Transcript Document 7287922

AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES
5. THOERIES MESSAGE PRODUCTION
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine
based on
Littlejohn’s Theories of Human Communication
Introduction
•
Communication can be viewed as an information-based and
message-centered process
•
Many communication theories address these concerns
•
The theories of message production tend not use social
explanations
•
Rather, these theories view message production as
psychological matters, focusing on individual characteristics
and processes
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Introduction
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These theories tend to be of three types
•
The first involves trait explanations, which focus on relatively
static characteristics of individuals and the ways these
characteristics are associated with other variables
•
They predict that when you have a certain personality trait,
you will tend to communicate in certain ways or produce
certain kinds of messages
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Introduction
•
The second type of theory of message production
rely on behavioral explanations
•
These tend to focus on types of behavior
•
How that behavior develops and how certain
behaviors are associated with other behaviors,
feelings and traits
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Introduction
•
The third type of theory of message production
involves cognitive explanations, which attempt to
capture the mechanism of the mind
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1. TRAITS AND BEHAVIORS
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The most commonly held belief among psychology
researchers today is that:

•
Your behavior is determined by a combination of traits and
situational factors
How you communicate at any given moment depends on

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Your traits as an individual and the situation in which you find
yourself
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1.1 Three Examples of Traits
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We feature three interesting and well-developed
traits
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1.1.1 Conversational Narcissism
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Narcissism loosely self-love
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Anita Vangelisti, Mark Knapp, and John Daly have
identified a communication trait that they call
conversational narcissism, or the tendency to be
self-absorbed in conversation
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Conversational narcissists tend to inflate their
self-importance by such behaviors as "oneupping" or boasting
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1.1.1 Conversational Narcissism
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They tend to want to control the flow of conversation,
especially to provide opportunities for them to talk about
themselves
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They are known to use nonverbal, exhibitionist behaviors
such as exaggerated gestures
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They tend to be insensitive or non-responsive to others
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1.1.2 Argumentativeness
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This is the tendency to engage in conversations about
controversial topics to support your own point of view, and
to refute opposing beliefs
•
Dominic Infante believes that argumentativeness can

Improve learning

Help people see others' points of view

Enhance credibility

Build communication skill
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1.1.2 Argumentativeness
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Argumentative individuals are by definition assertive,
although not all assertive people are argumentative
•
These authors distinguish between argumentativeness,
which is a positive trait
and
•
Verbal aggressiveness and hostility, which are negative
ones
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Knowing how to argue properly may be a solution to
otherwise hurtful aggressive tendencies
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1.1.3 Social and Communicative Anxiety
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James McCroskey is best-known for his work on
communication apprehension
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Although everyone has occasional stage fright,
trait CA is an enduring tendency to be
apprehensive about communication in a variety
of settings
•
Normal apprehension is not a problem, but
pathological CA, in which an individual suffers
persistent and extreme fear of communication,
certainly is
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1.1.3 Social and Communicative Anxiety
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Abnormally high CA creates serious personal
problems, including extreme discomfort and
avoidance of communication to the point of
preventing productive and happy participation in
society
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1.1.3 Social and Communicative Anxiety
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Social and communicative anxiety has
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
Physiological aspects such as heart rate and
blushing

