COMM THEORY EXAM 3 Flashcards
Types of small groups
o Primary groups o Secondary groups o Activity groups o Personal growth groups o Learning groups o Problem solving groups
Stages in Tuckman’s Model of Group Formation
o Forming o Storming o Norming o Performing o Adjourning
Characteristics of Individual Group Roles
o Group Leader o Compromiser o Dominator o Devil’s Advocate o Malcontent
Conversion
Submitting or relenting to an alternate opinion because you now believe that alternate opinion to be true.
Conformity
Submitting or relenting to an alternate opinion even though you believe that alternate opinion is false
Characteristics of Groupthink
o Characteristics: A pattern of deliberation that group members use when their desire for unanimity overrides their motivation to assess all available plans of action.
• Ignore dissenting opinions
• Suppress conflict just to get along
• Fail to consider all solutions
Antecendent Conditions of Groupthink
- Group Cohesiveness
- Group Insulation
- Lack of Impartial Leadership
- Lack of Decision Making Procedures
- Similarity of Group Members
- Internal and External Stress
Symptoms of groupthink
o Overestimation of the group
o Closed-mindedness
o Pressures toward uniformity
Interpersonal Influence Strategies
o Foot in the Door
o Door in the Face
o Power
o Conformity
Normative Influence Definition
• Occurs when people act or behave in a way due to the desire to preserve group harmony and receive positive evaluations from others.
Normative Influence when they are the strongest
- When task is ambiguous
- When decisions are public
- When decisions must be unanimous
- When the group leader is powerful and directive
Informational Influence Def
• Occurs when people have the goal of making high quality decisions or task performance.
Informational Influence when they are the strongest
- When decisions are unambiguous
- When decisions are private
- When decisions are based on majority rule
- When there is no powerful leader
The role of rules and resources in organizational life according to AST
o Groups and organizations are produced and reproduced through the use of rules and resources.
• Rules – general routines that the group has or follows in accomplishing its goals.
• Resources – the power that actors bring to the group.
• Allocative Resources
• Authoritative Resources
French & Raven’s five bases of social power
o Reward Power o Coercive Power o Referent Power o Legitimate Power o Expert Power
Reflexivity
o Reflexivity refers to a person’s ability to monitor his or her actions or behaviors.
• Discursive consciousness
• Practical consciousness
Duality of Structure
- Group members rely on rules and resources to guide decisions about their behaviors and actions.
- Individuals choose to follow rules or alter them, which has implications for future communication interactions.
- Social integration refers to the reciprocity of communication behaviors among persons in interactions and form expectations for future interactions base on previous behavior.
o A process whereby individuals influence and motivate other group members to promote the attainment of group and/or individual goals.
- Task Leadership
* Social/Relational Leadership
A leader can arise in two ways
o A leader is a person who directs and influences a group toward group or individual goals.
• Assignment
• Emerging
Trait Perspective
• A leader is a unique person who possesses some innate ability that allows him or her to assume a leadership position in any setting.
Stylistic Perspective
- Suggests that anyone can be a leader if they have the right style of leadership.
- Autocratic
- Democratic
- Laissez Faire
Situational Perspective
- Successful leadership is dependent on the personal characteristics of the leader AND the nature of the group situation.
- Leader Characteristics
- Task Motivated
- Relationship Motivated
Situational Characteristics
- Leader-member relations
- Task structure
- Position power
Characteristics of Effective Leaders
o Well informed o Provides direction and structure o Skillful communicator o Adapts leadership style as needed o Democratic o Able to manage complexity
Characteristics of Organizations
- Goal-directed behavior
- Coordinated actions
- Information sharing
- Decision making
- Human relationships
Functional/ Traditional Perspective
Understand organizations through the eyes of an effective manager
Interpretative Perspective
Understand organizations through the eyes of its members
Critical Perspective
Understand organizations through the eyes of the marginalized members
Centralized Network Pros & Cons
- Pros
- Efficient for simple tasks
- Takes advantage of a competent leader
- Central person is satisfied
- Cons
- Non-central members are less satisfied
- Central person could be overloaded
- Limits inventiveness
Chained Network Pros & Cons
- Some members communicate with others only indirectly through others
- Pros
- Extends membership inputs to the group
- Reduces unnecessary participation of specialized members
- Cons
- Potential for miscommunication is high
- Peripheral members are less committed
Descentralized Network Pros & Cons
- All members communicate directly with all other members.
- Pros
- Increased satisfaction
- Increased inventiveness
- Better performance on complex tasks
- Cons
- Time consuming
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
- Organizational culture is the essence of organizational life.
- Organizational culture is an intricately designed web of associations.
- Organizational members must adapt their communication behaviors to fit within the overall organizational culture.
Assumptions of Organizational Culture Theory
- Members create and maintain a shared sense of organizational reality.
- The use and interpretation of symbols are critical to an organization’s culture.
- Cultures vary across organizations.
Types of symbols OCT
- Physical Symbols
- Behavioral Symbols
- Verbal Symbols
Types of Performance OCT
- Ritual
- Passion
- Social
- Political
- Enculturation
Assumptions of organizational information theory
- Human organizations exist in an information environment.
