Showing papers in "Communication Theory in 1993"

Semantic Connectivity: An Approach for Analyzing Symbols in Semantic Networks

Abstract: We argue that the notions of “symbol” and “symbolic connectivity” can be rigorously developed both from the point of view of the theoretical literature on the symbol and from the point of view of semantic network theory. The theoretical literature, inspired mainly by the literary metaphor, typically takes interpretive density as the chief dimension underlying symbolic expression. Density measures have also dominated the analysis of semantic networks. There is now a sizeable amount of work on the generation of such networks from linguistic data. The majority of that work locates the network and displays it. When attempts are made to analyze the network, the focus is typically on the density (i.e., the number of links) of particular concepts (which serve as the nodes) within the network and on the inferences that can be made about the communicative prominence of such concepts in light of their density. While density is a useful way of analyzing the communicative “connectivity” of a symbol in a message, it provides only one dimension for analyzing connectivity within a semantic network. In this article we offer two further dimensions — conductivity and consensus — with which to analyze semantic networks for connectivity. We illustrate a typology based on these three dimensions. These dimensions and the associated typology form a useful conceptual device that enables the researcher both to specify and differentiate semantic objects within a rich typology for a given domain of analysis. We show this device at work by applying the dimensions and typology to different communication contexts and by discussing other possible domains where they can be applied.

Adaptation in Dyadic Interaction: Defining and Operationalizing Patterns of Reciprocity and Compensation

Abstract: Interaction patterns of reciprocity and compensation have received extensive consideration in the literature on mutual influence processes. Unfortunately, conflicting and ambiguous definitions of these concepts, along with inadequate differentiation from other patterns such as matching, convergence, divergence, and complementarity have hindered theoretical and empirical progress. This article is dedicated to sorting out the differences among the various accommodation processes and offering appropriate constitutive definitions and operationalizations. It is proposed that definitions of reciprocity and compensation be distinguished from matching and complementarity in that the former incorporate principles of(1) directedness, (2) contingency, (3) both unidirectional and mutual influence, (4) change rather than maintenance, (5) directionality rather than magnitude of change, (6) intentional and automatic processes, and (7) functional equivalence of behaviors. Operationally, these criteria imply a focus on designs demonstrating causality or strong association between partner behaviors, concatenous and lagged responses, within-dyad and longitudinal analyses, and, for many purposes, a more molar perspective. Issues of macro versus micro measurement, perceived versus actual reciprocity and compensation, and reliance on observer versus participant perspectives are also considered.

The Three Paradigms of Mass Media Research In Mainstream Communication Journals

Abstract: Scholars who write about the paradigms influencing mass media research differ in their speculations This study was conducted to provide an empirical analysis by examining six characteristics of mass media research articles published in eight major communication journals The social science paradigm was found to account for over 60% of the studies, while the interpretive paradigm accounted for about 34% and the critical paradigm less than 6% It was concluded that the social science paradigm, while being the majority paradigm in the mainstream journals, could not be considered a dominant paradigm in the research field Also, even though most of the research emulated the social science paradigm in purpose, it failed to meet scientific standards of theoretical orientation leading to quantitative data gathered by probabilistic sampling methods

Dueling Structures: The Theory of Resistance in Discourse

Abstract: A deepened understanding of resistance in discourse requires that we look beyond both structuralist and agency-based theories of discourse and power. In support of this argument, the essay first critiques Bourdieu's structuralist and Giddens's agency -based theories of power and discourse. It then offers a preliminary sketch of an alternative theory, which is founded on the concept of dueling structures of meaning, oppositional and interdependent in nature, that express social class relations of domination and opposition and provide speaking subjects with the latitude to select (within limits) one structurally generated set of meanings over another.

An Action Assembly Perspective on Social Skill

Abstract: The aims of this article are to argue for an alternative approach to theorizing about social skill and to apply a model developed within this alternative perspective in identifying the mechanisms that give rise to various performance deficits. Theorizing about social skill is currently dominated by models that emphasize the role of knowledge and motivation in skilled behavior. Despite this, it should be clear that people may possess adequate knowledge and motivation and still fail to perform skillfully. For this reason, it is desirable to examine the mechanisms of behavioral production that give rise to nonoptimal behavior even when knowledge and motivation are sufficient. Toward this end, a particular model of the behavioral-production system, action assembly theory, is presented, and its implications for understanding performance deficits explored.

