latent strategic character"

-When methods of corporate control perpetuate a "false consensus"

Discourse (Deetz)

A system of ideas & practices that shape & limit who we are.

-"Rather quiet, repetitive, micro-practices done for innumerable reasons"

-Ideology is not subtle enough to describe communication processes; we need a way of looking at power in everyday speech & "micro" settings--->DISCOURSE

Discursive Closure (Deetz)

The suppression or exclusion of alternative views & potential conflict.

-8 kinds of discursive closure practices (unhealthy because they don't promote communicative action)

The 8 Discursive Closure Practices (Deetz)

(1). Disqualification

(2). Naturalization

(3). Neutralization

(4). Topical Avoidance

(5). Subjectification of Experience

(6). Meaning Denial & Plausible Deniability

(7). Legitimation

(8). Pacification

Disqualification

(Discursive Closure Practice-Deetz)

-Excluding individuals

(Ex: "You're just saying that because you're a woman")

Topical Avoidance

(Discursive Closure Practice-Deetz)

Interaction structured to go around/leave out

 (Ex: Instead of firing someone to their face, simply taking them off the payroll to avoid confrontation)

Meaning Denial

(Discursive Closure Practice-Deetz)

A possible interpretation of a statement is placed in the interaction and denied as meant

(Ex: Someone shouting at you, but insisting

 they aren't angry)

Consensus Model (Deetz)

One can attribute a predicate on an object if and only if everyone else who enters the discourse could attribute the same predicate.

--->If conflict doesn't exist, then everyone

conforms to the same idea

Communication as Relating

-Similar to Critical Tradition & Situated Communication

-Focus on speaker-audience relationship

-Addresses how we interact w/each other

Baxter's Dialogue Theory drawn from...

Mikhail Bakhtin

Baxter's Dialogue Theory

This theory states that communication creates & constitutes us and our world.

-Discursive closure (monologue)=BAD

-Multiple voices (dialogue)=GOOD

-Difference/Conflict=Healthy

*Meaning-Making happens in the space between 2 speakers, in dialogue*

Ways that Language is Dialogic (Baxter)

-Words don't come from speaker but are pre-set

-Language is highly situated

-Words provoke an answer (very structured)

-Culture driven

Comparison of Baxter's Dialogue Theory

and the Critical Tradition

They both agree...

-On their criticism of the Transmission Model

-That communication=creative & constructive

-That conflict=production & a part of communication

Condit on Relationality

Signs & symbols are merely components in

the process of communication, which is better understanding as a process of relating.

-We can't communicate outside of relationships

-We can't exist outside of relationships

-A relationship is an interdynamic force

Communication Ethics

Making human relationships central makes

ethical questions central

-Do we treat each other as subjects or objects?

-Is our goal understanding or manipulation?

2 Major Claims Made by Both Baxter & Condit

About Communication as a Process of Relating

(1). Signs & symbols are merely components in

the process of communication, which is better understood as a process of relating.

(2). Relationships are an inter-dynamic force.

Qualities of Kelshaw's View of Communication

as Political Participation

-Relational and participatory

-Relational-shaped by power and interest

-Meaning-making is made in the space between speakers

----->form of political participation

Communication as Political Participation

(Kelshaw)

-We participate in politics whenever we communicate (publicly or privately)

-We participate in politics whenever we interact with each other as ethical and social beings

Baxter, Condit, & Kelshaw All Agree That...

They agree....

-Critique of Transmission Model

-Communication is creative and constitutive

-Meaning-Making happens between communicators

-Conflict is a productive part of communication

The Connection Between Interpersonal &

Social Relations

(Kelshaw)

-We participate in politics everytime we

communicate, whether publicly (socially) or privately (interpersonally).

Properties of Base & Superstructure Model

(Marxism Basics)

SUPERSTRUCTURE: Education, Family, Mass Media, Religion, Politics

BASE: Relations of Production (Bourgeoisie exploit Proletariot) and Means of Production (All things needed to produce: machines, factories, land, raw materials; all owned by Bourgeoisie)

"Sleeper Effect" (Hovland)

You remember the information you hear or

message, but not the source.

(Ex: remembering we need to fight,

but not remembering why)

Neutralization

Making important topics value-free; hiding

their importance.

(Ex: pretending like something doesn't

bother you when it really does)