- The information an organization receives differs in terms of equivocality.
- Human organizations engage in information processing to reduce equivocality of information.
Three ways to reduce Equivocality
- Enactment
- Selection
- Retention
Equivocality
• Equivocality is the extent to which organizational messages are uncertain, ambiguous, and/or unpredictable.
Organizational Rules
- Duration rules
- Personnel rules
- Success rules
- Effort rules
Communication Cycles
- Act
- Response
- Adjustment
- Double interact loops
Characteristics of Public Communication
- Formality
- Audience diversity
- Communication role rigidity
- Transience
Conditions defining rhetorical action
- A problem is perceived
- Problem can be addressed through symbolic action
- Solution requires mobilization of the public
- Symbolic action is taken
Rhetoric
- Action humans perform when they use symbols for the purpose of communication with one another.
- Intentional
- Strategic
- Not all rhetoric is public address, but public communication is almost always rhetorical
Rhetorical Inquiry
- Proscription
- How should rhetorical action be taken?
- Analysis
- How was rhetorical action taken?
- Criticism
- How well did a rhetorical actor use the strategic options available?
Functions of Rhetorical Criticism
- Assess effects of discourse
- Illuminate events, contexts, and/or speakers
- Understand contemporary events
- Develop and refine communication theory
Features of Bitzer’s rhetorical situation
- A rhetorical situation is a situation that calls for discourse.
- Exigence
- Audience
- Constraints
Three proofs of Persuasion (Rhetoric)
- Ethos
- Pathos
- Logos
Components of an enthymeme and a syllogism
- Enthymeme
- Probabilities
- Signs
- Examples
- Syllogisms can be inductive or deductive.
Five Canon of Rhetoric
- Invention
- Arrangement
- Style
- Memory
- Delivery
Asumptions of Dramatism
- Life is a drama played out through symbols.
* Symbolic representations (dramas) provide insight into conceptions of reality.
The importance of Identification and Consubstatiation
- Rhetoric is an attempt to get others to share one’s view of reality.
- Identification is the key to accomplishing rhetorical acts.
- Consubstantiation is the process of increasing identification
- Resolving guilt through identification and division enhances persuasion.
Cycles of Guilt
- Hierarchy
- The Negative
- Victimage
- Redemption
Components of the pentad
- Act
- Scene
- Agent
- Agency
- Purpose
Assumptions of the narrative paradigm
- Humans are storytellers.
- Values, emotions, and aesthetic considerations ground our beliefs and behaviors.
- We are persuaded by a good story more than by a good argument.
Rational World Paradigm
- Humans are rational beings
- Decision making is based on arguments
- Arguments adhere to specific criteria for soundness and logic
- Rationality is based in the quality of knowledge and formal reasoning processes
- The world can be reduced to a series of logical relationships
Narrative Paradigm
- Humans are storytellers
- Decision making and communication are based on “good reasons”
- Good reasons are determined by matters of history, biography, culture, and character
- Rationality is based in people’s awareness of the story’s internal consistency
- The world is experienced by people as a set of stories
Types of coherence as part of narrative rationality
- Provides a standard for judging which stories to believe and which to disregard.
- Coherence – the internal consistency of a narrative
- Structural Coherence
- Material Coherence
- Characterological Coherence
- Fidelity – the truthfulness or credibility of the narrative
- The Logic of Good Reasons
Characteristics of Mediated Communication
- Impersonal
- Limited opportunity for feedback
- Asynchronous
- Passive audience
- Anonymous
- Limited accountability
Media Effects Characterization of Viewers
- Passive
- Active but sometimes weak
- Active and strong
Uses and gratifications theory assumptions about viewers
- Powerful (Direct)
- Limited (Indirect)
- Individual Differences
- Social Categories
UGT five reasons for media use
- Diversion
- Emotional Release
- Companionship
- Identity Reinforcement
- Surveillance
UGT three factors that influence how views use or interpret media
- Selective Exposure
- Selective Perception
- Selective Retention
UGT outcomes of media viewing
- Media has become one of the options for individuals seeking to meet their needs.
- Nothing happens to users of media that the users don’t enable.
- Implications are short term and of little social consequence.
Spiral of Silence theory assumptions about the viewers and media effects
- Viewers – Active and Weak
- Media Exposure – Powerful
- Effects – Behavioral, Attitudinal, Cognitive
SST Main Assumptions
- Society threatens deviant individuals with isolation.
- Fear of isolation causes individuals to try to assess the climate of public opinion at all times.
- Assessments of dominant public opinion guide public behavior.
SST Three Characteristics of media
- Ubiquitous
- Cumulative
- Consonance
SST outcomes of media exposure
- People will only voice an opinion if it aligns with societal views.
- Majority viewpoints proliferate.
- Minority viewpoints are suppressed.
Cultivation Theory Assumptions about viewers and media effects
- Viewer – Passive
- Media Exposure – Powerful and Limited
- Effects – Behavioral, Attitudinal, Cognitive
CT main assumptions
- All TV depicts society as more violent, scary, mean, and dangerous than it really is.
