Communication Traditions

INTRODUCTION

According to Robert Craig, Communication involves talking and listening, writing and reading, performing and witnessing or move generally doing anything that involves messages in any medium or situation. The world of communication was later divided by Craig into seven different traditions, namely, rhetorical, cybernetics, semiotics, socio-psychological, phenomenological, critical and socio-cultural.

The Rhetorical Tradition

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Rhetorical tradition talks about how rhetoric (arts of persuasion) changes through time. Basically, this tradition talks about the evolution of the style and the way of deliberation of speeches from public speaking in the public sphere to public speaking in the “digital sphere”.

v  Critique

·         Rhetoric as a “swindlers act”

Kant argues that rhetoric is nothing but a swindlers act because rhetoric does not follow any rules. A rhetorician will and shall persuade you by hook or by crook.

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v  Possible Study

            Since rhetorical tradition talks about the evolution of rhetoric, studies that could be done under rhetorical tradition includes analyzing speeches of presidential candidates and the style and or the medium they used during candidacy (Did they speak in the native language to attract native people? Did they speak in English so that they may seem a little bit more educated than others, thus gaining the “trust” of the people?  Did they use social media, flyers etc? , did they sing a song so that they will be more appealing.)

v  Theory

New media theory

New media theory focuses on the emergence of the new media, which consequently caused transitions. Just like in the Vid-Oral theory where oral presentation was better with the use of new media, New media theory shows the interactive way of persuasion and communication. Having a feedback indicates that, the speech somehow became an experience and it connects the rhetorician to his or her audiences.

The Semiotic Tradition

The Semiotic tradition includes a host of theories about how signs come to represent objects, ideas, states, situations, feeling, and conditions outside themselves. The meaning of an object/sign is relative to the culture, gender, etc., of the interpreter. Interpretation is very subjective because interpretation differs depending on the experience of the interpreter (Littlejohn and Foss, 2008). 

Some may interpret a “chicken” as an animal with feathers and is very delicious to eat. However, other people may interpret chicken as a dangerous animal since it is a carrier of the bird flu virus.

v  Study

A study about how the new media helps to create a bridge or a possible universal definition of certain things (for example, the standard of beauty) and how people from different parts of the world react and or accept the “universal definition” may be done under the Semiotics tradition.

v  Critique

·         Interpretation varies

If semiotics the study of signs and signs were interpreted differently by different cultures, genders, etc., then a sign may not have a single definition. A sign may have different meanings in different places. For example, in Manila, the word “utot” means fart while in Pangasinan, “utot” means rat.

·         Different interpretations mean misunderstanding.

Different interpretations will result to misunderstanding and later on will result to conflicts of different people and or different cultures.

v  Theory

Linguistic Relativity of Whorfian Hypothesis

The theory seeks to find how language affects people’s way of thinking and living. It explains that one’s reality is different from another because of the difference in language. According to semiotic tradition, meanings reside in people. This means that the experiences of two people may vary at some point depending on from what community of language they were from.

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The Cybernetic Tradition

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Cybernetics Tradition describes “communication as a system of information processing” (Griffin, 2012) which includes information, feedback, and control. It looks at communication as a system which consists of interrelated and interdependent parts that affects one another. It seeks to answer questions such as How does the system work? What could change it? and How can we get the bugs out? In the cybernetic tradition, communication was seen as a continuous process which includes feedback. The tradition asserts that instead of just having a linear process of communication what we really have is a cyclic process of communication which consists of continuous feedback. The feedback controls the flow of interaction. The feedback was also a way for the sender and receiver to meet at a common point. The communication process will continue due to continuous feedback and would lead to either a mutual understanding or would disintegrate.

v  Critique

·         Feedback is not controlled

 One of the basic principles of cybernetic tradition is feedback. According to the tradition, it controls the flow of interaction. Feedback would only help you regulate the conversation but not entirely control it.

·         Communication is not always a cyclic process

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The communication process is not always a cyclic process. There could also be linear communication process. It is not the case all the time that feedback is needed. For example, during classes if the lesson was well understood by the students there would be no need for a feedback.

v  Study

A sample study would be to look at a family in a cybernetic perspective. The family as a system in which the parts (members) were interdependent to each other. How does the family as a system works? What outside factors can change not just the system but also its output? How does the family regulate itself?

v  Theory

Information Theory

Theory This theory says that all information can be quantified; signals, text, waves, picture, and almost all modes of communication could be quantified. One of the goals of the cybernetic tradition is to reduce the noise in the communication process to achieve precision of the message. The information theory aims to reduce the noise and accentuate the flow of information by quantifying modes of communication with absolute precision.

