Communication Theory
• How do therapists know how to help
People?
• How do teachers know how to teach?
• How do coaches know how to win?
• How do we know how to communicate
most effectively?
Are Theories Difficult?
• An invitation to the life of the mind
• Learning to love knowledge for its own
sake
• Invitation to an ongoing conversation
i.e. Kenneth Burke’s Parlor
• Communication Theory is an idea game
Suggestions
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Stay Positive
Maintain a Perspective--Big Picture
Find Good Resources
Don’t Procrastinate
Some Perspectives
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Fort Peck--Order or Chaos
The Elephant and the Blind Researchers
What is your perspective?
How do you perceive communication?
More on Perspectives
• Communication Theories describe and/or
explain. Do they predict?
• Eastern vs. Western perspectives-Wholeness and unity vs. analytical
reductionism; spirituality vs. individual
purpose; non-speech vs. speech/language
• Study of Communication is diverse,
eclectic, and multidisciplinary today.
Three Types of Scholarship
• Science--objectivity
• Humanities--subjectivity
• Social Science--blends the two
Three Approaches to Knowledge
• Knowing by discovery--search for
objectivity
• Knowing by interpreting--construction of
meaning
• Knowing by criticism--application of values
and judgements to what is observed or
experienced
Five Genres of Communication
Theories
• Structural/Functional--assumes that reality
is ordered
• Cognitive/Behavioral--mechanisms of the
mind
• Interactional/Conventional--social life
• Interpretative--meaning and language
• Critical Theories--domination/oppression
Four Levels or Contexts of
Inquiry
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Interpersonal
Group
Organizational
Mass
Ten General Theories
• We will look at ten general theories that
may apply to all the categories
• They are core theories and apply to any
context
So, Welcome to the Adventure of
the Mind called Theory
• The Farmer and the “object in the field”
• Which explanations do you most often turn
to?