Three models of communication: transmission, interaction, and transaction

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 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

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 companies

Concern that accurate prediction models could lead to predictive policing

Even accurate models are fallible

Wary of overreliance on data

Summary: The End of Theory

The scientific method is becoming obsolete because of data

The Petabyte Age is different because of the vast amount of knowledge available

Knowledge storage has moved from individual ownership and control to the cloud

Information this vast requires a different approach

Data has to be viewed mathematically first, then within context

The quest for knowledge now begins with data, rather than theory

Summary: Correlation vs. Causation

Big data was first described in terms of Vs in 2001

People are becoming critical of the promises of big data

Many things remain unpredictable

Ignoring unpredictability can be a great risk for businesses

Algorithms can mine data, but cannot determine which data is important

It is critical not to draw conclusions from raw data

Correlation is not causation

There are hidden biases in collection methods that can impact data

Not everything that counts can be counted

Imagination and intuition must continue to play a role in theory

Summary: Hidden Biases in Big Data

Numbers cannot speak for themselves

Data and data sets are not objective

Hidden biases exist in collection and analysis

Data does not accurately reflect the social word, particularly when outside factors may impact the ability to communicate

Even massive datasets have a context within culture

As access to technology improves, the divide created by lack of access to technology grows

How can big data approaches and small data studies be reconciled?

Must increase context awareness

Summary: Science is Not Your Enemy

Great thinkers of the Enlightenment were scientists in addition to their work in the humanities

Scientific knowledge has provided an incredible tool for understanding humans

Writers in the humanities have not embraced scientific knowledge as a valuable tool

There has been a denunciation of scientism

Science is not responsible for genocide or war, even if scientific advances make it easier to perpetrate some of those evils

"The defining practices of science, including open debate, peer review, and double-blind methods, are explicitly designed to circumvent the errors and sins to which scientists, being human, are vulnerable"

Scientism does not mean that one must forego religion or deny the belief in things that cannot be proven through science, but it does require abandoning doctrine that has been disproven through science, such as creationism

Intelligible- phenomenon may be explained through principles that build to the whole

Acquiring knowledge is hard

Science illuminates human affairs:

Who we are

Where we came from How we define the meaning and purpose of life