The Phenomenological Tradition

sa #experience daw (-_-)
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“All my knowledge is gained from my own particular point of view or some experience of the world.” -Merlou Ponty

Phenomenological tradition is the umbrella term for the theories and related studies that talks about how people perceive and understand things in association with the person’s own experience. These experiences became the foundation of his or her understanding. Theories of this tradition concentrate on the conscious experience of the person (Littlejohn and Foss, 2008).

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v  Critique

           Subjective

The tradition asserts that we could only understand the world around us through experience. Hence, different experiences could mean different things to different people. This tradition implies that there is no general/unified truth.

 Impartiality

            Edmund Husserl in his classical phenomenology states that we were basically a blank slate. We could only acquire an understanding of the truth by experience. However, this truth could only be acquired by setting aside personal biases. But in reality, we could not put a veil of ignorance to everyone which in turn would create impartiality. Some truths were only true for another. It goes back to the first critique of not having a unified truth.
    

v  Theory

Theory of Intentionality

Edmund Husserl called intentionality as the “fundamental property of consciousness” and the “principle theme of phenomenology”. Basically, this theory talks about how people were able to accept the facts but before they do that, first they somehow filter the flow of information in their heads. They “control” the way they experience things in a way that could probably suits them Theory of intentionality says that we were able to control these experiences because we just don’t accept things, we become conscious of them.

v  Study

Since the study of the phenomenological tradition focuses on how someone can experience others' experiences and how one’s own experience create one’s reality. A study on embarrassment could be pursued. What causes embarrassment? What are your experiences of being embarrassed? Researchers can share their own experience of being embarrassed and they could also do interviews and try to relate to the shared experiences. In this way the researches could try to see their reality without creating their own reality. Simply put it as, you try to put yourself in their situation.

The Socio-Psychological Tradition

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    Socio-psychological tradition is all about the study of an individual as a social being.It focuses on the individual’s social behaviour and how psychological variables affect the personalities, traits, behaviour, etc,.

v Theory

  Cultivation theory

 The cultivation theory explains that people’s exposure to media violence affects their formation of reality. Following the socio-psychological tradition which uses a cause and effect model, the cultivation theory suggests that because of too much exposure on violence in television, i would now see the world as a violent place.

v Study

 Since the socio-psychological tradition talks about how “variables” affects an individual’s judgement and or perception towards things or information that he or she receives then a comparative study between men and women with regards to how they view or react at the ongoing gender equality campaigns where women now were given the opportunity to be seated in the legislative chamber of the government.

v Critique
    Limited and restricted factors
     This tradition fails to consider other factors causing a limited conclusion.For example, using the cultivation theory, because of the depiction of the war on drugs in the media, people outside the country could have second thoughts of going in the Philippines.The socio-psychological tradition looks at situations in a cause and effect perspective which was limited in itself already.

Socio-Cultural Tradition

a group of white people who wanted to end racism nightmare
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Through human interaction and communication, reality is produced , reproduced, maintained, repaired and transformed.

I am a UP student, I am a Pangasinense and I am a Filipino. All of these descriptions of myself suggests that I am a part of a community or a social group. Socio-Cultural tradition suggests that our reality is a social construct. Through communication our reality, perception, beliefs, ideas and traditions are constructed by the social groups and communities that we belong to. We create identities through our social interaction.

v Theory

Structuralist Theory asserts that as members of the community or groups we engage in certain social practices. these social practices are actually patterns of practices that sets rules and helps  maintain the community or group. Furthermore, so as the structure of the community changes so does the the social practices and vice versa.

v Study

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A study on utang na loob (debt of gratitude) as a standard of cultural importance. It will delved more on how does the meaning of utang na loob change over time? how does utang na loob became a normative concept? and how could it change our society and vice versa?

v Critique

Fails to consider other factors

The tradition focuses more on patterns of social practices in explaining community structure. Although, it fails to consider individual factors that may affect our social practices. It is not always that the our community shapes us, we could also shape our community.

Critical Tradition

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Critical tradition is all about criticizing everything that is related to privilege and power. It seeks to understand anything that dominates the society like power structures, belief, and ideologies. It also wanted to uncover the oppressive conditions and power arrangement in order to promote a more fulfilling society. This tradition does not only theorize the possible cause and effects of certain societal problems like capitalism and gender inequality. This tradition proposes possible solutions to those problems.

     v Theory

Standpoint theory talks about the different levels of our perception of reality. In connection to the critical theory, the demographic, the socio-economic status, and even gender of an individual contributes to his or her perception of reality. Basically, this theory talks about how we accept things as our reality based on how the society suggests the reality.

v Study

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A possible study under this tradition would be having a deeper understanding about Filipinos being branded as "Little Brown Americans," and its effect on the Philippines as a whole.

v Critique
This tradition only view the negative side of the coin for it only gives negative emphasis on the results of different theories like capitalism.It fails to look at the positive side of different traditions.

