Comm Theory | Prelim

Miller & Nicholson

These people states that “We cannot completely rely on our personal theories for our communication, people like your professors develop communication theories by starting with their own personal interest, observations, and question about communication.”

Littlejohn & Foss

These people states that “Those of us who study communication are in a continual process of forming, testing, and reforming theories communication, so that we have a better understanding of our communicative practices.”

Ask Important Questions

• it is the first step in the process of discovering how communication functions in our world.

followed by (2) Look for answers by observing communicative behavior. (3) Form answers and theories as a result of your observations

Scope

It refes to how broad or narrow a theory is.

Parsimony

It refers to the idea that all things being equal the simplest solution takes precedence over a complicated one.

Heuristic Value

a theory promts other theories to engage in further study and theorizing about a given problem.

Openness

a quality that a theory allows for, and recognize multiple options and perspectives.

Appropriateness

the fit between the underlying theoritical assumptions and the research question.

Validity

The worth and practical nature of a theory.

Paradigms

it is a collection of concepts, values, assumptions, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality for a community that shares them.

Empirical Laws Paradigm

this paradigm states that there are universal laws that govern how we communicate.

The Classical Approach

other names for Empirical Laws; hard science, the positivist approach, covering-law-approach and?

Empircal Laws Theory

the premise of this theory can be stated as a simple equation of causation if X, then Y.

Miller & Berger

These people states that “Unlike the physical world, laws that govern human communication are not absolute and are most often bound by culture and context. Empirical Laws Theories are generally approached from the perspectives of probablity rather than absoluteness.”

Hovland, Janis, and Kelley

They are some of the first to use empirical laws theories to explain communication. During World War II it led them to study effective persuasion in mass communication and propaganda campaigns.

Winch

• These scholars believed empirical laws theories could not explain communication effectively so they began developing theories around the idea of rules rather than laws.

• They believe that we cannot, and should not try to study communication with an approach that does not work as accurately as it does in the physical sciences.

Human Rules Paradigm

This paradigm approaches communication from the perspective that we follow shared rules of communication, not strict laws. (Shimanoff)

Human Rules Theory

This theory promotes a more flexible approach to communication by suggesting that we follow general rules of communication rather than absolute laws.

Social Exchange Theory

This theory theorizes people participate in relationships when there is a fair exchange of costs and rewards.

Rhetorical Theories Paradigm

This paradigm is a way to understand and account for the way any kind of human symbol use functions in any realm.

Rhetorical Theory

it is a theory that provide a way for us to take context into consideration when we examine messages. Unlike empirical laws theories, this theory highlight the importance of considering context as essential for understanding messages.

Stephen Toulmin

He developed the toulmin model as a means for constructing persuasive arguments.

Byron Hurt

He is a modern theorist who uses film to critique how sexism impacts both men and women.

Critical Theories Paradigm

• This paradigm helps us understand how communication is used to opress, and provides way to foster positive social change.

• it seeks postive social change.

Critical Theory

This theory challenge the status quo of communication contexts, looking for alternativesnto those forms of oppressive communication.

Cultural Studies

it focuses on understanding the real-life experiences of people examining communication contexts for hidden power structures, and accomplishing positive social change as a result. (Pines and Humez, Keller)

Political Economy

• focuses on the macro level of communication.

• this part of cultural studies looks at the way media as text are situated in a given cultural context.

Textual Analysis

it involves the process of deconstructing and analyzing elements of a media text.

Audience Reception

it asks us to consider the rule of the text of the audience that consumes it.

Theory

It is a system of interconnected abstractions or ideas that condenses and organizes knowledge about the world.

Wilbur Schramm

Four theories of the press was proposed by; Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and who?

Normative Theory

• this theory coined in USA during the height of cold war communism and soviet.

• it is often called as western theories of mass media a media system that controlled and operated by the government, authority, leader and public.

• it describes an ideal way for a media system to be controlled and operated by the government, authority, leader and public.

• These theories are more concern about the ownership of the media and who controls the press or media in the country.

Authoritarian Theory

• It is a theory where mass media is influenced and overpowered by power and authority in the nations.

• The English monarchs used this approach when the printing press was invented by censoring, licensing, taxation and making laws.

Libertarian Theory

•this theory sees people are more enough to find and judge good ideas from bad

•the theory syas people are rational and their rational thoughts lead them to find out what are good and bad.

Social Responsibility Theory

• it is a theory of mass media that is relatively a new concept which started in the mid-20th century and is used mostly by developing and least developed countries.

• The theory started from Europe and took a shape with the Commission on the Freedom of Press that happened in United States in 1949.

• it is a theory that encourages total freedom to press and no censorship, but it should be regualated according to social responsibilities and external controls.

Censorship

it is a suppression of any communication which may consider as harmful to the people, King, government and its nation.

Karl Marx

He view mass media as “supposed to be responsible for socialist system of governance and communist media was supposed to help in implementing social policies.

Soviet Communist Theory

• This theory was a positive one as it tried to ensure truthful information and not let the information get manipulated by private media houses.

• in this theory, the control lies in very small number of leaders, unlike Authoritarian Theory there is private ownership of media.