ADVANCE THEORIES AND MODELS IN COMMUNICATION

Chapter1:
INTRODUCTION
The word communication has been derived from the Latin word ‘Communis’ which
translates to “to make common”. Communication is a tool with which we exercise our influence
on others, bring out changes in our and others’ attitudes, motivate the people around us and
establish and maintain relationships with them. Communication makes a major part of our
active life and is a social activity. This social activity is pursued verbally through speech, reading
and writing or non-verbally through body language.

Communication requires a sender, a message, a medium and a recipient, although the

receiver does not have to be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the
time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space.
Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative
commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver understands the
sender's message. Communicating with others involves three primary steps:

1. Thought: First, information exists in the mind of the sender. This can be a concept, idea,
information, or feeling.
2. Encoding: Next, a message is sent to a receiver in words or other symbols.
3. Decoding: Lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or
information that a person can understand.

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INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION

Communication skill is not language specific. It is not as though speakers of a particular
language have refined communication skills whereas, the speakers of some other language have
unrefined communication skills. But communication skill is related to the culture of the group to
which the individual belongs. All messages that we send
or receive are processed by a mental-filter. This mental-
filter or the mindset is forged by our family, friends,
neighbourhood, the school and society. In India, even
caste and community contribute to the making of this
mental-filter. This mental-filter or mindset makes us
understand each other better or even leads to
misunderstanding. Unless, we understand the attitude,
the mindset and background of the person with whom
we interact, our communication skill would be imperfect and ineffective.

Though communication exists even among some species of animals, birds and insects, it
is limited to certain noises like chirping and crying, or movements and is related to their
instinctive needs like hunting, preying and mating. Human, communication is more complex,
varied and has several objectives. It is complex because of
the use of language, a repertoire (Store-house) of
previously accepted and agreed oral and written codes. It is
varied because it ranges from simple gestures or facial
expressions to the most advanced e-mail technologies.

Why do we communicate at all? In general terms

they are as follows:

1. We communicate to persuade: It means that we

want someone to do something and this desire of ours is communicated. The mother
patting the child to stop crying, the advertiser displaying a model in a new T-Shirt and
the politician haranguing (urging) his audience to vote for him are all having the same
objective of persuading, while communicating it differently.
2. We communicate in order to give or provide information: The science teacher
demonstrating an experiment, the bank announcing a reduction in interest rates and

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the finance minister, presenting the budget are all communicating to provide
information.
3. We communicate seeking information: A passer by asking you the way to the post-
office, the student asking the teacher for some clarification or the investigating
policeman making discreet enquiries are all seeking information by using this
communication skill.
4. We communicate to express our emotions like courage or fear, joy or sorrow,
satisfaction or disappointment with appropriate gestures and words. Some people have
unlimited skill to emote, (i.e., to display excessive emotion) to suit the occasion. Our
politicians are capable of emoting well, which by itself is a communication skill.

Communication is a skill acquired by an individual to exchange messages, facts, ideas,

opinions and even express emotions. This skill is acquired either without any conscious effort, or
by conscious effort through education. When the skill is acquired without conscious effort (like a
child acquiring its mother tongue), it creates a certain profile for the individual. That is why
some people appear aggressive, some others timid and a few others sly and cunning.

Examine the following situation: You are standing in a queue to buy a ticket and some
person makes an attempt to jump the queue. You can react aggressively by shouting at him, or
you can timidly wink over the violation, or you can murmur and complain to the counter-clerk,
or you can firmly and politely ask the man to follow the queue norm. In the first instance you are
aggressive, in the second you are non-assertive, in the third you are covert or sly and in the
fourth instance you are assertive. If you have an assertive profile, you always succeed. An
assertive person believes in his rights and recognizes the rights of others. He is polite and firm in
his opinions. But in a situation of conflict, he is flexible to a reasonable level. He can say ‘No’ to a
suggestion or a request without offending the person with whom he communicates. The
assertive person has a problem solving attitude. It is your communication skill that helps you to
succeed. But, all these varied communication behaviors reflect the individual’s mindset, attitude
and even culture.

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STUDYING THEORIES AND MODELS

Theories simply provide an abstract understanding of the communication
process (Miller, 2002). As an abstract understanding, they move beyond describing a
single event by providing a means by which all such events can be understood. To
illustrate, a theory of customer service can help you understand the poor customer
service you received from your cable company this morning. Likewise, the same theory
can also help you understand a good customer service encounter you had last week at a
favorite restaurant. In a professional context, the theory can assist your organization in
training and developing customer service personnel.

At their most basic level,

theories provide us with a lens by
which to view the world. Think of
theories as a pair of glasses.
Corrective lenses allow wearers to
observe more clearly, but they also
impact vision in unforeseen ways.
For example, they can limit the span
of what you see, especially when
you try to look peripherally outside
the range of the frames. Similarly,
lenses can also distort the things
you see, making objects appear larger or smaller than they really are. You can also try
on lots of pairs of glasses until you finally pick one pair that works the best for your
lifestyle. Theories operate in a similar fashion.

A theory can illuminate an aspect of your communication so that you understand

the process much more clearly; theory also can hide things from your understanding or
distort the relative importance of things. We consider a communication theory to be
any systematic summary about the nature of the communication process. Certainly,
theories can do more than summarize. Other functions of theories are to focus

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attention on particular concepts, clarify our observations, predict communication

behavior, and generate personal and social change (Littlejohn, 1999). We do not believe,
however, that all of these functions are necessary for a systematic summary of
communication processes to be considered a theory.

What does this definition mean for people in communication, business, and
other professions? It means that any time you say a communication strategy usually
works this way at your workplace, or that a specific approach is generally effective with
your boss, or that certain types of communication are typical for particular media
organizations, you are in essence providing a theoretical explanation. Most of us make
these types of summary statements on a regular basis. The difference between this sort
of theorizing and the theories provided in this book centers on the term systematic in
the definition. Table 1.1 presents an overview of three types of theory.

The first summary statements in the table describe what is known as

commonsense theory, or theory-in-use. This type of theory is often created by an
individual’s own personal experiences or developed from helpful hints passed on from
family members, friends, or colleagues. Commonsense theories are useful because they
are often the basis for our decisions about how to communicate. Sometimes, however,
our common sense backfires. For example, think about common knowledge regarding
deception. Most people believe that liars don’t look the per-son they are deceiving in
the eyes, yet research indicates that this is not the case (DePaulo, Stone, & Lassiter,
1985). Let’s face it: If we engage in deception, we will work very hard at maintaining eye

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contact simply because we believe that liars don’t make eye contact! In this case,
commonsense theory is not supported by research into the phenomenon.

A second type of theory is known as working theory. These are generalizations

made in particular professions about the best techniques for doing something.
Journalists work using the “inverted pyramid” of story construction (most important
information to least important information). Filmmakers operate using specific camera
shots to evoke par-ticular emotions in the audience, so close-ups are used when a
filmmaker wants the audience to place particular emphasis on the object in the shot.
Giannetti (1982), for example, describes a scene in Hitchcock’s Notoriousin which the
heroine realizes she is being poisoned by her coffee, and the audience “sees” this
realization through a close-up of the coffee cup. Working theories are more systematic
than common-sense theories because they represent agreed-on ways of doing things
for a particular profession. In fact, these working theories may very well be based on
scholarly theories. However, working theories more closely represent guidelines for
behavior rather than systematic representations. These types of theories are typically
taught in content-specific courses (such as public relations, media production, or public
speaking).

The type of theory we will be focusing on in this book is known as scholarly

theory. Students often assume (incorrectly!) that because a theory is labeled as
scholarly that it is not useful for people in business and the professions. Instead, the
term scholarly indicates that the theory has undergone systematic research.
Accordingly, scholarly theories provide more thorough, accurate, and abstract
explanations for communication than do commonsense or working theories. The
downside is that scholarly theories are typically more complex and difficult to
understand than commonsense or working theories. If you are genuinely committed to
improving your understanding of the communication process, however, scholarly theory
will provide a strong foundation for doing so.

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Chapter 2:
THEORIES OF SIGNS
A sign, defined in Wikipedia is something that can be interpreted as having a
meaning, which is something other than itself, and which is therefore able to
communicate information to the one interpreting or decoding the sign. Signs can work
through any of the senses, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory or taste, and their meaning
can be intentional such as a word uttered with a specific meaning.

Sign Theory, or Semiotic, is an account of signification, representation, reference

and meaning.

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SEMIOTIC THEORY (Charles Morris)

Charles W. Morris (May 23, 1901 – January 15, 1979) was an American
semiotician and philosopher. Charles W. Morris studied psychology at the University of
Chicago in the early 1920s and originally planned on a career in psychiatry. He wanted
to learn why and how human beings act so that he would later be able to help them.
These goals went through his mind when he was sitting in a car one evening, waiting for
his good friend, Bauhaus artist Lászò Moholy-Nagy. Suddenly it became clear to Morris
that human action is unthinkable without sign processes and evaluations.

Morris's development of a behavioral theory of signs—i.e., semiotics—is partly

due to his desire to unify logical positivism with behavioral empiricism and pragmatism.
Morris's union of these three philosophical perspectives eventuated in his claim that
symbols have three types of relations:

1. To objects
2. To persons, and
3. To other symbols

He later called these relations "semantics", "pragmatics", and "syntactics".

Viewing semiotics as a way to bridge philosophical outlooks, Morris grounded his sign
theory in Mead's social behaviorism. In fact, Morris's interpretation of an interpretant, a
term used in the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, has been understood to be strictly
psychological. Morris's system of signs emphasizes the role of stimulus and response in
the orientation, manipulation, and consummation phases of action. His mature semiotic
theory is traced out in Signs, Language, and Behavior (1946). Morris's semiotic is
concerned with explaining the tri-relation between syntactics, semantics, and
pragmatics in a dyadic way, which is very different from the semiotics of C. S. Peirce.
This caused some to argue that Morris misinterpreted Peirce by converting the
interpretant into a logically existent thing.

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The term
"pragmatics" and the
classic definition of the
distinctions among syntax,
semantics, and pragmatics
are due to Charles Morris
(1938). Within semiotics ,
the general science of signs, Morris distinguished three branches of inquiry: syntax , the
study of "the formal relation of signs to one another", semantics , the study of "the
relations signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable" (their designata), and
pragmatics , the study of "the relations of signs to interpreters" (1938, p.6), quoted from
Levinson (1983, p.1). On this view, syntax concerns properties of expressions, such as
well-formedness; semantics concerns relations between expressions and what they are
"about", such as reference and truth-conditions; and pragmatics concerns relations
between expressions, their meanings, and their uses in context, such as implicature.

MEDIATIONAL THEORY (Charles

Osgood)
Charles Egerton Osgood (November 20, 1916 – September 15, 1991) was a
distinguished American psychologist who developed a technique for measuring the
connotative meaning of concepts, known as the semantic differential.

Charles Osgood’s mediation hypothesis is a theory that can be laid out very
simply, yet in nature it is very complex. The key elements of this theory are first, physical

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stimulus, which is something that you see or hear. This physical stimulus will then lead
to an internal response, which is a natural response, almost un-thought of, (I will
provide an example later). This internal response will then lead to an internal stimulus,
which is the thoughts in which you relate this stimulus to, and then last it will lead to an
outward response. This outward response is the visible or physical response that takes
place due to the first response. This can also be seen as the feed back to the message.

From Figure 3-1 you can see that Osgood has created a three-stage model
of meaning: (1) The word thunder gets through our sensory and perceptual filters
and is decoded to the extent that it’s recognized as a sign of something else. (2)
Our meaning for the word is then established through association with the actual
event, but this is a process of mediated representation rather than a knee-jerk
cause and effect relationship. (3) Finally, internal self-stimulation is encoded into
an overt behavioral response to the word. Osgood apologizes for the convoluted
nature of the model but notes that when it comes to explaining how words come
to hold meaning for a person, complexity is the price of sufficiency.

Because this is a theory, which plays on emotions, the other side that we need
not leave out which Osgood uses as a means in measuring this response is the scale of
emotions. I tried to bring this example into play at the beginning in the introduction, but
to make things a little more clear lets run through that idea again. After you hear the

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rumbling and the crash in the sky, according to Osgood your mind will then process the
thunder on three different levels, which will each effect behavior in one way or another.

The first of the three levels that I want to look at is the process level, or the
sensation level. It is in this level when the basic stimulus response reaction occurs. An
example of this would be after you hear the loud clap and the rumbling in the sky you
might jump, or have a tensing of your muscles. Now the important point that Osgood
makes in relation to this stage is that the loud sound that you hear doesn’t mean any
certain thing. According to Osgood in this sensory stage no meaning is taking place, it is
“merely a mirror of what is.”(Griffin 1-8)

The second stage is the perception level. This is the stage at which input occurs,
or when we use our senses, eyes, ears, touch, etc. and then relate what we take in from
our senses to something that we have experienced in the past. An example of this might
be with you and your past experiences with thunderstorms. You might have seen many
in your life and when you hear the rumbling in the clouds, followed by the clap you then
relate, those noises to the word thunder. Which can then lead you to relating the word
thunder with, lighting, rainstorm and so forth. The tense feeling that you received after
hearing the sounds in the sky or the thunder might not be because you are afraid of
thunder, but more so because you have a fear of lighting which you relate to thunder.
The important point that Osgood makes with his theory is that it is not the word
thunder that brings on the reaction, because if you where just to hear the word you
might not have the same reaction to it as you did with the actual sign of thunder in the
sky. The mediation theory places more emphasis on what the word signifies and not so
much on what it means. This is also tied in with the third level, which is
representational. It is this level that I began to describe when I was discussing that the
word is only part of the reaction. The word thunder doesn’t make your muscles tighten,
but the sound itself is what caused that reaction. (Griffin 1-8)

To put this theory very plainly, you see, hear, etc. a stimuli, that then leads you to
an emotional response, which then leads you to outward reaction to that emotional
response. Your emotional response occurs because it can be related to something that
has occurred in your past experiences. So the thought process that you must go through
to make meaning of the initial stimuli must go though that emotional state which will

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then cause you to have meaning to a word or to relate a word to what that stimuli
means to you. Osgood has set up a three stage model of meaning, “1) the word (ex.
Thunder) gets through our sensory and perceptual filters and is decoded to the extent
that it’s recognized as a sign of something else. 2) Our meaning for the word is then
established through association with the actual event, but this is a process of mediation
representation rather than a knee-jerk cause and effect relationship. 3) Finally, internal
self-stimulation is encoded into an overt behavioral response to the word.” (Griffin1-8)

KINESICS THEORY (Ray Birdwhistell)

Kinesics is the interpretation of body motion communication such as facial
expressions and gestures — that
is, nonverbal behavior related to
movement of any part of the
body or the body as a whole.
The equivalent popular culture
term is body language, a term
Ray Birdwhistell -- considered
the founder of this area of
study[1] -- never used, and did
not consider appropriate (on
the grounds that what can be
conveyed with the body does
not meet the linguist's definition of language). Even so, many people use this term.

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Kinesics was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who
wished to study how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and
movement. His ideas over several decades were synthesized and resulted in the book,
Kinesics and Context. Interest in kinesics specifically and nonverbal behavior generally
was popularized during the late 1960s and early 1970s, through such popular mass
market (definitely not academic) publications as How to Read a Person Like a Book. Part
of Birdwhistell's work involved filming people in social situations and analyzing them to
show elements of communication not clearly seen otherwise. One of the most
important of his projects was The Natural History of an Interview, a long-term
interdisciplinary collaboration including Gregory Bateson, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann,
Norman A. McQuown, Henry W. Brosin, and others.

Drawing heavily on
descriptive linguistics,
Birdwhistell argued that all
movements of the body
have meaning (i.e. are not
accidental), and that non-
verbal behavior has a
grammar that can be
analyzed in similar terms to

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spoken language. Thus, a "kineme" is "similar to a phoneme because it consists of a

group of movements which are not identical, but which may be used interchangeably
without affecting social meaning".

Birdwhistell estimated that no more than 30 to 35 percent of the social meaning

of a conversation or an interaction is carried by the words. He also concluded that there
were no universals in these kinesic displays - a claim disputed by Paul Ekman, who was
interested in analysis of universals, especially in facial expression.

PROXEMICS THEORY (Edward Hall)

Edward Twitchell Hall, Jr. (May 16, 1914 – July 20, 2009) was an anthropologist
born in Missouri in 1914. The foundation for his lifelong research on cultural perceptions
of space was laid during World War II when he served
in the U.S. Army in Europe and the Philippines. During
this time, as well as during his subsequent service as
director of the Foreign Service Institute training
program for technicians assigned to overseas duty, Hall
observed the many difficulties created by failures of
intercultural communication. Hall began to believe that
basic differences in the the way that members of
different cultures perceived reality were responsible
for miscommunications of the most fundamental kind.
Along with his wife, Mildred Reed Hall, he has published numerous practical and
academic books on cross-cultural communication.

Hall is most associated with proxemics, the study of the human use of space
within the context of culture, arguing that human perceptions of space, although
derived from sensory apparatus that all humans share, are molded and patterned by
culture. He argued that differing cultural frameworks for defining and organizing space,

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Intimate (0 to 18 inches)
which are internalized in all people at an unconscious level, can lead to serious failures
of communication and understanding in cross-cultural settings. Hall’s book analyzed
both the personal spaces that people form around their bodies as well as the macro-
level sensibilities that shape cultural expectations about how streets, neighborhoods
and cities should be properly organized.

Personal (18 inches to 4 feet),

In animals, Swiss zoologist Heini Hediger had distinguished between flight
distance (run boundary), critical distance (attack boundary), personal distance (distance
separating members of non-contact species, as a pair of swans), and social distance
(intraspecies communication distance). Hall reasoned that, with very few exceptions,
flight distance and critical distance have been eliminated in human reactions, and thus
interviewed hundreds of people to determine modified criteria for human interactions.

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Social (4 to 10 feet)
Proxemics can be defined as "the interrelated observations and theories of
man's use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture". Hall, emphasized the impact
of proxemic behavior (the use of space) on interpersonal communication. Hall believed
that the value in studying proxemics comes from its applicability in evaluating not only
the way people interact with others in daily life, but also "the organization of space in
houses and buildings, and ultimately the layout of towns.

Public (over 10 feet)

In his book, The Silent Language, Edward Hall outlined the following ideas behind
proxemic theory:

1. There are four types of distances people keep: intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal
(18 inches to 4 feet), social (4 to 10 feet), and public (over 10 feet).

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Diagram of Edward T. Hall's personal reaction bubbles (1966), showing radius in feet

2. The distances outlined are those deliberately chosen by individuals. Forced

closeness doesn’t factor in proxemics.
3. Proxemic behavior is learned mostly from observing others rather than from
explicit instruction, which is why personal distance and physical contact varies by
culture.
4. The physical distance between communicators indicates the type of relationship
they have. Body angles, touch and eye contact further reveal the familiarity
between people.
5. Americans generally prefer 18 inches of personal space.

Hall believed that proxemics could not only help illuminate relationships and
communication goals, but also explain other cultural and anthropological phenomena,
such as the organization of towns and living spaces. Furniture, walls, streets, buildings
and fences are arranged in ways that delineate one’s territory, whether for living,
working or meeting others. Territories are designed to provide comfort for their owners
and produce anxiety within intruders.

Even color is used to identify certain kinds of territories and the behavior
expected from those who enter them. For instance, a bright purple sofa in a small

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apartment would encourage a fun, carefree attitude, while a pristine white sofa in the
same apartment would indicate an owner who prefers formality and restraint.
Restaurants painted in soothing pastels invite diners to linger over their meals; those
decorated with loud, obnoxious tones say, “Eat quickly and leave.”

There are four main kinds of territories in proxemics:

1. Body Territory – refers to

the personal space, or
“bubble,” that one
maintains around their
person.

2. Primary Territory – one’s home, vehicle or

other living space.

3. Secondary Territory – a structured

place where entry is reserved for
particular individuals and certain norms
are expected, such as a school, office or church.

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4. Public Territory – an open space

where anyone can come and go, such
as a park or shopping mall.

Territories can overlap. For example, a book club might meet in a person’s home.
For the homeowner, the home is a primary territory. For the book club members, it’s a
secondary territory. Territories function as a way to protect their owners’ comfort,
interests and possessions from unwelcome invaders.

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Chapter 3:
THEORIES OF
INFORMATION
INFORMATION THEORY (Claude
Shannon)
Information Theory is a branch of mathematics and computer science which
studies the quantification of information. As you have probably realized by now, the
concept of information can be defined in many different ways. Clearly, if we want to
quantify information, we need to use definitions which are as objective as possible.

While subjectivity can never be completely removed from the equation (reality
is, after all, always perceived and interpreted in a subjective manner) we will now

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explore a definition of information that is much more technical and objective than the
definitions we discussed in the previous video.

Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American
mathematician, electronic engineer, and cryptographer known as "the father of
information theory". Shannon is famous for having founded information theory with a
landmark paper that he published in 1948. However, he is also credited with founding
both digital computer and digital circuit design theory in 1937, when, as a 21-year-old
master's degree student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he wrote
his thesis demonstrating that electrical applications of Boolean algebra could construct
and resolve any logical, numerical relationship. Shannon contributed to the field of
cryptanalysis for national defense during World War II, including his basic work on code
breaking and secure telecommunications.

This is Claude Shannon, an American

mathematician and electronic engineer who is now
considered the "Father of Information Theory".
While working at Bell Laboratories, he formulated
a theory which aimed to quantify the
communication of information.

Shannon's article titled "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", published

in 1948, as well as his book "The Mathematical Theory of Communication", co-written
with mathematician Warren Weaver and published in 1949, truly revolutionized science.

Shannon's theory tackled the problem of how to transmit information most

efficiently through a given channel as well as many other practical issues such as how to
make communication more secure (for instance, how to tackle unauthorized
eavesdropping).

Thanks to Shannon's ideas on signal processing, data compression, as well as

data storage and communication, useful applications have been found in many different
areas. For instance, lossless data compression is used in ZIP files, while lossy data
compression is used in other types of files such as MP3s or JPGs. Other important

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applications of Information Theory are within the fields of cryptography, thermal

physics, neurobiology or quantum computing, to name just a few.

It is important to realize that Shannon's Theory was created to find ways to

optimize the physical encoding of information, to find fundamental limits on signal
processing operations. Because of this, Shannon's definition of information was
originally associated with the actual symbols which are used to encode a message (for
instance, the letters or words contained in a message), and not intended to relate to the
actual interpretation, assigned meaning or importance of the message.

Information itself does not really have intrinsic objective meaning. What
Shannon's Theory aimed to tackle were practical issues completely unrelated to
qualitative properties such as meaningfulness, but more related to the actual encoding
used in the transmission of a particular message.

Therefore, what we are dealing with is a very different definition of information

than those we have discussed so far. Shannon defines information as a purely
quantitative measure of communication exchanges. As we will see, Shannon's definition
represents a way to measure the amount of information that can potentially be gained
when one learns of the outcome of a random process. And it is precisely this
probabilistic nature of Shannon's definition that turns out to be a very useful tool; one
that physicists (and other science disciplines) now use in many different areas of
research.

Shannon's information is in fact known as Shannon's entropy (Legend says that it

was the mathematician John von Neumann who suggested that Shannon use this term,
instead of information). In general, I will refer to Shannon's definition as Shannon's
entropy, information entropy or Shannon's information, to avoid confusion with other
definitions of information or with the concept of thermo dynamical entropy.

Well, the amount of information contained in a given message is defined as the

negative of a certain sum of probabilities. Don't worry, we are not going to deal with the
actual details of the equation here, but instead I will give you a flavor of what it means.
Suppose we have a probabilistic process which has a certain number of possible
outcomes, each with a different probability of occurring.

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Let's call the total number of possible outcomes N and the probabilities of each
outcome p(1), p(2), p(3), ….., p(N). For instance, let's say that the probabilistic process
we are dealing with is the throw of a coin. In this case, the total number of possible
outcomes is 2, so N=2 (that is, heads and tails – let's call heads 1 and tails 2). The
probabilities associated with each of these possible outcomes, assuming a fair coin, is ½.
So we have p(1)= ½ and p(2)= ½ (which is the same as saying each possible outcome,
heads or tails, has a 50% probability of occurring).

Shannon showed that the entropy (designated by the letter H) is equivalent to

the potential information gain once the experimenter learns the outcome of the
experiment, and is given by the following formula:

Shannon's Entropy Formula

This formula implies that the more entropy a system has, the more information
we can potentially gain once we know the outcome of the experiment. Shannon's
entropy can be thought of as a way to quantify the potential reduction in our
uncertainty once we have learnt the outcome of the probabilistic process.

