 from Em Griffin's A First Look That there is a graphical rendering of communication theories throughout history. The metaphorical river comes from an earlier edition of Em Griffin's A First Look at Communication Theory book (now on it's 7th edition).
But I'll let you navigate down that river yourself. You can cruise down the river with Griffin's book (or you can use Littlejohn's or West & Turner's or Wood's).
Rather, we'll take a look at how these theories came to be. Communication theories really arise from our attempt to define specific communication acts. These definitions of communication are usually situated in a context. These contexts usually limit the scope or depth of applicability of our definition. These contexts include:
- Intrapersonal (self-talk)
- Interpersonal
- Group and/or team
- Public
- Media and new technology
- Organizational
- Intercultural
Theorizing about communication usually arises when we want “to make sense of things” (Wood 45). Defining what communication is becomes the first step in our theorizing.
Along the way, we also describe communication acts. What we include in our theories usually reveals our assumptions about communication. These assumptions may be:
- Epistemological (ways of knowing – objective/scientific vs. subjective/interpretive)
- Ontological (view of human nature – deterministic or involving free will)
- Purpose and focus (universal laws vs. situated rules; behavioral vs. meaning making; quantitative vs. qualitative approaches)
Our assumptions determine what we value in relation to how they impact communication. These values may be:
- Personal
- Interpersonal
- Professional
- Cultural
And our assumptions will either: confirm/affirm, contradict/oppose, reform/emancipate us from our ideas about communication.
Our theories about communication may be evaluated by objective standards. These objective standards include:
- Explanation
- Prediction
- Parsimony
- Testability (falsifiabilty)
- Utility
Our theories about communication may also be evaluated by interpretive standards. These interpretive standards include:
- New understanding of people
- Clarification of values
- Aesthetic appeal
- Community of agreement
- Reform of society
These objective and interpretive standards may be combined, as follows:
- Explanation and understanding
- Prediction and value clarification
- Simplicity and aesthetic appeal
- Testability and community of agreement
- Utility and reform
Our theories about communication are also evaluated by other standards, namely:
- Scope (how much is described and explained, and what type of explanation -- law-based or rules-based)
- Heuristic (or how theories leads to the generation of new ideas)
Our perspective about the complementarity among theories also affect our theorizing. The focus and scope of our theory may be limited, even when we aspire for a universal explanation of communication.There are several types of communication theories, namely:
- Structural and functional
- Cognitive and behavioral
- Interactional and conventional
- Interpretive
- Critical
- Ethical
These types of theories are what we'll tackle next.
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