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The different communication traditions arise to cater different research problem and/or situation. Each tradition could be used to any research study but there is only one tradition that fits the most to the study.  

Rhetorical tradition focuses on the way speech was constructed and delivered. What makes rhetorical tradition different from the other traditions is the way it approaches or sees the “artistic” side of delivering speeches and how these “artistic” approaches helps or became a factor in persuading people.

Semiotic tradition focuses on the interpretation of the signs. What makes it different from the other tradition is its capability to attach meaning to the signs. However, Semiotic Tradition may overlap with the Phenomenological theory where people understand from their experiences thus their way of attaching meanings depends on their experience. Let us just say that Semiotic tradition works as a cognitive process of our brains while the phenomenological tradition talks about the “outside” experience that contributes to our inner understanding about things.

Cybernetic tradition differs to other communication tradition because it looks at groups as a system. It is more efficient when used in studying the group as a system rather than focusing on the individuals inside the group. It seeks to find how a system works? What outside factor (input) could create a difference in the output? The cybernetic tradition looks at a family as a system with interrelated and interdependent parts. The difference between cybernetic tradition and phenomenological tradition lies within their approach of the study. Cybernetics focuses more on how the group as a system works while phenomenological focuses on individual experiences as preferences in their own formation of truth and reality.

The socio-psychological tradition may overlap with the phenomenological tradition because both traditions talks about a certain “outside” factors that affects the cognitive processing of an individual. In phenomenological tradition, it talks about how experience contributes to our understanding.However, Socio-psychological tradition is more specific  because it talks about how an individual, as a social being, reacts to things.Phenomenological tradition is divided into three principles. Socio-psychological focuses on the second principle of phenomenology which says that in order to have or to grasp the meaning of a certain phenomenon; we must be able to relate to it.
The socio-cultural tradition is different from other traditions because it talks about how culture shapes our perception of out reality. However, since cultural experience is also related to the phenomenological tradition where experience is equivalent to perception of reality, socio-cultural and phenomenological tradition overlaps with each other.
Critical tradition is unique to the other traditions for it criticizes the power structures that dominates our society.For example, men dominated almost all aspect of our culture. It is our reality because we belong to the culture dominated by men. However, critical tradition seeks answer to "why" certain traditions exists in the way they exists now and critical tradition proposes possible solutions to the problems related to the theory it criticized.

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T or F

1. According to the semiotic tradition, meanings reside in people.
2. Symbols could be anything that stands for something else.
3. The Socio-Psychological Tradition states that “variables” could be manipulated.
4. The 3 means of persuasion according to the rhetoric tradition are; invention, arrangement and style.
5. Heidegger stated that truth  can only be acquired through unbiased experience.
6. Traditions may overlap
7. Critical Tradition is all about criticizing rhetorical tradition, its forms and conditions.

References

Chen,Peter John.2013.Australian Politics in Digital Age: The social media. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2bkkn.11

Griffin, Em. 2012. A First Look at Communication Theory. 8 th ed. McGraw-Hill:

NY.

John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. “Linguistic Relativity.” Accessed on August 25, 2017. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/dotAsset/3bb4c139-8a46-4238-a5b9-67bca5209ae6.pdf

Littlejohn, Stephen and Foss, Karen. 2009. Encyclopedia of Communication

Theory. SAGE Publications.

Littlejohn, Stephen and Foss, Karen. 2008. Theories of Human Communication. 9th ed. Thomson Wadsworth: USA.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Information Theory, Information Theory and the Digital Age.” Accessed on August 25, 2017. http://web.mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/Shannon2.pdf

Ronald McIntyre and David Woodruff Smith, “Theory of Intentionality,” in J. N. Mohanty and William R. McKenna, eds., Husserl’s Phenomenology: A Textbook (Washington, D. C.: Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology and University Press of America, 1989), pp. 147-79. retrieved august 27 from http://www.csun.edu/~vcoao087/pubs/intent.pdf

"Sapir-Whorf hypothesis." A Dictionary of Sociology. . Encyclopedia.com. 25 Aug. 2017 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Standpoint theory in Psychology, Behavioral and Social Science.Retrieved Sept. 3, 2017, from http://communicationtheory.org/the-standpoint-theory/

Valee, Robert. “History of Cybernetics.” In Cybernetics: Cybernetics and the Theory of Knowledge, ed. Ernst von Glasersfeld, vol. 3 of Systems Sciences and Cybernetics ed. Francisco Parra-Luna. Accessed on August 25, 2017. http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c02/E6-46-03- 01.pdf.