Let’s explain the concept of Shannon's entropy in a coin example. The coin is fair,
so the probability of heads is the same as the probability of tails (that is, ½ each). Let's
consider the event of throwing the coin. Plugging the given probabilities into the
equation gives us Shannon entropy, that is, information content of one bit, because
there are two possible outcomes and each has equal probability. Once we have thrown
the coin and we have learnt its outcome, we can say that we have gained one bit of
information, or alternatively, we can say that our uncertainty has been reduced by one
bit.

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Now imagine you have a coin which has two heads. In this case, N=1, that is,
there is only one possible outcome. The likelihood of obtaining heads is therefore equal
to 1 (a probability equal to 1 means absolute certainty, 100%). Since the uncertainty is
zero in this case, Shannon's entropy is zero, and so is the information content. There is
no longer the presence of two different alternatives here. The information we gain after
throwing the coin is therefore, zero. Look at it this way: we already knew with certainty
what was going to happen in advance, so there is no potential gain in information after
learning the outcome.

Another way of describing Shannon's entropy is to say that it represents the

amount of information the experimenter lacks prior to learning the outcome of a
probabilistic process.

Hence, according to Shannon's formula, a message's entropy is maximized when

the occurrence of each of its individual parts is equally probable. What this means is
that we will gain the largest amount of Shannon's information when dealing with
systems whose individual possible outcomes are equally likely to occur (for instance,
throwing a fair coin or rolling a fair die, both systems having a set of possible outcomes
which are all equally likely to occur). Shannon's entropy is a measure of the potential
reduction in uncertainty in the receiver's knowledge. We can see the process of gaining
information as equivalent to the process of losing uncertainty.

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Chapter 4:
THEORIES OF
MEANING AND
THINKING
SEMANTIC SPACE THEORY (Charles
Osgood)
Charles E. Osgood identified three dimensions along which we create meaning.
Every message may have more or less along each dimension, thus placing the meaning
in three-dimensional (although still rather virtual) space.

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Charles Egerton Osgood (November 20, 1916 – September 15, 1991) was a
distinguished psychologist who developed a technique for the measurement of the
connotative meaning of concepts known as the semantic differential.

The semantics of a phrase or sentence depends on such as the ordering of the

words, the choice of specific words and the other phrases and sentences that provide
the wider lexical context. The semantic axis holds possible meanings of the words, one
of which will be selected, based on the positioning along the other two axes. Using
semantic methods of persuasion includes using metaphor, ambiguous words and
sentence structures that 'say
things without saying them' and
leads the listener into putting
themselves into situations.
Semantics may also be applied to
actions, and body language adds
huge meaning to
communications.

Words have function

within sentences and speeches,
supporting one another and
creating patterns that may have
subtle and deliberate impact. The
functional axis adds what the
words do, giving them purpose,
attaching them to the outer world of things or the inner world of ideas. The words may
identify issues, assign cause, propose solution, and excite audiences. People make
mistakes with words, for example in the signal response of confusing the map with the
territory. These errors can be deliberately caused by canny speakers whose intent is that
the words function as persuasive elements.

Thematic axis (or textural) wording adds unity and overall feel to the message.
They may all combine to add vision, tell a story, and build a sense of purpose. Themes
may be contrastive, such as light and dark or good and bad. They may be subject-based

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such as children or dogs. They may make heavy use of metaphor to suggest and develop
a bigger picture. Themes may also use the sounds of words, creating poetic hammering
of consonants or flows of rhythm and rhyme.

So when composing message, think not only of the basic meaning, but what you
want the words to do. Also use themes to build unity into the whole message.

COGNITIVE THEORY (J.S. Bruner)

Jerome Seymour
Bruner (born October 1,
1915) is a psychologist
who has made significant
contributions to human
cognitive psychology and
cognitive learning theory in
educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education.
Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law.
Bruner is one of the pioneers of the cognitive psychology movement in the United
States. This began through his own research when he began to study sensation and
perception as being active, rather than passive processes. In 1947, Bruner published his
classic study Value and Need as Organizing Factors in Perception in which poor and rich
children were asked to estimate the size of coins or wooden disks the size of American
pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half-dollars. The results showed that the value and
need the poor and rich children associated with coins caused them to significantly
overestimate the size of the coins, especially when compared to their more accurate
estimations of the same size disks. Similarly, another classic study conducted by Bruner
and Leo Postman is the Bruner’s Red Spade Experiment: A classic psychological
experiment performed by Bruner and Leo Postman showed slower reaction times and
less accurate answers when a deck of playing cards reversed the color of the suit symbol
for some cards (e.g. red spades and black hearts).

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In 1956, Bruner published a book A Study of Thinking which formally initiated the
study of cognitive psychology. Soon afterwards, Bruner helped found the Center of
Cognitive Studies at Harvard. After a time, Bruner began to research other topics in
psychology, but in 1990 he returned to the subject and gave a series of lectures. The
lectures were compiled into a book Acts of Meaning and in these lectures, Bruner
refuted the computer model for studying the mind, advocating a more holistic
understanding of the mind and its cognitions.

Jerome S. Bruner believes that a “theory of development should go hand in hand

with a theory of instruction” and that the outcome of cognitive development is thinking.
By creating a well-developed and intelligent mind it has endless possibilities. Moreover,
the aim of education is to create independent and self-propelled thinkers.

Bruner believes that people understand the world in 3 ways:

1. Enactive representation: representing one’s understand through motor

responses
2. Iconic representation: using images to represent understanding
3. Symbolic representation: using symbols (i.e. language, music notes or math
notation) to represent understanding

Bruner believes moving through these stages is not dependent upon a particular
age; rather, the influence of the environment can help the learner progress through the
stages, allowing for a spiral curriculum. In order to determine which mode of
representation is appropriate, one must know about the learners’ prior knowledge.

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Bruner also believed that learning by discovery is a key contributor to intellectual

development. He is not suggesting going through discovery steps randomly, rather
using strategies for searching
and finding out information,
such as formulating a
hypothesis and working
through problem solving.
Furthermore, Bruner
believed guided practice
could hinder discovery
learner and rather wanted
the learner’s to focus on his
or her own reflection.

Moreover, it is
important to understand how skills are influenced by culture, giving the teacher a better
understanding. Bruner suggests that cross-cultural differences appear, especially with
the two cognitive cultures (narrative thinking and logical scientific thinking).

Overall, Bruner suggests that with a theory of instruction that brings together
the “nature of knowledge, the nature of the knower, and the nature of the knowledge-
getting process”, you can develop independent and self-propelled learners.

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Chapter 5:
THEORIES OF
PERSUASION AND
CHANGE
Persuasion is a large factor in attitude change and follows several criteria of
information processing (McGuire, 1969). Persuasion is a process of guiding people
towards an idea, attitude of action. To allow this process to work and for attitudes to
work a definition of an attitude needs to be defined, ‘attitudes are evaluations of
something (called the attitude object) (Hewstone et al., 2008). The information
processing criteria to be persuaded is the audiences have to attend to the message; this
works best when the message is of high quality and is of importance to the person. The
person considers relevant evidence and logic. Depending on which route of persuasion
they adhere to, these routes will be discussed. They have to comprehend to the

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message, is the meaning and the importance understood, acceptance of the message is
next, they have to accept what the
message is to be persuaded, if it has
so significant importance to the
person or they do not understand it,
it will be difficult to persuade them if
they then do not accept it.

An important factor of
persuasion is the impact it has on the
memory, this could include source
credibility, and who is the person
delivering the message. Do we trust
them? Are they competent? Are we attracted to them/ similar to them? Are they
famous? These questions we ask ourselves when attending to the message, we are
more likely to remember the message if these questions are answered with a “yes”
response. If the source is not credible to deliver the message we may forget who told us
but remember the message if it is important enough to us, this is called the sleeper
effect, When attitude change occurs over time but the message has become dissociated
from its source.

Finally for the message to persuade the person is they have to behave in
accordance with it. This is where their attitude and behavior have changed to be
associated with the message. E.g. A stop smoking adverts having an effect on the person
and they stop smoking. This would be an effective
persuasion advert.

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RHETORICAL THEORY (Aristotle)

Aristotle's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion, dating
from the 4th century BC. The English title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of
Rhetoric, or a Treatise on
Rhetoric.

Rhetoric is the art of

discourse, an art that aims to
improve the capability of writers or
speakers to inform, persuade, or
motivate particular audiences in
specific situations. As a subject of
formal study and a productive
civic practice, rhetoric has played a
central role in the Western tradition. Aristotle, considers it a counterpart of both logic
and politics, and calls it "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means
of persuasion." Rhetorics typically provide heuristics for understanding, discovering, and
developing arguments for particular situations, such as Aristotle's three persuasive
audience appeals, logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric, which trace the
traditional tasks in designing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome:
invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Along with grammar and logic,
rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse.

Aristotle's treatise on rhetoric is an attempt to systematically describe civic

rhetoric as a human art or skill (techne). It is more of an objective theory than it is an
interpretive theory with a rhetorical tradition. Aristotle's "art" of rhetoric emphasizes on
persuasion to be the purpose of rhetoric. His definition of rhetoric as "the faculty of
observing in any given case the available means of persuasion," essentially a mode of
discovery, seems to limit the art to the inventional process, and Aristotle heavily
emphasizes the logical aspect of this process. In his world, rhetoric is the art of
discovering all available means of persuasion. A speaker supports the probability of a

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message by logical, ethical, and emotional proofs. Some form of logos, ethos, and
pathos is present in every possible public presentation that exists. But the treatise in
fact also discusses not only elements of style and (briefly) delivery, but also emotional
appeals (pathos) and characterological appeals (ethos).

Aristotle identified that three elements are needed for an effective

communication which are,

1. The Speaker
2. The Speech
3. The Listener

Aristotle identifies
three steps or "offices" of
rhetoric—invention,
arrangement, and style—
and three different types
of rhetorical proof: ethos
(Aristotle's theory of
character and how the
character and credibility of
a speaker can influence an
audience to consider
him/her to be believable—
there being three qualities that contribute to a credible ethos: perceived intelligence,
virtuous character, and goodwill); pathos (the use of emotional appeals to alter the
audience's judgment through metaphor, amplification, storytelling, or presenting the
topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience.); and, logos (the use of
reasoning, either inductive or deductive, to construct an argument).

And he spotted that some kind of change can be brought to the listener by the
speaker through the speech. This is how the first theory of communication took its
initiation.

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Rhetoric is often considered as an art, which studies how the things that we said
or wrote made changes in the person who reads or hears it. Thus it studies the
effectiveness of language. The rhetoric was an important aspect in ancient western
education, especially for the effective oratorical persuasion in fields of politics law etc.

The rhetorical education mainly focused on five canons serve as a guide to

creating persuasive messages and arguments. They are

1. Inventio (Invention) - is the process that leads to the development and refinement of
an argument.
2. Dispositio (Disposition or Arrangement) - is used to determine how it should be
organized for greatest effect, usually beginning with the exordium.
3. Elocutio (Style) - Once the speech content is known and the structure is
determined, the next steps involve elocutio (style) and pronuntiatio
(presentation).
4. Memoria (Memory) - comes to play as the speaker recalls each of these
elements during the speech.
5. Actio (Delivery) - is the final step as the speech is presented in a gracious and
pleasing way to the audience - the Grand Style.

These are invention (the process of developing arguments); style (determining

how to present the arguments); arrangement (organizing the arguments for extreme
effect); delivery (the gestures, pronunciation, tone and pace used when presenting the
persuasive arguments); and memory (the process of learning and memorizing the
speech and persuasive messages.)

All kind of usage of language comprises a certain amount of element of

persuasion in them. The classic rhetoric theory was to know how this element of
persuasion works and how it can be effectively utilized. In simple words classical
rhetorical theory developed from the thought how the language works for people. The
classical rhetorical theory doesn’t have its universality like other theories, the major
reason for that is people just identified this theory. It existed since when men began to
speak.

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In the rhetoric field, there is an intellectual debate about Aristotle's definition of

rhetoric. Some believe that Aristotle defines rhetoric in On Rhetoric as the art of
persuasion, while others think he defines it as the art of judgment. Rhetoric as the art of
judgment would mean the rhetor discerns the available means of persuasion with a
choice. Aristotle also says rhetoric is concerned with judgment because the audience
judges the rhetor's ethos.

One of the most famous of Aristotelian doctrines was the idea of topics (also
referred to as common topics or commonplaces). Though the term had a wide range of
application (as a memory technique or compositional exercise, for example) it most
often referred to the "seats of argument"—the list of categories of thought or modes of
reasoning—that a speaker could use to generate arguments or proofs. The topics were
thus a heuristic or inventional tool designed to help speakers categorize and thus better
retain and apply frequently used types of argument. For example, since we often see
effects as "like" their causes, one way to invent an argument (about a future effect) is by
discussing the cause (which it will be "like"). This and other rhetorical topics derive from
Aristotle's belief that there are certain predictable ways in which humans (particularly
non-specialists) draw conclusions from premises.

Classical rhetorical theory can be seen everywhere around us. When the kids ask
“Mom can you buy me an ice cream?” he think of the possibility of getting ice cream by
persuading his mother. And the kids think what will be the reaction of his mom, or how
will she react against his question, all these things which gone through the mind of the
kid are as per the classical rhetorical theory.

Jesus, Buddha all these religious icons were made the people pursue and
influence through their teaching in the framework of classical rhetorical theory. All the
great leaders in history who influenced the masses of people used and uses the classical
rhetorical theory.

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BEHAVIORAL THEORY (Wallace

Fortheringham)
Wallace C. Fortheringham was born in
Philadelphia, PA. Attended Muskingum College
in New Concord, OH. Married in 1939.
Professor of Speech at Ohio State University in
Columbus, OH from 1951 to 1974.
Fortheringham believes that “Persuasion is that
body of effects in receivers that has been
caused by persuader’s message.

Wallace C. Fotheringham felt that

Aristotle’s five basic functions for persuasion
were developed as a result of viewing the
persuader as an individual and not as an
organization with members highly specialized in persuasive tasks. Fatheringham
mentions his basic functions of persuasion. They are as follows:

1. Energizing and initiating the persuasive process- He states that energy is the
product of motivation, and as a process it must be reenergize and so on.
2. Selecting goals- He states that making decisions regarding specific actions to be
sought from receivers.
3. Deciding what instrumental effects to seek in achieving goals- This involves the
determination of what message effects are generative of desired actions.
4. Selecting, securing, and analyzing audiences- This involves decisions as to what
receivers need to be persuaded or who is to receive the message.
5. Acquiring and originating message content- This involves mainly law firms who
have to do tons of research.
6. Selecting messages- This is when there is a great deal of information, a selection
is made with those of the greatest potential value to the persuasive effort.

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7. Selecting and creating conditions to facilitate message effect- Those in charge

with this is mainly concerned with adding a message context most likely to
enhance the message effect.
8. Structuring message elements in a single effort or campaign- This is the
arrangement of message elements. This task involves the entire persuasive
effort.
9. Selecting media and forms of persuasion- He states that media selection is
frequently being regulated by the message form.
10. Encoding messages- This involves the selection and arrangements of signs or
billboards.
11. Transmitting messages- He states that the message must always be transmitted
to receivers.
12. Securing and interpreting feedback- He says that you always need feedback in
order to judge the success of the message. When feedback is not immediately
available, they will hire people to do surveys to find out if the message was
appropriately received.
13. Make ethical decisions- This function is very important while regarding ends and
means. It also is a decision as to whether to make a controversial statement at
the end of your presentation.

Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather,

they look at what leaders actually do. If success can be defined in terms of describable
actions, then it should be relatively easy for other people to act in the same way. This is
easier to teach and learn then to adopt the more ephemeral 'traits' or 'capabilities'.

Behavioral Theory assumes that leadership capability can be learned, rather than
being inherent. This opens the floodgates to leadership development, as opposed to
simple psychometric assessment that sorts those with leadership potential from those
who will never have the chance.

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ATTITUDE CHANGE THEORY (William

McGuire)
Attitudes are the evaluations and associated beliefs and behaviors towards some
object. They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other
people, are subject to change by social influences,
as well as by the individual's motivation to
maintain cognitive consistency when cognitive
dissonance occurs--when two attitudes or
attitude and behavior conflict. Attitudes and
attitude objects are functions of affective and
cognitive components. It has been suggested that
the inter-structural composition of an associative
network can be altered by the activation of a
single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be
possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined.

William McGuire (perhaps best known for his inoculation theory, which concerns
how to create resistance to persuasion) proposed a model of attitude change.
McGuire’s (1968) model of the persuasion process includes six steps (sometimes it is
described as five steps, omitting “Presentation”):

Presentation -> Attention -> Comprehension -> Yielding -> Retention -> Behavior

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“Presentation” is McGuire’s term for the persuasive message. He then reasoned

that people cannot be persuaded by message they ignore, so after the message is
presented to the audience
the next step in the
persuasion process is paying
“attention.” Third, the
audience must understand
the message before it can
influence their attitudes, so
“comprehension” follows
attention in his model.
“Yielding” is McGuire’s term
for acceptance, the point at
which attitude change occurs.
When a persuasive message
succeeds at changing a
listener’s mind (attitudes), McGuire says that the receiver has yielded to the message.

The fifth step is “retention,” and it concerns how long the attitude change lasts.
McGuire recognized that attitudes do change; if they were permanent, of course, we
couldn’t hope to change them with our persuasive messages. But the very fact that
attitudes do change (and can be changed) means that when we succeed at changing
someone’s attitude, that change probably won’t last forever -- some other persuasive
message (or experience) could change their attitudes again.

Finally, McGuire considered “behavior” to be the ultimate goal of persuasive

discourse. If we look at the persuasion that surrounds us -- sales messages advertising
goods and services, political messages asking us to vote for politicians, public service
messages urging us not to drink and drive, friends trying to get us to go see a movie or a
concert -- we can see that persuasion often has action as the ultimate goal.

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LEARNING THEORY (Robert Weiss)

In psychology and education, learning is commonly defined as a process that
brings together cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for
acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge, skills, values, and world
views (Illeris, 2000; Ormorod, 1995). Learning as a process focuses on what happens
when the learning takes place. Explanations of what happens constitute learning
theories. A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn,
thereby helping us understand the inherently complex process of learning. Learning
theories have two chief values according to Hill (2002). One is in providing us with
vocabulary and a conceptual framework for
interpreting the examples of learning that we
observe. The other is in suggesting where to
look for solutions to practical problems. The
theories do not give us solutions, but they do
direct our attention to those variables that are
crucial in finding solutions.

Robert Weiss proposed that learning

provides an excellent model by which the less
understood process of persuasion might be
studied. He theorized four stages of
Instrumental Learning; Stimulus, Response, Delay and Reinforcement.

There are three main categories or philosophical frameworks under which

learning theories fall: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Behaviorism
focuses only on the objectively observable aspects of learning. For behaviorism, learning
is the acquisition of a new behavior through conditioning. There are two types of
conditioning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is
where the behavior becomes a reflex response to stimulus as in the case of Pavlov's
Dogs. Operant conditioning, where there is reinforcement of the behavior by a reward
or a punishment.

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Cognitive theories look beyond behavior to explain brain-based learning.

Describes the mind as the “black box”
and should be opened and understood.
And the learner is viewed as an
information processor; like a computer.

Constructivism views learning as

a process in which the learner actively
constructs or builds new ideas or concepts. Constructivism as a paradigm or worldview
posits that learning is an active, constructive process. The learner is an information
constructor. People actively construct or create their own subjective representations of
objective reality. New information is linked to prior knowledge, thus mental
representations are subjective.

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CONSISTENCY / BALANCE THEORY

(Fritz Heider)
Fritz Heider, an Austrian psychologist
whose work was related to the Gestalt school.
Conceptualizes the consistency motive as a
drive toward psychological balance, -
”sentiment” or liking relationships are
balanced if the affect valence in a system
multiplies out to a positive result.

Balance Theory is a motivational

theory of attitude change proposed by Fritz
Heider, which conceptualizes the consistency
motive as a drive toward psychological balance. Heider proposed that “sentiment” or
liking relationships are balanced if the affect valence in a system multiplies out to a
positive result.

For example: a Person who likes an Other person will be balanced by the same
valence attitude on behalf of the other.

Symbolically, P (+) > O and P < (+) O results in psychological balance.

This can be extended to objects (X) as well, thus introducing triadic relationships.
If a person P likes object X but dislikes other person O, what does P feel upon learning
that O created X? This is symbolized as such:

* P (+) > X

* P (-) > O

* O (+) > X

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Multiplying the signs shows that the person will perceive imbalance (a negative
multiplicative product) in this relationship, and will be motivated to correct the
imbalance somehow. The Person can either:

* Decide that O isn’t so bad after all,

* Decide that X isn’t as great as originally

thought, or

* Conclude that O couldn’t really have made X.

Any of these will result in psychological balance, thus resolving the dilemma and
satisfying the drive. (Person P could also avoid object X and other person O entirely,
lessening the stress created by psychological imbalance.)

Balance Theory is also useful in examining how celebrity endorsement affects

consumers’ attitudes toward products. If a person likes a celebrity and perceives (due to
the endorsement) that said celebrity likes a product, said person will tend to liking the
product more, in order to achieve psychological balance.

However, if the person already had a dislike for the product being endorsed by
the celebrity, she may like the celebrity less in addition to liking the product more, again
to achieve psychological balance.

To predict the outcome of a situation using Heider’s Balance Theory, one must
weigh the effects of all the potential results, and the one requiring the least amount of
effort will be the likely outcome.

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CONGRUENCE THEORY (Milton

Rokeach)
The Congruence Theory also known as the Theory of Beliefs, Attitudes and
Values (BAV) by Rokeach is the most broadly conceptualized and comprehensive theory
of persuasion. The Beliefs, Attitudes and Values theory is a cognitive consistency theory,
which indicates that a person’s beliefs, attitudes, and values must be in harmony with
one another, and further explicates what the importance of this is while trying to
persuade an individual. The theory is also
important because it proposed a solution
to the attitude-behavior discrepancy issue
(Sereno, 2012).

Proposed by Milton Rokeach based

on a 1968 volume (Beliefs, Attitudes, and
Values)[2] which presented the
philosophical basis for the association of
fundamental values with beliefs and
attitudes. Milton Rokeach (born Mendel
Rokicz, December 27, 1918 – October 25,
1988) was a Polish-American social
psychologist. He taught at Michigan State
University, the University of Western Ontario, Washington State University, and the
University of Southern California.

The Congruence Theory’s main proposition is that an individual’s value is weaved

on his attitudes and beliefs. To truly understand what the beliefs, attitudes and values
theory is, it is important to understand what each component of the theory represents
and how they are interconnected with one another.

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Beliefs, to put it simply, are perceptions that something exists or is true. As

individuals, we have the capabilities to have hundreds of thousands of beliefs. Beliefs
are generally classified into two broad categories – central beliefs, which are harder to
change because they are central to the individual’s
existence and are of more importance to him or
her, and peripheral beliefs, which are easier to
change because they are of lesser importance to
the subject involved (Sereno, 2012).

Attitudes are the positive or negative

feelings we have towards people, ideas or things
(Sereno, 2012). An important question to consider
is whether attitudes predict behavior, because
while the ultimate goal of persuasion is to, in fact,
influence and change behavior, research on the
relationship between attitudes and behavior has almost consistently resulted in the
conclusion that attitudes are poor predictors of behavior (Burhans Jr., 1971). This is
known as the attitude behavior discrepancy, and has been displayed on a number of
occasions in a wide range of research.

The Beliefs, Attitudes and Values theory however, provides a solution to the
Attitude Behavior Discrepancy. Firstly, a subject’s attitude towards an object must be
determined, and next, the same subject’s perception of a particular situation must be
determined. According to the Beliefs, Attitudes and Values theory, the subject exhibits a
particular attitude in situations in which the behavior connected to this attitude is
rewarded, and similarly, the subject does not exhibit an attitude in situations where the
behavior is punished (Sereno, 2012).

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For example, a child who understands that crying in an attempt to get his
parents to buy him a toy is only going to
get him punished is less likely to cry
because he knows that this behavior
(crying) connected to its corresponding
attitude is not going to be rewarding and
instead could see him get punished.
Similarly, a child who understands that his
parents might reward him if he did certain
chores around the house would be more
likely to do so because the behavior of
being helpful, connected to its
corresponding attitude would be
rewarded.

Values are beliefs that are important to a person that help guide their lives, and
are the most important variable in this theory. As opposed to one person having
thousands of beliefs or attitudes, a person usually has relatively few values in
comparison, because they are beliefs that a person holds dear and lives their lives by
(Sereno, 2012).

Values come in two main types – instrumental values, which are the means by
which a person consciously decides to live their lives – for example, being honest,
virtuous and righteous, and terminal values, which are beliefs that are held dear to a
person that are similar to the ends and final outcomes that the person aims to achieve –
for example, getting a degree from USC
could be seen as a terminal value that a
person truly believes is important (Sereno,
2012).

