Chapter 2 IHC
Many histories about communicaton - historiography: the study of the persuasive efect of
writng history in partcular ways and the reasons why partcular reports and analyses are
ofered by speciic authors
Three major areas that emerged during communicatonns irst century as formal discipline
o Rhetoric and rhetorical communicaton
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion: public speaking, convincing
One way communicaton
o Interpersonal communicaton
Interacton between humans
Social relatons
o Mass communicaton
Mass society
Informaton
Distributon
Entertainment
Approaches to the study of communicaton
Social scientfic approach
o Views the world as objectve, causal, and predictable; researchers using this
approach primarily seek to describe communicaton actvity and to discover
connectons between phenomena or causal paterns
Assumes that Truth exists; is independent of researchers and will be
discovered by diferent researchers using the same method
o Reality is objectve and exists externally to human beings
o Human communicaton is predicable, and causal connectons can be uncovered
o Uses experiments or surveys
o This approach has some advantages
Studies are relatvely easy to mount and can involve large numbers of
partcipants
There is ofen strong agreement between diferent types of social scientsts
about the way in which assessments can be made of behaviour
Ability to explain paterns of observatons theoretcally and to derive new
predictons from previous work
o Disadvantages
Primary assumpton of this approach has been challenged
Number of variables afect communicaton and cannot all be identied
Research methods are ofen culturally insensitve
The researcher may impose too much restrictons on subjects in
questonnaires
Partcipants may not always be honest about the answers provided to
researchers
Convenient samples
Interpretvist approach
o Seeks to understand and describe communicaton experience
Rejects the idea that a single reality exists and causal connectons can be
discovered
1
, Communicaton is seen as creatve, uncertain, and inpredictable
No Truth
o Uses grounded theory to analyse collected data; works from the ground up and
focuses on observatons grounded in data and develop systematcally
o Data; symbolic actvity
o Direct observaton and partcipant observaton, ethnographic research, involve
observing communicaton and gathering informaton about its use in natural setngs
o Interviews
o Textual analysis
o Advantages
Provides a deep understanding of communicaton that cannot be gained
through other perspectves
Communicaton is more likely to be studied in a natural context
Draws to our atenton the inability of scholars to be truly objectve
o Disadvantages
Limited scope of understanding
Researcher accuracy and perspectve difer from others
It is quit tme consuming
Critcal approach
o Seeks to identfy the hidden but formidable symbolic structures and practces that
create or uphold disadvantage, inequity, or oppression of some group in favour of
others
Assumes that there is a built in structure in society that gives advantage to
one set of people rather than another
o Methods quit similar to interpretve approaches
Also analysis of texts
o Advantages
Very important in redirectng the thinking of communicaton scholars toward
the awareness of inequites in society at large
Not only identfy inequalites but also eradicate them
o Disadvantages
Critcism that it is given itself power and the right to identfy the nature of
inequity and how it might be challenged
Areas of study and relatonal perspectve
o Communicaton educaton and instructonal communicaton
o Communicaton theory
o Cultural communicaton
o Family communicaton
o Group communicaton
o Interpersonal communicaton
o Media
o Health communicaton
o Organizatonal communicaton
o Persuasion
o Politcal communicaton
2
,o Public relatons
o Rhetorical critcism
3
, Chapter 3 | Identtes, perceptons, and communicaton
Identty = a personns uniqueness, represented by descriptons, a self concept, inner thoughts,
and performances, that is symbolized in interactons with other people and presented for
their assessment and moral evaluaton
o People do not possess a core self
o Onion model: a theory that suggests an inner core covered up with layer afer layer
of informaton and characteristcs right toward the surface skin (agrees with core
identtyy)
Percepton = process of actvely selectng, organizing, and evaluatng informaton, actvites,
situatons, people, and essentally all the things that make up your world
Selectve exposure = the idea that you are more likely to expose yourself to that which
supports your values and attudes, that you will be more likely to pick up on actvites that
support your views of the world, and that you will pay less atenton to those that do not
o Your observatons of the world are selectvely chosen and then organized in ways
that allow you to retrieve them when necessary.
o The more you behave in a certain way and the more ofen you view the world in the
same way, the deeper and more ingrained it becomes in your thinking.
Schemata = mental structures that are used to organize informaton in part by clustering or
linking associated material (more society)
Personal constructs = bipolar dimensions used to measure and evaluate things (identty
gogglesy) (more personal)
Some identtes are based on group membership: for example, being an Asian American or a
graduate of a partcular university.
Some identtes are based on personal relatonships: for example, being a parent, child and
friend.
It is through relatonships that we develop trust so that we may disclose personal
informaton about ourselves.
Cultural membership informs people about the value of identtes and the proper ways of
constructng those identtes: for example, the American Dream (ambiton, good looks, hard
work, material successy)
Master identities: identtes that are relatvely stable and unchanging, for instance biological
sex, race, sexual orientaton and natonallregional origin
Personal identities: personality traits such as kind, lazy, fan of…
Social identities: customer, employee, supervisor
Transactng relatonal and social identtes includes communicatng and behaving in ways
culturally associated with those roles.
Symbolic self = the self that is transacted in interacton with other people; that arises out of
social interacton, not vice versa; and hence that does not just “belong to you”
Symbolic interactonism = how broad social forces afect or even transact an individual
personns view of who he or she is (“What will the neighbours think?”)
