MAPPING THE TERRITORY (Seven traditions in the field of Communication Theory)

By Emory Griffin (2000)

Important points:

o Scholars hold widely divergent views to what communication is.

o University of Colorado communication professor ROBERT CRAIG thinks it is reasonable to talk about a field of
communication theory if we take a collective look at the actual approaches that researchers have used to study
communication problems and practices – these are the seven established traditions in communication theory that include
what theorists have done.
o Taken together, the 7 traditions provide a helpful survey of the field of communication theory.
o The classification will help in understanding why some theories share common ground, while others are effectively fenced off
from each other by conflicting goals and assumptions.

Table 1. Seven Traditions of Communication Theory

Rhetorical Semiotic Phenomenological Cybernetic Socio- Socio-Cultural Critical

Psychological

Communication The practical art Inter-subjective Experience of Information Expression, inter- (Re)production of Discursive
theorized as: of discourse mediation by signs otherness; dialogue processing action, & social order reflection
influence

Problems of Social exigency Misunderstanding Absence of, or Noise; overload; Situation Conflict; Hegemonic
communication requiring or gap between failure to sustain, underload; a requiring alienation; ideology;
theorized as: collective subjective authentic human malfunction or manipulation of misalignment; systematically
deliberation and viewpoints relationship "bug " in a system causes of failure of distorted
judgment behavior to coordination speech situation
achieve specified
outcomes

Meta-discursive Art, method, Sign, symbol, icon, Experience, self Source, receiver, Behavior, Society, structure, Ideology,
vocabulary communicator, index, meaning, &other, dialogue, signal, variable, effect, practice, ritual, dialectic,
such as: audience, referent, code, genuineness, information, personality, rule, socialization, oppression,
 strategy, language, medium, supportiveness, noise, feed-back, emotion, culture, identity, consciousness-
commonplace, (mis)understanding openness redundancy, perception, co-construction raising,
logic, emotion network, function cognition, resistance,
attitude, emancipation
interaction

Plausible when Power of words; Understanding All need human Identity of mind Communication The individual is a Self-
appeals to value of informed requires common contact, should treat and brain; value reflects product of perpetuation of
meta-discursive judgment; language; others as persons, of information personality; society; every power & wealth;
commonplaces improvability of omnipresent respect differences, and logic; beliefs & feelings society has a values of
such as: practice danger of seek common complex systems bias judgments; distinct culture; freedom,
miscommunication ground can be people in groups social actions equality &
unpredictable affect one have unintended reason;
another. effects. discussion
produces
awareness,
insight

Interesting Mere words are Words have correct Communication is Humans and Humans are Individual agency Naturalness &
when not actions; meanings & stand skill; the word is not machines differ; rational beings; & responsibility; rationality of
challenges appearance is not for thoughts; codes the thing; facts are emotion is not we know our own absolute identity traditional social
meta-discursive reality; style is not & media are neutral objective and values logical; linear minds; we know of self; order;
commonplaces substance; channels subjective order of cause what we see. naturalness of the objectivity of
such as: opinion is not and effect social order science &
truth technology

o THE SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION (Communication as Interpersonal Influence)

- Scholars in this tradition believe there are communication truths that can be discovered by careful, systematic
observation;
- they look for a cause and effect relationships that will predict when a communication behavior will succeed, and when
it will fail;
- checking it out means designing and running a series of controlled experiments
 - Psychologist CARL HOVLAND was one of the founding fathers of experimental research on the effects of
communication; studies explored three separate causes of persuasive variations namely: WHO, WHAT, WHOM; the
main effect they measured was OPINION CHANGE; they discovered that a message from a high-credibility source is
more persuasive than message coming from low-credibility source; two types of credibility are expertness and
character
o THE CYBERNETIC TRADITION (Communication as Information Processing)
- MIT scientist NORBERT WIENER coined the word cybernetics to describe the field of artificial intelligence; his concept
of feedback anchored the cybernetic tradition that regards communication as link connecting the systems –
computers, families, organizations, media
- The idea of communication as information processing was established by CLAUDE SHANNON, a Bell Telephone
Company research scientist who developed a mathematical theory of signal transmission; his theory aimed at solving
the technical problems of high-fidelity transfer of sound; information is the reduction of uncertainty; noise is the enemy
of information; feedback was not inherent in the model
o THE RHETORICAL TRADITION (Communication as Artful Public Address)
- whether talking to a crowd, a legislative assembly, a jury, or a single judge, orators seek practical advice on how to
best present their case and these are:
-speech distinguishes humans from other animals
-public address delivered in a democratic forum is a more effective way to solve political problems than
rule by decree or resorting to force
-public speaking is essentially one-way communication
-oratorical training is the cornerstone of a leader’s education
-there is power and beauty in language that move people emotionally and stir them to action; rhetoric is
more art than science
-oral public persuasion is the province of the males

o THE SEMIOTIC TRADITION (Communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs)
- Semiotics is the study of signs; a sign is anything that can stand for something else
- Words (and nonverbal cues) are also signs, but special, they are symbols – there is no natural connection with the
things they describe e.g. KISS/HUG
- Cambridge University literary critic I.A. RICHARDS (together with his British colleague, C.K. OGDEN) was one of the
first to systematically describe how words work – meanings don’t reside in words or other symbols; meanings reside in
people
 -Scholars in this tradition are concerned with the way signs mediate meaning, and how they might be used to avoid
misunderstanding rather than create it
o THE SOCIO-CULTURAL TRADITION (Communication as the creation and enactment of social reality)
- the socio-cultural tradition is based on the premise that, as people talk, they produce and reproduce culture
- University of Chicago linguist EDWARD SAPIR and his student BENJAMIN LEE WHORF were pioneers in the socio-
cultural tradition
- Contemporary socio-cultural theorists claim that it is through the process of communication that “reality is produced,
maintained, repaired, and transformed”
o THE CRITICAL TRADITION (Communication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse)
- the term CRITICAL THEORY comes from the work of a group of German scholars known as the “Frankfurt School”;
originally set up to test the ideas of KARL MARX of critiquing the society
- leading figures were – MAX HORKHEIMER, THEODOR ADORNO, HERBERT MARCUSE; they were convinced that
there is a pattern of inequality in modern western democracies where the “haves” continued to exploit the “have nots”
- the critical theorists consistently challenge three features of contemporary society:
1. the control of language to perpetuate power imbalances; critical theorists condemn any use of the words
that inhibits emancipation (e.g. feminist scholars on muted groups)
2. the role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression
3. blind reliance on the scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical findings
o THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL TRADITIONS
- Phenomenology refers to the intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint of the person who is living it; it
places great emphasis on people’s interpretation of their own subjective experience
- CARL ROGERS, a psychologist believed that communication can create a safe environment for people to talk when
there is congruence; unconditional positive regard; and emphatic understanding
- MARTIN BUBER, Jewish philosopher and theologian, held out that authentic human relationships is possible through
dialogue – when two people try to understand what it is like to be the other
- Birth of teaching interpersonal communication