Skip to document
Welcome to StudocuSign in to access the best study resources
Guest user
0followers
Upload
HomeMy LibraryAsk AI
  • You don't have any recent items yet.
My Library
  • You don't have any courses yet.
  • You don't have any books yet.
  • You don't have any Studylists yet.

Final Study Guide

Final Study Guide
Academic year: 2011/2012
Uploaded by:
AH
Alyssa Herington
James Madison University
0followers
14Uploads
2upvotes

Comments

Please sign in or register to post comments.

Students also viewed

Related documents

Preview text

,Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Focuses on how human communication is used to gain knowledge and create understanding Assumes that when strangers meet, they want to reduce uncertainty/increase predictability about the behavior of themselves and others in the situation The strive to reduce uncertainty is based on 3 prior circumstances 1) Anticipation of future interaction 2) Incentive value 3) Deviance Believes our main purpose is to make sense of our interpersonal world Attribution Theory—a systematic explanation of how people draw inferences about the character of others based upon observed behavior—we need to predict AND explain Uncertainty Reduction—increased knowledge of what kind of person another is, which provides and improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out 2 kinds of uncertainty—behavioral and cognitive Axiom—a self-evident truth that requires no additional proof Berger’s 8 axioms about initial uncertainty 1) Verbal Communication—uncertainty , verbal communication  2) Nonverbal Warmth—nonverbal affiliate expressiveness , uncertainty levels  3) Information Seeking—high uncertainty = more information seeking 4) Self-Disclosure—low uncertainty = high intimacy 5) Reciprocity—high uncertainty = high reciprocity 6) Similarity—similarities reduce uncertainty 7) Liking—less uncertainty = more liking 8) Shared Networks—shared communication networks = less uncertainty Theorem—proposition that logically and necessarily follows from two axioms paired together Generates 28 theorems Social interaction is goal-driven—we have a reason for saying what we say Message Plans—mental representations of action sequences that may be used to achieve goals Making an effective message plan: Passive strategy—observing a person interacting with others Active strategy—impression formation by asking a 3rd party about a person Interactive strategy—face-to-face discussion with a person (quickest way) Plan complexity—a characteristic of a message based on the level of detail it provides and the number of contingencies it covers—simpler approach is preferred Hedging— what to do if it goes wrong—the use of strategic ambiguity and humor to provide a way for both parties to save face when a message fails to reach its goal Hierarchy Hypothesis—the prediction that when people are thwarted in their attempts to achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter low-level elements of their message Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory—an intercultural theory that claims high levels of uncertainty and anxiety lead to greater misunderstanding when strangers don’t communicate mindfully 5 significant difference from URT

  1. Anxiety—put on same level as uncertainty a. Uncertainty = cognitive; anxiety = affective (emotion)
  2. Effective Communication—the extent to which a person interpreting a message does so in a way that’s relatively similar to what was intended; minimizing misunderstanding
  3. Multiple Causes of Anxiety/Uncertainty—more axioms that link a separate variable to the rise/fall of anxiety/uncertainty
  4. Lower and Upper thresholds for Fear and Doubt a. Apprehension i. Minimum threshold gives adrenaline to communicate effectively ii. Maximum threshold paralyzes us with fear—can’t concentrate b. Uncertainty i. Minimum threshold—bored, auto pilot, misinterpret ii. Maximum threshold—lose confidence, communication no longer seems worthwhile c. Effective intercultural communication is when fear and doubt fall somewhere in the middle
  5. Mindfulness—the process of thinking in new categories, being open to new information, and recognizing multiple perspectives Critique—good objective theory

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Routes to Persuasion Central Route—message elaboration; the path of cognitive processing that involves scrutiny of message content Peripheral Route—a mental shortcut process that accepts or rejects a message based on irrelevant cues as opposed to actively thinking about the issue 6 cues that trigger a programmed response: 1) Reciprocation—you owe me 2) Consistency—we’ve always done it that way 3) Social Proof—everybody’s doing it 4) Liking—love me, love my ideas 5) Authority—just because I say so 6) Scarcity—quick, before they’re all gone Central and peripheral routes = opposite ends of a spectrum that measures mental effort a person uses to evaluate a message Message Elaboration—the extent to which a person carefully thinks about issue-relevant arguments contained in a persuasive communication People want to know the truth—but to avoid information overload, they must be lazy about some issues If people have a personal stake in accepting or rejecting the idea, they’ll be influenced more by what a message says than the characteristics of who said it Need for Cognition—desire for cognitive clarity; an enjoyment of thinking through ideas even when they aren’t personally relevant

Organizational metaphors help understand and achieve a balance between stability and change; autonomy and coordination

