UK COM 101 Exam 1

Harold Lasswell's famous phrase

"Who says what to whom and with what effect?"

socio-psychological theory

"communication as interpersonal interaction and influence"; epitomizes the scientific or objective perspective, Yale Attitude Studies (WHO said WHAT to WHOM w/ what EFFECT?); significance- socio-psychological scholars test claims

"wiggles"

"looking for difference that make a difference"; global warming and temperature fluctuation; variation in independent and dependent variables

Assumptions of theory

1) behavior can be both understood and improved through systematic study 2) improvement is based upon understanding 3) the ultimate goal of science is understanding - knowledge! 4) working assumptions are called into question after the research is complete (as limitations)

5 major tracks of communication study at UK

1) business and organizational 2) health 3) digital and mass media 4) sport 5) human

The Onion Model

1) core 2) personal 3) intimate 4) superficial (see model) model can be flawed because people have multiple identities- this challenges the idea of having a core self/identity; model can be intuitive because the deeper you get with someone, the more intimate the info can be- you can get to the core of someone, or you can get to know someone broadly or in a shallow way

3 principles of identity management

1) identity guides the messages we produce (our identity helps us behave in ways that are central to who we are) 2) identity guides how we interpret messages (guides the way we make sense of feedback from others) 3) identity guides the relationships we form (predicts who we will form relationships with and who we won't)

identities and perception

1) selecting- we focus our attention on different things 2) selective exposure- you choose what to expose yourselves to that gel with your beliefs, attitudes 3) selective perception- perceive and focus on things that support your viewpoint 4) selective retention- only recall things you are supportive of by blocking out the rest

7 traditions of communication theory

1) socio-psychological 2) cybernetic 3) rhetorical 4) semiotic 5) sociocultural 6) critical 7) phenomenological

dynamics of self-disclosure

1) the value- make your identity transparent to establish closeness 2) passing on the onion- revelation of identity is a progression, dynamic, and social process on how you disclose your self overtime 3) good, bad, or nothing- feel honored, don't like, or don't care about what's being disclosed to you 4) dialectic tensions- when you have 1 of 2 minds about something because one feels simultaneous pulls in two directions 5) identities and boundaries- boundaries of privacy determined by relationship

Four reasons we study communication

1) we spend a lot of time doing it - so much so - that we don't think about it (and we should) 2) studying communication can help us form better relationships 3) being a talented communicator can open doors for you (career: skills are central to "employer wants") 4) psychological and physical well being

How are identities formed and maintained through self disclosure?

1) we use narratives to shape what people know about us 2) these narratives shift over time and the same stories are often revised to suit a particular purpose 3) therefore, your sense of identity is represented by the past, what is happening currently, and potentially the future (but how do you know?) 4) it depends on the people and the interactions that you have

How do representational and presentational influence communication?

Communication is never neutral or completely objective (it always has meaning)

Sign

Consequence or indicator of a specific thing that cannot be changed by actions or labels

Transactional model

Construction of shared meanings or understandings b/w two (or more) individuals

How meaning is socially constructed

Context (physical, relational, situational), medium (verbal and nonverbal messages)

Wilbur Schramm

Forefather of modern field of communication and director of School of Journalism at University of Iowa

Decode message

How an audience member understands/interprets a message; translating coded info to comprehensible form

Chicago School significant to communication study b/c...

How media brings us together and how it hurts us, in 1900s believed immigrants to U.S. would destroy values, society, and culture; first mass communication researchers in U.S., research showed media helped bring us together

symbolic identities

How we understand ourselves to be and how we want others to perceive us; personal identities (kind, mean, lazy, hardworking, etc.), social identities (customer, employee, supervisor, etc.), relational identities (parent, child, friend, enemy, et.c), and sex, race, sexual orientation, national origin, etc.

Critical and cultural studies is thought to be influenced by which revolutionary figure?

Karl Marx

Walter Lippman's profession

Media critic, journalist, political commentator; believed U.S. journalists were to blame for short-sighted and slanted info

Why is important to understand both signs and symbols when thinking about communication?

