There is much discussion in the academic world of communication as to what actually constitutes communication. Currently, many definitions of communication are used in order to conceptualize the processes by which people navigate and assign meaning.

We might say that communication consists of transmitting information from one person to another. In fact, many scholars of communication take this as a working definition, and use Lasswell's maxim ("who says what to whom in what channel with what effect") as a means of circumscribing the field of communication theory. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Antenna tower of Crystal Palace transmitter, London A transmitter (sometimes abbreviated XMTR) is an electronic device which with the aid of an antenna propagates an electromagnetic signal such as radio, television, or other telecommunications. ... Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it. ... Harold Dwight Lasswell (February 13, 1902 — December 18, 1978) was a leading American political scientist and communications theorist. ...

A simple communication model with a sender transferring a message containing information to a receiver.

Other commentators suggest that a ritual process of communication exists, one not artificially divorceable from a particular historical and social context. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A source is one of the components of communication and information processing. ... Message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. ... Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...

Communication stands so deeply rooted in human behaviors and the structures of society that scholars have difficulty thinking of it while excluding social or behavioral events. Since communication theory remains a relatively young field of inquiry and integrates itself with other disciplins such as philosophy, psychology, and sociology, one probably cannot yet expect a conceptualization of communication which all or most of those who work in the area would share. For the Pet Shop Boys album of the same name see Behaviour Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Young people interacting within an ethnically diverse society. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Currently, there is no official paradigm for communication scholars to work from. One of the issues facing scholars is the possibility that establishing a communication metatheory will negate their research and stifle the broad body of knowledge in which communication functions.

History of communication theory

In the history of philosophy, Aristotle first addressed the problem of communication and attempted to work out a theory of it in The Rhetoric. He was primarily focused on the art of persuasion. Aristotles Rhetoric (or Ars Rhetorica, or The Art of Rhetoric or Treatise on Rhetoric) places the discipline of public speaking in the context of all other intellectual pursuits at the time. ...

Humanistic and rhetorical viewpoints and theories dominated the discipline prior to the twentieth century, when more scientific methodologies and insights from psychology, sociology, linguistics and advertising began to influence communication thought and practice. Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language. ... Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Social interactions and their consequences are the subject of sociology. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ... Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005) Advertising is typically paid communication through a non-personal medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. ...

Communication Theory Framework

It is helpful to examine communication and communication theory through one of the following viewpoints:

• • Mechanistic: This view considers communication to be a perfect transaction of a message from the sender to the receiver. ( as seen in the diagram above)
  • Psychological: This view considers communication as the act of sending a message to a receiver, and the feelings and thoughts of the receiver upon interpreting the message.
  • Social Constructionist (Symbolic Interactionist): This view considers communication to be the product of the interactants sharing and creating meaning.
  • Systemic: This view considers communication to be the new messages created via “through-put”, or what happens as the message is being interpreted and re-interpreted as it travels through people

Inspection of a particular theory on this level will provide a framework on the nature of communication as seen within the confines of that theory.

Theories can also be studied and organized according to the ontological, epistemological, and axiological framework imposed by the theorist.

Ontology essentially poses the question of what, exactly, it is the theorist is examining. One must consider the very nature of reality. The answer usually falls in one of three realms depending on whether the theorist sees the phenomena through the lens of a realist, nominaist, or social constructionist. Realist perspective view the world objectively, believing that there is a world outside of our own experience and cognitions. Nominalists see the world subjectively, claiming that everything outside of one’s cognitions is simply names and labels. Social constructionists straddle the fence between objective and subjective reality, claiming that reality is what we create together.

Epistemology is an examination of how the theorist studies the chosen phenomena. In studying epistemology, objective knowledge is said to be the result of a systematic look at the causal relationships of phenomena. This knowledge is usually attained through use of the scientific method. Scholars often think that empirical evidence collected in an objective manner is most likely to reflect truth in the findings. Theories of this ilk are usually created to predict a phenomenon. Subjective theory holds that understanding is based on situated knowledge, typically found using interpretative methodology such as ethnography and interviews. Subjective theories are typically developed to explain or understand phenomena in the social world.

Axiology is concerned with what values drive a theorist to develop a theory. Theorists must be mindful of potential biases so they will not influence or skew their findings(Miller, 21-23).