Values are the most important

variable in this theory because by affecting
a person’s values, true persuasion occurs because these are beliefs that a person aims
to live by. By changing the values of a person, all the attitudes displayed as a result of

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these closely held values must change, and therefore a number of beliefs that are
related to the attitudes displayed also change. In a certain sense, the three variables
involved, beliefs, attitudes and values form a functionally integrated system where a
change in one part will affect all the other parts (Eckhardt, 1970).

Therefore, affecting a person’s values is key to persuasion, and to do so, the

person must be convinced that the value that is being thrust upon them is relevant to
their own self-concept – or is relevant to the way this person would like to see
themselves (Sereno, 2012). If persuasion occurs at the value level, the persuaded person
will want to live by a different set of values that have occurred as a result of persuasion
and in this sense, true persuasion has occured.

The main argument of Rokeach’s theory is that social psychologists should shift
their emphasis from attitudes to values, because values are more important to consider
with persuasion in mind (Fichter, 1972). What made Rokeach’s research stand out was
that Rokeach emphasized the
fact that in a given situation,
any response would be the
result of multiple determinants
(Gorsuch, 1969). This is
important to consider where
research in countless instances
has been done to look at the
cause-effect relationship as
one-dimensional, not allowing
for multiple causes or multiple
effects.

To put it simply, Rokeach proposed that the hundreds and thousands of beliefs
held by a person was efficiently structured into a network of sorts that was comparable
to a model of an atom. At the heart of this atom – the nucleus, was in particular, one’s
primal beliefs about oneself and reality. Slightly distant from the nucleus of this atom-

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like model were a number of less important beliefs that the person in question had
received from external sources. And finally, at the margin of this atomic arrangement
were “inconsequential beliefs” that dealt with matters that were scarcely connected to
other beliefs (Levie, 1970).

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

(Leon Festinger)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory, developed by Leon Festinger (1957). Festinger
argues that there are three possible relationships among cognitions (thoughts, ideas):
consonance, dissonance, and irrelevance. Two ideas that are consistent, like “I like
Michael Jordan” and “Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever,” are
consonant. Two thoughts that are inconsistent, like “I smoke cigarettes,” and
“Cigarettes can kill smokers,” are dissonant. Two cognitions that are unconnected, like
“Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever” and “Cigarettes can kill
smokers,” are irrelevant. Dissonance Theory declares that dissonance is an unpleasant
motivating state (a feeling) that encourages attitude change to achieve or restore
consonance. So far, Dissonance Theory is similar to Balance Theory. It is somewhat like
the assumptions of Congruity Theory, except that Dissonance is not limited to situations
in which
a Source
makes an
Assertion
about an
attitude
Object.

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Dissonance theory has been refined in later work (Aronson, 1969; Brehm & Cohen,
1962; Festinger, 1964; Wicklund & Brehm, 1976).

One of the advantages of Dissonance Theory is that it can consider more than
two cognitions at a time. Another advantage is that it acknowledges that some cognition
is more important than others, and that the importance of cognitions influences the
amount of dissonance. Specifically, Dissonance Theory predicts that the amount of
dissonance is influenced by two factors: (1) the proportion of dissonant and consonant
cognitions and (2) the importance of the cognitions.

For example, if a person knows four bad things and six good things about Bob,
that person should experience more dissonance than if he/she knows one bad thing and
six good things. In the example below, think about how much dissonance would exist if
one had all four of the dissonant thoughts versus if one only had one of these
cognitions. It makes sense that the more inconsistent thoughts one has, the more
dissonance they should experience.

_________________________

Cognitions about Bob

Consonant Thoughts:

C1 Bob is funny.

C2 Bob likes basketball (like me).

C3 Bob likes rock and roll music (like me).

C4 Bob is a loyal friend.

C5 Bob likes the action/adventure movies (like me).

C6 Bob helped me with algebra in High School.

Dissonant Thoughts:

D1 Bob doesn’t like my brother.

D2 Bob likes those stupid horror movies (unlike me).

D3 Bob is really messy.

D4 Bob sometimes goes too far in making fun of people.

_______________________________

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Furthermore, the importance of these good and bad thoughts makes a

difference. If the brother is really important, the first dissonant thought, that Bob
doesn’t like the brother (D1), could create a lot of dissonance. On the other hand,
he/she is not close to the brother, the cognition won’t bother as much. Thus, dissonance
theory considers all of the relevant thoughts at once, considering both the proportion of
consistent (consonant) and inconsistent (dissonant) thoughts and the importance of
those thoughts. Balance Theory and Congruity Theory can consider only one idea and
neither theory accounts for the importance of ideas.

Dissonance theory suggests that there are three ways to restore consonance.
First, one may change cognition to reduce dissonance. If one has new information which
suggested that Bob really liked the brother, then the idea that Bob doesn’t like the
brother (D1) could change (into C7, Bob likes my brother). This should reduce
dissonance about Bob. Second, a person who experiences dissonance can add a new
cognition. For example, one could decide that Bob just doesn’t know the brother very
well, and that if Bob got to know him, Bob’s feeling toward the brother would almost
certainly change. The third way to reduce dissonance is to change the importance of
cognitions. Maybe decide that because Bob hardly ever sees the brother, one could
reduce the importance of Bob’s feeling toward the brother, which would reduce
dissonance. One important limitation of Dissonance Theory (unlike Congruity Theory, for
example) is that Cognitive Dissonance does not predict how dissonance will be reduced
in any situation.

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An obvious implication of Cognitive Dissonance Theory is that if you want to

change someone’s attitude, you could try to create dissonance concerning that person’s
attitude and hope that desired attitude change would result. However, there are other
implications of Cognitive Dissonance as well. Much of the research on dissonance has
focused on decision-making, counter-attitudinal advocacy, forced compliance, and
selective exposure to information.

SOCIAL JUDGEMENT THEORY

(Muzafer Sherif and Carl Hovland)
This theory of attitude change, developed by Muzafer Sherif and Carl Hovland
(and later by Carolyn Sherif), is different from other consistency theories for two
reasons. As its name suggests, it is a model of judgment, which means that it declares
that the audience interprets (judges) a message. Specifically, a listener judges how much
the message agrees or disagrees with his or her own attitude. Second, Social
Judgment/Involvement theory holds that a listener’s involvement in the topic of the
persuasive message -- that is, how important a topic is to a listener -- is an important
factor in attitude change.

In the fifth century B.C.E., Protagoras was a Greek sophist, or traveling teacher.
He rebelled against the idea that there were absolute truths. Instead, he declared (in
the gender-biased language of the time) “Man is the measure of all things” (see the
discussion by Schiappa, 1991). Without going into the philosophic details of his
statement, we can observe that one person can think a summer day is hot while another
believes it is only pleasantly warm. Two friends can see the same movie and one will like
it and the other will hate it. And two people can hear the same persuasive message but
have quite different reactions to it. Social Judgment/Involvement theory explains how
two people can react so differently to the very same message. An excellent sample is

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given on the teaching process of a professor in Yale University to demonstrate the Social
Judgment Theory.

“When I teach this theory in my class, I bring in three buckets of water: hot, cold,
and room temperature (tepid). I ask two students to volunteer to participate in a
“science experiment.” One puts his or her hand into the hot water and one
places his or her hand into the cold water -- but they aren’t told anything about
the temperature of the water in any of the three buckets. Then I ask them to put
both of their hands into the third bucket of tepid water at the same time. I ask
them to describe the temperature of the water in the third bucket. What do you
think happens?

The student whose hand was in the hot water says, “cool” while the
student whose hand was in the cold water says, “warm.” These students both
put their hands into the same bucket of water, yet they described it differently.
The reason they gave different answers is that they had different comparison
points or anchors. The water felt warm to the student whose hand had just
been in the cold water (his or her anchor point), and that water felt cool to the
student whose hand had just been in the hot water (one anchor point).”

Protagoras would have been happy to see his point demonstrated this way. This
process is just what Social Judgment/Involvement theory says happens when people
hear or read a persuasive message. Each listener or reader judges the main idea of the
message, how much it agrees or disagrees with him or her, by comparing the message
with his or her anchor point, which in Social Judgment/Involvement theory is his or her
existing attitude on the message topic.

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Of course, if we really wanted to know the temperature of the water in three

buckets we would just use a thermometer. We have simple devices that accurately and
objectively measure temperature. We could easily find out that the water in one bucket
was 50 degrees, one was 70 degrees, and one was 90 degrees. However, we do not have
any such thing as a “message thermometer.” We have to make judgments about how
much a message agrees or disagrees with us because there is not accurate or objective
way to measure message position. Social Judgment/Involvement theory holds that the
process of judging or perceiving the position of a message is important to understanding
how persuasion works.

INOCULATION THEORY (William

McGuire)
The grandparent theory of resistance to attitude change is William McGuire’s
(1964) inoculation theory, a framework that sets forth both motivational and cognitive
principles that may underlie resistance.

The initial insight

underlying this theory emerged
in the Yale persuasion
researchers’ early work on one-
sided and two-sided
communications (Hovland,
Janis, & Kelley,195 3). In their
principal experiment on the
sidedness of communications
(Lumsdaine &Janis, 1953), high
school students received a communication in the form of a radio program arguing that
the Soviet Union would not be able to produce large numbers of atomic bombs for at
least five years. Some students received a one-sided version of this communication,

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which contained only arguments supporting this conclusion, whereas others received a
two-sided version, which contained the supportive arguments but also presented
opposing arguments (of which some were refuted and others were not).

Although the initial persuasive impact of these two messages was equivalent,
subjects who had received the two-sided message were considerably more resistant to
a later counter-communication arguing that the Soviet Union would be producing large
numbers of atomic bombs within two years.2In language that was prophetic of later
theoretical developments, Lumsdaine and Janis (1953) speculated about the
mechanisms underlying the greater
resistance to persuasion conferred by
two-sided messages

[The listener] is not only

familiar with the opposing point of
view, but has been led to the positive
conclusion in a context in which the
negative arguments were in
evidence. In effect, he has been given
an advance basis for ignoring or discounting the opposing communication, and thus
“inoculated,” he will tend to retain the positive conclusion (p. 318).

McGuire ( 1964) elaborated this insight by developing inoculation theory. The

name of this theory stems from the biological analogy that provides its guiding logic.
Specifically, immunization against viruses can be achieved by administering a weakened
dose of a virus. Such inoculation protects people against disease because the weakened
dose stimulates the body to develop antibodies that defend it against the effects of a
subsequent full-scale exposure to the virus. When an inoculation is effective, it confers
complete protection against the viral attack.

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By analogy, McGuire
reasoned that attitudes and
beliefs are vulnerable to
persuasive attack by opposing
arguments and that protection
against such attacks may be
achieved by exposing people to
weakened forms of the
attacking message. A relatively
weak attack should encourage people to develop defenses against such attacks while
not changing their attitudes or beliefs—in other words, confer immunity without
causing them to fall ill. Pursuing this biological analogy, McGuire argued that the
attitudes and beliefs that people have seldom heard attacked should be most vulnerable
to attack, just as people brought up with little exposure to viruses should be most
vulnerable to viral illnesses.

Therefore, McGuire’s research dealt with a class of beliefs that he termed

cultural truisms-ideas that are widely shared in a culture and rarely attacked or
questioned. Truisms used in this research, all of which pertained to health issues,
included “It’s a good idea to brush your teeth after every meal if at all possible” and
“Mental illness is not contagious” (McGuire, 1964)

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Chapter 6:
THEORIES OF
INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION
Interpersonal Communication came to being when men began to exchange ideas
and thoughts to one another. Interpersonal Communication is a kind of communication
in which people communicate their feeling, ideas, emotions and information face to
face to each other. It can be in verbal or non-verbal form. Interpersonal communication
is not only about what is said and what is received but also about how it is said, how the
body language used, and what was the facial expression.

The Interpersonal communication skills can be improved by practice, Knowledge

and feedback. During interpersonal communication there is message sending and
message receiving. This can be conducted using both direct and indirect methods.
Successful interpersonal communication is when the message senders and the message
receivers understand the message.

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INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION
THEORY (R.D Laing)
This theory falls within the context of interpersonal communication. It was
developed by psychologist R.D. Laing and focuses on interpersonal relationships and
how communication affects these relationships. It goes to the core of relationships and
explains how relationships develop through our perception of them.

Ronald David Laing (7 October

1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as
R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist
who wrote extensively on mental illness –
in particular, the experience of psychosis.
Laing's views on the causes and
treatment of serious mental dysfunction,
greatly influenced by existential
philosophy, ran counter to the psychiatric
orthodoxy of the day by taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client
as valid descriptions of lived experience rather than simply as symptoms of some
separate or underlying disorder. Laing was associated with the anti-psychiatry
movement, although he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of
the New Left. Laing has authored a book “Interpersonal perception: A theory and a
method of research” published in 1998 under imprint of Taylor & Francis.

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Some hold Laing with such esteem as to

state that his impact on the field will be likened to
that of Freud and Jung (Redler, Gans, Mullan,
2001). I believe the tolerance for Laing’s ideas has
lessened because of the difficult message he
brought to the field. Serious attention to his work
has halted in recent years (Burston, 2000). Laing
questioned the foundation on which the
psychiatric community was based. He questioned
the methods of diagnosis, treatment, and
interventions used by those who had become the establishment. Laing questioned any
person who believed that he had found the answer or who made a definitive statement
regarding the whole of human experience. He wrote in his book, Politics of the Family
and Other Essays, that in each case the theory or method of intervention must be
discovered (1969).

First, the text lays out two important assumptions which can be made about the
relational context of communication. (Littlejohn, 250). First it defines a relationship as,
"A set of expectations two people have for their behavior based on the pattern of
interaction between them". Second is that interpersonal theories operate under four
basic assumptions:

1. Relationships are always connected to communication.

2. The nature of the relationship is defined by the communication between its
members.
3. Relationships are usually defined
implicitly rather than explicitly.
4. Relationships develop over time
through a process of negotiation.

With these constructs in mind let

us explore the core of Laing's theory of
relational Perception," found in (Littlejohn, 254-7). His thesis states that, "A persons
communicative behavior is affected by his or her perception of the relationship".

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Therefore interpersonal relationships are defined continuously by our perceptions. At

this point Laing makes an important distinction between behavior and experience.
Behavior is defined as, "Observable actions of another person which are public". While
experience is described as, "Internal perception and feeling which is private". So you can
observe a person behavior but not their experience.

Laing then explains that there are two levels of experience or perception called
"perspectives". A direct perspective is taken when you observe and interpret anothers
behavior while a meta perspective occurs when you try and, "Infer anothers perceptions
or understand their experience". Meta perspectives may or may not be accurate,
however in either case define the relationship internally and behavior usually occurs
based on these meta perspectives. It is also important to note that the, "Conjunction
between the two perspectives is understanding the other persons perceptions and
feelings accurately. This creates the difference between feeling understood and actually
being understood.

When meta perspectives are inaccurate Laing claims "spirals" can occur. This is
where inaccurate assumptions about a person’s experience or internal feeling can lead
further misunderstandings.

Therefore behavioral patterns within an interpersonal relationship develop over

time through an ever changing and developing set of expectations based on internal
perception. These relationships can also be unintentional and non-verbal.

According to (Kaplan, 258-262) This theory is presented in a academic cognitive

style. This is because the theory, "Deals with materials which tend to be ideational
rather than observational data, and its treatment tends to be highly theoretical, if not
speculative".

This theory of relational perception is also a heuristic theory, which means it

raises other questions and is a foundation for other theories within this context. For
example a theory called the "Developmental view" by Gerald Miller and Mark Steinberg
may have developed from this theory, (Trenholm, 159-61). Their theory is based on the
assumption that, "As relationships follow a trajectory toward increased intimacy, three
changes occur:

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1. Changes in rules governing the relationship.

2. Changes in the amount of data communications have about one another.
3. Changes in participants levels of "knowing".

CONGRUENCE THEORY (Carl Rogers)

Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential
American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (or client-
centered approach) to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the
founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was
honored for his pioneering research with the Award
for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the
American Psychological Association (APA) in 1956.

Rogers rejected the deterministic nature of

both
psychoanalysis and
behaviorism and maintained that we behave as we do
because of the way we perceive our situation. "As no
one else can know how we perceive, we are the best
experts on ourselves."

Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have

one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize
- i.e. to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of 'human-beingness' we can.
Like a tree that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is
constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their
environment is good enough.

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However, unlike a tree, the potential of the individual human is unique, and we
are meant to develop in different ways according to our personality. Rogers believed
that people are inherently good and creative. They become destructive only when a
poor self-concept or external constraints override the valuing process. Carl Rogers
believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of
congruence.

This means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self” (i.e. who
they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image). Rogers
describes an individual who is actualizing
as a fully functioning person. The main
determinant of whether we will become
self-actualized is childhood experience.

Rogers believed that every

person could achieve their goals wishes,
and desires in life. When they did so
self-actualization took place. For Rogers
(1961) people who are able be self-
actualize, and that is not all of us, are called fully functioning persons. This means that
the person is in touch with the here and now, his or her subjective experiences and
feelings, continually growing and changing.

In many ways Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an ideal and one
that people do not ultimately achieve. It is wrong to think of this as an end or
completion of life’s journey; rather it is a process of always becoming and changing.
Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully functioning person:

1. Open to experience: both positive and negative

emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not denied, but
worked through (rather than resort to ego defence
mechanisms).
2. Existential living: in touch with different
experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and

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preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always
looking back to the past or forward to the future (i.e. living for the moment).
3. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and
trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones and we should trust ourselves
to make the right choices.
4. Creativity: creative thinking and risk taking are features of a person’s life. Person
does not play safe all the time. This involves the ability to adjust and change and
seek new experiences.
5. Fulfilled life: person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new
challenges and experiences.

For Rogers, fully functioning people are well adjusted, well balanced and
interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in society. Critics claim that
the fully functioning person is a product of Western culture. In other cultures, such as
Eastern cultures, the achievement of the group is valued more highly than the
achievement of any one person.

Central to Rogers' personality theory is the notion of self or self-concept. This is

defined as "the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".

The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. The self is our
inner personality, and can be likened to the soul, or Freud's psyche. The self is
influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those
experiences. Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood
experiences and evaluation by others.

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According to Rogers (1959), we want to feel, experience and behave in ways

which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be
like, our ideal-self. The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more
consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. A person is said
to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is
unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.

The humanistic approach states that the self is composed of concepts unique to
ourselves. The self-concept includes three components:

 Self worth (or self-esteem) – what we think about

ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth
developed in early childhood and were formed from
the interaction of the child with the mother
and father.

 Self-image – How we see ourselves, which is

important to good psychological health. Self-image
includes the influence of our body image on inner
personality. At a simple level, we might perceive
ourselves as a good or bad person, beautiful or ugly.
Self-image has an affect on how a person thinks feels and behaves in the world.

 Ideal self – This is the person who we would

like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in
life, and is dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal
self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or
late twenties etc.

Carl Rogers (1951) viewed the child as having two basic needs: positive regard
from other people and self-worth. How we think about ourselves, our feelings of self-
worth are of fundamental importance both to psychological health and to the likelihood
that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life and achieve self-actualization.
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Self-worth may be seen as a

continuum from very high to very low.
For Carl Rogers (1959) a person who has
high self-worth, that is, has confidence
and positive feelings about him or her
self, faces challenges in life, accepts
failure and unhappiness at times, and is
open with people. A person with low self-
worth may avoid challenges in life, not
accept that life can be painful and
unhappy at times, and will be defensive
and guarded with other people. Rogers
believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the
interaction of the child with the mother and father. As a child grows older, interactions
with significant others will affect feelings of self-worth.

Rogers believed that we need to be regarded

positively by others; we need to feel valued,
respected, treated with affection and loved. Positive
regard is to do with how other people evaluate and
judge us in social interaction. Rogers made a
distinction between unconditional positive regard
and conditional positive regard.

 Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others (and the

humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for what he or she is. Positive
regard is not withdrawn if the person does something wrong or makes a mistake.
The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the person feels free
to try things out and make mistakes, even though this may lead to getting it
worse at times. People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have
received unconditional positive regard from others, especially their parents in
childhood.

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 Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise and approval,

depend upon the child, for
example, behaving in ways
that the parents think correct.
Hence the child is not loved for the
person he or she is, but on
condition that he or she behaves
only in ways approved by the
parent(s). At the extreme, a
person who constantly seeks
approval from other people is
likely only to have experienced conditional positive regard as a child.

A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and
experiences of the person. Hence, a difference may exist between a person’s ideal self
and actual experience. This is called incongruence.

Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar,
a state of congruence exists. Rarely, if ever does a total state of congruence exist; all
people experience a certain amount of incongruence.

The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional positive regard.

Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a
state of congruence.

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According to Rogers, we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are
consistent with our self-image and
which reflect what we would like to be
like, our ideal-self.

The closer our self-image and

ideal-self are to each other, the more
consistent or congruent we are and the
higher our sense of self-worth. A person
is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is
unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.

Incongruence is "a discrepancy between the actual experience of the organism

and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience.

As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we
may use defense mechanisms like denial or repression in order to feel less threatened
by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings. A person whose self-
concept is incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend because
the truth hurts.

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SELF-DISCLOSURE THEORY (Sidney

Jourard)
Sidney Marshall Jourard (1926--1974) was a leading force in Humanistic
Psychology, and a pioneer in the fields of self-disclosure and body-awareness. Sidney
was born in Canada and educated at the University of Toronto, where he took his M.A.
degree in 1948. He continued his studies at the University of Buffalo (now State
University of New York at Buffalo), and obtained his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1953.
Dr. Jourard taught at Emory University and at the
University of Alabama Medical College prior to
joining the University of Florida in 1958, where he
held the rank of Professor until his death in 1974.
He was involved in private practice of individual
psychotherapy for twenty-five years; and for the
last ten years of his life conducted encounter
groups, experiential seminars, and workshops for
Esalen Institute, Kairos, Oasis, The Center of Man,
and other growth centers about the United
States, Canada and Europe. He was a Past
President of the Association for Humanistic
Psychology and the author of Personal
Adjustment (1958-1963)The Transparent Self (1964-71), Disclosing Man to Himself
(1968); Self-Disclosure (1971), and Healthy Personality (1974).

Sid was ahead of his time in many areas of research. He was fascinated with
human behavior from an early age, making him a sort of "natural" psychologist well
before he received formal college and graduate instruction. He was intellectually curious
and liked to play with ideas. Thirty-six years after his death, Sid's work has a surprising
presence on the Web. His work is cited in a variety of websites, both in passing and in
the form of direct quotes from his writings.

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Revealing private personal

information to other people is a
fundamental characteristic of interpersonal
communication. A great deal of research in
the social sciences has examined the factors
that affect such self-disclosure. Sidney
Jourard’s 1964 book The Transparent Self
energized self-disclosure research, particularly in the fields of social psychology, clinical
and counseling psychology, and communications. Jourard defined self-disclosure as the
extent to which people made themselves "transparent" (or clear) about their inner
thoughts and feelings in their self-related communications with others. Jourard’s
popular Self-Disclosure Questionnaire contains a broad range of topics including a
person’s attitudes and values, tastes and interests, personality, body, and sexuality. On
this and similar measures, respondents typically indicate how much they would tell a
target person about each topic.

Research suggests that self-disclosure is a fundamental way that relationship

bonds are established, developed, and maintained. For example, self-disclosure helps
relationship partners to clarify their own
actions and intentions and to understand
those of their partners. Self-disclosure
also helps to increase feelings of
intimacy, acceptance, trust, and self-
worth within a relationship. For instance,
research shows that more intimate self-
disclosures are associated with greater liking, and that having disclosed to others
increases people’s liking of those persons.

Much research has examined the "disclosure reciprocity" effect, or the tendency
for interaction partners to disclose intimate information in a reciprocal fashion. Social
scientists have suggested that interaction partners may feel normative pressure or an
obligation to reciprocate the intimacy level of information that is shared in the
relationship. Failing to attend to the normative aspects of disclosure reciprocity can lead

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to relationship problems. For example, telling another person too

much about oneself too early in a relationship or failing to
reciprocate another person’s self-disclosures may inhibit the
development of that relationship.

Researchers have consistently found that females tend to

show more self-disclosure than males. Although a relatively small
effect, this gender difference can be moderated by target, measure, or topic. For
example, women disclose much more to those with whom they have a relationship (e.g.,
a friend or parent) than do men. Developmental
researchers have found that as adolescents enter
puberty, they disclose increasingly more to peers than to
parents. Research also suggests that cultures with a
greater emphasis on nuclear and extended families (e. g.,
Hispanic populations) are more self-disclosing than
cultures with less closely knit social or family
structures (e.g., non-Hispanic white Americans).
Members of Eastern cultures (such as China and
Japan) tend to report less frequent self-disclosures
than members of Western cultures (such as the United States).