Conversation or Intellectual Imperialism in Comparing Communication (Theories)

Abstract: A proposal for a recursive understanding of Practice Comrnunication Understanding Perturbations (noise) enter a process from its embodyment or the movement to a subordinate order of recursion The unfolding of understanding into its embodym~nt in pr~ctic~ or mo~ing to a superordinate order of recursion -L Two constructions A and B interacting or comparing the~elves ~r: t~e medi~m of th-eir embodyment. Understanding and practice exemplify such constructions 上( ν and what happens if understanding does not enter comparisons of human communication

A Pragmatist Account of Participatory Communication Research for National Development

Abstract: Participatory research has often been advanced as a counter to academic studies, particularly to objectivist social science. This article argues that such a dichotomization is not necessary, that a strict division between normative and empirical research is not productive, and that pragmatism offers a basis upon which a rapprochement between participatory and academic research can be built. While other approaches to participatory research are possible, the value of pragmatism is that it recognizes the central role of values in constituting knowledge while committing to no single nonnative position, thus creating the opportunity to negotiate normative frameworks as appropriate in various research settings. Craig's proposal for treating communication research as a “practical discipline” is used to assess the potential status of participatory research as a scholarly, as well as a practical, endeavor.

Articulating Meaning: Reconceptions of the Meaning Process, Fantasy/Reality, and Identity in Leisure Activities

Abstract: This article reexamines the complexities of the reception of meaning by audience members who experience media texts. It argues for the articulation model of meaning, which asserts that meaning is a momentaty event, denies that meaning is a transfer process, and characterizes media experiences as intertwined and blurred fantasy and reality experiences that serve to confirm identity for the receiver. The articulation model resolves key issues in the cultural studies debates. Framed by an articulation analysis, an empirical study of adolescent romance readers demonstrates the articulation model's power to yield additional and “corrective” insights into meaning.

Visual “Literacy”: A Theoretical Synthesis

Abstract: People who study visual communication commonly assume that the ability to recognize the content of still or moving images requires prior familiarity with a set of representational conventions. This article argues against this notion. Drawing on recent theoretical developments regarding visual cognition, the article contends that an image's lack of fidelity to visual reality need not impede interpretation by an inexperienced viewer, so long as the image is able to satisfy certain minimal informational requirements of, real-world vision. An outline of these requirements serves as the basis for a set of predictions about inexperienced viewers’ability to make sense of a variety of representational conventions, and these predictions are checked against available empirical evidence. Since there is in fact considerable research with a bearing on the issues examined here, the article's aim is to provide a theoretical synthesis and explanation of the findings of this research.

Structural Coupling: Simultaneity and Difference Between Communication and Thought

Abstract: Starting from the theory of the Germen sociologist Niklas Luhmann, it is possible to describe the relationship between communication and individual thought in a new perspective. Thought is the autonomous production of a psychic system. Communication is the autonomous production of a social system. The relationship between psychic systems and social systems can be defined as “structural coupling.” Such a coupling is realized in two steps. First, a single communication and a single thought happen simultaneously, and this allows the indiuidual to think what he or she is understanding in communication. In this way, commuiaicon forms (social structures) may perturb a psychic system. Second, meaningful information about the perturbing social structures is produced in the psychic system, depending on psychic structures. Thanks to this autonomous production of meaning, a psychic system can be unique. It is necessary to describe both the structural coupling and the two different kinds of coupled structures; the social structures shaping the perturbing communication and the psychic structures shaping the meaning of this perturbation. The communication theory called coordinated management of meaning (CMM) provides an interesting description of the effects of structural coupling for individuals. The theory of structural coupling seems a promising way to explain how individual autonomy can be based on communication, avoiding harsh debates between individualism and collectivism.

Punctuation in the Constitution of Public Identities: Primary and Secondary Sequences in the Scopes Trial

Abstract: The constitution of one group or “people” cannot be accomplished apart from the constitution of other groups. This is to say that group identities exist only in the context of relationships or that identities and relationships are two aspects of the same thing. One way in which both public and private relationships are constructed is through the causal interpretation of sequences of actions —what the Palo Alto group has called punctuation. In the Scopes trial, both sides try to situate the American people within such a sequence in order to give them either a purely traditionalist or modernist identity. Modernists take their identity from the relationship they have with traditionalism, and traditionalists take their identity from an historical sequence of acts they share with modernism.