CHAPTER 37
COMMON THREADS IN COMM THEORIES
Outline
I. Introduction.
A. This chapter seeks to integrate the theories in this book with each other and with
major communication concepts.
B. The chapter identifies 10 recurring principles that in one form or another appear in
multiple theories.
C. A thread must be a significant feature in at least six different theories.
D. Consistent with the critique sections that close each theory chapter of the text,
discussion of each thread ends with a cause-for-pause reservation that those who
warmly embrace the thread might ponder.
II. Motivation.
A. Communication is motivated by our basic social need for affiliation, achievement,
and control as well as our strong desire to reduce our uncertainty and anxiety.
1. Uses and grats points out that people use media to gratify their felt needs, but
these needs vary from person to person.
B. Need for affiliation: In media multiplexity theory, Haythornthwaite makes a distinction
between weak ties and strong ties in our relationships, claiming that the more types
of media both parties use to connect with each other, the stronger and closer their
bond will be.
C. Need for achievement: Functional perspective on group decision-making claims that
groups must accomplish the requisite functions to reach a high-quality decision.
D. Need for control: Unjust communication and control are central to critical theories.
Hall argues that corporately-controlled media shape the dominant discourse of the
day.
E. Need to reduce uncertainty: Uncertainty reduction theory suggests that the motive of
most communication is to gain knowledge and create understanding in order to
increase our ability to predict how future interaction with others will go.
III. Self-image.
A. Communication affects and is affected by our sense of identity, which is strongly
shaped within the context of our culture.
B. Symbolic interactionism claims that our concept of self is formed through
communication.
C. According to Aronson and Cooper’s revisions of cognitive dissonance theory,
dissonance negatively impacts our self-image until we find a way to dissipate this
distressing feeling.
IV. Credibility.
A. Our verbal and nonverbal messages are validated or discounted by others’
perception of our competence and character.
B. Aristotle used the term source credibility (ethical proof) to describe the credibility of a
speaker that increases the probability of a speech being persuasive.
C. The second level of agenda-setting theory involves noting the affective tone of
V. Expectation.
A. What we expect to hear or see will affect our perception, interpretation, and
response during an interaction.
B. Burgoon’s expectancy violations theory suggests we respond to a violation of our
expectations depending on the violation valence and communicator reward valence.
C. Expectation of future interaction heightens the motivation to reduce uncertainty in
Berger’s uncertainty reduction theory, and is also central to Walther’s hyperpersonal
VI. Audience adaption.
A. By mindfully creating a person-centered message specific to the situation, we
increase the possibility of achieving our communication goals.
B. Social judgment theory suggests influencers are most effective if they first figure out
the other’s latitude of acceptance and craft their message accordingly.
C. Petty and Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model suggests that the persuader first
E. Giles’ CAT focuses on parties’ adjustment of their speech styles.
F. Cause for pause: Too much adaptation may mean we lose the authenticity of our
message or the integrity of our own beliefs.
VII. Social construction.
A. Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are
simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create.
B. CMM directly embodies this thread.
C. McPhee’s communicative constitution of organizations clearly indicates that an
organization is what it is because communication has brought it into existence—a
particular type of social construction.
D. Mead’s symbolic interactionism denies that there is a real “me” that I can know
VIII. Shared meaning.
A. Our communication is successful to the extent that we share a common
interpretation of the signs we use.
B. Geetz and Pacanowsky’s cultural approach to organizations describes culture as
webs of significance, or systems of shared meaning.
C. Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory says shared group fantasies create
symbolic convergence–shared meaning.
IX. Narrative.
A. We respond favorably to stories and dramatic imagery with which we can identify.
B. According to Fisher, almost all communication is story that we judge by its narrative
coherence and fidelity.
C. Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory predicts then when group fantasies are
shared, the result is symbolic convergence—a common group consciousness and
often a greater cohesiveness.
X. Conflict.
A. Unjust communication stifles needed conflict; healthy communication can make
conflict productive.
B. Deetz’s critical theory of communication in organizations believes that organizations
would be well served by more conflict rather than less.
XI. Dialogue.
A. Dialogue is transparent conversation that often creates unanticipated relational
outcomes due to parties’ profound respect for disparate voices.
B. Baxter’s relational dialectics theory describes dialogue as an aesthetic
accomplishment that produces fleeting moments of unity.
C. Pearce and Cronen’s coordinated management of meaning contends that dialogic
communication is learnable, teachable, and contagious.
XII. Unraveling the threads.
A. At this point the 10 threads may be tangled together in your mind like pieces of
string jumbled together in a drawer.
B. Figure 37-1 shows each thread and the associated theories.
C. The sense of discovery that comes from figuring out where to place additional knots
can be quite satisfying and has practical benefits.
Key Names and Terms
Motivation
Needs and desires that drive or draw us to think, feel, and act as we do.
Self-image
Identity; a mental picture of who I see myself to be—greatly influenced by the ways
others respond to me.