Behavioral manifestations such as avoidance and
self-protection

Cognitive dimension such as self-focus and negative
thoughts
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1.1.3 Social and Communicative Anxiety
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Negative thinking can lead to anxious self-preoccupation
that
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Keeps a person from considering all of the information and
cues in the environment
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Disrupts normal information processing
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Leads to reinforcing behaviors such as withdrawal.
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1.2 Traits, Temperament and Biology
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Psychologists have been exploring biological bases of
human behavior and traits have explained in terms of
genetic predisposition
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Traits are predispositions of temperament rooted in
genetically determined neurobiological structures or brain
activity
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1.2 Traits, Temperament and Biology
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limbic system of the brain controls emotion and
our emotional differences often relate these brain
differences
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The more sensitive your limbic system, the more
anxiety you experience
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1.2 Traits, Temperament and Biology
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The problem for highly apprehensive individuals is
that they will experience extreme fear in the
process of giving the speech, making the overall
experience unpleasant
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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If you observe interaction closely, you will notice that
speakers frequently adjust their behaviors to one another
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Sometimes speakers do just the opposite and actually
exaggerate their differences
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
•
•
1.3.1 Accommodation Theory
One of the most influential behavioral theories of
communication, accommodation theory, was formulated by
Howard Giles
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Giles has confirmed the common observation that
communicators often seem to mimic one another's behavior
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They call this convergence or coming together
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The opposite, divergence, or moving apart, happens when
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.1 Accommodation Theory
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Convergence or divergence can be mutual or can be non-mutual
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Convergence can also be partial or complete
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Accommodation is sometimes done consciously
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The speaker is usually unaware of doing it
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People sometimes converge not with the other person's actual
speech but with a stereotype
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.1 Accommodation Theory
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Accommodation is often associated with power
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The rewards of speech convergence can be substantial, so are the
costs
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Convergence requires effort and it may mean the loss of personal
identity
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You may work to maintain your own style when you want to
reinforce your identity
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.2 Interaction Adaptation Theory
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Judee Burgoon noticed that communicators have a kind of
interactional synchrony, a coordinated back-and-forth
pattern
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If you were to videotape a conversation with a friend, you
would probably notice this effect
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Using the lens of interaction adaptation theory, you would
begin to notice that you and your friend's behavior are
influencing each other, creating the pattern
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.2 Interaction Adaptation Theory
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When you begin communicating with another person, you
have a rough idea about what will happen
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This is your interaction position, the place where you will
begin
•
It is determined by a combination of factors that the
theorists cleverly named RED, which stands for
requirements, expectations, and desires
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.2 Interaction Adaptation Theory
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Requirements: Your requirements are the things
you really need in the interaction
•
These may be biological as in a request for food,
or they may be social in terms of needed
affiliation, continued friendship, or even managing
a smooth interaction
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.2 Interaction Adaptation Theory
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Expectations: are the patterns you predict will happen
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If you are not that familiar with the other person, you will rely
on social norms of politeness and aspects of the situation
such as the purpose of the meeting
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If you know the other person well, your expectations will
probably be based largely on past experience
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1.3 Accommodation and Adaptation
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1.3.2 Interaction Adaptation Theory
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Desires: are what you want to accomplish, what
you hope will happen
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2. COGNITIVE THEORIES
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The cognitive tradition concentrates on the mental
processes that mediate between stimulus and response
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The content of the cognitive system consists of the
information-thoughts, attitudes and concepts
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The structure of the system reflects how you organize the
content of your thoughts within your memory banks as well
as the procedures, or operations, you manage this contenthow you actually change and use it on a daily basis
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2. 1 Theories of Planning and Action
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2.1.1 Action Assembly Theory
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Developed by John Greene, action assembly theory
examines the ways you organize your knowledge and use it
in communication
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According to the action assembly theory, you have both


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Content knowledge => You know about thing
Procedural knowledge => You know how to do things
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2. 1 Theories of Planning and Action
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2.1.1 Action Assembly Theory
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Procedural records: The associations that have been most
frequently or most recently activated so that certain nodes
tend to cluster together into modules
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Unitized assemblies: are highly efficient routines that require
little effort
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2. 1 Theories of Planning and Action
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2.1.2 Planning Theory
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Well-known theory of planning in the communication field
was produced by Charles Berger to explain the process that
individuals go through in planning their communication
behavior
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Berger defines plans as:
» “Hierarchical cognitive representations of goaldirected action sequences”
In simple terms:
» “Plans are mental images of the steps one will
go through to meet a goal”
•
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2. 1 Theories of Planning and Action
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2.1.2 Planning Theory
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Planning is the process of thinking up these action plans
•
•
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Because communication is so important in achieving goals,
Planning messages is a critical concern
Communication is central in meeting social goals
•
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Goals are arranged in hierarchies
Achieving certain goals first makes it possible to achieve
other ones later
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2. 1 Theories of Planning and Action
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2.1.2 Planning Theory
•
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Berger refers to
1. Specific domain knowledge =>


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information about the topic
loans and relatives
2. General domain knowledge =>


