Epistemological Traditions

Question 1

Message encoding

Answer 1

We can encode verbally or non verbally. Verbal messages are encoded through language.

Question 2

Language

Answer 2

Abstract system of arbitrary symbols shared among a culture with rules governing…

Question 3

Charemics

Answer 3

Govern the rules of individual characters

Phonetics are an offshoot of this

Question 4

Semantics

Answer 4

Governs word meaning

Question 5

Syntactics

Answer 5

Order that impacts meaning. We use individual symbols to create larger units of meaning.

Question 6

Pragmatics

Answer 6

Using language to accomplish things. Like how to have a conversation.

Question 7

Phenomenology

Answer 7

Focuses on direct experience.
Knowledge comes from consciousness.
Consciousness is formed from experience with a phenomenon.
It is an expression of nominalistic ontology.

Question 8

Classical Phenomenology & Phenomenology of perception

Answer 8

Classical- “bracket out” your biases as a “knower”

Perception- Rejects the possibility of “bracketing”

Question 9

Cybernetics

Answer 9

The “systems” perspective

Question 10

Systems Theory

Answer 10

A system is

• Input transformed to output
• Objects
• Attributes
• Interrelationships
• Environment

Question 11

Nonsummativity

Answer 11

Wholeness, the whole is greater then the sum of its parts.

Interrelationships and interdependence.

Question 12

Teleological

Answer 12

A study of goal directed behaviors

Question 13

Hierarchical

Answer 13

All systems have structure

Question 14

The semiotic tradition

Answer 14

Semiotic studies are interested in symbols and the meanings they conjure.

They study of sign and symbols
A symbol is something that stands for something else.

Question 15

Entropy

Answer 15

Randomness and chaos

Question 16

Cybernetic

Answer 16

A system within a system. (Sub system)
a feedback mechanism that helps a system self regulate, control and adapt.

• is it reaching its goals?
• is entropy happening?
• can function to listen to feedback

Question 17

Change and adaptability

Answer 17

Systems resist change

Question 18

Exchange w/ environment

Answer 18

A system can not be totally closed off or open to and environment.

Some systems are more open and others tend to be more closed off. A cybernetic sub system can help to find the balance.

Question 19

Socio-Psychological Tradition

Answer 19

• Rooted in psychology and social psychology.
• Focus on the individual
• Examines states and traits

States= are temporary.

Traits= ex,. someone who is always nervousness no matter what, it’s a more long term enduring characteristic.

Tends to be world view 1/ quantitative

Question 20

Socio-Psychological Tradition 3 branches

Answer 20

Behavioralism, cognitivism, and communibiological perspectives.

B.F Skinner’s “Behavioralism”

Looking for a stimulus -> response models/

Question 21

Cognitive Theory

Answer 21

A response to “Behavioralism”

Rather then stimulus cognitivists think of “stimulus” as more of “input”

They focus on message input (reception) Message production (output)

Question 22

Communibiological Perspective Theory

Answer 22

• Genetics
• Neurochemistry
• Brain structure and function

Question 23

The Sociocultural Tradition

Answer 23

Social Constructionist Perspectives

• Reality is constructed within social groups.
• Constructed intersubjectively (within groups)
• Roles, rules, values, identity, ect.

They are constructed socially

Question 24

Symbolic interactionalism

Answer 24

Meaning is constructed intersubjectively through the exchange of significant symbols.

Question 25

Sociolinguistics

Answer 25

The study of language and culture

Question 26

The Critical Tradition

Answer 26

Rooted in an axiological critique of traditional research.

Influenced by Karl Marx

Focus on marginalized groups

Examination of power, privilege, and oppression.

All of these are constructed through communication so to solve them we need comm

Seeks to shape the world in the direction of social justice, they are prescriptive theories.

Question 27

Rhetoric

Answer 27

Views comm as an art, humanistic scholarship. Oldest tradition (500 years BCE)