Chapter Four The Communicator

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Chapter FourThe Communicator

• The Sociopsychological Tradition
• looks at communicators as individuals and
  covers two main types of theories traits
  theory and cognitive theory.
• Theories in this tradition are influenced by the
  methods of social psychology, seeks to make
  predictions, and focuses on the individual

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Trait theories

• look at the distinguishing qualities or
  characteristics of individuals. Traits predict
  behavior in certain situations.
• Three common traits are studied in communication
  theory

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Three common traits are studied in communication
theory

• 1) Identified by Anita Vangelisti, Mark Knapp and
  John Daly conversational narcissism is defined by
  self-love.
• Conversational narcissists tend to be
  self-absorbed in conversation, inflate their self
  importance, need to control the conversation,
• use nonverbal exhibitionist behaviors and be
  nonresponsive to others.
• This is a variable trait ranging from high to
  low

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Argumentativeness,

• (the second trait) identified by Dominic Infante,
  is defined as a tendency to engage in
  conversations about controversial issues.
• To support your own view, and to refute opposing
  views.
• Argumentative individuals are assertive and can
  be identified in two clusters of variables.
• (a) Argumentativeness which is positive
• (b) Verbal aggression and hostility which is
  negative.

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Social and communication anxiety

• (the third trait) identified by James McCroskey,
  is defined by communication apprehension (CA).
• (1) CA is an enduring tendency to be apprehensive
  about communication.
• (2) It is part of a larger concept called social
  and communicative anxiety.
• (3)It is characterized by physiological,
  behavioral, and cognitive dimensions.

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Most psychological researchers today hold that
behavior is determined by a combination of trait
and situational factors

• Traits-factor models, sometimes called super
  traits, is based on J. Digmans five factor
  model.
• 1. Neurotism, a tendency to feel negative
  emotions.
• 2. Extraversion, a tendency to be assertive and
  think optimistically.
• 3. Openness, a tendency to be reflective.
• 4. Agreeableness, tendency to like, and
  sympathetic, toward others.
• 5. Conscientiousness, the tendency to be
  self-disciplined.

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Traits temperament and biology

• Michael Beatty, says traits are predispositions
  of temperament rooted in genetically determined
  neurobiological structures.
• The impact of the environment or learning is not
  very large.
• Individual differences in how people communicate
  can be explained biologically

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Three factors are involved in this theory

• a) Extraversion or outward focus.
• b) Neuroticism or anxiety.
• c) Psychotocism or lack of self control.

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Cognitive and information processing

• theories go behind the scenes to explain how we
  communicate.
• Attribution theory, founded by Fritz Heider,
  deals with the way people infer the causes of
  behavior, or perceptual styles.

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Fritz Heider Cites nine causal attributes

• (1) Situational causes, being affected by the
  environment.
• (2) Personal causes, influencing things
  personally.
• (3) Ability, being able to do something.
• (4) Effort, trying to do something.
• (5) Desire, wanting to do it.
• (6) Sentiment, feeling like it.
• (7) Belonging, going along with something.
• (8) Obligation, feeling you ought to.
• (9) Permission, being permitted to.

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A persevering assumption in attribution theory

• is that people are logical and systematic though
  several researchers have contested this
  assumption.

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Fundamental attribution error

• one of the most persistent findings is a tendency
  to attribute the cause of events to personal
  qualities.
• (1) People generally feel insensitive to
  circumstantial factors that cause events when
  considering others behavior.
• (2) People generally are sensitive to
  circumstances when considering their own behavior.

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Social judgment theory

• is based on the work of Muzater Sherif and
  focuses on how we make judgments about statements
  we hear.
• a) It looks at how we judge messages and how the
  judgment will affect your own belief system.
• b) Our social perceptions are in our heads based
  on our experiences and act as our reference
  points.

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Social judgment theory

• c) We sort our levels of acceptance into three
  latitudes.
• (1) Latitude of acceptance is the range of
  statements an a issue one finds acceptable.
• (2) Latitude of rejection is the range of
  statements on an issue one finds unacceptable.
• (3) Latitude of noncommitment is the range of
  statements on which is not committed.

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Social judgment theory

• d) Ego involvement is your sense of the personal
  relevance of the issue.
• e) The contrast effect occurs when individuals
  judge a message to be farther from their own view
  than it actually is.
• f) The assimilation effect occurs when people
  judge the message to be closer to their own point
  of view than it actually is.