In addition to positive consequences for relationships, disclosing emotional self-

related experiences has positive effects on physical health. However, sometimes
disclosing a personal secret can lead to negative relationship consequences. For
example, self-disclosures can make a person vulnerable to the rejection, indifference,
alienation, or exploitation of others. In more applied
settings, there is much discussion and debate about
whether and to what extent therapists should self-disclose
to their clients. The nature of self-disclosure in online
relationships has also seen increased attention from
researchers.

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ATTRIBUTION THEORY (Harold Kelley)

Harold Kelley (February 16, 1921 – January 29, 2003)
was an American social psychologist and professor of
psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His
major contributions have been the development of
interdependence theory (with John Thibaut), the early work
of attribution theory, and a lifelong interest in
understanding close relationships processes.

Kelley’s (1967) covariation model is the best known attribution theory. He

developed a logical model for judging whether a particular action should be attributed
to some characteristic (internal) of the person or the environment (external).

The term covariation simply means that a person has information from multiple
observations, at different times and situations, and can perceive the covariation of an
observed effect and its causes.

He argues that in trying to discover the causes

of behavior people act like scientists. More specifically
they take into account three kinds of evidence.

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Harold Kelley's Attribution Model

Kelley believed that there were three types of causal information which
influenced our judgments. Low factors = dispositional (internal) attributions.

 Consensus: the extent to which other people behave in the same way in a similar
situation. E.g. Alison smokes a cigarette when she goes out for a meal with her
friend. If her fri end smokes, her behavior is high in consensus. If only Alison
smokes it is low.
 Distinctiveness: the extent to which the person behaves in the same way in
similar situations. If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, her
behavior is high in distinctiveness. If she smokes at any time or place,
distinctiveness is low.
 Consistency: the extent to which the person behaves like this every time the
situation occurs. If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, consistency
is high. If she only smoke on one special occasion, consistency is low.

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Let’s look at an example to help understand his particular attribution theory. Our
subject is called Tom. His behavior is laughter. Tom is laughing at a comedian.

1. Consensus: Everybody in the audience is laughing. Consensus is high. If only

Tom is laughing consensus is low.
2. Distinctiveness: Tom only laughs at this comedian. Distinctiveness is high. If Tom
laughs at everything distinctiveness is low.
3. Consistency: Tom always laughs at this comedian. Consistency is high. Tom
rarely laughs at this comedian consistency is low.

Now, if everybody laughs at this comedian, if they don’t laugh at the comedian
who follows and if this comedian always raises a laugh then we would make an external
attribution, i.e. we assume that Tom is laughing because the comedian is very funny.

On the other hand, if Tom is the only person who laughs at this comedian, if Tom
laughs at all comedians and if Tom always laughs at the comedian then we would make
an internal attribution, i.e. we assume that Tom is laughing because he is the kind of
person who laughs a lot.

So what we’ve got here is

people attributing causality on the
basis of correlation. That is to say,
we see that two things go
together and we therefore
assume that one causes the other.
One problem however is that we
may not have enough information
to make that kind of judgment.
For example, if we don’t know
Tom that well we wouldn’t necessarily have the information to know if his behavior is
consistent over time. So what do we do then?

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According to Kelley we fall back on past experience and look for either

1. Multiple necessary causes. For example, we see an athlete win a marathon and
we reason that she must be very fit, highly motivated, have trained hard etc. and
that she must have all of these to win
2. Multiple sufficient causes. For example, we see an athlete fail a drug test and we
reason that she may be trying to cheat, or have taken a banned substance by
accident or been tricked into taking it by her coach. Any one reason would be
sufficient.

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Chapter 7:
THEORIES OF SMALL
GROUP
Communication in small groups is interpersonal communication within groups of
between 3 and 20 individuals. Groups generally work in a context that is both relational
and social. Quality communication such as helping behaviors and information-sharing
causes groups to be superior to the average individual in terms of the quality of
decisions and effectiveness of decisions made or actions taken. However, quality
decision-making requires that members both identify with the group and have an
attitude of commitment to participation in interaction.

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EXCHANGE THEORY (John Thibaut)

Within the area of social psychology, Social Exchange Theory was developed to
explain communication and interaction, as well as the factors governing interaction in
humans. This theory has had tremendous impact on social psychology, sociology, and
many other fields, including areas that initially influenced the development of the
theory.

The first major publication regarding Social Exchange Theory, which was entitled
“The Social Psychology of Groups,” was published by John Thibault and Harold Kelley in
1952. The theory was later refined in the laboratory by two sociologists at University of
Washington named Richard Emerson and Karen Cook. This work started in 1978 and
continued throughout the 1980s.

John Thibaut was a social psychologist, one of the last graduate students of Kurt
Lewin. He spent a number of years as a professor at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, and was the first editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

The research group which he headed at UNC was regularly attended by Harry
Upshaw, Jack Brehm, Kurt Back, and Edward E. Jones. He is best known for "A Social
Psychology of Groups", co-authored by his long-time collaborator Harold Kelley.

The examination of social exchange led John Thibaut and Harold Kelley to
develop social exchange theory, a process which was facilitated by Thibaut spending a
year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences where he had
significant interaction with Kenneth Arrow.

The early variations of Social Exchange Theory stem from Alvin Ward Gouldner's
(1960) norm of reciprocity, which simply argues that people ought to return benefits
given to them in a relationship. Peter M. Blau built on the work done by George C.
Homans in Exchange and Power in Social Life (1964). Later modifications to this theory
focus attention on relational development and maintenance rules (see Murstein et al.).

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Social Exchange Theory discusses an individual’s outcome to different social

interactions by examining the exchange of resources during social interactions. These
resources can be material goods and services or an exchange of social value. This theory
is highly reliant on reciprocity for whatever costs are incurred by the individual.

The outcome can be calculated by subtracting the costs from the benefits. This
analysis is subjective because different individuals place different values on resources,
even those resources defined by a measurable system, such as currency. It should be
noted that this expectation plays a large role in an individual’s analysis of the value of
the outcome. This affects the individual’s social relationships because an individual
anticipating a particularly high outcome will be disappointed and ultimately unsatisfied
with the relationship if a smaller outcome is reached. However, an individual with a
lower expectation for the outcome will not encounter this difficulty. Therefore,
satisfaction can be calculated by subtracting a “comparison level” from the outcome. If
the comparison level is higher than the outcome, the value for satisfaction will be
negative.

For example, Steve buys Mary a pricey Christmas present which required hours
of thought and scouring the mall. Come Christmas Day, Mary gives Steve a keychain she
purchased from a dollar store. In this simple example of exchanges, Steve made a large
investment of time and money, but the benefits received are subjectively small. For
Steve, the outcome will be very small or in the negative range. His expectations were

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also very high, so subtracting his comparison level from the outcome results is a low
level of satisfaction.

Steve is unlikely to simply sever his relationship with Mary over this particular
outcome. There is also the factor of
dependence to consider.
Dependence is calculated by
subtracting the comparison level of
alternatives from the outcome.
There are other individuals in the
world, and Steve could form
interactions and relationships with
these individuals. However, these alternatives must have a higher comparison level than
the outcome of interactions with Mary.

One common example of dependence occurs in exchanges for goods and

services. Steve might frequent a family-owned grocery store in his small hometown. The
prices are annoyingly high and the selection of products is poor, so Steve is unsatisfied
with the outcome of his grocery shopping
experience. However, this might be the
only grocery store for miles. The only
possible alternative is a gas station
convenience store with an even smaller
selection, so this is not a viable alternative.
Steve continues to interact with the
grocery store and its owners because the
alternatives are not better than the outcome of his current interaction.

Overall, the Social Exchange Theory asserts that humans seek to maximize
rewards with minimal costs. This is achieved through analyzing the outcome of social
interactions.

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GROUP-SYNTALITY THEORY
(Raymond Cattell)
Raymond Bernard Cattell (20 March 1905 – 2 February 1998) was a British and
American psychologist, known for his exploration of
many areas in psychology. These areas included: the
basic dimensions of personality and temperament, a
range of cognitive abilities, the dynamic dimensions of
motivation and emotion, the clinical dimensions of
personality, patterns of group and social behavior,
applications of personality research to psychotherapy
and learning theory, predictors of creativity and
achievement, and many scientific research methods for
exploring and measuring these areas

The group syntality concept of Raymond B. Cattell, which consists in large part of
synergy (the total amount of energy that a group brings to bear on its activities), and to
offer a perspective on leadership--any behavior that influences group syntality. The
group syntality perspective
provides an effective
framework for integrating
parliamentary rules and
relevant principles of group
dynamics and also heightens
the responsiblity of individual
group members.

Every group is different from other, and this difference is noted by a

characteristic, that if related to people is the personality. Groups can also be defined
according to factors, much like the personality can. Groups, then, have personality.

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Cattell reasoned that groups can also be defined according to factors, much like
the personality can. Groups, then, have personality. The term Cattell used to describe
the group’s personality was syntality. As Cattell sought a meaningful framework from
which predictions of group behavior could be reliably drawn, The present researcher
extends that rationale to virtual group phenomena. Therefore, it is reasonable to
generalize Cattell’s principles of group dynamics to virtual groups. After all, virtual group
creation, purpose, and development have many of the same bases as the traditional
groups. Whether or not a culinary group, for example, exists after hours in the kitchen
of a school cafeteria or as an online entity really doesn’t change its fundamental
purpose. The differences are in its construct and mechanics. Whatever it is that makes
the virtual group different from the traditional group, that is what we want to explore
here.

Cattell said of personality, “That which will predict behavior in any given
situation.” Since syntality was the personality of the group, a strong knowledge of
syntality should give group behavior predictability. The reasons why we should want to
be able to predict group behavior are numerous, and they cover everything from
marketing to national security. The 2010 Egyptian Revolution was coordinated through
the virtual group environment of social networking, for instance. It is known that anti-
social and terrorist groups reinforce their goals by means of websites, among other
resources, and with the ability to create product pages on social networks groups may
form around commercial organizations as well as products.

To predict behavior, said Cattell, we define the group as a profile of indices,

while another set of indices defines the situation, and as syntality vectors with situation,
and voila, we should be able to predict what the group will do next. Of course we’ve
skipped over the important details that prove this can actually be done, but in principle
the more factors we identify belonging to the group and its developmental trajectory,
the more likely we are to be right about what that group will do next.

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GROUP THINK THEORY (Irving Janis)

In 2008, the United States experienced one of the worst economic disasters in its
history. Years of speculation in the U.S. housing market, combined with loose lending
practices and risky trading, set off a record number of home foreclosures. In response,
stocks suddenly tanked and over-leveraged banks failed. When the chaos finally
subsided, people began asking how such a thing could have happened. Why did banks
assume so much risk? Why were unqualified borrowers granted large mortgages? How
could Wall Street’s brightest minds trade on financial products they themselves couldn’t
understand?

Some of the answers may be found in

groupthink theory. The term “groupthink,”
defined by psychologist Irving Janis in 1972,
refers to how cohesive groups of people make
and justify faulty decisions. People affected by
groupthink usually feel pressured to conform to
the views expressed by an influential group
leader. They hesitate to voice concerns for fear of being shamed or ostracized, and, in
the absence of dissent, they assume all other group members approve of the decisions
being made. Alternatives to the group’s actions are either dismissed or never
considered at all. Outsiders who raise objections are often regarded as enemies and
dehumanized. Groupthinking most often arises in homogenous, insulated groups that
possess no clear guidelines for decision making.

Janis’s research uncovered eight symptoms that indicate groupthinking: The first
two stem from overconfidence in the group’s power. The next pair reflects the limited
vision, members use to view the problem and the last four are signs of strong
compliance pressure from within the group.

1. Illusion of Invulnerability – The group believes failure is impossible.

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2. Collective Rationalization – Group members invent reasons to ignore warnings

and refuse to objectively evaluate their stance on an issue.
3. Inherent Morality – The group assumes all its actions are ethical and beneficial.
4. Stereotyping – The group creates negative views of opposing groups to avoid
rationally addressing objections to its activities.
5. Direct Pressure to Conform – Members are discouraged from dissenting.
6. Self-Censorship – Members willingly refrain from expressing doubts or
objections.
7. Illusion of Unanimity – Because dissent is never voiced, members assume
everyone in the group agrees with the decisions made.
8. Mind Guards – Some members voluntarily act to shield the group from dissent
or criticism.

When groupthink occurs, creativity, mental efficiency and moral judgment become
impaired. Objectivity suffers. Group members refuse to fully assess risks and reject
expert advice. Once alternatives are discarded, they are not reevaluated. Only
information that supports the
group’s viewpoint is discussed and
accepted. Since the group believes
it is immune to failure, it refrains
from making contingency plans.

Many symptoms of
groupthink can be seen in the
events that lead up to the 2008
financial crisis. Wall Street CEOs
believed their companies were too big and profitable to fail. Investors trusted portfolio
managers who said credit default swaps based on risky mortgages would result in
guaranteed returns. Unprecedented levels of leveraging were rationalized in light of
soaring stock prices and wide profit margins. Bankers and homeowners assumed the
housing boom would continue indefinitely, leading many people to sign for mortgages
they could barely afford. Economists, accountants and regulators who expressed
concerns about the situation were effectively threatened, marginalized or ignored.

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Other famous examples of groupthink can be found throughout history. In 1961,

President John F. Kennedy approved a CIA plan to invade Cuba and overthrow its leader,
Fidel Castro. Kennedy’s belief in the infallibility of the mission and its organizers resulted
in troops being inadequately equipped for combat. Members of Kennedy’s
administration who disagreed with the mission failed to speak up. The event, known as
the Bay of Pigs Invasion, ended in disaster.

Similar circumstances contributed to the explosion of the Space Shuttle

Challenger in 1986. Eager to launch the shuttle on schedule, NASA managers ignored
warnings about launching in low temperatures. They also knew of a flaw in the shuttle’s
O-rings but did nothing about it. Engineers who first opposed the launch for safety
reasons later assented. Seventy-three seconds after the shuttle took off, it burst into
pieces, killing all seven of its crew members.

Whether a group will succumb to groupthink depends on the norms the group
establishes for decision making. Groups that refrain from promoting a single agenda,
encourage members to share
their concerns, allow
independent evaluation, seek
expert input and feedback,
critically weigh all alternatives
and develop contingency plans
can avoid and even correct
groupthink. Those that lack
impartial leadership, good
decision-making methods and
external input, on the other hand,
are highly susceptible to groupthink. High-stress situations, such as those involving
external threats or moral dilemmas, can also lead to groupthinking.

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Chapter 8:
THEORIES OF
HUMAN
ORGANIZATION
CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORY
One of the first schools of management thought, the classical management
theory, developed during the Industrial Revolution when new problems related to the
factory system began to appear. Managers were unsure of how to train employees
(many of them non‐English speaking immigrants) or deal with increased labor
dissatisfaction, so they began to test solutions. As a result, the classical management
theory developed from efforts to find the “one best way” to perform and manage tasks.
This school of thought is made up of two branches: classical scientific and classical
administrative, described in the following sections.

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The classical scientific branch arose because of the need to increase productivity
and efficiency. The emphasis was on trying to find the best way to get the most work
done by examining how the work process was actually accomplished and by scrutinizing
the skills of the workforce.

The classical scientific school owes its roots to several major contributors,
including Frederick Taylor, Henry Gantt, and Frank and
Lillian Gilbreth.

Frederick Taylor is often called the “father of

scientific management”. Taylor believed that
organizations should study tasks and develop precise
procedures. As an example, in 1898, Taylor calculated
how much iron from rail cars Bethlehem Steel plant workers could be unloading if they
were using the correct movements, tools, and steps. The result was an amazing 47.5
tons per day instead of the mere 12.5 tons each worker had been averaging. In addition,
by redesigning the shovels the workers used, Taylor was able to increase the length of
work time and therefore decrease the number of people shoveling from 500 to 140.
Lastly, he developed an incentive system that paid workers
more money for meeting the new standard. Productivity at
Bethlehem Steel shot up overnight. As a result, many
theorists followed Taylor's philosophy when developing their
own principles of management.

Henry Gantt, an associate of Taylor's, developed the

Gantt chart, a bar graph that measures planned and completed work along each stage
of production. Based on time instead of quantity, volume, or weight, this visual display
chart has been a widely used planning and control tool since its development in 1910.

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A simple Gantt chart

Whereas scientific management focused on the productivity of individuals, the

classical administrative approach concentrates on the total organization. The emphasis
is on the development of managerial principles rather than work methods.

Contributors to this school of thought include Max Weber, Henri Fayol, Mary
Parker Follett, and Chester I. Barnard. These theorists studied the flow of information
within an organization and emphasized the importance of understanding how an
organization operated.

In the late 1800s, Max Weber disliked that many

European organizations were managed on a “personal”
family‐like basis and that employees were loyal to
individual supervisors rather than to the organization. He
believed that organizations should be managed
impersonally and that a formal organizational structure,
where specific rules were followed, was important. In other words, he didn't think that
authority should be based on a person's personality. He thought authority should be
something that was part of a person's job and passed from individual to individual as
one person left and another took over. This non-personal, objective form of
organization was called a bureaucracy. Weber believed that all bureaucracies have the
following characteristics:

 A well‐defined hierarchy. All positions within a bureaucracy are structured in a

way that permits the higher positions to supervise and control the lower
positions. This clear chain of command facilitates control and order throughout
the organization.
 Division of labor and specialization. All
responsibilities in an organization are specialized so
that each employee has the necessary expertise to
do a particular task.
 Rules and regulations. Standard operating

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procedures govern all organizational activities to provide certainty and facilitate

coordination.
 Impersonal relationships between managers and employees. Managers should
maintain an impersonal relationship with employees so that favoritism and
personal prejudice do not influence decisions.
 Competence. Competence, not “who you know,” should be the basis for all
decisions made in hiring, job assignments, and promotions in order to foster
ability and merit as the primary characteristics of a bureaucratic organization.
 Records. A bureaucracy needs to maintain complete files regarding all its
activities.

Henri Fayol, a French mining engineer, developed 14

principles of management based on his management
experiences. These principles provide modern‐day
managers with general guidelines on how a supervisor
should organize her department and manage her staff.
Although later research has created controversy over many of the following principles,
they are still widely used in management theories.

 Division of work: Division of work and specialization produces more and better
work with the same effort.
 Authority and responsibility: Authority is the right to give orders and the power
to exact obedience. A manager has official authority because of her position, as
well as personal authority based on individual personality, intelligence, and
experience. Authority creates responsibility.
 Discipline: Obedience and respect within an organization are absolutely
essential. Good discipline requires managers to
apply sanctions whenever violations become
apparent.
 Unity of command: An employee should
receive orders from only one superior.
 Unity of direction: Organizational activities must have one central authority and
one plan of action.

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 Subordination of individual interest to general interest: The interests of one

employee or group of employees are subordinate to the interests and goals of
the organization.
 Remuneration of personnel: Salaries — the price of services rendered by
employees — should be fair and provide
satisfaction both to the employee and
employer.
 Centralization: The objective of
centralization is the best utilization of
personnel. The degree of centralization varies
according to the dynamics of each organization.
 Scalar chain: A chain of authority exists from the highest organizational authority
to the lowest ranks.
 Order: Organizational order for materials and personnel is essential. The right
materials and the right employees are necessary for each organizational function
and activity.
 Equity: In organizations, equity is a combination of kindliness and justice. Both
equity and equality of treatment should be considered when dealing with
employees.
 Stability of tenure of personnel: To attain the maximum productivity of
personnel, a stable work force is needed.
 Initiative: Thinking out a plan and
ensuring its success is an extremely
strong motivator. Zeal, energy, and
initiative are desired at all levels of the
organizational ladder.
 Esprit de corps: Teamwork is
fundamentally important to an organization. Work teams and extensive
face‐to‐face verbal communication encourages teamwork.

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HUMAN RELATIONS THEORY

The Human Relations Theory of organization came in to existence in 1930s as
are action to the classical approach to organizational analysis. This is because the
classical theorists neglected the human factor in the organization. The Classical theorists
took a mechanical view of organization and
underemphasized the socio-psychological
aspects of individual’s behavior in
organization. It is this critical failure of the
classical theory that gave birth to the
human relations approach. Human
relations theory is also known by various
names like Humanistic Theory, Neoclassical Theory, etc. Elton Mayo, an American
Sociologist is the founder of the Human Relations Theory. The other writers who
contributed to the growth of this theory are William Dickson, North Whitehead, W.
Lloyd, and L. J. Henderson, among many others. The Hawthorne Experiment (1924-
1932) conducted in the Western Electric Company at Hawthorne near Chicago by the
Harvard Business School under the leadership of Elton Mayo formed the basis for the
rise of the Human Relations Theory of Organization.

Human Relations Theory has three

elements or features. They are, the Individual,
the Informal Organization, and Participative
Management.

 The Individual : The Theory recognizes

the importance of emotions and perceptions of individuals. It holds the view that
the level of workers’ production and organizational output is determined by the
human relations at work and not so much by the physical and economic
conditions of work.

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 Informal Organizations: The Human Relations Theory emphasizes the informal

organizations. According to Hicks and Gullet,
“ The informal shadow organization that
exists within the structure of the formal
organization is emphasized. Attention is focused on the social aspects of man
whose overriding need is seen as a desire to belong, to be accepted by and stand
well in his work group.”
 Participative Management: Human Relations Theory advocates the style of
participative management. In other words, the manager should consult the work
groups and their informal leaders before
introducing a change of program. This
participative management is meritorious
because it permits the workers to influence the
decisions that affect them, develops a sense of
participation in the group, makes the working environment more pleasant,
prevents the alienation of workers from the management, facilitates the
acceptance of organizational goals by the workers, and above all, results in
higher productivity.

Human Relations Theory has a landmark contribution to the evolution of

administrative thought. Its significance lies in discovering and emphasizing the informal
organizations and facilitates teamwork and
collaboration. Human Relations Theory not
only brought about a revolution in
organizational analysis but also contributed
significantly to the history of administrative
thought as well. Even today, organizations
stress on interpersonal relations as tools of improving the productivity of workers in
organizations.

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SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

The scientific management theory was propounded by F.W. Taylor and was
carried out by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Henry L. Gantt and Emerson. Taylor
postulated that management was haphazard and inefficient at the time. The
management was based purely on
individuals’ capacity. The personal talent of
the manager guided the workers who were
motivated by bonus and monetary benefits.
F.W. Taylor therefore tried to find out the
basic principles of management by using time
and work study, detailed analysis, investigation and planning of work allocation. It is
known as scientific management because systematized knowledge is used for work
allocation and assignment of specific jobs. The salary, wages, etc. are to be decided as
per the work performance of individuals.

It revolutionized the entire shop or plant management. Industrial engineering

and management was promoted by Taylor. He said that scientific management tries to
perform the job in the best way.

Features – The essential features of scientific management are given below:

 Scientific Selection of Personnel. F.W.

Taylor places great emphasis on the scientific
selection and training of workers. His theory
stresses on selecting suitable persons for the job.
All persons cannot perform a particular job. People
have different capacities and attitudes and
therefore are selected for the job best suited to them.
 Incentives. Workers are inspired to perform the job if they are paid according to
their contributions. Taylor has, therefore, suggested a differential piece rate
system for wage determination. It required planning, analyzing, preparing and
inspecting work performance and determination of standard production in a

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specific time. If a worker performs better than

the standard he will be paid at a higher rate.
 Functional Foremanship. Workers themselves
become supervisors because the worker
performing the function is interested in getting
more wages by producing more units. The
supervisor has functional authority. He guides and directs the way of performing
the job. Many supervisors based on different natures of jobs are guiding persons
to perform their jobs effectively and efficiently.
 Specialization. Specialization is developed in scientific management. It points
out the managerial and non-managerial functions. Persons capable of managing
functions are given the jobs of planning and control, while workers with the
capacity for work performance are put into production.
 Coordination. Since the jobs are
performed by different specialized persons,
coordination of their activities becomes
essential. The management should organize the
activities in such a way that it can perform its
activities effectively. Coordination between
workers and managers as well as amongst
themselves is essentially performed in scientific
management.
 Economic Performance. Workers are considered economic beings. They utilize
physical resources in the best manner possible in order to get maximum
production out of human and physical resources.
 Work Order. Workers perform their jobs in a systematic order. The raw
materials, machine and the time are used in a systematic way. This helps
workers achieve maximum utilization of the capacities and resources available to
them. The materialistic approach is always visible in the work order.

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Frank and Lillian Gilbreth experimented with the

motion study produced by F.W. Taylor. As a
husband‐and‐wife team, they studied job motions. They
studied time and fatigue involved in work and concluded
that job simplification, meaningful work standard, and
incentive wage plans were necessary. Frank is called ‘the
father of motion study’. Henry L. Gantt made some
important contributions to scientific management such as
comparing plans with performance, task and bonus
remuneration, teaching and training workers and laying
emphasis on services carried out by workers. H. Emerson
contributed efficiency engineering development at work.
He emphasized the need for educating workers to
increase their efficiency in production, which would benefit the employees as well as
the management in the long run.