Information Systems Approach to Organizations

Uncertainty—lack of information Equivocality—two or more alternative interpretations Problem of confusion, not ignorance Requisite variety—the degree of complexity and diversity within the organization needs to match the equivocality of the data it processes Double-Interact—basic unit of interconnectedness Adjustment Act Person Reviewer Response Loose-coupling—two or more departments that don’t really affect each other Allows organizations to absorb big problems without destroying the system Darwin’s Natural Selection can be applied to organizations Organizations compete against each other Survival of the Fitting—rather than mutation, natures of organizations change when members alter behavior Socio-Cultural Evolution—3 stage process: 1) Enactment—Don’t just sit there; Do something a. Organizations create their own environment b. No firm boundaries between organization and environment c. Failure to act is the cause of most organizational ineffectiveness d. Act first; then look back and see what’s really happening and what to do now 2) Selection—Retrospective Sensemaking a. Knowing what I know now, should I change the way I label and connect the flow of experience? b. Planning comes after enactment c. Assembly Rules—stock responses that have served well in the past and have become standard operating procedure i. Rules that fail to clarify situations with high equivocality d. Cycle of the Double Interact—act-response adjustment i. The more communication cycles an organization has to go through, the less confusion there is 3) Retention—Treat Memory as a Pest a. Too much retention causes a network of rules that reduces the ability to respond to complex information b. Ongoing tension between stability and innovation Critique Creates an interesting theory—challenges the conventional wisdom of managers Biological model explains difficult systems with something we all know—the human body BUT the metaphor could just become an ideology

Metaphor shouldn’t be proof—that is a misinterpretation of the theory

Semiotics

Semiotics (semiology)—the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems; the analysis of anything that can stand for something else Verbal side—linguistics Myth—the connotative meaning that signs carry wherever they go Myth makes what is cultural seem natural Barthes’ view on the structure of signs: 1) A sign is a combination of its signifier and the signified a. Sign—the inseperable combination of the signifier and the signified b. Signifier—the physical form of the sign as we perceive it through our senses; an image c. Signified—the meaning we associate with the sign 2) A sign does not stand on its own: it is part of a system a. Significant semiotic systems of a culture lock in the status quo Second-order Semilogical System—a myth or connotative system built off a preexisting sign system Ex. Yellow Ribbon Every ideological sign is the result of 2 interconnected sign systems Denotative Sign System—a descriptive sign without ideological content Connotative sign system—a mythic sign that has lost its historical referent Form without substance When signifier can’t call up a historical or cultural past, the mythic sign has a Crust of falsity Deconstruction—the process of unmasking contradictions within a text; debunking Ideology—knowledge presented as common sense or natural, especially when its social construction is ignored or suppressed Society’s connective spin—mythic signs reinforce the dominant values of their culture Ideological signs support status quo by making history into nature—pretending current conditions are the natural order Most semiotic signs gain cultural prominence when broadcast through electronic and print media The mass signification arising in response to signs from the media is not a natural process Unfulfilled desire—essence of a second-order sign Triadic Model—Pierce’s view of the relationships among the 3 components of a sign: 1) Object—something beyond the sign to which he sign refers a. Often a physical object, an action, or an idea 2) Representation—sign vehicle—form the sign takes a. What Saussure called the signifier 3) Interpretant—sense of the sign made in the mind of the interpreter a. Similar to what Saussure called the signified Possibly no direct relationship between the word and the thing to which it refers Pierce: 3 different kinds of signs based on their relationship between their sign vehicle and the other two components

Was this document helpful?

Final Study Guide

Course: Communication Theory Lab (SCOM 241)

University: James Madison University

Was this document helpful?
,Uncertainty Reduction Theory
Focuses on how human communication is used to gain knowledge and create
understanding
Assumes that when strangers meet, they want to reduce uncertainty/increase predictability
about the behavior of themselves and others in the situation
The strive to reduce uncertainty is based on 3 prior circumstances
1) Anticipation of future interaction
2) Incentive value
3) Deviance
Believes our main purpose is to make sense of our interpersonal world
Attribution Theory—a systematic explanation of how people draw inferences about the
character of others based upon observed behavior—we need to predict AND explain
Uncertainty Reduction—increased knowledge of what kind of person another is, which
provides and improved forecast of how a future interaction will turn out
2 kinds of uncertainty—behavioral and cognitive
Axiom—a self-evident truth that requires no additional proof
Berger’s 8 axioms about initial uncertainty
1) Verbal Communication—uncertainty , verbal communication
2) Nonverbal Warmth—nonverbal affiliate expressiveness , uncertainty levels
3) Information Seeking—high uncertainty = more information seeking
4) Self-Disclosure—low uncertainty = high intimacy
5) Reciprocity—high uncertainty = high reciprocity
6) Similarity—similarities reduce uncertainty
7) Liking—less uncertainty = more liking
8) Shared Networks—shared communication networks = less uncertainty
Theorem—proposition that logically and necessarily follows from two axioms paired
together
Generates 28 theorems
Social interaction is goal-driven—we have a reason for saying what we say
Message Plans—mental representations of action sequences that may be used to achieve
goals
Making an effective message plan:
Passive strategy—observing a person interacting with others
Active strategy—impression formation by asking a 3rd party about a person
Interactive strategy—face-to-face discussion with a person (quickest way)
Plan complexity—a characteristic of a message based on the level of detail it provides and
the number of contingencies it covers—simpler approach is preferred
Hedging— what to do if it goes wrong—the use of strategic ambiguity and humor to
provide a way for both parties to save face when a message fails to reach its goal
Hierarchy Hypothesis—the prediction that when people are thwarted in their attempts to
achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter low-level elements of their message
Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory—an intercultural theory that claims high levels
of uncertainty and anxiety lead to greater misunderstanding when strangers don’t
communicate mindfully
5 significant difference from URT

Students also viewed

Related documents