Mapping the theoretical landscape

A discipline gets defined in large part by its theoretical structure. Communication studies often borrow theories from other social sciences. This theoretical variation makes it difficult to come to terms with the field as a whole. That said, some common taxonomies exist that serve to divide up the range of communication research. Two common mappings involve contexts and assumptions. The social sciences are groups of academic disciplines that study the human aspects of the world. ...

Contexts

Many authors and researchers divide communication by what they sometimes called "contexts" or "levels", but which more often represent institutional histories. The study of communication in the US, while occurring within departments of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology (among others), generally developed from schools of rhetoric and from schools of journalism. While many of these have become "departments of communication", they often retain their historical roots, adhering largely to theories from speech communication in the former case, and from mass media in the latter. The great divide between speech communication and mass communication becomes complicated by a number of smaller sub-areas of communication research, including intercultural and international communication, small group communication, communication technology, policy and legal studies of communication, telecommunication, and work done under a variety of other labels. Some of these departments take a largely social-scientific perspective, others tend more heavily toward the humanities, and still others gear themselves more toward production and professional preparation. Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language. ... Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting news regarding current events, trends, issues and people. ... Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of various means by which individuals and entities relay information to large segments of the population all at once through mass media. ... The know-how that goes into a given medium. ... Copy of the original phone of Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ...

These "levels" of communication provide some way of grouping communication theories, but inevitably, some theories and concepts leak from one area to another, or fail to find a home at all.

Assumptions

Another way of dividing up the communication field emphasizes the assumptions that undergird particular theories, models, and approaches. While this approach also tends to have as its basis institutional divisions, theories within each of the seven "traditions" of communication theory that Robert Craig suggests tend to re-inforce one another, and retain the same ground epistemological and axiological assumptions. His traditions include: United States Army Second Lieutenant Robert Craig was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroic service as an infantry officer during the invasion of Sicily in World War II. // Robert Craig was born in Scotland, emigrating with his family to the United States and settling in Toledo, Ohio. ...

• rhetorical - practical art of discourse
• semiotic – intersubjective mediation through signs
• phenomenological - experience of otherness, dialogue
• cybernetic - information processing
• sociopsychological - expression, interaction and influence
• critical - discursive reflection
• sociocultural - reproduction of social order (Miller, 13)

Craig finds each of these clearly defined against the others, and remaining cohesive approaches to describing communicative behavior. As a taxonomic aid, these labels help to organize theory by its assumptions, and help researchers to understand why some theories may seem incommensurable. Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language. ... Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped in sign systems. ... Look up Phenomenology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cybernetics is the study of communication and control, typically involving regulatory feedback in living organisms, machines and organisations, as well as their combinations. ... Social psychology is the study of the nature and causes of human social behavior, with an emphasis on how people think towards each other and how they relate to each other. ...

While communication theorists very commonly use these two approaches, it seems that they decentralize the place of language and machines as communicative technologies. The idea (as argued by Vygotsky) of communication as the primary tool of a species defined by its tools remains on the outskirts of communication theory. It finds some representation in the Toronto School of communication theory (alternatively sometimes called medium theory) as represented by the work of Innis, McLuhan, and others. It seems that the ways in which individuals and groups use the technologies of communication — and in some cases are used by them — remain central to what communication researchers do. The ideas that surround this, and in particular the place of persuasion, remain constants across both the "traditions" and "levels" of communication theory. Lev Vygotsky Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (Лев Семенович Выготский) (November 17 (November 5 Old Style), 1896 – June 11, 1934) was a Soviet developmental psychologist. ... Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894-November 8, 1952) was a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of many seminal works on Canadian economic history and on media and communications. ... Herbert Marshall McLuhan CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar. ... Persuasion is a form of influence. ...