Thanks to these contributors and others, the basic ideas regarding scientific
management developed. They include the following:

 Developing new standard methods for doing each job

 Selecting, training, and developing workers instead of allowing them to choose
their own tasks and train themselves
 Developing a spirit of cooperation between workers and management to ensure
that work is carried out in accordance with
devised procedures
 Dividing work between workers and
management in almost equal shares, with
each group taking over the work for which it
is best fitted

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Chapter 9:
THEORIES OF MASS
COMMUNICATION
Mass communication is the study of how individuals and entities relay
information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time.
It is usually understood to relate to newspaper, magazine, and book publishing, as well
as radio, television and film, as these mediums are used for disseminating information,
news and advertising. Mass communication differs from the studies of other forms of
communication, such as interpersonal communication or organizational communication,
in that it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a large group of
receivers. The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content
of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the behavior, attitude, opinion,
or emotion of the person or people receiving the information.

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MASS SOCIETY THEORY (William

Kornhauser)
A Chicago native and a member of the
Sociology Department at the University of California,
Berkeley for 40 years, William Kornhauser (1925—
2004) was a political sociologist who was an expert on
social movements, Kornhauser was known for his
pioneering 1959 book, The Politics of Mass Society, for
the lucidity and enthusiasm of his teaching, and for his
influence on the student activists of the 1960s and
1970s.

Mass society is any society of the modern era that possesses a mass culture and
large-scale, impersonal, social institutions. A mass society is a society in which
prosperity and bureaucracy have weakened traditional social ties." Descriptions of
society as a "mass" took form in the 19th
century, referring to the leveling
tendencies in the period of the Industrial
Revolution that undermined traditional and
aristocratic values.

The mass society theory, in all its

diverse formulations, is based on a
sweeping general claim about ‘‘the modern world,’’ one announcing a ‘‘breakdown of
community.’’ These formulations argue the collapse of the stable, cohesive, and
supportive communities found in the days of yore. In modern times, as a consequence,
one finds rootlessness, fragmentation, breakdown, individuation, isolation,
powerlessness, and widespread anxiety (Giner 1976; Halebsky 1976).

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Mass-Society Theory argues that social movements are made up of individuals in

large societies who feel insignificant or socially
detached. Social movements, according to this
theory, provide a sense of empowerment and
belonging that the movement members would otherwise
not have.

The main idea in this tradition has been the

Durkheimian ideas of the process in which the traditional
forms of community have declined and society has
become impersonal. Primary ties and community
cohesion are weak and people are integrated to large-scale organisations. Mass
movements act also in this context: mass movements do not build on existing social
relations but instead construct direct ties between participants and leaders.

In fact mass society, according to Kornhauser, is - “a social system in which elites

are readily accessible to influence by non-elites, and non-elites are readily available for
mobilization by elites.“

In his theory, Dr. Kornhauser suggests that people who feel isolated and
insignificant within a society are attracted to social movements. Social movements,
according to this theory, are influenced by the
media, and they provide a sense of
empowerment and belonging that the
movement members would otherwise not have.
The key components in this theory are:

1. The media are a powerful force within society that can subvert essential norms
and values and thus, undermine social order
2. The media are able to directly influence the minds of average people
3. Once people's thinking is transformed by media, long-term consequences are
likely to result

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OBSTINATE AUDIENCE THEORY

(Raymond Bauer)
Raymond A. Bauer was born on September 7, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a
psychology professor at Harvard in the
graduate school of business administration.
A few of the works Bauer has had
published about the studies of effects of
advertising and the audience are
Advertising in America (1971). The Effects
of an Audience on What is Remembered in
Public Opinion Quarterly (1956), and The Obstinate Audience in American Psychologist
(1964). He was President of the American Association for Public Opinion research and
received the Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The obstinate audience theory is not

only a theory but also a new model of
communication. Previously, it was believed that
the media was controlling the audience
Raymond A. Bauer, however, found a problem with this theory. He believed that the
social model of communication was flawed in
assuming a "one-way influence" between the
media and the audience. Bauer describes the
model as "a model of one-way influence; the
communicator is generally attributed
considerable latitude and power to do what
he pleases to the audience". It assumes that the sender influences the audience who
does not give feedback. Instead Bauer believed that the model of communication is
actually a transactional model. While receiving messages from the media, the audience

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is engaging in problem solving . The obstinate audience theory assumes that there is a
transactional communication between the
audience and the media. The audience actively
selects what messages to pay attention to. The
Zimmerman-Bauer study found that the
audience also participates in the
communication by influencing the message.

To find out if the assumptions were

true, studies were done to see how the
audience was influenced by the media and
vice versa. Studies were done that found that the audience was in fact persuaded by the
media 5. So why should more studies prove any different? Bauer argues that the
conditions in the laboratories do to mimic those of the real world 6. Bauer conducted
many studies outside of the laboratories to come as close as possible to real life
situations. The following are three of the studies done by Raymond A. Bauer and John
Eberhart, Claire Zimmerman and Stephen A. Greyser .

Bauer-Eberhart Study - Along with John Eberhart, Bauer conducted a study to see how
people remembered a newspaper article. The article was about a union strike that took
place in Chicago and the respondents were asked what happened and where they
learned what happened. Also, surveys were sent to students on the West Coast who
would have no knowledge of the strike and
asked for them to guess what happened

The study found that not only were

the re-telling of the union strike based on
where they got their information, but more
importantly how they felt about unions
previously influenced how they remembered what happened. It also found that the way
the students guessed what had happened was base on their previous attitudes about

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unions. This found that the audience's previous attitudes played a major part in how
they remembered the message. Bauer concluded,

It appeared that the audience could filter out, distort or simply fail to recognize
perceptual events which did not fit their points of view.

Zimmerman-Bauer Study - This study was conducted

by Bauer and Claire Zimmerman to see how the
audience's beliefs affect the message. They told
people that they would be giving a speech to an
audience that either agreed with the speech or
disagreed. They were then told to give the speech
believing that the audience would agree or disagree
with the speech they were giving.

The study found that the audience influences what they want to hear. The
speakers could remember more of a speech if they believed the audience would agree
with the speech than those who believed the audience would disagree with the speech.

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The study shows that the audience plays a large part in influencing the message. The
media will select messages they believe the
audience, or at least the majority of the
audience will agree with. Schramm author of
Process and Effect said,

The study demonstrated not only that

people remember communication in a highly
selective way, but also that they process and
select new information with an eye to their
perceived relationship to future audiences.

Advertising Study - The study was done by Bauer and Stephen A. Greyser to see how
much attention people pay to ads, what their attitudes are toward ads, what their
reaction is, and why they react that way. To ensure the results would be closer to real
life than in the laboratories, the subjects exposed
themselves to the advertisements instead of being
exposed to advertisements in a lab. This ensured they
would be choosing their own ads to view and would be
able to respond to them quickly

The study found that people who like

advertising found advertisements enjoyable
while people who do not like advertising found
advertisements "annoying and offensive". This
suggests that ads may have less of an effect on
people who in general do not enjoy
advertisements. They may go out of their way to avoid and resist advertising. Bauer
concluded,

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However, within the ads appearing in any medium, these general attitudes seem
to direct people's attention to ads which agree with their position and/or to
cause them to evaluate those ads which they do see in accordance with their
own disposition toward advertising.

A critique on the theory is that the obstinate audience theory allows for a much
more active audience than previous theories. The theory however, only sees the active
audience as one that selects the media text they attend to. The theory does not look
into what the audience does with the media text after selection. It does not define what
activity means and how the audience is active, only that they select the texts. It also
does not account for times that the audience is engaging in other activities and may not
be actively receiving the media text. For example, audience members may be reading
the newspaper while watching television. Audience members may not be actively
engaging in the text all the time. These need to be addressed fully understand the active
audience.

There is also a wide range of media theory and communication studies theories
about the audience's role in any kind of mediated communication. A sub-culturally
focused and Marxism-inflected take on the subject arose as the 'new audience theory'
or 'active audience theory' from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies during
the 1980s.

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DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY

(Everett Rogers)
Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what
rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Everett Rogers, a professor of
communication studies, popularized the theory in his book Diffusion of Innovations; the
book was first published in 1962.

The diffusion of innovations

according to Rogers. With
successive groups of consumers
adopting the new technology
(shown in blue), its market share
(yellow) will eventually reach the
saturation level. In mathematics
the S curve is known as the logistic
function.

Everett M. Rogers (March 6, 1931 – October 21, 2004) was a communication

scholar, sociologist, writer, and teacher. He is best known for originating the diffusion of
innovations theory and for introducing the term early adopter. Rogers was born on his
family's Pinehurst Farm in Carroll, Iowa, in 1931. He attended Iowa State University to
earn a Ph.D. in sociology and statistics in 1957. His book, Diffusion of Innovations (1962),
gave him academic fame and still remains the second most cited book title in social sciences
today.

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain

channels over time among the members of a social system. Given that decisions are not
authoritative or collective, each member of the social system faces his/her own innovation-
decision that follows a 5-step process:

1. Knowledge – person becomes aware of an innovation and has some idea of how it
functions,

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2. Persuasion – person forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the innovation,

3. Decision – person engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject the
innovation,
4. Implementation – person puts an innovation into use,
5. Confirmation – person evaluates the results of an innovation-decision already made.

Diffusion is defined as the communication process by which a new idea or new product
is accepted by the market, while the rate of diffusion is defined as the speed that the new idea
spreads from one consumer to the next. Adoption, similar to diffusion, also deals with the
psychological decision making processes of the individual, rather than those of an aggregate
market.

Rogers showed that a diffusion process in a social system follows an S-Curve in

which the adoption of a technology begins with slow change, is followed by rapid change and
ends in slow change as the product matures or new technologies emerge. He also held that
people adopt new technological innovations at different times and at different rates. He then
used the varying rates of adoption to distinguish different phases in the diffusion process
allowing practitioners to assess such things as the life of a new product or service and the
application of the correct set of marketing activities at the appropriate time.

The adoption process tracked through the diffusion curve is a decision-making process
in which an individual passes from the initial knowledge of an innovation to forming an attitude
toward the innovation, to a decision to adopt or reject it, then to its implementation and the use
of the new idea, and finally to confirmation of this decision.

The cumulative number of adopters follows the above mentioned S-shaped curve. The
number of newly ‘converted’ adopters plotted as a frequency histogram against time follows a
bell-shaped Gaussian curve where the number of new adopters rises until halfway the S-curve
after which their numbers decrease, To make the model actionable, Rogers introduced
‘innovativeness’ – the degree to which an individual is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas
than other members in a social system. This allowed Rogers to distinguished five groups of
adopters as ideal types:

1. INNOVATORS - The first 2.5% of adopters are called "Innovators". Innovators are
venturesome and educated, have multiple sources of information and show greater
propensity to take risks. They appreciate technology for its own sake and are motivated
by the idea of being a change agent in their reference group. They are willing to tolerate

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initial problems that may accompany new products or services and are willing to make
shift solutions to such problems.
2. EARLY ADOPTERS - The next 13.5% of adopters are "Early Adopters". They are the social
leaders, popular and educated. They are the visionaries in their market and are looking
to adopt and use new technology to achieve a revolutionary breakthrough that will
achieve dramatic competitive advantage in their industries. They are attracted by high-
risk, high-reward projects and are not very price sensitive because they envision great
gains in competitive advantage from adopting a new technology. They typically demand
personalized solutions and quick-response, highly qualified sales and support.
3. EARLY MAJORITY - The next 34% of adopters are formed by the "Early Majority". They
are deliberate and have many informal social contacts. Rather than looking for
revolutionary changes to gain productivity enhancements in their firms, they are
motivated by evolutionary changes. They have three principles in the adoption of new
technology:
o “When it is time to move, let’s move all together”. This principle defines why
adoption increases so rapidly in the diffusion process and causes a landslide in
demand.
o “When we pick a vendor to lead us to the new paradigm, let us all pick the same
one”. This principle explains which firm will become the market leader.
o “Once the transition starts, the sooner we get it over with, the better”. This
principle shows why the transition stage occurs rapidly.
4. LATE MAJORITY - The next 34% of adopters are the "Late Majority". They are skeptical,
traditional and of lower socio-economic status. They are very price sensitive and require
completely preassembled, bulletproof solutions. They are motivated to buy technology
just to stay even with the competition and often rely on a single, trusted adviser to help
them make sense of technology.
5. LAGGARDS - The last 16% of the adopters consists of "Laggards". Laggards are
technology skeptics who want only to maintain the status quo. They tend not to believe
that technology can enhance productivity and are likely to block new technology
purchases. Roger’s model has found wide appeal and application in such disciplines as
marketing and management science. The model’s most significant application is the
Bass Diffusion Model where the process of how new innovations are adopted through
the interaction of current and potential users is described mathematically.

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Within this theory, the goal is not to move people within the five adopter
categories into another category, but to streamline the innovation to meet the needs of
all five categories. The Diffusion of Innovation theory is a very important theory that can
serve administrators, information technologists, nursing informatics experts, and
change agents well. The theory also benefits the targets of change, since respect and
consideration for all involved stakeholders is intertwined with robust strategies for
implementing innovative change.

Why has the tipping point become such a popular idea? Carefully researched
analysis has shown that it is an undeniable phenomenon that once understood provides
simple and valuable prescriptions for efforts in encouraging diffusion. There seem to be
many innovations that are valuable for the masses, yet to date have resisted diffusion.
For example, we still use the QWERTY keyboard despite the development of another
keyboard that allows much faster typing for the average user. Also, there are many
social ideals that a large number of people are very interested in spreading. In
particular situations, such as our own relatively heterophilous nation, the research
suggests that there is a reasonable chance that, given concerted effort, support for
these valuable products and ideas may be pushed to the tipping point. And as our
communication networks become denser through technological advance, the diffusion
process is happening faster and faster. So it seems that understanding and utilizing
diffusion networks can aid strategy aimed at quickly inducing system-wide change.

Successful efforts to diffuse an innovation depend on characteristics of the

situation. To eliminate a deficit of awareness of an innovation, mass media channels are
most appropriate. To change prevailing attitudes about an innovation, it is best to
persuade opinion leaders. Further, what we find is that in homophilous social systems
are likely to frustrate change agents with their resistance to innovation. It is only for
heterophilous social systems that pushing an innovation to the elusive tipping point is a
relatively easy thing to do.

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MULTISTEP FLOW THEORY (Katz and

Lazazrsfeld)
The two-step flow of communication or Multistep Flow Model, says that most
people from their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are
influenced by the mass media. So according to this model, ideas flow from mass media
to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.

The two-step flow of

communication hypothesis was
first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld,
Bernard Berelson, and Hazel
Gaudet in The People's Choice, a
1944 study focused on the process of
decision-making during a
Presidential election campaign.
These researchers expected to find empirical support for the direct influence of media
messages on voting intentions. They were surprised to discover, however, that informal,
personal contacts were mentioned far more frequently than exposure to radio or
newspaper as sources of influence on voting behavior. Armed with this data, Katz and
Lazarsfeld developed the two-step flow theory of mass communication.

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This theory asserts

that information from the
media moves in two distinct
stages. First, individuals
(opinion leaders) who pay
close attention to the mass
media and its messages
receive the information.

Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual

media content. The term ‘personal influence’ was coined to refer to the process
intervening between the media’s direct message and the audience’s ultimate reaction
to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their
attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to
those they influence. The two-step flow theory
has improved our understanding of how the
mass media influence decision making. The
theory refined the ability to predict the
influence of media messages on audience
behavior, and it helped explain why certain
media campaigns may have failed to alter
audience attitudes an behavior. The two-step
flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass communication or diffusion
of innovation theory.

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Chapter 10:
COMMUNICATION
MODELS
Although adapted and updated, much of the information in this lecture is
derived from C. David Mortensen, Communication: The Study of Human Communication
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1972), Chapter 2, “Communication Models.”

What is a Model?

1. Mortensen: “In the broadest sense, a model is a systematic representation of an

object or event in idealized and abstract form. Models are somewhat arbitrary
by their nature. The act of abstracting eliminates certain details to focus on
essential factors. . . . The key to the usefulness of a model is the degree to which
it conforms--in point-by-point correspondence--to the underlying determinants
of communicative behavior.”

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2. “Communication models are merely pictures; they’re even distorting pictures,

because they stop or freeze an essentially dynamic interactive or transactive
process into a static picture.”
3. Models are metaphors. They allow us to see one thing in terms of another.

The Advantages of Models

1. They should allow us to ask questions.

Mortensen: “A good model is useful, then, in providing both general
perspective and particular vantage points from which to ask questions
and to interpret the raw stuff of observation. The more complex the
subject matter—the more amorphous and elusive the natural
boundaries—the greater are the potential rewards of model building.”

2. They should clarify complexity.

Models also clarify the structure of complex events. They do this, as
Chapanis (1961) noted, by reducing complexity to simpler, more familiar
terms. . . Thus, the aim of a model is not to ignore complexity or to
explain it away, but rather to give it order and coherence.
3. They should lead us to new discoveries-most important, according to Mortensen.

At another level models have heuristic value; that is, they provide new
ways to conceive of hypothetical ideas and relationships. This may well
be their most important function. With the aid of a good model, suddenly
we are jarred from conventional modes of thought. . . . Ideally, any
model, even when studied casually, should offer new insights and
culminate in what can only be described as an “Aha!” experience.

C. Limitations of Models

1. Can lead to oversimplifications.

“There is no denying that much of the work in designing communication

models illustrates the oft-repeated charge that anything in human affairs

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which can be modeled is by definition too superficial to be given serious

consideration.”

Some, like Duhem’s (1954), believe there is no value in models at all:

We can guard against the risks of oversimplification by recognizing the

fundamental distinction between simplification and oversimplification. By
definition, and of necessity, models simplify. So do all comparisons. As
Kaplan (1964) noted, “Science always simplifies; its aim is not to
reproduce the reality in all its complexity, but only to formulate what is
essential for understanding, prediction, or control. That a model is
simpler than the subject-matter being inquired into is as much a virtue as
a fault, and is, in any case, inevitable [p. 280].” So the real question is
what gets simplified. Insofar as a model ignores crucial variables and
recurrent relationships, it is open to the charge of oversimplification. If
the essential attributes or particulars of the event are included, the
model is to be credited with the virtue of parsimony, which insists-where
everything is equal-that the simplest of two interpretations is superior.
Simplification, after all, is inherent in the act of abstracting. For example,
an ordinary orange has a vast number of potential attributes; it is
necessary to consider only a few when one decides to eat an orange, but
many more must be taken into account when one wants to capture the
essence of an orange in a prize-winning photograph. abstracting. For
example, an ordinary orange has a vast number of potential attributes; it
is necessary to consider only a few when one decides to eat an orange,
but many more must be taken into account when one wants to capture
the essence of an orange in a prize-winning photograph.

Models can miss important points of comparison. Chapanis (1961), “A model

can tolerate a considerable amount of slop [p. 118].”

2. Can lead of a confusion of the model between the behavior it portrays

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Mortensen: “Critics also charge that models are readily confused with reality.
The problem typically begins with an initial exploration of some unknown
territory. . . .Then the model begins to function as a substitute for the event: in
short, the map is taken literally. And what is worse, another form of ambiguity is
substituted for the uncertainty the map was designed to minimize. What has
happened is a sophisticated version of the general semanticist’s admonition that
“the map is not the territory.” Spain is not pink because it appears that way on
the map, and Minnesota is not up because it is located near the top of a United
States map.
“The proper antidote lies in acquiring skill in the art of map reading.”
3. Premature Closure

The model designer may escape the risks of oversimplification and map
reading and still fall prey to dangers inherent in abstraction. To press for
closure is to strive for a sense of completion in a system.

Kaplan (1964):

The danger is that the model limits our awareness of unexplored

possibilities of conceptualization. We tinker with the model when we
might be better occupied with the subject-matter itself. In many areas of
human behavior, our knowledge is on the level of folk wisdom ...
incorporating it in a model does not automatically give such knowledge
scientific status. The majority of our ideas is usually a matter of slow
growth, which cannot be forced.... Closure is premature if it lays down
the lines for our thinking to follow when we do not know enough to say
even whether one direction or another is the more promising. Building a
model, in short, may crystallize our thoughts at a stage when they are
better left in solution, to allow new compounds to precipitate [p. 279].

One can reduce the hazards only by recognizing that physical reality can be
represented in any number of ways.

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D. Classical Communication Models

1. Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric. Ehninger, Gronbeck and Monroe: One of the

earliest definitions of communication came from the Greek philosopher-teacher
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.).

a. “Rhetoric” is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means
of persuasion” (Rhetoric 1335b).

b. Aristotle’s speaker-centered model received perhaps its fullest development

in the hands of Roman educator Quintilian (ca. 35-95 A.D.), whose Institutio
Oratoria was filled with advice on the full training of a “good” speaker-
statesman.

2. Aristotle’s model of proof. Kinnevay also sees a model of communication in

Aristotle’s description of proof:

a. Logos, inheres in the content or the message itself

b. Pathos, inheres in the audience

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c. Ethos, inheres in the speaker

3. Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation. Lloyd Bitzer developed described the “Rhetorical

Situation,” which, while not a model, identifies some of the classical components
of a communication situation (“The Rhetorical Situation,” Philosophy and
Rhetoric, 1 (Winter, 1968):1-15.). Bitzer defines the “rhetorical situation” as “a
complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or
potential exigency which can be completely or partially removed if discourse,
introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action so as to
bring about significant modification of the exigency.”

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LASSWELL MODEL
Harold Dwight Lasswell, the American
political scientist states that a convenient way to
describe an act of communication is to answer the
following questions.

 Who
 Says What
 In Which Channel
 To Whom
 With what effect?

This model is about process of communication and its function to society,

According to Lasswell there are three functions for communication:

1. Surveillance of the environment

2. Correlation of components of society
3. Cultural transmission between generation

Lasswell model suggests the message flow in a multicultural society with

multiple audiences. The flow of message is through various channels. And also this
communication model is similar to Aristotle’s communication model.

In this model, the communication component who refers the research area
called “Control Analysis”,

Says what is refers to “Content Analysis”,

In which channel is refers to “Media Analysis”,

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To Whom is refers to “Audience Analysis”

With What Effect is refers to “Effect Analysis”

Example:

CNN NEWS – A water leak from Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear power station resulted
in about 100 times the permitted level of radioactive material flowing into the sea,
operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Saturday.

Who – TEPC Operator

What – Radioactive material flowing into sea

Channel – CNN NEWS (Television medium)

Whom – Public

Effect – Alert the people of japan from the radiation.

Advantage of Lasswell model:

 It is Easy and Simple

 It suits for almost all types of communication
 The concept of effect

Disadvantage of Lasswell model:

 Feedback not mentioned

 Noise not mentioned
 Linear Model

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SCHRAMM’S MODEL
Wilbur Schramm (1954) was one of the first to alter the mathematical model of
Shannon and Weaver. He conceived of decoding and encoding as activities maintained
simultaneously by sender and receiver; he also made provisions for a two-way
interchange of messages. Notice also the inclusion of an “interpreter” as an abstract
representation of the problem of meaning.

(From Wilbur Schramm, “How Communication Works,” in The Process and

Effects of Communication, ed. Wilbur Schramm (Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
1954), pp. 3-26):

Strengths

1. Schramm provided the additional notion of a “field of experience,” or the

psychological frame of reference; this refers to the type of orientation or
attitudes which interactants maintain toward each other.
2. Included Feedback

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A.) Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be

delayed.
i.) Some of these methods of communication are very direct, as when
you talk in direct response to someone.
ii.) Others are only moderately direct; you might squirm when a speaker
drones on and on, wrinkle your nose and scratch your head when a
message is too abstract, or shift your body position when you think it’s
your turn to talk.
iii.) Still other kinds of feedback are completely indirect.
B.) For example,
i.) politicians discover if they’re getting their message across by the
number of votes cast on the first Tuesday in November;
ii.) commercial sponsors examine sales figures to gauge their
communicative effectiveness in ads;
iii.) teachers measure their abilities to get the material across in a
particular course by seeing how many students sign up for it the next
term.
3. Included Context
A.) A message may have different meanings, depending upon the specific
context or setting.
B.) Shouting “Fire!” on a rifle range produces one set of reactions-reactions quite
different from those produced in a crowded theater.
4. Included Culture
A message may have different meanings associated with it depending upon the
culture or society. Communication systems, thus, operate within the confines of
cultural rules and expectations to which we all have been educated.
5. Other model designers abstracted the dualistic aspects of communication as a
series of “loops,” (Mysak, 1970), “speech cycles” (Johnson, 1953), “co-
orientation” (Newcomb, 1953), and overlapping “psychological fields” (Fearing,
1953).