Nothing means anything until we assign meaning to it; interpretation varies by culture/region; communication is complex

Presentational

One person's particular version or, or "take" on, the facts or events

Encode message

Production of the message; sender uses communication they believe the receiver will understand

3 disciplines communication emanantes from

Rhetoric, interpersonal, and mass media studies

Critical approach

Seeks to identify the hidden but formidable symbolic structures and practices that create or uphold disadvantage, inequity, or oppression of some groups in favor of others

Transmission/action model

Sending messages (whether or not received)

Ontology (being)

Social scientific- humans are reactors who respond to stimuli in patterned ways Interpretive and critical- humans are actors who have free will and whose behavior is not predictable (essentially determinism vs. free will)

Axiology (values)

Social scientific- objectivity Interpretive- subjectivity Critical- eliminating power imbalances (the difference b/w research and understanding being value free (non biased) versus value laden (acknowledge and use bias)

Epistemology (knowing)

Social scientific- there is objective truth, reality is independent of the knower Interpretive- there are multiple subjective truths, reality depends on the knower Critical- there are multiple subjective truths that depend on the knowers position of power (truth or multiple truths)

Paul Lazarsfeld

Sociologist; proposed that social relations are important to consider media influence equation (voting)

General definition of communication

The process of info being exchanged b/w individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors; sending and receiving of messages

Communication from a relational perspective

Think about big and small moments, (context) means relationship b/w people influences what is communicated, how it is communicated, and the meaning that is developed

Which model is most currently accepted?

Transactional model b/c it's conversational

Textbook Definition of Communication

Transactional use of symbols, influences, guided, and understood in the context of relationships

Influences on communication study

War, government, propaganda

phenomenology

analysis of everyday life through the individuals standpoint (person who is living the experience); no two people have the same story

influences of theory and why important

best research is theoretically informed, theory helps you learn about yourself, the theories you study might help you unlock your future; understand the language, role, and application of theory is vital to your future as a communication professional

primary research

conducting your own study to get a deeper understanding, about a particular topic of interest; experiment, survey, interview, focus group, etc.

3 conditions to establish causality in communication research

correlation, temporal precedence, ruling out alternative explanations

What ultimately determines or drives the methodological choices that you will make when conducting research questions?

depends on the question you are asking (theoretical, empirical, related to "life")

Can people have different identities?

different moods, situations, relationships, evaluations, who you are speaking to, etc.

identity

essentially who a person is and this encompasses their presented image (what you communicate about yourself)

perception

how a person views that world, organizes what is perceived, interprets info, and evaluates info- all of which influences meaning

secondary research

info already collected or published by someone else; rich, informative, and widely available, newspapers, journals, periodicals, trades, etc. (often happens before primary)

self-description

involves info about self that is obvious to others through appearance and behavior

schemata

mental structures that are used to organize info partly by clustering or linking associated material

quantitative research

numbers based data; typically a survey, content analysis, or experiment (more dominant in communication research)

qualitative methodological research

observation, ethnography, interviews

facework

people have sent of their own dignity, performance of one's identity in public (presentation of the self), can be shaped by social needs, social situation, social frame, and circumstances surrounding your performance

how schemata and prototype influence perception and sense of self

perceptions are formed, identity is influences, we develop personal constructs to help us understand our ideal prototype and organize schemata

what identity is NOT

personality, self-esteem, being fake

self-disclosure

revelation of personal info that others could not know unless the person made it known

symbolic self

self that is transacted in interaction with other people, that arises out of social interaction, not vice versa, and hence, that does not just "belong to you"

quantitative methodological research

surveys, experiments, content analysis

prototype

the best example of something

qualitative research

the data is text or symbols/NOT numeric, typically an ethnography, focus group, textual analysis

Why is it important for research to be based on theory and previous research?

theories provide underlying logic, research appreciates former attempts and can validate from findings

Communication is a transaction

Action, interaction, transaction (see model)

Carl Hovland's research

American soldier in order to understand impact of WWII movies which explained U.S. involvement

Interpretive approach

Views communication as creative, uncertain, and unpredictable, and thus rejects the idea that a single reality exists or can be discovered; researchers seek to understand and describe communication experience

Social scientific approach

Views the world as objective, casual, and predictable, researchers seek to describe communication activity and to discover connections b/w phenomena or casual patterns

Symbol

Arbitrary representation of an idea, place, person, or relationship

Communication theories do... (DEEP-C)

Describe, explain, evaluate, predict, control

Representational

Describes facts or conveys info

Communication frame

Draws a boundary around a conversation and pulls our attention toward certain things and away from others (coordination, meaning making, and perspectives taking)

Interactional model

Exchange of info b/w two (or more) individuals

Communication theory

Explanation for why and how communication phenomena occur

2 universities that awarded PhD in communication

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Iowa