Communication and Perception Processes
Communication models simplify the descriptions of complex communication interactions
Three models:
Transmission- a linear one-way process in which a sender transmits a message to a receiver
Participants- senders and receivers of messages
Messages- the verbal and non-verbal content being shared
Encoding- turning thoughts into communication
Decoding- turning communication into thoughts
Channels- sensory routes through which messages travel
Barriers / Noise
Environmental noise- physical noise
Semantic noise- noise in encoding process
Interaction- participants alternate positions as senders and receivers of messages
Participants- senders and receivers of messages
Messages- the verbal and non-verbal content being shared
Encoding- turning thoughts into communication
Decoding- turning communication into thoughts
Channels- sensory routes through which messages travel
Feedback- messages sent in response to other messages
Physical context- environmental factors
Psychological context- mental and emotional factors
Transaction- a process in which communicators generate social realities within social, relational, and cultural contexts.
Communicators
Simultaneous sending and receiving of messages
Social context -- the norms that guide communication
Relational context- the personal history between the communicators
Cultural context- race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability and other cultural factors
Summary: Communication as Culture
James Carey discusses John Dewey's work on communication and looks at its complexity
Communication has two contrasting definitions in Western thought:
Transmission- communication is a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people
Dominant since the 1920s
Ritual- directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs
Transmission forms of communication can be linked to religious teachings and conversion
Transportation- a form of communication with religious implications
The ritual view of communication is dependent upon culture
Not well established in American scholarship
News is a historic reality, which makes it a form of culture
People both produce their reality and live within the reality that they produce
To study communication is to examine the actual social process wherein significant symbolic forms are created, apprehended, and used
Models of communication are both representations of and representations for communication
Recasting the study of communication in terms of a ritual model will allow for a restorative model that can shape the common culture
Summary: Metatheoretical Perspectives
The different...
t assumptions of positivist (objectivist) and interpretivist paradigms are rooted in controversies that go back to at least the beginning of the 18th century
The scientific outlook underlying the positivist approach is a product of the modern world view
Shift in authority from religion to science
Heaven is no longer humanity ultimate goal
Giambattista Vico.maintained that human nature was not static and unalterable; it had no core or essence that remained the same despite the flow of history.; brought up the notion of cultural relevancy
Romanticism saw the rise of self-expression in communication
Socialists created a critical intellectual culture in opposition to both the liberal perspective of positivism and the conservative perspective of interpretivism
Science and technology, alone, could not provide the foundation for the achievement of Utopian aims
By the 1960s, positivism had faded in popularity
The postpositivist paradigm is characterized by two important continuities with positivism: realism and objectivism.
Realists believe that a world exists outside the individual mind that is independent of perception.
The real world cannot be completely mapped out and fully understood.
As social constructionists (interpretivists) maintain, there are various ways of perceiving the world and social groups do have different ways of establishing their worldviews.
Objectivity remains an ideal
Social psychological theories in communication include: attribution; social judgment; elboration likelihood; action assembly theory; constructivism; planning theory; uncertainty reduction; accommodation; expectancy violation; social penetration; interaction process analysis; and media effects
Interpretive theorists view reality as a social construction; that is, we create reality through communication
Three essentials of critical social science:
Understand taken-for granted systems
Uncover oppressive social conditions
Unity of theory and practice
Positivism and postpositivism
There is one truth
Determinism
Objectivity is the goal
Seek universal laws
Quantitative
Intepretivism
Truth is subjective
Free will
Acknowledge bias and subjectivity
Understand behavior in context
Qualitative
Critical approach
Class, race, and gender have a role in the quest for knowledge
Circumstances greatly impact free will
Theory and research are value driven
Microanalysis
Qualitative but can use quantitative measurements
Summary: Big Data
Internet surveillance mines big data
Governmental and private surveillance
Retailers use it to make suggestions and follow buying habits
Government uses it to find terrorists
Use of relational maps to pinpoint suspicious people, using multiple degrees of separation
Big data has created new forms of analysis
Big data has led to the creation of new…