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Weakness

Schramm’s model, while less linear, still accounts for only bilateral
communication between two parties. The complex, multiple levels of communication
between several sources is beyond this model.

SHANNON AND WEAVER’S MODEL

Claude Shannon, an engineer for the Bell Telephone Company, designed the
most influential of all early communication models. His goal was to formulate a theory
to guide the efforts of engineers in finding the most efficient way of transmitting
electrical signals from one location to another (Shannon and Weaver, 1949). Later
Shannon introduced a mechanism in the receiver which corrected for differences
between the transmitted and received signal; this monitoring or correcting mechanism
was the forerunner of the now widely used concept of feedback (information which a
communicator gains from others in response to his own verbal behavior).

Strengths

1. This model, or a variation on it, is the most common communication model used
in low-level communication texts.

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2. Significant development. “Within a decade a host of other disciplines—many in

the behavioral sciences—adapted it to countless interpersonal situations, often
distorting it or making exaggerated claims for its use.”
3. “Taken as an approximation of the process of human communication.”
4. Significant heuristic value.
With only slight changes in terminology, a number of nonmathematical schemas
have elaborated on the major theme. For example, Harold Lasswell (1948)
conceived of analyzing the mass media in five stages: “Who?” “Says what?” “In
which channel?” “To whom?” “With what effect?” In apparent elaboration on
Lasswell and/or Shannon and Weaver, George Gerbner (1956) extended the
components to include the notions of perception, reactions to a situation, and
message context.
5. The concepts of this model became staples in communication research

A.) Entropy-the measure of uncertainty in a system. “Uncertainty or

entropy increases in exact proportion to the number of messages from which the
source has to choose. In the simple matter of flipping a coin, entropy is low
because the destination knows the probability of a coin’s turning up either heads
or tails. In the case of a two-headed coin, there can be neither any freedom of
choice nor any reduction in uncertainty so long as the destination knows exactly
what the outcome must be. In other words, the value of a specific bit of
information depends on the probability that it will occur. In general, the
informative value of an item in a message decreases in exact proportion to the
likelihood of its occurrence.”

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B.) Redundancy-the degree to which information is not unique in the

system. “Those items in a message that add no new information are redundant.
Perfect redundancy is equal to total repetition and is found in pure form only in
machines. In human beings, the very act of repetition changes, in some minute
way, the meaning or the message and the larger social significance of the event.
Zero redundancy creates sheer unpredictability, for there is no way of knowing
what items in a sequence will come next. As a rule, no message can reach
maximum efficiency unless it contains a balance between the unexpected and
the predictable, between what the receiver must have underscored to acquire
understanding and what can be deleted as extraneous.”

C.) Noise-the measure of information not related to the message. “Any

additional signal that interferes with the reception of information is noise. In
electrical apparatus noise comes only from within the system, whereas in human
activity it may occur quite apart from the act of transmission and reception.
Interference may result, for example, from background noise in the immediate
surroundings, from noisy channels (a crackling microphone), from the
organization and semantic aspects of the message (syntactical and semantical
noise), or from psychological interference with encoding and decoding. Noise
need not be considered a detriment unless it produces a significant interference
with the reception of the message. Even when the disturbance is substantial, the
strength of the signal or the rate of redundancy may be increased to restore
efficiency.”

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D.) Channel Capacity-the measure of the maximum amount of

information a channel can carry. “The battle against uncertainty depends upon
the number of alternative possibilities the message eliminates. Suppose you
wanted to know where a given checker was located on a checkerboard. If you
start by asking if it is located in the first black square at the extreme left of the
second row from the top and find the answer to be no, sixty-three possibilities
remain-a high level of uncertainty. On the other hand, if you first ask whether it
falls on any square at the top half of the board, the alternative will be reduced by
half regardless of the answer. By following the first strategy it could be necessary
to ask up to sixty-three questions (inefficient indeed!); but by consistently
halving the remaining possibilities, you will obtain the right answer in no more
than six tries.”

6. Provided an influential yet counter-intuitive definition of communication.

From Littlejohn, Stephen W. Theories of Human Communication. Second

Ed. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1983, p 116.

Information is a measure of uncertainty, or entropy, in a situation. The

greater the uncertainty, the more the information. When a situation is
completely predictable, no information is present. Most people associate
information with certainty or knowledge; consequently, this definition from
information theory can be confusing. As used by the information theorist, the
concept does not refer to a message, facts, or meaning. It is a concept bound
only to the quantification of stimuli or signals in a situation.

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On closer examination, this idea of information is not as distant from

common sense as it first appears. We have said that information is the amount
of uncertainty in the situation. Another way of thinking of it is to consider
information as the number of messages required to completely reduce the
uncertainty in the situation. For example, your friend is about to flip a coin. Will
it land heads up or tails up? You are uncertain, you cannot predict. This
uncertainty, which results from the entropy in the situation, will be eliminated
by seeing the result of the flip. Now let’s suppose that you have received a tip
that your friend’s coin is two headed. The flip is “fixed.” There is no uncertainty
and therefore no information. In other words, you could not receive any
message that would make you predict any better than you already have. In
short, a situation with which you are completely familiar has no information for
you [emphasis added].
7. See Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of
Communication (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949). For a number of
excellent brief secondary sources, see the bibliography. Two sources were
particu-larly helpful in the preparation of this chapter: Allan R. Broadhurst and
Donald K. Darnell, “An Introduction to Cybernetics and Information Theory,”
Quarterly Journal of Speech 51 (1965): 442-53; Klaus Krippendorf, “Information
Theory,” in Communication and Behavior, ed. G. Hanneman and W. McEwen
(Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975), 351-89.

Weaknesses

1. Not analogous to much of human communication.

A.) “Only a fraction of the information conveyed in interpersonal encounters can
be taken as remotely corresponding to the teletype action of statistically rare or
redundant signals.”
B.) “Though Shannon’s technical concept of information is fascinating in many
respects, it ranks among the least important ways of conceiving of what we recognize as
“information.”
2. Only formal—does not account for content
A.) Mortensen: “Shannon and Weaver were concerned only with technical
problems associated with the selection and arrangement of discrete units of

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information—in short, with purely formal matters, not content. Hence, their model does
not apply to semantic or pragmatic dimensions of language. “
B.) Theodore Roszak provides a thoughtful critique of Shannon’s model in The
Cult of Information. Roszak notes the unique way in which Shannon defined
information:
Once, when he was explaining his work to a group of prominent scientists who
challenged his eccentric definition, he replied, “I think perhaps the word ‘information’ is
causing more trouble . . . than it is worth, except that it is difficult to find another word
that is anywhere near right. It should be kept solidly in mind that [information] is only a
measure of the difficulty in transmitting the sequences produced by some information
source” [emphasis added]
C.) As Roszak points out, Shannon’s model has no mechanism for distinguishing
important ideas from pure non-sense:
In much the same way, in its new technical sense, information has come to denote
whatever can be coded for transmission through a channel that connects a source with
a receiver, regardless of semantic content. For Shannon’s purposes, all the following are
“information”:
E = mc2
Jesus saves.
Thou shalt not kill.
I think, therefore I am.
Phillies 8, Dodgers 5
‘Twas brillig and the slithy roves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
And indeed, these are no more or less meaningful than any string of haphazard
bits (x!9#44jGH?566MRK) I might be willing to pay to have telexed across the continent.
As the mathematician Warren Weaver once put it, explaining “the strange way in which,
in this theory, the word ‘information’ is used .... It is surprising but true that, from the
present viewpoint, two messages, one heavily loaded with meaning and the other pure
nonsense, can be equivalent as regards information” [emphasis added].
3. Static and Linear
Mortensen: “Finally, the most serious shortcoming of the Shannon-Weaver
communication system is that it is relatively static and linear. It conceives of a
linear and literal transmission of information from one location to another. The
notion of linearity leads to misleading ideas when transferred to human conduct;

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some of the problems can best be underscored by studying several alternative

models of communication.”

OSGOOD AND SCHRAMM’S MODEL

It is a Circular Model, so that communication is something circular in nature

Encoder – Who does encoding or Sends the message (message originates)

Decoder – Who receives the message

Interpreter – Person trying to understand (analyses, perceive) or interpret

Note: From the message starting to ending, there is an interpretation goes on.
Based on this interpretation only the message is received.

This model breaks the sender and receiver model it seems communication in a
practical way. It is not a traditional model.

It can happen within our self or two people; each person acts as both sender and
receiver and hence use interpretation. It is simultaneously take place e.g. encoding,
interpret and decoding.

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Semantic noise is a concept introduced here it occurs when sender and receiver
apply different meaning to the same message. It happens mostly because of words and
phrases for e.g. Technical Language, So certain words and phrases will cause you to
deviate from the actual meaning of the communication.

Note: When semantic noise takes place decoding and interpretation becomes
difficult and people get deviated from the actual message.

Advantage of Osgood- Schramm model of communication

1. Dynamic model- Shows how a situation can change

2. It shows why redundancy is an essential part
3. There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and receiver is the same
person
4. Assume communication to be circular in nature
5. Feedback – central feature.

Disadvantage of Osgood- Schramm model of communication

This model does not talk about semantic noise and it assume the moment of
encoding and decoding.

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DANCE’S MODEL
Depicts communication as a dynamic process. Mortensen: “The helix represents
the way communication evolves in an individual from his birth to the existing moment.”

Dance: “At any and all times, the helix gives geometrical testimony to the
concept that communication while moving forward is at the same moment coming back
upon itself and being affected by its past behavior, for the coming curve of the helix is
fundamentally affected by the curve from which it emerges. Yet, even though slowly,
the helix can gradually free itself from its lower-level distortions. The communication
process, like the helix, is constantly moving forward and yet is always to some degree
dependent upon the past, which informs the present and the future. The helical
communication model offers a flexible communication process” [p. 296].

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Strengths

1. Mortensen: “As a heuristic device, the helix is interesting not so much for what it
says as for what it permits to be said. Hence, it exemplifies a point made earlier:
It is important to approach models in a spirit of speculation and intellectual
play.”
2. Chapanis (1961) called “sophisticated play:”
The helix implies that communication is continuous, unrepeatable, additive, and
accumulative; that is, each phase of activity depends upon present forces at
work as they are defined by all that has occurred before. All experience
contributes to the shape of the unfolding moment; there is no break in the
action, no fixed beginning, no pure redundancy, no closure. All communicative
experience is the product of learned, nonrepeatable events which are defined in
ways the organism develops to be self-consistent and socially meaningful. In
short, the helix underscores the integrated aspects of all human communication
as an evolving process that is always turned inward in ways that permit learning,
growth, and discovery.

Weaknesses

1. May not be a model at all: too few variables.

Mortensen: “If judged against conventional scientific standards, the helix does
not fare well as a model. Indeed, some would claim that it does not meet the
requirements of a model at all. More specifically, it is not a systematic or
formalized mode of representation. Neither does it formalize relationships or
isolate key variables. It describes in the abstract but does not explicitly explain or
make particular hypotheses testable.”
2. Generates Questions, but leaves much unanswered.
Mortensen: “For example, does not the helix imply a false degree of continuity
from one communicative situation to another? Do we necessarily perceive all
encounters as actually occurring in an undifferentiated, unbroken sequence of
events? Does an unbroken line not conflict with the human experience of
discontinuity, intermittent periods, false starts, and so forth? Is all
communication a matter of growth, upward and onward, in an ever-broadening

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range of encounters? If the helix represents continuous learning and growth,

how can the same form also account for deterioration and decay? What about
the forces of entropy, inertia, decay, and pathology? And does not the unbroken
line of a helix tacitly ignore the qualitative distinctions that inevitably
characterize different communicative events? Also, what about movements
which we define as utterly wasted, forced, or contrived? Along similar lines, how
can the idea of continuous, unbroken growth include events we consider
meaningless, artificial, or unproductive? Countless other questions could be
raised. And that is the point. The model brings problems of abstraction into the
open. “artificial, or unproductive? Countless other questions could be raised.
And that is the point. The model brings problems of abstraction into the open."

GERBNER’S MODEL
Mr. George Gerbner is one of the
pioneers in the field of communication
research. His works are descriptive as well
as very easy to understand any other
before. He is working as a professor and
head of the Annenberg School of
Communications in the University of
Pennsylvania. In 1956, Gerbner attempted
the general purpose of communication
models. He stressed the dynamic nature of communication in his work and also the
factor which affecting the reliability of communication.

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(Note: This model can be best understood when read along with the diagram beginning at E –
Event.)

Perceptual Dimension:

An ‘E’ is an event happens in the real life and the event content or message is
perceived by ‘M’ (Man or a Machine). After Perceives the message from “E” by “M” is
known as “E1”. E1 is not same as like ‘E’. Because any man or machine can’t perceives
the whole event and they perceives only the part of the event (E1). This is known as
“Perceptual Dimension”.

These 3 factors are involves between ‘E’ and ‘M’

 Selection
 Context
 Availability

M (man or machine) cannot perceive the entire content of the event “E”. So M
selects the interesting or needed content from the entire event and filtering the others.
The context occurs in the event and Availability is based on ‘M’s attitude, mood, culture
and personality. (For eg. How a journalist perceives the messages from the event and
also can’t focus the whole event so they filter the unwanted or unrelated content from

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the event. This filtered content is not same as like the actual event content because the
journalist edits the content based on his attitude, mood and cultural background or
press policies).

Means and Controls dimension:

E2 is the event content which is drawn or artified by M. Here M becomes the

source of a message about E to send someone else. M creates a statement or signals
about the message and Gerbner termed its Form and content as “SE2”. S (Signal or
Form) it takes and E2 (Man’s content). Here Content (E2) is structured or formed (S) by
‘M’ and it can communicate in a different ways or based on the structured ways.

M has to use channels (or media) over to send the message which he has a
greater or lesser degree of control. The question of ‘control’ relates to M’s degree of
skill in using communication channels. If using a verbal channel, how good is he using
words? If using the Internet, how good is he at using new technology and words?

This process can be extended to infinitum by adding on other receivers (M2,

M3etc.) who have further perceptions (SE3, SE4 etc.) of the statements about perceived
events.

Important Note: Message at every level is altered or changed.

Example:

In case of news reporting, E can be any event that has happened and the
reporter (M) selects a particular part of event (E1) that may be provide his channel
higher TRP ratings or the news may boost the particular party which his channel
supports. This SE2 is sent through a medium to the mass audience. Then the audience
distributed the message (SE2) and he (M1) sends to his friends with his interpretation
and the process continues.

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WESTLEY AND MACLEAN’S MODEL

Westley and MacLean realized that communication does not begin when one
person starts to talk, but rather when a person responds selectively to his immediate
physical surroundings.

Each interactant responds to his sensory experience (X1 . . . ) by abstracting out

certain objects of orientation (X1 . . . 3m). Some items are selected for further
interpretation or coding (X’) and then are transmitted to another person, who may or
may not be responding to the same objects of orientation (X,b)

A conceptual model of communication. (Reprinted with permission from Westley and MacLean, Jr., 1957.)

(a) Objects of orientation (X 1 ... X) in the sensory field of the receiver (B) are trans mitted directly to him in
abstracted form (XZ ... X 3) after a process of selection from among all Xs, such selection being based at least

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in part on the needs and problems of B. Some or all messages are transmitted in more than one sense (X3m,
for example).

(b) The same Xs are selected and abstracted by communicator A and transmitted as a message (x') to B,
who may or may not have part or all of the Xs in his own sensory field (X1b). Whether on purpose or not, B
transmits feedback (fBA) to A.

(c) The Xs that B receives may result from selected abstractions which are transm itted without purpose by
encoder C, who acts for B and thus extends B's environment. C's selections are necessarily based in part on
feedback (fBC) from B.

(d) The messages which C transmits to B (x") represent C's selections both from the messages he get s from
A (x') and from the abstractions in his own sensory field (X3c, X 4), which may or may not be in A's field.
Feedback moves not only from B to A (fBA) and from B to C (f BC) but also from C to A (fCA). Clearly, in mass
communication, a large number of Cs receive from a very large number of As and transmit to a vastly larger
number of Bs, who simultaneously receive messages from other Cs.

Strengths

1. Accounts for Feedback

2. Accounts for a sensory field or, in Newcomb’s (1953) words, “objects of co-
orientation.”
3. Accounts for non-binary interactions—more than just two people
communicating directly.
4. Accounts for different modes. E.g. interpersonal vs. mass mediated
communication.

Weaknesses

Westley and MacLean’s model accounts for many more variables in the typical
communication interaction. It is, however, still two-dimensional. It cannot account for
the multiple dimensions
of the typical
communication event
involving a broad
context and multiple
message.

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RILEY AND RILEY’S MODEL

John W. and Matilda White Riley, the husband and wife team of sociologists
from Brunswick published many articles together on communication. The Riley
developed a model to illustrate the sociological implications in communication. They
discuss their ideas about communication theory in an article entitled “Mass
Communication and the Social System” (Sociology Today, 1959). The basis for their ideas
lies in the work of Aristotle and Lasswell, and point out the importance of the
sociological view in communication in another way.

The Riley and Riley Communication Model

Riley & Riley Model:

 Larger Social Structure 1 contains Communicator, Primary Group a1 and a2.

Communicator (c) is representing the larger social group 1.
 Larger Social Structure 2 contains Receiver, Primary Group b1 and b2. Receiver
(R) is representing the larger social group 2.
 Larger Social group 1 and larger social group 2 is comes under the Over All Social
System.

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Who is this Primary Group ?

Primary groups are distinguished by their degree of intimacy say may be friends,
relatives. There is also secondary group otherwise known as the reference group
(though not mentioned in the figure) who doesn’t share a very intimate relationship
with C or R but do influence in the communication process. e.g.: any organization C or R
belong to (fan club).

The model indicates that the Communicator (C) sends a message with
agreement to the expectations of the groups and other people in the larger social
system. The communicator is a part of a larger social structure and the group is called as
a “Primary Groups”. In simple words, a communicator is influenced by the primary
group.

The Receiver is also works as like as Communicator which is also influenced by

the other groups in the larger social system. The receiver (R) receives the feedback
based on the communicator’s message from its primary social groups. Then send that
feedback to communicator (C) to rectify any issues or problems.

The important point is the both Communicator and Receiver are a part of an
over-all social system.

Importance of the Model:

 The model clearly illustrates that communication is a two-way proposition.

 Communicator and recipient are interdependent and interrelated by feedback
mechanisms.
 Communicator and receiver are part of a larger social context (be it family,
community, or work place); and are not acting in isolation.

Example:

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Let’s say there has been a new library website unveiled, it is determined that the
library terms, or jargon, used for navigating the website is confusing the students as
they browse the site. The communicator (C) would be the library Dean and staff who
have created the website and have included terminology and relate to (influence by the
primary group). The college librarians would be the larger social structure in which
Communicator (C) is a part of librarian’s staff community as well as student’s
community.

The receiver (R) is the college student who does not understand the jargon and
becomes frustrated in his/her search for information. The receiver, who is a member of
sociological groups containing all students, has their own expectations which is relate to
the library web site and how they navigate it.

The Receiver (R) informs about the issues directly to Communicator (c). Based on the
receiver’s compliant, the communicator solves these issues by his primary group
members (staffs).

This communication model helps to solve the dispute between the two groups in
the large social structure as well as it evolves the better understanding between those
two groups.

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MALETZKE’S MODEL
This model of the mass media by the German academic Maletzke looks at first
sight as if it might be a map of the Berlin underground. Don't be put off by its apparent
complexity, though. Take the time to examine the whole model and take a careful look
at the elements Maletzke lists. Although it may seem very complicated, you should
immediately recognise some elements common to most general communication
models, namely Communicator (C), Message (M), Medium and Receiver (R).

Although Maletzke's Model (1963) is perhaps now a little dated, you will
probably find that, together with Berlo's S-M-C-R Model, this is one of the most useful
general models to guide you through the various stages of developing practical work,
even if you don't think of your artefact as belonging to the 'mass media'.

It is a particularly useful model in outlining the gatekeeping process at the

Communicator 'end' of the process.

As you complete practical work, it's worth taking out some time to reflect on the
choices you have made and to consider to what extent they have been determined by
the factors Maletzke lists.

It's of some interest to note that Maletzke's model comprises four major
elements, whereas the Lasswell Formula, which underlies many communication models,
comprises five. Maletzke argues that the 'with what effect?' component of Lasswell's
model properly belongs to sociological and psychological study of the receiver and
should therefore not be introduced as a fifth component. He mentions in passing that
other commentators have introduced a variety of different elements, for example:

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Braddock has seven: 'Who says what to whom under what circumstances
through what medium and with what effect? (Braddock, through further segmentation,
eventually arrives at 84)

McLuhan has seven: source of information, the sensing process, sending, the
flight of information or transportation of information, receiving, decision-making, the
action

Gerbner differentiates between ten: (1)Someone (2)perceives an (3)event and

(4)reacts in a (5)situation thorugh some (6)means to make available (7)materials in
some (8)form and (9)context conveying (10)content of some consequence.

Maletzke insists that only four major categories are sufficient.

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Chapter 11:
MODELS ON
PERSONAL
INFLUENCE,
DIFFUSION AND
EFFECTS

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KATZ AND LAZARSFELD’S MODEL

In 1944 Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard
Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet developed
two step flow theory. They are focused
on the process of decision-making during
a Presidential election campaign.

Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld and

his collegues developed two step flow
theory on 1955. This theory asserts that
information from the media moves in two
distinct stages. Ideas often flow from the
mass media to less active section of the
population through the opinion leaders.

The power of the mass media therefore is indirect and is reduced by the
influence of local opinion leaders. The power of media therefore is indirect and is
reduced by the influence of local opinion leaders.

 First, opinion leaders who pay close attention to the mass media and its
messages receive the information.
 Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the
actual media content.
 The term ‘personal influence’ was intervening between the media’s
direct message and the audience’s ultimate reaction to that message.·
 Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their
attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence.

Meaning of Two step theory

 Media rarely directly influence individuals.

 People are not easily manipulated by media content
 There is a two step flow of media influence

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 Most people have developed strongly held group commitments such as

political party and religious affiliations.That individual media messages
are powerless to overcome
 When media effects do occur they will be modest and isolated . They are
some how cutoff from the influence of their people. They are
undermined by social crises.eg. educated urban people

The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass
media influence decision making.
The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on
audience behavior, and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed
to alter audience attitudes and behavior.

ROGERS AND SHOEMAKER’S MODEL

Rogers' model has become a standard reference in planning and guiding
organizational change processes involving the adoption of new innovations.
Understanding how early adopters will push organizational uptake on new products and
processes, or how entrenched resistors or "persistent sceptics" can stonewall change,
have become required reading for change managers.

In theory, a small number of innovators and early adopters are the instigators of
innovations' birthing processes; while the bulk of employees and administrators fall in
the middle early and late majority "show me" categories, held up by the resistant few
who are opposed to change. In eLearnerWorks real-life experiences, the model is
situational. In some cases the curve can be heavily weighted toward either end, rather
than the classic bell curve below.

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Diffusion scholars recognise five qualities that determine the success of an innovation.
According to Everett Rogers, these five qualities determine between 49 and 87 percent
of the variation in the adoption of new products.

1. Relative advantage - This is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as

better than the idea it supersedes by a particular group of users, measured in
terms that matter to those users, like economic advantage, social prestige,
convenience, or satisfaction. The greater the perceived relative advantage of an
innovation, the more rapid its rate of adoption is likely to be. There are no
absolute rules for what constitutes “relative advantage”. It depends on the
particular perceptions and needs of the user group.
2. Compatibility with existing values and practices - This is the degree to which an
innovation is perceived as being consistent with the values, past experiences,
and needs of potential adopters. An idea that is incompatible with their values,
norms or practices will not be adopted as rapidly as an innovation that is
compatible.
3. Simplicity and ease of use - This is the degree to which an innovation is perceived
as difficult to understand and use. New ideas that are simpler to understand are
adopted more rapidly than innovations that require the adopter to develop new
skills and understandings.

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4. Trialability - This is the degree to which an innovation can be experimented with

on a limited basis. An innovation that is trialable represents less risk to the
individual who is considering it.
5. Observable results - The easier it is for individuals to see the results of an
innovation, the more likely they are to adopt it. Visible results lower uncertainty
and also stimulate peer discussion of a new idea, as friends and neighbours of an
adopter often request information about it.

Diffusion researchers believe that a population can be broken down into five
different segments, based on their propensity to adipt a specific innovation: innovators,
early adopters, early majorities, late majorities and laggards. Each group has its own
“personality”, at least as far as its attitude to a particular innovation.