Some realms of communication and their theories

• • message production: Constructivist Theory, Action Assembly Theory
  • message processing: Elaboration Liklihood Theory, Inoculation Theory
  • discourse and interaction: Speech Acts Theory, Coordinated Management of Meaning
  • developing relationships: Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Social Penetration Theory
  • ongoing relationships: Relational Systems Theory, Relational Dialectics
  • organizational: Structuration Theory, Unobtrusive and Concertive Control Theory
  • small group: Functional Theory, Symbolic Convergence Theory
  • media processing and effects: Social Cognitive Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory
  • media and society: agenda setting, spiral of silence
  • culture: Speech Codes Theory, Face-saving Theory(Miller, v-viii)

Uses and gratifications, also known as usage and gratifications or needs and gratifications, is not a single approach but a body of approaches to media analysis that developed out of many varied empirical studies, beginning in the mid 20th century. ...

More Information

There is a wealth of information available about communication and communication theory. Included here are some examples of texts, journals, and organizations focusing on communication theory.

The following list is a survey of Communication Theory texts currently available on Amazon.com:

• • Communication Theory: Epistemological Foundations by James A. Anderson
  • Communication Theories: Origins, Methods and Uses in the Mass Media (5th Edition) by Werner J. Severin and James W. Tankard
  • Communication: Theories and Applications by Mark V. Redmond
  • Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts by Katherine Miller
  • Communication Theory: Media, Technology and Society by David Holmes
  • Building Communication Theory by Dominic A. Infante, Andrew S. Rancer, and Deanna F. Womack
  • The Communication Theory Reader by Paul Cobley
  • Clarifying Communications Theories: A Hands-On Approach by Gerald Stone, Michael Singletary, and Virginia P. Richmond
  • An Introduction to Communication Theory by Don W. Stacks, Sidney R. Hill, and Mark, III Hickson

Scholarly journals are also a great source for recent research and academic discussion of theory. Some Communication Journals that emphasize theory are as follows:

• • Argumentation
  • Communication Abstracts
  • Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies
  • Communication Education
  • Communication Monographs
  • Communication Quarterly & Communication Research Reports
  • Communication Research
  • Communication Studies
  • Communication Theory
  • Communications and the Law
  • Continuum - Journal of Media and Cultural Studies
  • Critical Studies in Media Communication
  • Discourse Studies
  • Howard Journal of Communications
  • Human Communication Research
  • Journal of Applied Communication Research
  • Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
  • Journal of Communication
  • Journal of Communication Inquiry
  • Journal of Language Identity and Education
  • Journal of Mass Media Ethics
  • Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
  • Journal of Public Relations Research
  • Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  • Journalism - Theory Practice and Criticism
  • Journalism History
  • Journalism Studies
  • Language in Society
  • Listening - Journal of Religion and Culture
  • Mass Communication and Society
  • Media Culture and Society
  • Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication
  • New Media and Society
  • Philosophy and Rhetoric : Paper for Muse Participants
  • Political Communication
  • PR Reporter
  • Public Relations Quarterly
  • Rhetoric and Public Affairs
  • Rhetorica
  • Text - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse
  • Vital Speeches of the Day
  • Women's Studies in Communication
  • Word and Image
  • Written Communication

Finally, there are many Communication Organizations that create a network of scholars who actively pursue and test theories. These organizations usually hold an annual conference showcasing the latest and best research in the field, as well as publish scholarly Journals. Examples of Communication Organizations with contact information are:

• American Communication Association
• Central States Communication Association
• Eastern Communication Association
• International Communication Association
• National Communication Association
• Southern States Communication Association
• Western States Communication Association

Some theorists

A list of people who have contributed to communication theory in its broadest sense includes:

• Irwin Altman (1939 - )
• Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE)
• Roland Barthes (1915 - 1980)
• Leslie Baxter
• Charles Berger
• Ernest Bormann
• Martin Buber (1878 - 1965)
• Judee Burgoon
• Kenneth Burke (1897 - 1993)
• John Cacioppo
• Bob Craig
• Vernon Cronen
• Stanley Deetz
• Jesse Delia
• Leon Festinger (1919 - 1989)
• Walter Fisher
• Clifford Geertz (1926 - 2006)
• George Gerbner (1919 - 2005)
• Dennis Gouran
• William Gudykunst
• Jürgen Habermas (1929 - )
• Stuart Hall (1932 - )
• Randy Hirokawa
• Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
• Harold Innis (1894 - 1952)
• Irving Janis (1918 - 1990)
• Cheris Kramarae
• Maxwell McCombs
• Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980)
• Denis McQuail
• George Herbert Mead (1863 - 1931)
• Barbara Montgomery
• Dennis Mumby
• Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
• Michael Pacanowsky
• Richard Petty
• Quintilian (35 - 95)
• I. A. Richards (1893 - 1979)
• Gerry Philipsen
• Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
• W Barnett Pierce
• Claude Shannon (1916 - 2001)
• Donald Shaw
• Muzafer Sherif (1906 - 1988)
• Deborah Tannen (1945 - )
• Dalmas Taylor
• Stella Ting-Toomey
• Paul Watzlawick (1921 - )
• Warren Weaver (1894 - 1978)
• Karl Weick
• Eric Werner

Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Roland Barthes Roland Barthes (November 12, 1915 – March 25, 1980) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. ... Ernest G. Bormann taught at the University of Minnesota from 1959. ... Martin Buber pictured late in life. ... Kenneth Burke (May 5, 1897–November 19, 1993) was a major American literary theorist and philosopher. ... Leon Festinger (born May 8, 1919 - February 11, 1989) was a social psychologist from New York City who became famous for his Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. ... Credited with formalizing Kenneth Burkes Dramatism, Walter Fisher introduced the narrative paradigm to communication theory. ... Clifford James Geertz (born August 23, 1926 in San Francisco) is an American anthropologist serving as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey. ... George Gerbner (1919 - December 24, 2005) is a communication theorist, the founder of cultivation theory (mean world theory), and a poet. ... Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory, best known for his concept of the public sphere. ... Stuart Hall (born 1932 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a cultural theorist from the United Kingdom. ... Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (April 8, 1859 - April 26, 1938, Freiburg) was a German philosopher, known as the father of phenomenology. ... Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894-November 8, 1952) was a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of many seminal works on Canadian economic history and on media and communications. ... Irving L. Janis (1918-1990) was a research psychologist at Yale University and a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley most famous for his theory of groupthink which described the systematic errors made by groups when taking collective decisions. ... Maxwell McCombs is a communication theorist who propounded the agenda setting theory. ... Herbert Marshall McLuhan CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar. ... This biographical article needs to be wikified. ... George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. ... Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. ... Ivor Armstrong Richards (February 26, 1893-1979) was an influential literary critic and rhetorician. ... Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce (September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American logician, philosopher, scientist, and mathematician. ... Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 _ February 24, 2001) has been called the father of information theory, and was the founder of practical digital circuit design theory. ... Muzafer Sherif (born July 29, 1906, in Odemis, Izmir, Turkey – died October 16, 1988, in Fairbanks, Alaska) was one of the founders of social psychology. ... Deborah Tannen Deborah Frances Tannen (born June 7, 1945) is an American professor of sociolinguistics at Georgetown University. ... Paul Watzlawick Paul Watzlawick PhD (* July 25, 1921 in Villach, Austria) is one of the worlds leading theoreticians in Communication Theory and Radical Constructivism and very important inspiration in the field of family therapy and general psychotherapy. ... Warren Weaver is an author of the well-known work on communication, The Mathematical Theory of Communication (together with Claude Shannon). ... Karl Weick is a noted organizational theorist who is famous for his loose coupling and sense-making theories in organizations. ...

See also

• List of basic communication topics
• Metacommunicative competence

Below is a list of basic topics in communication -- topics which will help the beginner become familiar with the field of communications. ... Metacommunicative competence is the ability to steeringly intervene within difficult conversations and to correct communication problems by utilizing the different ways of practical communication: verbal communication: by words or their meaning paraverbal communication: loudness of speaking, manner of speaking, when keeping silent, meaning of interrupting or interfering the conversation nonverbal...

Bibliography

• Emory A Griffin, A first look at communication theory. 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. ISBN 0-07-022822-1
• Miller, K., Communication Theories: Perspectives, processes, and contexts. 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
• Werner, E., "Cooperating Agents: A Unified Theory of Communication and Social Structure", Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, L. Gasser and M. Huhns, eds., Morgan Kaufmann and Pitman Press, 1989. Abstract
• Werner, E., "Toward a Theory of Communication and Cooperation for Multiagent Planning", Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning About Knowledge: Proceedings of the Second Conference, Morgan Kaufman Publishers, pp. 129-143, 1988. Abstract PDF