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information about how to communicate
persuading people
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2. 2 Theories of Message Selection
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2.2.1 Compliance Gaining
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Compliance gaining involves trying to get other people to do
what you want them to do, or
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Stop doing something you do not like
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Compliance gaining is power-oriented
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Gerald Marwell and David Schmitt have developed five
general strategies
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2. 2 Theories of Message Selection
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2.2.1 Compliance Gaining
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Five general strategies:





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1. Rewarding
2. Punishing
3. Expertise
4. Impersonal Commitments
5. personal commitments
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Theories of message selection imagine that
communicators choose abstract strategies for
accomplishing their communication goals
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In contrast, theories of message design imagine a more
complex scenario in which communicators actually
design messages that are in line with their intentions
within the situations they face
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Politeness
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When we communicate we most often try to accomplish
several things at once, and politeness, or protecting the face
of the other person, is often one of the goals we aim to
achieve
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The best-known theoretical treatment of politeness and face
is that of Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson
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This theory states that in everyday life we design messages
that protect face and achieve other goals as well
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Politeness
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Brown and Levinson believe that politeness js often a goal
because it is a culturally universal value
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Different cultures have different levels of required politeness
and different ways of being polite, but all people have the
need to be appreciated and protected,
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This is called face needs
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Politeness
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Positive face is the desire to be appreciated and approved, to be
liked and honored
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Positive politeness is designed to meet these desires
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Negative face is the desire to be free from imposition or intrusion
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Negative politeness is designed to protect the other person when
negative face need are threatened
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
Positive face is the desire to be
appreciated and approved, to be
liked and honored
Negative face is the desire to be free
from imposition or intrusion
•
Politeness
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Positive politeness is designed to meet these
desires
Negative politeness is designed to protect
the other person when negative face need
are threatened
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Politeness
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Politeness is especially important whenever we
must threaten another person's face, which
happens frequently in our relations with others
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We commit face-threatening acts (FTAs)
whenever we behave in a way that could
potentially fail to meet positive or negative face
needs
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Politeness
•
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Face threatening is normal and not itself a problem, but it
must be handled in certain ways to mitigate potential
problems that could result
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There are a wide range of ways to handle FTAs, and we do
not always do it the same way
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Whether we deliver an FTA, how we do so, and what forms
of politeness are used depend on a variety of things
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Message Design Logic.
•
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Barbara O'Keefe’s thesis is that people think differently
about communication and messages
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They employ different logics in deciding what to say to
another person in a given situation
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She uses the term message design logic to describe the
thought processes behind messages
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Message Design Logic.
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O'Keefe outlines three possible message design logics that range
from least Person-centered to most person-centered
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The expressive logic sees communication as a mode of selfexpression for communicating feelings and thoughts
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Its messages are open and reactive in nature, with little attention
given to the needs or desires of others
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An example of a message resulting from this logic would be an
angry response to a friend who forgot to get tickets to a concert
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Message Design Logic.
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The conventional logic sees communication as a game to
be played by rules
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Here communication is a means of self-expression that
proceeds according to accepted rules and norms including
the rights and responsibilities of each person involved
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This logic aims to design messages that are polite,
appropriate, and based on rules that everyone is supposed
to know
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2. 3 Theories of Message Design
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Message Design Logic.
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The rhetorical logic views communication as a way of
changing the rules through negotiation
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Messages designed with this logic tend to be flexible,
insightful, and person-centered
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They tend to reframe the situation so that various goals are
integrated into a seamless whole
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3 COMMENTARY AND CRITIQUE
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Cognitive approaches have been very popular in the United States
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The individualistic approach is common in the study of
communication
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The autonomous person is the primary unit of analysis in much
Western thinking
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It views the single human mind as the locus of for processing and
understanding information and generating message
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3 COMMENTARY AND CRITIQUE
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Yet the individualistic approach is not the only way to understand
communication
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The defining feature of communication is that it happens between
people
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Vernon Cronen is one of the harshest critics of individualism in
communication theory
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3 COMMENTARY AND CRITIQUE
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Cronen outlines several intellectual problems:
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Individualistic approaches fail to depict meaning as emergent and
social
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They detach the person from social process
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They ignore interactional pattern
•
They fail to take conjoint production into account
•
It threatens human values, cultural differences and institutional
change
It muddy ethical questions of responsability
•
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