- TV viewers implicitly accept some things on TV as representative of their society.
CT outcomes of media exposure
- The more a person watches TV the more his/her beliefs match the TV world.
- Mainstreaming
- Resonance
Excitation transfer theory assumptions about viewers and media effects
- Viewer – Active and Weak
- Media Exposure – Limited
- Effects - Physiological
ETT assumptions about arousal
- Arousal is ambiguous, diffuse, and slow to decay.
- Residual arousal can be transferred from one context to the next.
- Arousal transfer increases the emotional reaction to stimuli experienced in the next context.
Outcomes of media exposure from ETT
- People enjoy media more when they’ve been previously aroused.
- Arousing T.V. exposure can intensify reactions to following experiences.
- Implications are short term and typically of little social consequences.
Media Ecology Theory assumptions about views and media effects
- Viewer – Helpless
- Media Exposure – Powerful
- Effects – Epistemology
MET Main Assumptions
- The dominant medium for communication within society corresponds with conceptions of reality.
- Television has become the dominant mode of communication in our society.
- Public discourse has become nonsense.
Literate Age
- Since the beginning of the 16th century, knowledge was transferred through print.
- Effective communication required complex argument, logic, and semantic clarity.
- Print media encouraged rationality and contemplation.
- Advertising or persuasion required logic and rationality.
Peek-a-boo
- The advent of the telegraph and the photograph in the 1800s gave rise to context free communication.
- News became national & international, but superficial and largely irrelevant.
- Knowledge became about knowing a lot of things, but not very much about them.
- Advertising & persuasion changed to seeing believes.
Age-Show Business
- TV requires minimal skills to comprehend and discourages reflection.
- TV emphasizes emotional gratification and discourages thinking.
- TV provides fragmented and discontinuous information.
- Advertising or persuasion is based on the attractiveness of entertainment value of the messenger and the message.
Features of Media Richness
- Richness of a medium, based on four criteria:
- Its ability to give immediate feedback
- Its ability to transmit multiple cues
- Its ability to support the use of natural or conversational language
- Its personalized nature
General Understanding how different types of media are ordered in terms of richness and leanness
From Rich to lean: Mobile Phone Video Conference Landline Telephone Instant Messaging Text Messaging Email Personal Documents Impersonal Written Documents Numeric Documents
The relationship between media richness and task ambiguity when choosing an appropriate medium
- A good match: media richness vs. task
- Select a rich medium for ambiguous tasks, like strategic decision making or resolving a conflict with a partner
- Choose a lean medium for unambiguous/simple or explicit tasks, like exchanging documents
Ways to prevent Groupthink: Avoid Bad Decision Making
- Looking at the range objectives group members wish to achieve
- Developing and reviewing action plans & alternatives
- Exploring the consequences of each alternative
- Analyzing previously rejected action plans when new information emerges
- Having a contingency plan for failed suggestions
Ways to prevent Groupthink: Avoid Oversimplifying
- Require oversight and control: Establish a parliamentary committee
- Embrace Whistle-Blowing: Voice Doubts
- Allow for objection: protect conscientious objectors
- Balance Consensus and Majority rule: Alter rules governing choice
Systems Def
A group or organization and the behavior that the group engages in to pursue a goal
Structures Def
The rules and resources used to sustain the group or organization
Discursive Consciousness
Person’s ability to articulate personal goals or behaviors
Practical Consciousness
Person’s inability to articulate personal goals or behaviors
Social Intergration
Reciprocity of communication behaviors
Ways to reduce equivocality: Enactment
Interpretation of the information received by the organization. Sense making: creating awareness and understanding in situations that are complex or uncertain
Ways to reduce equivocality: Selection
Choosing the best method for obtaining information
Ways to reduce equivocality: Retention
Collective memory allowing people or accomplish goals
Assumptions of Aristotle’s Rhetoric
- Effective public speakers must consider their audience
- Effective public speakers employ a number or proofs in their presentations
Fidelity
The truthfulness or credibility of the narrative
The logic of good reasons
good reasons are a set of values for accepting a story as true and worthy of acceptance. It provide a method for assessing fidelity.
Five Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Self Actualization
- Self Esteem
- Social & belonging
- Safety
- Physiological
Pluralistic ignorance SST
mistaken observation of how most people feel
Mainstreaming CT
The tendency for heavy viewers to perceive a similar culturally dominant reality to that pictured on the media although this differs from their actual reality
Resonance CT
A Behavior that occurs when a viewer’s lived reality coincides with the reality pictured in the media
First order effects CT
A method for cultivation to occur, refers to learning facts from the media
Second order effects CT
a method for cultivation to occur, refers to learning values and assumptions from the media
Mean World Index
- Most people are just looking out for themselves
- You can’t be too careful in dealing with people
- Most people would take advantage of you if they got the change
Individualism
A cultural value that places emphasis on the individual over the group. When dealing with conflict
Collectivism
A cultural value that places emphasis on the group over the individual