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Elaboration likelihood theory (ELT),

• developed by Richard Petty and John Carioppa,
  looks at how we make decisions on conscious and
  unconscious levels regarding persuasive messages.
• a) People evaluate persuasive messages with
  varying degrees of elaboration.
• (1) ELT predicts when we will or will not be
  persuaded by a message.
• (2) ELT is the probability that you will
  evaluate information critically.

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The theory of cognitive dissonance

• (actually part of cybernetics)
• developed by Leon Festinger, is one of the most
  important theories in social psychology.
• Two elements in the cognitive system may be
  irrelevant to one another, they may be consistent
  with one another, or they may be dissonant.
• (1) Dissonance produces a tension for change
• (2) People attempt to reduce dissonance, and they
  tend to avoid situations that cause dissonance.
• (3) The more dissonance, the greater the pressure
  to change.

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Dissonance may be reduced in a number of ways.

• (1) One or more of the dissonant elements can
  change.
• (2) New elements may be added to the cognitive
  system in order to add more weight to one side or
  the other.
• (3) The dissonant elements may be defined as
  unimportant.
• (4) Consonant information may be sought.
• (5) Information may be distorted.

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One of the most important areas of research on
dissonance has been on decision making.

• (1) Postdecisional dissonance or buyers
  remorse, can occur after an important decision
  is made.
• (2) The more important the decision, the more
  dissonance is expected to result.
• (3) The attractiveness of the chosen and
  unchosen alternatives affects dissonance the
  lower the attractiveness of the chosen
  alternative and the greater the attractiveness of
  the unchosen one, the greater the dissonance.

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There are several other predictors of dissonance.

• (1) The less the pressure to conform in a forced
  compliance situation, the greater the dissonance.
  
• (2) The more difficult an initiation is, the
  greater the person's commitment to the group.
• (3) The more social support one receives for a
  decision, the greater the commitment to that
  decision.
• (4) The greater the amount of effort put into a
  task, the more one will rationalize the value of
  the task

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Comprehensive theory of change

• (still cybernetic)
• developed by Milton Rokeach, believes each person
  has a highly organized system of beliefs,
  attitudes and values, the elements of which vary
  in terms of centrality and peripherality.

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Comprehensive theory of change

• Beliefs are the numerous inferences one makes
  about the world.
• (1) Central beliefs are harder to change than
  peripheral ones.
• (2) The change of a central belief has more
  impact on the overall system than does the
  change of a peripheral one.

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Comprehensive theory of change

• Attitudes are clusters of beliefs about an
  object.
• (1) The system consists of attitudes-toward-objec
  t and attitudes-toward-situation.
• (2) One may not behave in accordance with his or
  her attitudes toward the object if the attitudes
  toward the situation do not permit it.

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Comprehensive theory of change

• Values are particular types of beliefs that guide
  one's life.
• (1) Instrumental values are guidelines for
  living.
• (2) Terminal values are the goals of life.

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Comprehensive theory of change

• The most important beliefs are beliefs about the
  self which form the self-concept.
• (1) The most powerful inconsistencies leading to
  change are those involving the self- concept.
• (2) Such contradictions increase
  self-dissatisfaction

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ELT

• b) Elaborative or critical thinking occurs in the
  central route.
• (1) Here the arguments of the message are
  carefully evaluated.
• (2) Change is less likely to occur in the
  central route, but if it does, it is more likely
  to be enduring.

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ELT

• c) Lack of critical thinking occurs in the
  peripheral route.
• (1) Here arguments are not carefully evaluated.
• (2) One tends to be influenced more by
  peripheral matters such as speaker credibility.
• (3) Change is more likely to occur in peripheral
  processing, but it is less likely to be enduring.

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ELT

• d) High motivation and ability leads to more
  central processing, and low motivation and
  ability leads to more peripheral processing.
• (1) Motivation is affected by three things.
• (a) Involvement, the personal relevance of the
  message, increases the motivation to evaluate
  arguments.
• (b) Diversity of argument, the number of
  arguments and sources, leads to a higher
  motivation to evaluate the message.
• (c) The need for cognition, the general
  enjoyment of thinking present in some people,
  increases motivation.

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ELT

• (2) The amount of critical thinking that you
  apply to an argument depends on your motivation
  and ability.