CMNS110A Sep,12 Reading #1 Yang

Conceptual Foundations: What Is Communications?

Introduction
- Central concerns in our lives are predictably connected to the ubiquitous concept of
communication
● Open communication for good relationship
● Global communcation revolution: World Wide Web
● Communication industry is instilling negative values to children
● Productive organizations
 Communicate effectively with both employees and customers
- Communication seen as central to our everyday ideas about what makes life worth living
- Two distinct but interrelated tasks
● Understanding the nature of communication
● Understanding the nature of theory

Defining Communication
- People define terms in different ways
● Differences in definition have impact on the extent to which we understand each
other
- Practical to consider the appropriateness and usefulness of particular definitions
● For the specific context
 in which those definitions will be employed and to consider the extent to which
interactants converge on definitions of relevant terms
● Better to evalute definitions in terms of their utility than in terms of correctness
● There is not always a signle right way to define a concept
- Communication defintion
● Communication is the process by which an individual (the communicator) transmits
stimuli (verbal) to modify the behavior of other individuals (audience)
● Communication is all of the procedures by which one mind can affect another

Conceptualizing Communication: Points of Convergence

Communication is a process
- Communication is continuous and complex and cannot be arbitrarily isolated
● E.g. interaction between a child and a parent in which the child is reprimanded for
not cleaning up after play
 Interaction is influenced by
 Past behavior of these two individuals
 Relationships each has had with others
 Situation surrounding the interaction
- Linear communication model
● Communication move from a source to a receiver
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● Who? Says what? To whom? Through what channel? With what effect?

Communication is Transactional
- From Action perspective
● Look at a source presenting a message to a receiver or an audience
● Not consider the reaction of the audience or feedback
● Linear and one-way approach to communication
 Hypodermic needle model
 Suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly
accepted by the receiver
 Aka. Magic bullet model of communication
● Communication is a simple process of injecting our messages into receivers
- From Interaction perspective
● Consider the importance of feedback from the receiver
● Not strictly a one-way process with direct and linear effects
- Transaction view
● Important role of feedback
● Constant mutual influence of communication participants
● Emphasizes the importance of context

Communication is Symbolic
- Sign (The object/thing)
● Consist of signifier and signified
● Signifier: the physical existence (sound, word, image)
● Signified: the mental concept
● Relationship is often an arbitrart relationship
 No natural correspondence
● Sign as something that signals the presence of something else
 E.g. somke is a sign of fire
 But not always a perfect match
 Tears can be a sign of joy rather than sadness
- Symbols
● Vehicles for the conception of objects
● The word “book”
● Developed through shared social experience
● Verbal
 Use of language
● Nonverbal
 Wide range of communicative activities and in many contexts
 Facial expressions
 Dressing suit during interview
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 Symbolize: respect, willingness to conform

- Referent
● The physical pbject
● Relationship with symbols is arbitrary
 You may be clear about what you mean when you use the term book
 Symbol might have different meanings for different people
 Gaps in understanding with imperfect relationship between symbol and referent
 Smallest gap for individuals who have shared experiences
 Grow in same culture, generation…

Conceptualizing Communication: Points of Divergence

Communication as a Social Activity
- Communication necessarily involves two or more people?
- Communication can occur within one individual
● Intrapersonal communication
 Some labelled it as cognition or thinking
 Leave term communication for situations in which two or more people are
involved
 Some see intrapersonal communication as distinct from thinking
- Communication functions in a social perspective
● Semantic level
 Considers the links between signs and referents
● Syntactic level
 Considers the rules that govern language use by considering various grammars
● Pragmatic level
 Looks at language in use
 The way in which we “do things with word”
 Seek to do specific things in communicating
- Emphasizing the point that communication is a critical part of social commerce
- Through communication, we seek to have an impact on the people around us

Communication and Intention

- Meaning is inherent in all human behavior
● An individual pulls on an old pair of blue jeans
 This behavior is communication because others might derive a variety of
meanings from it
1. Arguments about “you cannot not communicate”
 Only intentional behaviors should count as communication
 Communication occurs only when there is clear intent on the part of the source
to communicate
 Defining feature that move up from the concept of behavior to concept of
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communication
2. Arguments: source must have a “receiver-based intention”
 For communication to occur
 If a message is received, behavior count as communication
3. Arguments: take message perspective rather than receiver perspective
 Message perspective
 Communication is defined as “those behaviors that could reasonably
function as messages within a given speech community”
- Distinction among verbal, analogic, and symptomatic behavior
● Symptomatic behavior
 Stomach growls, scratching, yawn, sneeze.. in their pure form
 Exemplify behaviors whose source is something other than an effort to influence
a receiver
● Verbal behaviors
 Intended for receivers
● Analogic behaviors
 Intentional imitations of symptomatic behaviors
 Ritual behaviors, and other nonverbal behaviors purposively displayed to
receivers

Moving Beyond Definitions

Conceptual Domains of Communication Studies
- Transmission model of communication
● Communication is a process of sending and receiving messages or transferring
information from one mind to another
● Straw figure set up to represent a simplistic view
● Critiques
 Resonate in many practical settings
 In everyday life we often think about communication rather than as the creation
and re-creation of social realities
 Communication is seen as a relatively straight forward activity that we use
to achieve effects: sending messages or controlling others
- Constitutive model
● Communication is not a secondary phenomenon that can be explained by antecedent
psychological, sociological, cultural factors
● Communication itself is the primary, constitutive social process that explains all
these other factors

Disciplinary Domains of Communication Studies

- Communication is characterized by a high level of interdisciplinary pursuits