1. Innovators - The adoption process begins with a tiny number of visionary,

imaginative innovators. They often lavish great time, energy and creativity on
developing new ideas and gadgets. And they love to talk about them.
How to work with innovators:
 Track them down and become their “first followers”, providing support
and publicity for their ideas.
 Invite keen innovators to be partners in designing your project.
2. Early adopters - Once the benefits start to become apparent, early adopters leap
in. They are on the lookout for a strategic leap forward in their lives or
businesses and are quick to make connections between clever innovations and
their personal needs. They love getting an advantage over their peers and they
have time and money to invest. They’re often fashion conscious and love to be

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seen as leaders: social prestige is one of their biggest drivers. Their natural desire
to be trend setters causes the “take-off ” of an innovation.
Early adopters tend to be more economically successful, well more
socially respected. Their seemingly risky plunge into a new activity sets tongues
wagging. Others watch to see whether they prosper of fail, and people start
talking about the results. And early adopters like to talk about their successes. So
the buzz intensifies. What early adopters say about an innovation determines its
success. The more they crow and preen, the more likely the new behavior or
product will be perceived positively by the majority of a population.
Early adopters are vital for another reason. They become an independent
test bed, ironing out the chinks and reinventing the innovation to suit
mainstream needs. Fortunately early adopters are an easy audience. They don’t
need much persuading because they are on the lookout for anything that could
give them a social or economic edge. When you call a public meeting to discuss
energy-saving devices or new farming methods, they’re the ones who come
along. They’re the first people in your block to install a water tank, mulch their
garden, buy laptops for their kids, or install solar panels.
How to work with early adopters:
 Offer strong face-to-face support for a limited number of early adopters
to trial the new idea.
 Study the trials carefully to discover how to make the idea more
convenient, low cost and marketable.
 Reward their egos e.g. with media coverage.
 Promote them as fashion leaders (beginning with the cultish end of the
media market).
 Recruit and train some as peer educators.
 Maintain relationships with regular feedback.
3. Early majority - Assuming the product or behaviour leaps the chasm, it may
eventually reach majority audiences. Early majorities are pragmatists,
comfortable with moderately progressive ideas, but won’t act without solid
proof of benefits. They are followers who are influenced by mainstream fashions
and wary of fads. They want to hear “industry standard” and “endorsed by

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normal, respectable folks”. Majorities are cost sensitive and risk averse. They are
looking for simple, proven, better ways of doing what they already do. They
require guaranteed off-the-shelf performance, minimum disruption, minimum
commitment of time, minimum learning, and either cost neutrality or rapid
payback periods. And they hate complexity. They haven’t got time to think about
your product or project. They’re too busy getting the kids to football and running
their businesses. If they do have spare time they’re not going to spend it fussing
around with complicated, expensive, inconvenient products or behaviours. They
want to hear “plug-and-play”, “no sweat” or “user-friendly” and “value for
money”.
How to work with early majority:
 Offer give-aways or competitions to stimulate buzz.
 Use mainstream advertising and media stories featuring endorsements
from credible, respected, similar folks.
 Lower the entry cost and guarantee performance.
 Redesign to maximise ease and simplicity.
 Cut the red tape: simplify application forms and instructions.
 Provide strong customer service and support.
4. Late majority - They are conservative pragmatists who hate risk and are
uncomfortable your new idea. Practically their only driver is the fear of not
fitting in, hence they will follow mainstream fashions and established standards.
They are often influenced by the fears and opinions of laggards.
How to work with late majority:
 Focus on promoting social norms rather than just product benefits: they’ll
want to hear that plenty of other conservative folks like themselves think
it’s normal or indispensable.
 Keep refining teh product to increase convenience and reduce costs.
 Emphasize the risks of being left behind.
 Respond to criticism from laggards.
5. Laggards - Meanwhile laggards hold out to the bitter end. They are people who
see a high risk in adopting a particular product or behavior. Some of them are so
worried they stay awake all night, tossing and turning, thinking up arguments

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against it. And don’t forget they might be right! It’s possible they are not really
not laggards at all, but innovators of ideas that are so new they challenge your
paradigms! In the early stages, where you are focusing on early adopters, you
can probably ignore the views of laggards, but when you come to work with late
majorities you’ll need to address their criticisms, because late majorities share
many of their fears.
How to work with laggards:
 Give them high levels of personal control over when, where, how and
whether they do the new behaviour.
 Maximise their familiarity with new products or behaviours. Let them see
exactly how other laggards have successfully adopted the innovation.
Each of these adopter personalities is very different. It’s vital to know which one
you are addressing at a given time. And no, you usually can’t address them all at once.
Because products and behaviours only mature gradually. The exception is when you
have customized quite differentproducts or behaviours for each group. Weight
Watchers is an example. It has a traditional calorie-counting method that suits early
adopters, a “points value” method that suits early majorities, and a “no count” system
for everyone else.

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Chapter 12:
MODELS ON EFFECTS
OF MEDIA ON
CULTURE AND
SOCIETY
Media is known to be the most powerful means of communication. Print media,
electronic media and the Internet are all the subsets of mass media. Newspapers,
newsletters, magazines and brochure are included in print media, while the electronic
media consists of the television, radio and other modes of communication. Internet is
without doubt the fastest known way of communicating with millions of people across
the globe. Effects of mass media can be positive as well as negative.

The best thing about the mass media is that it immediately provides us with the
latest information about the things happening around us. It reports news from all the
fields such as politics, sports, international relations, wars, natural calamities, meetings,
entertainment, etc. Because of the keen efforts and dedication of the people working in

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the media and the entertainment sector, our knowledge remains fresh. With this gained
knowledge, we become more smart and outgoing. Many times, we understand what is
good and bad for us. For example, the anti-tobacco and anti-narcotic programs
launched by the media, have benefited many people to date. The information conveyed
about various diseases and their possible treatments has saved the lives of many of us.
The contribution of mass media in the fields of arts, education, technology and health
care is laudable. We also get the correct information about the various crimes and illegal
activities happening in our surroundings quite easily. Media is a boon for youngsters in
many ways. They get useful information related to their career and higher education
mostly through the mass media.

Media plays a very important role in shaping the personality of people. It has
been observed that citizens become more sensible and capable to shoulder their
responsibility towards the nation and the society because of media. We get our role
models by hearing about the appreciation of their great deeds from the media itself.
Over the years, mass media has played an important role in making people understand
the meaning of democracy. We also come to know about the strengths and weaknesses
of the economy of our country, the population figures, the various problems faced by
the nation, achievements of the nation in different sectors, through the prompt and
precise reporting of different forms of media. Media plays an important role in building
the sense of unity and pride among the people of the nation. In those countries where
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there are many castes, religions and languages spoken, media has even more tough
responsibility of conveying the true news to the citizens. Media makes the citizens
aware of their fundamental rights and their duties towards their families, state and the
nation. Utility of the mass media in the areas of advertising and marketing is simply
great.

Though the positive mass media effects are many, there are some cons
associated with it as well. The news which is published without having bothered to
check whether it is a fact or not, can create unnecessary confusion and extreme feelings
among the common masses. There have been many instances of huge fights and
controversies emerging, because of improper reporting. It becomes the duty of media to
provide only relevant and precise information to the masses.

Hopefully, you will be satisfied with the above mentioned information. Over the years,
the media has become an inseparable component of our daily lives and hence, it is its
prime responsibility to keep the confidence of people alive by reporting only true details
of any particular event.

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BALL-ROKEACH AND DEFLEUR’S

MODEL
Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur proposed the “Dependency theory” in
1976. The theory is combined with several perspectives like psycho analytics & social
system theory, systematic & casual approach and base elements from uses and
gratification theory but less focus on effects. Media Dependency theory is one of the
first theory which regards audience as an active part in communication process. The
dependency theory is expanded from the theory of Uses and Gratification.

According to this theory, there is an internal link between media, audience and
large social system. The audience learning from the real life is limited, so they can use
media to get more information to
fulfill their needs. An extensive
use of media generates
dependent relation in audience
and also Media can able to
creating dependence relationship
with target audiences to achieve
their goals by using their media
power.

The degree of dependence is directly proportional to:

 Individual: The media have ability to satisfy the audience needs. An individual
will become more dependent on media, if the medium satisfy his/her needs.
Otherwise the media dependence will become less
 Social Stability: The audience reconsider their beliefs, practice and behaviors
when strong social change, conflicts, riot or election which will force to re-
evaluate and make new decisions. During this period media dependency is

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dramatically increased, because there is a strong need for information, support

and advice
 Active audience: In this communication process, the active audience chooses the
media dependence on their individual needs and other factors such as economic
conditions, society and culture. If alternative source fulfill the audience needs
will decrease the media
dependence

Process of Creating Dependence:

 Media attracts individuals by

offering the content which is
able to fulfil the audience
needs for understanding, entertainment and information
 There is different strength in Dependence relationship. Cognitive motivations
encourage the individuals to maintain the level of attention and Affective
motivation serves the individuals to enhance the level of satisfaction
 Both Cognitive and Affective motivation are intensifying the audience to higher
level of involvement to enable the information process

Example:

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hits eastern Japan very badly. Due to this
natural disaster the whole communication was blocked and others can’t able to
know the exact effect of tsunami in eastern Japan. During this period, Peoples
information needs are dramatically increased and they are all more depend on
media than any other.

Critics of Media Dependency Theory:

 It describes the media role during social changes and crisis

 Theory is more flexible and descriptive
 Power of media dependency is not clearly described
 It’s difficult to prove scientifically or experimentally

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NEUMANN’S MODEL/SPIRAL OF
SILENCE
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, the German
political scientist contributes the famous model
called “Spiral of Silence”. In 1947 Neumann and
her husband found “Public Opinion Organization”
in German and also she was a President of “World
Association for Public Opinion Research” in 1978
to 1980. Through this Spiral of Silence theory
Neumann indirectly explains the Jews status
during World War II under Nazi’s control. Here, Adolf Hitler dominated the whole
society and the minority Jews became silent due to the fear of isolation or separation.

The one view dominated the public scene and others disappeared from the
public awareness as it adherents became silent. In other words, the people fear of
separation or isolation those around them, they tend to keep their attitudes to
themselves when they think they are in the minority. This process is called “Spiral of
Silence”.

Example:

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In a company, the managing director decides to increase their working hour from
8 to 10 and send e-mail to all employees. Majority of them accept this time changes and
few employees are not satisfied with his decision. But they cannot or ready to express
their thought publicly.

Because;

1. They may feel unsupported

by the other employees.
2. “Fear of isolation” like
transfer
3. “Fear of Rejection” By rejecting their personal opinion from the public will help
to avoid fight.
4. They may try to save their job by suppressing or avoid personal statement in
public.

They frame work based on few assumptions:

1. Spiral of silence theory describe as a dynamic process, the predication about

public opinion in mass media which gives more coverage for the majorities in the
society and gives very less coverage for minorities.
2. In this social environment, People have fear of rejection to express their opinion
or views and they known well what behaviors will make a better likelihood. It’s
called “fear of Isolation”.
3. Being the part of Minority.
People loss their confidence
and silent or mute to express
their views because of the
fear of isolation or they feel
alone or unsupported.
4. Sometimes the minorities
withdraw their expressed opinion from public debates to secure themselves
from the majority.

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5. Maximum numbers get more vocal space in the society and lesser number
become less vocal space or become silent.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

1. Spiral of Silence theory has both micro level and macro level explanatory
process.
2. It works well during the
public campaign, Senate
and Parliament.
3. Spiral of silence theory
– which helps to raise
question about
considering the role and
responsibility of media
in the society.
4. The theory which is not considering the other explanation of silencing. In some
cases the person may feel the majority’s ideas or opinion is much better than his
own view.
5. It portrait overly negative view of media influence the average people.

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Chapter 13:
MODELS ON
AUDIENCE
CENTEREDNESS

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ROSENGREN’S MODEL /
GRATIFICATION
Most of the theories on media explained about the effects media had on people.
It is the theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification.
In other words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than
what media does to people. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory
which states the audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not
so people make use of the media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have
a user/audience-centered approach .Even for communication (say inter-personal)
people refer to the media for the topic they discuss with themselves. They gain more
knowledge and that is knowledge is got by using media for reference. There are several
needs and gratification for people they are categorized into five categories.

1. Cognitive needs - People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc.,
Among the audience some of them have intellectual needs to acquire knowledge
this is not common to all only certain people have their need, each person have
a different need for e.g. quiz programs on TV, in order to acquire knowledge and
information you will watch news to satisfy the need, search engines in the
internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge. Particularly for the

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internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the run with no time
restriction.
2. Affective needs - It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of
the people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs
The best example is people watch serials and if there is any emotional or
sad scene means people used to cry.
3. Personal Integrative needs - This is the self-esteem need. People use media to
reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilize. so people watch TV and
assure themselves that they have a status in society for e.g. people get to
improve their status by watching media advertisements like jewelry ad ,
furniture’s ad and buy products, so the people change their life style and media
helps them to do so.
4. Social Integrative needs - It encompasses the need to socialize with family,
friends and relations in the society. For social interaction now a days people do
not seems to have social gathering in weekend, instead they do such social
interaction using media like the social networking sites like my space, facebook,
orkut etc to satisfy their need.
Another example is you may not watch the particular serial regularly but
because your friend watching, you also start watching so that you have common
topics for discussion
5. Tension free needs - People sometimes use the media as a means of escapism
and to relieve from tension
For e.g. People tend to relax watching TV, listening to radio and for
satisfying their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension,
people watch films, films on TV etc. Note: The needs are individual in nature, and
how u satisfies the need is individualistic.

E.g.: That’s why some watch news to relax and some get more tension by
watching news, Program is same but people use it for different needs.

Taking TV today, most people watch reality shows because

 It is more realistic

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 For entertainment
 Interesting
 New concepts (different from other programs)
 In a way you can participate
 Controversy, people crying
 Sensationalism

The above reason is why we watch and how we use not because it’s popular.

Criticism of Uses and gratification theory :

 The uses and gratification theory does not consider the power of media.
 More audience-centered.
 Positive point of the uses and gratification theory is it focuses attention on
individuals in the mass communication process.

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Chapter 14:
MODELS ON MEDIA
SYSTEMS,
PRODUCTION,
SELECTION AND
FLOW

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GEIBER AND JOHNSON’S MODEL

(SOURCE-REPORTER)
Few works have been devoted to analysis of the interactions of newsmen and
their news sources, particularly to treating the newsman as an actor involved in specific
sets of political relationships with his news sources. Attention has been restricted to the
reporter's role in local political processes.

Walter Gieber's study efforts to define the roles of sources and reporters making
up a communications system. During the development of the study, an analysis of the
role expectations of news sources and news channels appeared. The study was
published as "The City Hall 'Beat': a Study of Reporter and Source Roles" (1961) by
Walter Gieber and Walter Johnson. The aforementioned study identified a level of
assimilation between the interests of city hall journalists and local officials.

Gieber and Johnson (1961) develop three models of the relationships between
reporter and source:

1. Separate source-reporter roles - actors are members of disparate social

systems, they remain independent of one another, and their perceptions of
role and function are dissimilar

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2. Partially assimilated source-reporter roles - actors are members of different

structures, they cooperate to some extent, and they are partially agreed in
the perceptions of function

3. Assimilated source-reporter roles - actors are members of convergent social

structures and, as a result, share perceptions of function.

WHITE’S MODEL (GATEKEEPING)

The process through which information is filtered or
regulated for dissemination, whether for publication,
broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of
communication. The academic theory of gatekeeping is found in
multiple fields of study, including communication studies,
journalism, political science, and sociology (Barzilai-Nahon,
2009).

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Kurt Lewin, German-American psychologist and pioneer in social psychology, was

the first one to coin the term "gatekeeping". Lewin originally posited gatekeeping to
describe the flow of groceries during food shortages in World War II. Lewin first
observed food habits in families and seeing housewives as gatekeepers at that time (for
example, a wife or mother as the person who decides which foods end up on the
family's dinner table). Although he applied it originally to the food chain, he then added
that the gating process can include a news item winding through communication
channels in a group.

David Manning White of University of Iowa

(1950) suggested the selection process in newspapers and
argued that news items were rejected for three reasons:

1. Personal feelings of the gatekeeper

2. Insufficient space
3. The story had appeared previously

In the 1970s, McCombs and Shaw took a different direction of gatekeeping when
they looked at the effects of gatekeepers' decisions. McCombs and Shaw pointed out
that the gatekeeping concept is related to the newer concept, agenda-setting.
(McCombs et al, 1976). Agenda-setting theory describes the "ability [of the news media]
to influence the salience of topics on the
public agenda." That is, if a news item is
covered frequently and prominently the
audience will regard the issue as more
important.

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WHO IS A GATEKEEPER?
- decides which of a certain commodity – materials, goods, and information –
may enter the system.
- one who is able to control the public’s knowledge of the actual events by
letting some stories pass through the system but keeping others out.

* Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and their choices hold the potential to color
mental pictures that are subsequently created in people’s understanding of what
is happening in the world around them.

GATEKEEPING IN NEWS MEDIUM

Gatekeeper has to decide what kind of news items will publish and what should
not... based on an institution's/ organizations's ethics, principles and policies. According
to Berkowitz (1991), "news judgment" and news values" influence gatekeeping.

As stated by Fourie (2008), gatekeeping includes:

1. Source of the news items
2. Abilities of the news people
3. News policy of the medium
4. Different influences on the news medium (e.g. legal constraints, financial
impediments)
5. The mere fact that a specific news has to make way for other news items
considered to be of higher news value
6. How new is perceived by news people and news audiences

LEVELS OF MEDIA GATEKEEPING:

1. Individuals - personal decisions
2. Routine Practices of Communication Work - decisions are made according
to a pre-established and generalized set of practices
3. Communication Organizations - exists within an environment of social
institutions that affect the gatekeeping process

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4. Social Institutions - events vary to a degree that they are culturally

available as news items.
5. Societies - culture, indicators of social significance, including political,
influences selection decisions affecting the extent to which different
parts of the world are covered and how they are covered.

HOW IT GOES?
According to White's model, number of news items (N) go through the process
of selection.
In the media organization (which is a gate), the sub-editor ("Mr. Gate") selects
some news items considered of sufficient interest and importance to be passed through
to the next process of news production. Thus some news stories like N2 and N3 have
been selected and have gone through the first stage of transformation.
On the other hand, some other news items N1 and N4 have been rejected in the
gatekeeping process.

KEY POINTS:
1. The selection criteria depend mainly on factors that are subjective.
2. The decision not to report an event is linked either to the fact that it is deemed
uninteresting or that it has already undergone previous treatment by other
media.
3. Some news is not selected due to lack of space
4. The editor is considered the gatekeeper ( i.e. of the newspaper)

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APPLICATION/SAMPLE SCENARIO:
An international news channel receives numbers of news items within day:
N1: Texas bull fighting
N2: International terror issues
N3: UN discussions
N4: religious abuse on international community
A news channel can’t show all those news items to audience because it may
affect the channel reputation in public and organizations policy. Here, chief editor
decides the news items as the gatekeeper.

Selected News Items:

N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions,

Discarded News Items: (on popularity)

N1: Texas bull fighting

Discarded News Items: (on policy)

N4: Religious abuse on International community

ANALYSIS/CRITICISM:
 White's model was important because it showed that news does not flow freely
and untampered from one point to another; at different stages or gates, various
influences determine the final product (Galtung and Ruge, 1965)
 It expressed the flow of news in a linear way without taking cognisance of the
wider societal system influences (Fourie, 2008).
 It shows only one gatekeeper rather than several, as one would normally expect
to find in complex news operation (Kerala Journalism, n.d.)
 Bass (1969) explained that the focus of White on the editor is not relevant
because he (editor) is not the key decision-maker.

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MCNELLY’S MODEL (NEWS FLOW)

Applying Kurt Lewin's concept of "gatekeeping," David Manning White (1950)
wrote that news stories were gathered by reporters but were often rejected by editors
who only ‘opened a gate’ in the editing process to allow very few to reach the printed
page. An early point of criticism of White's model was that it showed only one
gatekeeper rather than several, as one would normally expect to find in complex news
operation.

CONCEPT:

 McNelly's model showed how news items (e.g. international news) pass through
multiple individuals gatekeepers as they travel from the source to the audience
(Shoemaker and Vos, 2009).
 McNelly (1959) observes that information about an event to reach audiences
requires to "run an obstacle course of reportorial error or bias, editorial selection
and processing, translation, transmission difficulties, and possible suppression or
censorship" (McNelly, 1959).

HOW IT GOES:

A story (S) is written about a newsworthy event (E) by a foreign correspondent

(C1). The story (Sn) then passes through a chain of other gatekeepers, or intermediaries
(Cn), each of whom may edit, rewrite or cut it, combine it with a related story, or
otherwise shape it. The story may also be eliminated. In addition to foreign
correspondents, the gatekeepers en route may include editors, rewritemen, deskmen,
telegraph editors of newspapers, or radio or television news editors. Ultimately, the
story reaches the receiver (R), who may pass on an oral version of the story to other
people (Rn). The broken arrows represent feedback.

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KEY POINTS:

1. The gatekeeping may well have been completed before the news reaches the
telegraph editor of a newspaper (i.e. the case of foreign news where foreign
news decisions are made in a major bureau of big telegraph services)
2. Gatekeeping is much more than just selecting or rejecting, since the
intermediaries often alter the form and substance of those stories that survive
the journey
3. There may well be two or three additional stages (i.e. there will be a witness to
an event or one of the participants, hence often a local report, taken up by a
stringer, and passed the agency correspondent) (Kerala Journalism, 2007)
4. Gatekeeping does not end with the news medium, since the initial receiver often
acts as gate keeper for others
5. Feedback is often infrequent and delayed.

APPLICATION/SAMPLE SCENARIO:

A foreign news agency correspondent learns of a news worthy event and writes
a report which goes first to a regional bureau, from where it may be sent in shortened
form to the agency central bureau. There it may be combined with a related story from
elsewhere and sent to a national or regional bureau of the country, where it may be
again cut for transmission to the telegraph editor of a newspaper or radio/television.

Through out the process, various forms of feedback response occur which may
guide further acts of transmission.

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ANALYSIS/CRITICISM:

1. The models tends to take 'newsworthiness' for granted and treats the agency
correspondent as the primary source. (Kerala Journalism, 2007)
2. The model fails to differentiate functions and roles of workers in the newsroom
(Bass, 1969)
3. The model doesn't indicate the most significant point of selection (Bass)

BASS’ MODEL (DOUBLE ACTION

MODEL)
A. Z. Bass' criticisim of previous conceptualizations in both White and McNelly is
that there is no differentiation between the roles of different 'gatekeepers' and no
indication of what is the most significant point of selection.

Bass (1969) looked at individuals as gatekeepers, but in his approach, the

individual's job within the organization is of interest---not the person.

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Bass argued that all news gatekeepers do the same sorts of things, and he
produced yet another model to show the two primary functions that result in "double-
action internal news flows."

CONCEPT:

Bass argues that most important gate keeping activity occurs within the news
organization

In his model, Bass states that news are processed in two stages before release:

1. News gathering - concerned only with factual reporting; mostly done by news
gatherers
2. News processing - more concerned with the values and norms of the news
organization; done by processors and editors

HOW IT GOES?

 At Stage 1 (news gathering), news gatherers (writers, reporters, local editors)

take the information that comes from various sources and channels in raw form
and transform it into news copy.
 At Stage 2 (news processing), news processors (editors, copyeditors and
translators) modify and integrate the news copy into a finished product that can
be broadcast to a target audience (Shoemaker and Vos, 2009).
 This model also remains as the only news gatekeeper model that recognizes
translation as part of the news production process.

WHO IS A NEWS TRANSLATOR?

 News translator acts as cultural gatekeepers who filter the flow of information
from stage I to Stage II.
 While local news editor usually acts as translation gatekeeper deciding which
translated news items should make it to the news copy, the cultural gatekeeper
role that news translator plays takes place at the conversion and framing level.

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 Translator plays a crucial role in how a message is conveyed from the source
language to the target language.
 A translator can filer, omit, add, alter and distort the original message through
choices and decisions of narrative frames at the macro and micro levels of text,
intentionally or unintentionally.

GALTUNG AND RUGE’S MODEL

(SELECTIVE GATEKEEPING)
The research paper of two Norwegian scholars Johan
Galtung and Mari Ruge in 1965 started the concept of news
values and criteria, intended to explain the selectivity
criteria of three major international crisis in four Norwegian
newspapers.

They pinned down a list of twelve factors as news

criteria according which the gatekeepers make decision about newsworthiness of
events and news stories to be reported or not.