4
Many histories about communicaton - historiography: the study of the persuasive efect of
writng history in partcular ways and the reasons why partcular reports and analyses are
ofered by speciic authors
Three major areas that emerged during communicatonns irst century as formal discipline
o Rhetoric and rhetorical communicaton
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion: public speaking, convincing
One way communicaton
o Interpersonal communicaton
Interacton between humans
Social relatons
o Mass communicaton
Mass society
Informaton
Distributon
Entertainment
Approaches to the study of communicaton
Social scientfic approach
o Views the world as objectve, causal, and predictable; researchers using this
approach primarily seek to describe communicaton actvity and to discover
connectons between phenomena or causal paterns
Assumes that Truth exists; is independent of researchers and will be
discovered by diferent researchers using the same method
o Reality is objectve and exists externally to human beings
o Human communicaton is predicable, and causal connectons can be uncovered
o Uses experiments or surveys
o This approach has some advantages
Studies are relatvely easy to mount and can involve large numbers of
partcipants
There is ofen strong agreement between diferent types of social scientsts
about the way in which assessments can be made of behaviour
Ability to explain paterns of observatons theoretcally and to derive new
predictons from previous work
o Disadvantages
Primary assumpton of this approach has been challenged
Number of variables afect communicaton and cannot all be identied
Research methods are ofen culturally insensitve
The researcher may impose too much restrictons on subjects in
questonnaires
Partcipants may not always be honest about the answers provided to
researchers
Convenient samples
Interpretvist approach
o Seeks to understand and describe communicaton experience
Rejects the idea that a single reality exists and causal connectons can be
discovered
1
, Communicaton is seen as creatve, uncertain, and inpredictable
No Truth
o Uses grounded theory to analyse collected data; works from the ground up and
focuses on observatons grounded in data and develop systematcally
o Data; symbolic actvity
o Direct observaton and partcipant observaton, ethnographic research, involve
observing communicaton and gathering informaton about its use in natural setngs
o Interviews
o Textual analysis
o Advantages
Provides a deep understanding of communicaton that cannot be gained
through other perspectves
Communicaton is more likely to be studied in a natural context
Draws to our atenton the inability of scholars to be truly objectve
o Disadvantages
Limited scope of understanding
Researcher accuracy and perspectve difer from others
It is quit tme consuming
Critcal approach
o Seeks to identfy the hidden but formidable symbolic structures and practces that
create or uphold disadvantage, inequity, or oppression of some group in favour of
others
Assumes that there is a built in structure in society that gives advantage to
one set of people rather than another
o Methods quit similar to interpretve approaches
Also analysis of texts
o Advantages
Very important in redirectng the thinking of communicaton scholars toward
the awareness of inequites in society at large
Not only identfy inequalites but also eradicate them
o Disadvantages
Critcism that it is given itself power and the right to identfy the nature of
inequity and how it might be challenged
Areas of study and relatonal perspectve
o Communicaton educaton and instructonal communicaton
o Communicaton theory
o Cultural communicaton
o Family communicaton
o Group communicaton
o Interpersonal communicaton
o Media
o Health communicaton
o Organizatonal communicaton
o Persuasion
o Politcal communicaton
2
,o Public relatons
o Rhetorical critcism
3
, Chapter 3 | Identtes, perceptons, and communicaton
Identty = a personns uniqueness, represented by descriptons, a self concept, inner thoughts,
and performances, that is symbolized in interactons with other people and presented for
their assessment and moral evaluaton
o People do not possess a core self
o Onion model: a theory that suggests an inner core covered up with layer afer layer
of informaton and characteristcs right toward the surface skin (agrees with core
identtyy)
Percepton = process of actvely selectng, organizing, and evaluatng informaton, actvites,
situatons, people, and essentally all the things that make up your world
Selectve exposure = the idea that you are more likely to expose yourself to that which
supports your values and attudes, that you will be more likely to pick up on actvites that
support your views of the world, and that you will pay less atenton to those that do not
o Your observatons of the world are selectvely chosen and then organized in ways
that allow you to retrieve them when necessary.
o The more you behave in a certain way and the more ofen you view the world in the
same way, the deeper and more ingrained it becomes in your thinking.
Schemata = mental structures that are used to organize informaton in part by clustering or
linking associated material (more society)
Personal constructs = bipolar dimensions used to measure and evaluate things (identty
gogglesy) (more personal)
Some identtes are based on group membership: for example, being an Asian American or a
graduate of a partcular university.
Some identtes are based on personal relatonships: for example, being a parent, child and
friend.
It is through relatonships that we develop trust so that we may disclose personal
informaton about ourselves.
Cultural membership informs people about the value of identtes and the proper ways of
constructng those identtes: for example, the American Dream (ambiton, good looks, hard
work, material successy)
Master identities: identtes that are relatvely stable and unchanging, for instance biological
sex, race, sexual orientaton and natonallregional origin
Personal identities: personality traits such as kind, lazy, fan of…
Social identities: customer, employee, supervisor
Transactng relatonal and social identtes includes communicatng and behaving in ways
culturally associated with those roles.
Symbolic self = the self that is transacted in interacton with other people; that arises out of
social interacton, not vice versa; and hence that does not just “belong to you”
Symbolic interactonism = how broad social forces afect or even transact an individual
personns view of who he or she is (“What will the neighbours think?”)
4
