KEY THEORIES WITH RESEARCHERS AND SUMMARIES

Agenda Setting Theory – this theory developed by Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw (1972-1973) explains why people, who are exposed to the same types of media place importance on the same aspects of that exposure (Baran, 2009).

Classical Rhetoric Theory – this theory in its classical form relates to the great philosophers dating back 2500 years ago. Classical rhetoric theory is the introduction of the art of persuasion. In essence, the classical philosophers Plato, Socrates, Cicero were the original ‘salesmen’ of their age. They used the public form for speech making and persuasion. (Kentucky University.edu)

Cognitive Dissonance Theory – this theory was developed by Leon Festinger in 1957. This theory is based upon the belief that cognition (a piece of knowledge) has relationships with other cognitions. Simply put, these cognitions or knowledge can be concerned with attitudes, emotions, behaviors etc. Individuals are capable of holding many cognitions simultaneously and sometimes these pieces of knowledge form trivial, consistent or inconsistent relationships with each other. When a person has opposing views, contained within themselves, they are said to have cognitive dissonance, which creates psychological tension. (Kentucky University.edu)

Communication Competency – is the level of effectiveness, which results from a communicator’s efforts and interactions. The purpose of communication is to achieve a goal. The more highly developed the communication competencies are, the better the goals are achieved (Devito, 2002).

Coordinated Management of Meaning – Theory developed by W. Barnett Pearce and Vernon Cronen. This theory says the people within conversation co-construct social realities of their own. Language and information exchanged in a conversation creates social environments that are interpreted as reality. There are three main parts of the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory, they are coherence, coordination, and mystery. Coherence looks at how people in a conversation attempt to achieve meaning in their lives. Coordination looks at how people try to associate with others. Mystery looks at the unpredictable events and conclusions people reach from social conversations (Ohio University.edu). 

Cultivation Theory - this theory by George Gerbner dates back to 1976 and promotes the theory that television has become the main source of storytelling in modern society. This theory goes on to state that individuals, who view more than 4 hours of television a day are exposed to more violence than others and become affected by something called Mean World Syndrome. This syndrome is defined as seeing the world as worse as and more dangerous than it is in reality. The effect of this syndrome is a population living in fear.(Kentucky University.edu)

Exchange Theory – Developed by sociologist George Homans.  This theory tries to explain all forms of human social interaction.  When looked at in communication, this theory explains that people take inventory when interacting with other people.  People weigh rewards against costs and make an estimate worth on their relationships.  If rewards outweigh cost then the relationship will continue.  If the cost outweighs the rewards then the relationship will most likely be terminated (DeFleur, Kearney, Plax, 1993).

Group Think – Theory developed by Irving Janis.  According to Janis, groupthink occurs when agreement among members of the group becomes more important than the group’s issues.  Groupthink arises when members of a group avoid being harsh to their fellow group members and group leaders.  This idea of groupthink increases as group cohesiveness increases.  Groups don’t necessarily suffer from groupthink in the same fashion.  Janis says that there are eight symptoms of groupthink; pressure, self-censorship, unanimity, invulnerability, rationale, morality, stereotypes, and mindguards (Stanford.edu). 

Implicit Personality Theory – Psychologist Solomon Asch helped cultivate this theory. This theory explains that people quickly formulate assumptions about one another when they first meet. These assumptions about a person are projected on him or her based on very few facts. People make these assumptions about other people because they are trying to predict how a person will act towards them. Asch reasoned that words such as “warm” and “cold” have a relationship to personality traits. For example, the attribute “friendly” is related to the word “warm (DeFleur, at all, 1993).”

Labeling Theory – Theory developed by sociologist Howard Becker.  This theory explains how people respond to a person who was given a negative label by some official agency.  It takes only one negative piece of information about a person to communicate a negative message to others.  The terms “mental patient,” “cheater,” or “suspected sex offender” give people negative impressions.  These labels act like a magnet and bring on other cultural meanings associated with them whether the person who is labeled deserves them or not (DeFleur, at all, 1993).

Linguistic Relativity – Hypothesis developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. Also know as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that differences in language lead to large differences in experience and thought. According to Sapir and Whorf speakers of different languages view the world in different ways. Sapir and Whorf used first-hand experiences to develop their hypothesis. They believed that no one could describe the world in a neutral way and that people are constrained by their language (Stanford.edu).

Media Richness Theory – Developed by Richard Daft and Robert Lengel. This theory states that rich media, media that provides immediate feedback and communicates through multiple channels, is more effective than lean media, media that uses fewer channels and has limited feedback. The richest form of communication is face-to-face communication while the leanest form of communication is formal written documents. Telephone conversations fall somewhere in the middle of rich and lean media (Indiana University Bloomington.edu).

Social Construction of Reality – Theory developed by sociologists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman.  This theory argues that people learn to behave in their social world through interacting with that world.  People who share a similar culture also have a shared reality.  Cultures use signs and symbols to construct and maintain their reality.  According to Berger and Luckman symbols are “objective” meaning while signs are “subjective” meaning.  A car is a symbol of mobility but a Ferrari is a sign of wealth.  Over time people create collections of meanings and assign them to different situations, this is known as typification schemes (Baran, 2009).

Social Exchange Theory – this theory developed by Rusbult in 1983 states that all relationships have give and take. Relationships can succeed or fail based on deciding what is fair in terms of what the individuals take out of or give to the relationship. If greater the balance between give and take, the greater the likelihood of a successful relationship (Devito, 2002).

Spiral of Silence – this theory was initiated by Elizabeth Noelle-Neuman in 1984. The Spiral of Silence promotes the theory that people tend to remain silent when they feel their views are in the minority. They do not wish to be known for their minority viewpoint for fear of being social isolated. The Spiral of Silence goes on to state that the closer the persons viewpoint is to public opinion, the more willing they are to express that opinion in public. (Kentucky University.edu)

Systems Theory – Developed by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy. This theory says that groups are open systems that are influenced by openness to environment, interdependence, input variables, process variables, and output variables. It is assumed then that groups will use processes and the resources available to them to create a desired output. The goal of Systems Theory, when applied to group communication, is productivity (University of Kentucky.edu).  

Uncertainty Reduction Theory – this theory was originated by C.R. Berger & Calabrese in 1975. The basic assumptions’ underlying this theory is that being uncertain is very unpleasant and stimulates people to communicate with each other to reduce that feeling. There are 3 developmental stages involved in the uncertainty reduction theory. These stages are:

·         Entry (seeking out information about each other)

·         Personal (more open communication with each other)

·         Exit (future interaction plans discussed, uncertainty diminished)

(Devito, 2002)

Uses and Gratification Theory – this theory by Blumler and Katz (1974) states that the people that use various media play an active role in the communication process in using that media. People wishing to communicate using media sources will find the best media source that satisfies their needs (Baran, 2009).