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CONCEPT:

Galtung and Ruge selective gatekeeping theory suggests that news from around
the world are evaluated using news values to determine their newsworthiness (McQuail
and Windahl, 1993)

Galtung and Ruge's research was based on three hypotheses:

1. The more factors an event satisfies, the higher the probability that it becomes
news
2. The factors will tend to exclude each other
3. Events that satisfy none or very few factors will not become news

TWELVE FACTORS FOR NEWS VALUES ACCORDING TO GALTUNG AND RUGE (1965):

1. Frequency - an event that unfolds within a publication cycle of the news medium
is more likely to be selected than a one that takes place over a long period of
time.
2. Threshold - the greater the intensity (the more gruesome the murder or the
more casualties in an accident), the greater the impact and the more likely it is to
be selected.
3. Unambiguity - the more clearly an event can be understood and interpreted
without multiple meanings, the more likely it is to be selected.
4. Meaningfulness - the culturally proximate, familiar or relevant is more likely to
be selected.
5. Consonance - the news selector may be able to predict (due to experience)
events that will be newsworthy, thus forming a “pre-image” of an event, which
in turn increases its chances of becoming news.
6. Unexpectedness - among events meaningful and/or consonant, the unexpected
or rare event is more likely to be selected.
7. Continuity - an event already in the news has a good chance of remaining in the
news (even if its impact has been reduced) because it has become familiar and
easier to interpret.

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8. Composition - an event that contributes to the diversity of topics and adds to a

pile of similar news items.
9. Reference to elite nations - the actions of elite nations are seen as more
consequential than the actions of other nations.
10. Reference to elite people - The actions of elite people, likely to be famous, may
be seen by news selectors as having more consequence than others, and news
audiences may identify with them.
11. Reference to persons - news that can be presented in terms of individual people
rather than abstractions is likely to be selected.
12. Reference to something negative - bad events are generally unambiguous and
newsworthy. (O‟Neill and Harcup , 2009)

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Chapter 15:
HOW
COMMUNICATION
HAS EFFECTS

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THE LIMITED EFFECTS

Background

During the first quarter of the 20th century, there was clash among various
European powers for the expansion of their influence abroad. This resulted in the
outbreak of the First World War leading to a storm of rumor and propaganda. In this
critical situation every government was worried about the moral of its public so they
patronized their respective media and used them for extensive propaganda campaign.
In the aftermath of the war there emerged a general belief in the great power of mass
communication.

The media were thought to be able to shape public opinion and to sway the
masses towards almost any point of view desired by the communicators. This concept
has come to be called the Magic Bullet Theory. On that time large scale empirical
research on the process and effects of mass communication was started. The findings
from such research slowly revealed a picture inconsistent with the magic bullet theory.
After some time had passed, on the ground of these empirical researches all powerful
effects were replaced by the limited effects model.

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Basic Assumption

Limited effect model states that Individual have a tendency to expose

themselves to messages that are consistent with their existing attitudes, norms and
beliefs. They may ignore, misinterpret or reject those messages which are contrary to
their attitudes. People want their beliefs and judgments about things to be consistent
with one another. When beliefs of an individual about things are not consistence, it
creates inconsistency. Media messages are received and interpreted selectively. Media
rarely directly influence individuals. Thus the effects of media are neither uniform,
powerful, nor direct. Their influences are selective and limited.

Selective influence theories

These are the five researches which fall in limited effect model

 Payne Fund Studies

 Hovland army Studies
 Cooper & Jahoda Studies
 Lazerfeld Studies
 Joseph Klapper Studies

Intervening Factors

Selective influence theories argue that there are several sets of intervening
variables that fall between the content presented by the mass media (stimulus) and
changes in feelings, thinking & action of audience (response).

 Stimulus à Individual Differences à Response

 Stimulus àSocial Categories with sub culture àResponse
 Stimulus à Social Relationship à Response

Each set of factors is contributing in some way to the selectivity with which
audiences attend to the media, interpret what they are expose to, remember that

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content, and is thereby influences in their actions. In other words, these are distinct sets
of intervening variables characterizing audiences but their influence is somewhat similar
in the process of mass communication.

Principles of Selective Influence Theories

There are four basic principles that govern the actions of audiences and lie at
the heart of the selective influence theories. These principles are:

1. Selective Attention - Individual differences result in distinctive patterns of

attention to media content. People develop “Mental Filters” that screen out vast
amount of information. Their attention is confined to only a limited segment of
what is available. For example, those with deep concerns about their health pay
closer attention to content dealing with medical issues than others.
2. Selective Perception - It is one of the most significant of all the factors for
understanding the selective influence theories. Perception refers to the
psychological activity by which individuals organize meaningful interpretations.
Selective perception is that people of distinct psychological characteristics,
interests, beliefs, prior knowledge, attitudes, needs and values will interpret the
same media content in very different ways. For example, some people may read
deep shared meanings into poetry that leave others yawning.
3. Selective Recall - The principle of selective recall parallels those of attention and
perception. Selective recall plays a role in the efforts to change attitudes. People
remember what they want to remember. Some kinds of content for some kinds
of people will be actively remembered for a long time. For others, with different
cognitive structures, category membership and social linkage may be forgotten
the same material quickly.
4. Selective Action - Action is the last link in the chain. Before it can take place, a
member of an audience has to attend to the media presentation, perceive its
meaning & remember its content. All of these responses will be dependant upon
the intervening influences of cognitive variables, categories and their sub-
cultures and social linkage with other people..

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Conclusion

The Selective influence theories provide very sound guides as to the kinds of
factors that must be researched thoroughly before we will be able to understand and
predict the effects of mass communication on audience. They are as relevant to the
study of media influence today as they were during the decades when they were being
developed. It is true that they pose a long list of variables intervening between media
and masses. Fortunately, hundreds of experiments and surveys have probed these
variables in the past. It is hoped that investigators will continue to pursue this
theoretical strategy so that these theories can be more effectively formalized.

Selective Influence Theories can be summed u in two ways. First is in the terms
of the nature of the intervening conditions that they pose between media content and
the responses people make. Second is in terms of the four principles of selectivity that
lead individuals to attend, to interpret, recall and act upon media messages in distinct
ways.

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THE USES AND GRATIFICATION

MODEL
Introduction: The core question of this theory is Why do people use media and
what do they got use media for them. There exists a basic idea in this approach:
audience members know media content, and which media they can use to meet their
needs. It suggests that people’s needs influence what media they would choose, how
they use certain media and what gratifications the media give them. The approach
emphasizes audiences’ reasons for using a certain media to the disregard of others. And
the various gratifications obtained from the media, based on individual social and
psychological requirements.

Origin and History - The Hypodermic Needle model, discusses that “the mass
media have a direct, immediate and influential effect upon audiences by ‘injecting’
information into the consciousness of the masses”. In these Uses & gratification
studies, researchers discovered a list of functions served either by some specific content
or by the medium itself. For instance, Television soap operas were found to satisfy their
listeners with advice, support, or occasions for emotional; rather than just offering
information. The newspaper was also discovered to be important to give readers a
sense of security, shared topics of conversation and a structure to the daily routine

Uses and gratifications approach became prevailing in the 1970s and it was
rediscovered during by Elihu Katz the structure of the approach. Elihu Katz is served
both as a sociologist and as a
communication researcher. They also
discovered that media served the
functions of surveillance, correlation,
entertainment and cultural transmission
for both society and individuals.

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Basic Assumptions

1. The audience is conceived as active - i.e., an important part of mass media use is
assumed to be goal oriented. Patterns of media use are shaped by more or less
definite expectations of what
certain kinds of content have to
offer the audience member.
2. Audience gratification - In the
mass communication process,
much initiative connected with the
need and gratification of audience
and the media choice lies with the
audience member.
3. Depend on Audience response -
People are sufficiently self-aware to be able to report their interests and motives
in particular cases, or at least to recognize them when confronted with them in
an intelligible and familiar verbal formulation.
4. Culture of Audience - The cultural significance of audience also influences the
gratification and need of mass communication. Different people can use the
same communication message for very different purposes. The same media
content may gratify different needs for
different individuals. There is not only one way
that people uses media; contrarily, there are
as many reasons for using the media as their
basic needs, social situation, and the
individual’s background, such as experience,
interests, and education, affect people’s ideas
about what they want from media and which
media best meet their needs. That is, audience
members are aware of and can state their own motives and gratifications for
using different media. McQuail’s (1983) classification of the following common
reasons for media use:

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 Information - finding out about relevant events and conditions in

immediate surroundings, society and the world ,seeking advice on
practical matters or
opinion and decision
choices ,satisfying
curiosity and general
interest ,learning; self-
education ,gaining a sense
of security through knowledge.
 Personal Identity - People use the media to finding reinforcement for
personal values ,finding models of behavior ,identifying with valued
others (in the media) ,gaining insight into oneself.
 Integration and Social Interaction - The main gratification the uses of
media is gaining insight into the circumstances of others; social empathy,
identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, finding a basis
for conversation and social interaction, having a substitute for real-life
companionship, helping to carry out social roles, enabling one to connect
with family, friends and society.
 Entertainment: The
one of the main media content usage
is escaping, or being diverted, from
problems, relaxing, getting intrinsic
cultural or aesthetic enjoyment,
filling time, emotional release, sexual
arousal.

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Criticisms of Uses and Gratifications Research

Although uses and gratifications approach holds a significant status in

communication research, the research of the approach receives criticisms both on its
theory and methodology represented. McQuail (1994) commented that the approach
has not provided much successful prediction or casual explanation of media choice and
use.

1. It is highly individualistic, taking into account only the individual psychological

gratification derived from individual media use. The social context of the media
use tends to be ignored. This overlooks the fact that some media use may have
nothing to do with the pursuit of gratification - it may be forced upon us for
example.
2. There is
relatively little
attention paid to
media content,
researchers
attending to why
people use the
media, but less
to what
meanings they
actually get out
of their media
use.
3. The approach starts from the view that the media Uses and gratifications
research focus on the fact relied heavily on self-reports. Self-reports, however,
are based on personal memory which can be problematic. As such, the
respondents might inaccurately recall how they behave in media use and thus
bend might occur in the study.

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THE ADOPTION-DIFFUSION MODEL

History and Orientation

Diffusion research goes one step further than two-step flow theory. The original
diffusion research was done as early as 1903 by the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde
who plotted the original S-shaped diffusion curve. Tardes' 1903 S-shaped curve is of
current importance because "most innovations have an S-shaped rate of adoption"
(Rogers, 1995).

Core Assumptions and Statements

Core: Diffusion research centers on the conditions which increase or decrease

the likelihood that a new idea, product, or practice will be adopted by members of a
given culture. Diffusion of innovation theory predicts that media as well as interpersonal
contacts provide information and influence opinion and judgment. Studying how
innovation occurs, E.M. Rogers (1995) argued that it consists of four stages: invention,
diffusion (or communication) through the social system, time and consequences. The
information flows through networks. The nature of networks and the roles opinion
leaders play in them determine the likelihood that the innovation will be adopted.
Innovation diffusion research has attempted to explain the variables that influence how
and why users adopt a new information medium, such as the Internet. Opinion leaders
exert influence on audience behavior via their personal contact, but additional
intermediaries called change agents and gatekeepers are also included in the process of
diffusion. Five adopter categories are: (1) innovators, (2) early adopters, (3) early
majority, (4) late majority, and (5) laggards. These categories follow a standard
deviation-curve, very little innovators adopt the innovation in the beginning (2,5%),
early adopters making up for 13,5% a short time later, the early majority 34%, the late
majority 34% and after some time finally the laggards make up for 16%.

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Statements: Diffusion is the “process by which an innovation is communicated

through certain channels over a period of time among the members of a social system”.
An innovation is “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived to be new by an individual
or other unit of adoption”. “Communication is a process in which participants create
and share information with one another to reach a mutual understanding” (Rogers,
1995).

Favorite Methods

Some of the methods are network analysis, surveys, field experiments and ECCO
analysis. ECCO, Episodic Communication Channels in Organization, analysis is a form of a
data collection log-sheet. This method is specially designed to analyze and map
communication networks and measure rates of flow, distortion of messages, and
redundancy. The ECCO is used to monitor the progress of a specific piece of information
through the organization.

Scope and Application

Diffusion research has focused on five elements: (1) the characteristics of an

innovation which may influence its adoption; (2) the decision-making process that
occurs when individuals consider adopting a new idea, product or practice; (3) the
characteristics of individuals that make them likely to adopt an innovation; (4) the
consequences for individuals and society of adopting an innovation; and (5)
communication channels used in the adoption process.

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THE PERSUASION MODEL

Persuasion has been variously defined as communication with a specific purpose
and perspective.

 Persuasion is a process of verbal and nonverbal communication that consciously

attempts to influence people in their attitudes, opinions and behaviors, using
ethical means that enhance
an open society and an
atmosphere of free choice.
 Persuasion is intentional
communication that seeks to
influence people on the basis
of both emotional
presentations and rational
arguments without the use of
coercion, manipulation or propaganda.
 The tools of persuasion are signs and symbols, specifically the words of verbal
communication as well as the symbols, images and other elements of nonverbal
communication.

The contemporary understanding of persuasion is closely linked with social

psychology, which houses the study of attitudes and attitudinal change. One important
observation from this field is that people cannot be forcibly persuaded; rather, they
persuade themselves. So-called persuasive messages primarily are stimuli – logical
arguments as well as emotional ambiance – which touches upon people’s desires and
leads them to accept or reject the message. When they accept the message, we say they
have been persuaded.

The study of persuasion is both ancient and modern. More than 4,000 years ago,
the Egyptian court advisor Ptah-Hotepwrote about effective persuasion, specifically the
need to link the message to audience interests. Centuries later, Corax of Syracusewrote
about persuasive speaking. But it was in Greece where the study of rhetoric flourished.

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Against the Sophists’ focus on style, Socrates of Athens and his student Plato
believed that truth was the main value in persuasive communication. That argument
continues today, as one group of people believe that advertising, public relations,
political campaigning and other forms of persuasive communication should use

whatever means possible to persuade their audiences, while others urge

communicators to be ethical
and accurate and to avoid
negative advertising or public
relations spinning.

Plato’s student
Aristotle studied and taught
about persuasive
communication. One of his
enduring legacies is the
continued use of three
concepts of persuasive
communication: ethos (the
nature and credibility of the
speaker), logos (rational
arguments presented to an
audience) and pathos (the
emotional state of audiences
and the emotional impact of
messages).

Meanwhile in Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero taught persuasive speaking, with

particular emphasis on the value of emotional appeals. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus
addressed both the ethical aspects of rhetoric and the characteristics of an ideal orator.

The early Christian Church preserved and enhanced the concepts of rhetoric. In
Northern Europe, the Saxon theologian Alcuin reinterpreted Roman rhetorical tradition
for the Emperor Charlemagne, and in Roman Africa, Augustine of Hippo developed the

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art of preaching based on Greek rhetorical concepts. Centuries later, the Christian monk
Thomas Aquinas revisited Aristotle to study the persuasive nature of religious
communication.

The tradition of rhetoric has been strong in Islamic history. The development of
“Ilmul Kalam” (Knowledge of Theological Discourse) and “Ilmul Bayan” (Knowledge of
elocution) has significantly contributed to the Islamic style of communication. The
golden period of Islamic civilization under the dynasties of Ummayads and Abbasids in
the Arabian Peninsula and the Moors in Spain saw great advancement in rhetoric due to
debates among scholars of competitive schools of thought. Likewise, the Ottomans in
West Asia, Mughals in South Asia, Safvids in Persia and Sufis in Southeast Asia have left a
treasure of rhetoric literature and tradition.

Professor Hugh Rankhas articulated an easy-to-understand relationship between

two opposing forces in persuasive argumentation.

1. Intensify. One technique is to intensify or magnify the benefits of your

product/cause as well as the problems associated with the opposing side.
Intensification can be accomplished through three techniques: repetition,
association and composition.
 Repetition involves the presentation of a message often enough so that it
becomes known and comfortable. This technique is associated with educational
drills, and in its higher forms, with family customs and religious ritual.
 Association involves the linking of an idea to something the audience already
knows and understands. In a positive context, this would involve something the
audience likes, trust and appreciates. In a negative context, it would involve
something the audience dislikes, rejects or fears.
 Composition is the use of a visual or verbal pattern or presentation that adds to
the power of the message. An example of this is the use of background music to
an advertising message for the purpose of conveying, for example, a sense of
calm or a stirring call to action.
2. Downplay. A related (and often simultaneous) technique is to downplay or
minimize the benefits of the opposition’s case as well as problem associated with

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your side. Downplaying can be achieved by three techniques: omission, diversion

and confusion.
 Omission is communication that is biased, misleading, or lacking in the full
picture
 Diversion is the deliberate intensification of trivial or unrelated information in
order to draw attention away from logical analysis of an issue. Examples of this
include nit-picking, hair-splitting, emotional personal attacks, and condescending
distracting humor.
 Confusion involves the over-
communication of detail to make a
message to complex that it cannot be
understood. Associated with this is
the use of contradictions, faulty logic,
inconsistencies, and other elements
of messages that hampers
understanding.

To help inoculate people

against the excesses of persuasion in
political, commercial and other
situations, Rank suggests that people
reflect on their own role in the transmission of persuasion.

Recognize that people seek benefits, and analyze how advertisers and other
would-be persuaders promise benefits. Rank also observes that there is a growing
world-wide inequality between the many “persuadees” (average consumers and
citizens) and the professional persuaders (advertisers, politicians, and elites with
training, money and media access).

Intercultural Aspects of Persuasion

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Some social psychologists studying the nature of persuasive communication

have focused on the relationship between persuasion and culture. Some studies in
particular have focused on American and Arab cultures as the two significant patterns
of persuasive communication [R.S. Zaharna in Bridging Cultural Differences: American
Public Relations Practices & Arab Communication Patterns, Public Relations Review, 21
(1995), 241-255].

In commending on
cultural preferences as they
relate to persuasion,
Zaharna draws the following
conclusions, which can help
avoid misunderstanding
based on the interpretation
of language:

 Arabic uses repetition frequently and expansively, whereas American English

tends to use repetition sparingly and mainly for emphasis.
 Arabic speakers make frequent use of imagery such as metaphors, stories and
analogies, whereas American English speakers tend to insert facts and figures to
illustrate a point.
 Arabic speakers use over-assertion while Americans tend toward
understatement.
 The nature of Arab culture causes the language to be more closely tied to
artistic, cultural and spiritual emotions than to concrete realities; whereas the
American preference is to link words and actions.

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THE CONSISTENCY MODEL

Cialdini and deNicholas (1989) - argue that people strive to maintain consistency
within and among attitudes. They assume people are reasonably rational and thoughtful
and strive to make sense out of what they think, feel and do. The natural outcome of
these cognitive efforts to behave reasonably and rationally, according to consistency
theories is that people actively construct and interpret the world in order to make
consistent what is inconsistent.

Cognitive Consistency - People try to maintain consistency between

1. Beliefs, Values and Attitudes

2. Attitudes and Behaviour
3. Different Attitudes

This organisation of attitudes, beliefs and behaviour into internally consistent

structures both underscores and presumes human rationality, this rationality can be
seen as consistent to both us as individuals and also to other individuals.

If there are cognitive inconsistencies people tend to be motivated to reduce or

to try and avoid this inconsistency whenever possible, this is possibly because people do
not like the psychological uncomfortable state (feeling of embarrassment, failure or
being wrong) that prompts people to seek ways to reduce it.

Three Cognitive Consistency Approaches

1. Balance Model - Heider(1958) - Heider based his model on the subjective

environment of a person Heider based Balance Theory on 3 entities
 the Person (P) whose subjective environment we are interested in
 another Person (O)
 an object or a third person (X)

Evaluation of Balance Model

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 The model does not account for degrees of positive or negative feelings.
 The model deals only with a maximum of three relations.
2. Congruity Model - Osgood and Tannenbaum (1955) - Osgood and Tannenbaum is
based on how attitudes change when a person is exposed to a persuasive
communication. There are 3 elements
 the person(P)
 the source of the communication(S)
 the message or communication itself(O)

Similar to Balance Theory Congruous Consistent states are those where all three
relations are positive or two are negative and one is positive. However there is a
difference, congruity is concerned with how communication by a source about an object
affects the person's attitudes to both the source and the attitude object. A very
important difference between balance and congruity is that to reach a state of congruity
is that to reach a state of congruity from one of incongruity both P's attitudes towards S
and towards O change.

Supposing Sarah (S source) makes a positive statement about the deterrent

effect of nuclear weapons (O). Further suppose Peter(P) has a high regard for Sarah, and
has a negative attitude to nuclear weapons. Congruity also measures the strength with
which attitudes are measured on a scale ranging from +3 to -3.

Evaluation of Congruity Model

 The model is specifically concerned with how attitudes change in

response to persuasive communications
 The model makes some useful predictions
 The model can't cope with multiple bonds
3. Cognitive Dissonance(1957) - Cognitive dissonance is a communication theory
adopted from social psychology. The title gives the concept: cognitive is thinking
or the mind; and dissonance is inconsistency or conflict. Cognitive dissonance is
the psychological conflict from holding two or more incompatible beliefs
simultaneously. Cognitive dissonance is a relatively straightforward social
psychology theory that has enjoyed wide acceptance in a variety of disciplines

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including communication. The theory replaces previous conditioning or

reinforcement theories by viewing individuals as more purposeful decision
makers; they strive for balance in their beliefs. If presented with decisions or
information that create dissonance, they use dissonance-reduction strategies to
regain equilibrium, especially if the dissonance affects their self-esteem. The
theory suggests that
 dissonance is psychologically uncomfortable enough to motivate
people to achieve consonance, and
 in a state of dissonance, people will avoid information and
situations that might increase the dissonance. How dissonance
arises is easy to imagine: It may be unavoidable in an information
rich-society. How people deal with it is more difficult.

Dissonance theory applies to all situations involving attitude formation and

change. This theory is able to manipulate people into certain behavior, by doing so
these people will alter their attitudes themselves. It is especially relevant to decision-
making and problem-solving.

Consider a driver who refuses to use a seat belt despite knowing that the law
requires it, and it saves lives. Then a news report or a friend’s car incident stunts the
scofflaw into facing reality. Dissonance may be reduced by 1) altering behavior… start
using a seat belt so the behavior is consonant with knowing that doing so is smart or 2)
seeking information that is consonant with the behavior… air bags are safer than seat
belts. If the driver never faces a situation that threatens the decision not to use seat
belts, then no dissonance-reduction action is likely because the impetus to reduce
dissonance depends on the magnitude of the dissonance held.

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THE INFORMATION MODEL

History and Orientation

One of the first designs of the information theory is the model of communication
by Shannon and Weaver. Claude Shannon, an engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories,
worked with Warren Weaver on the classic book ‘The mathematical theory of
communication’. In this work Shannon and Weaver sought to identify the quickest and
most efficient way to get a message from one point to another. Their goal was to
discover how communication messages could be converted into electronic signals most
efficiently, and how those signals could be transmitted with a minimum of error. In
studying this, Shannon and Weaver developed a mechanical and mathematical model of
communication, known as the “Shannon and Weaver model of communication”.

Core Assumptions and Statements

According to the theory, transmission of the message involved sending

information through electronic signals. “Information” in the information theory sense of
the word, should not be confused with ‘information’ as we commonly understand it.
According to Shannon and Weaver, information is defined as “a measure of one’s

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freedom of choice when one selects a message”. In information theory, information and
uncertainty are closely related. Information refers to the degree of uncertainty present
in a situation. The larger the uncertainty removed by a message, the stronger the
correlation between the input and output of a communication channel, the more
detailed particular instructions are the more information is transmitted. Uncertainty
also relates to the concept of predictability. When something is completely predictable,
it is completely certain. Therefore, it contains very little, if any, information. A related
term, entropy, is also important in information theory. Entropy refers to the degree of
randomness, lack of organization, or disorder in a situation. Information theory
measures the quantities of all kinds of information in terms of bits (binary digit).
Redundancy is another concept which has emerged from the information theory to
communication. Redundancy is the opposite of information. Something that is
redundant adds little, if any, information to a message. Redundancy is important
because it helps combat noise in a communicating system (e.g. in repeating the
message). Noise is any factor in the process that works against the predictability of the
outcome of the communication process. Information theory has contributed to the
clarification of certain concepts such as noise, redundancy and entropy. These concepts
are inherently part of the communication process.

Shannon and Weaver broadly defined communication as “all of the procedures

by which one mind may affect another”. Their communication model consisted of an
information source: the source’s message, a transmitter, a signal, and a receiver: the
receiver’s message, and a destination. Eventually, the standard communication model
featured the source or encoder, who encodes a message by translating an idea into a
code in terms of bits. A code is a language or other set of symbols or signs that can be
used to transmit a thought through one or more channels to elicit a response in a
receiver or decoder. Shannon and Weaver also included the factor noise into the model.
The study conducted by Shannon and Weaver was motivated by the desire to increase
the efficiency and accuracy or fidelity of transmission and reception. Efficiency refers to
the bits of information per second that can be sent and received. Accuracy is the extent
to which signals of information can be understood. In this sense, accuracy refers more
to clear reception than to the meaning of message. This engineering model asks quite
different questions than do other approaches to human communication research.
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