Credibility
The strategic creation or adjustment of a message in light of the audience
characteristics and specific setting.
Social construction
The communal creation of the social world in which we live.
Shared meaning
People’s common interpretation or mutual understanding of what verbal or nonverbal
messages signify.
Narrative
Principal Changes
This chapter is edited for clarity as well as updating the connection points to include the
new theories (i.e., media multiplexity theory and co-cultural theory) in this edition.
Kick-off Questions & Interaction Starters
• Which theory/theories do you find most practical? Most accessible? Most illuminating?
Suggestions for Discussion
In many textbooks, the concluding chapter is little more than a mechanical summary
tacked on to fill a page quota or to please an editor’s formulaic sense of closure. In the case
of A First Look at Communication Theory, however, this is certainly not true. In fact, it could be
argued that this final chapter is the most important in the entire book because it presents a
I suspect that your discussion of this chapter will constitute or closely precede your
review of the course, so my suggestions here will consider the twin responsibilities of covering
the chapter and preparing for a final exam.
A First Look at Communication resembles what literary critic Stanley Fish calls a self–
consuming artifact. Discussing Plato’s Phaedrus, one of the most important ancient texts
about rhetoric, Fish describes this special process of textual consumption: “To read the
Phaedrus, then, is to use it up; for the value of any point in it is that it gets you (not any
superior perspective on the overall theoretical terrain. When the structure of the book has
functioned properly, the final chapter should evoke a kind of “aha” experience—students
should see that, without diminishing the objective/interpretive difference, many other cross-
cutting lines of similarity and difference (such as the ten threads) serve to demarcate the field
of communication theory. If students are left perplexed by these final developments and do
Exercises and Activities
Other threads
Before this chapter was developed a few editions ago, one of my favorite cumulative
final exam essay questions was this very task: have students articulate how a concept runs
through multiple theories. I asked students to start with a central concept or theory and create
a web, linking it to other theories. Sound familiar? Although Chapter 37 now does some of
this work for your students, it’s hardly the end of the story. The authors do not intend the ten
threads as an exhaustive list. Thus a revised exam question might read, “What are other
unifying principles that connect the theories?” For example, there is a thread addressing
Seeing the whole picture
If you have tackled all (or the majority) of the theories in the book, your students’ heads
are likely exploding with theory, and at times the overload may lead to a very disjointed picture.
As I have encouraged you throughout your journey, two things are critical: application and
integration. Toward that end, here are two discussion activities I engage in at the course’s
end. We reserve the final class period to “put Humpty–Dumpty back together again.” On
separate sheets of paper, I have printed the names of each theory and theorist(s)—again, I
want to reinforce the importance of learning both—and tacked them up on the board at the
front of the class. Next, I present some current problem or issue. It may be large with
complex, narrowest in scope to widest, or concrete to abstract. In this way, students can
debate the position of any given theory (I actually use poster tack so I can literally move the
pieces around like checker pieces), and base their rationale on specific elements of the
theories.
I end our integration exercise by asking students to select a theory that I then move to
the center of the board. Now the challenge: can they conceptually link other theories in a
communication theory Mad Libs type exercise? For example, if your central theory is
dramatism, you might connect it with communication accommodation theory because the
concept of identification is central to both theories. For the next move, you might tie the need
for affiliation—an assumption of CAT—to symbolic convergence theory’s notion about how
shared themes establish group cohesion. From there, see where the winds blow you—it’s
Bakhtin, Sherif, Cacioppo, Festinger, Bormann, Geertz, Aristotle, Burke, McLuhan, Barthes,
Hall, and Gerbner.) You might underscore the point by noting that communication theory is a
vibrant, current field and yet perhaps not as open to gendered or diverse voices as we might
have hoped.
Starting the integration game early
If you read the section above, you will see that I carve out time on my course calendar
and earmark a whole class session specifically for integration. Actually, I have two such days:
the day before a midterm or spring break and the last day of the semester. However, in recent
class that will be utilized not just in other later courses, but also throughout their lives. I give
them six specific essay questions 2-3 weeks ahead of time. The idea is that I want them to
study together, create shared documents, talk out the theories and even challenge each
others’ answers. I have found this peer-based learning raises the bar for everyone. I go so far
speak to a given concept such as storytelling, communication challenges, the unpredictability
of people, or religious faith. While these concepts may not have been discussed explicitly in
any previous class period, by the end of the term, I hope students see that theories are elastic
and can stretch to provide insightful turns on old ideas.
Placing the theories
I urge you to work through the threads in class, encouraging students to evaluate the
placement of each theory. As noted in the chapter, the discussion of all these points of
matter to a class vote. As they argue about the relative worth of various theories, they’ll
practice applying and prioritizing the sophisticated criteria required for making such judgments
meaningful. Of course the particular theory selected as the best is not the point; it’s the
reasoning behind the choice that counts. To explore the other side of the preference coin, you
may wish to ask students to identify the least favorite or least useful theory. Don’t settle for
“It’s too hard!” or “I don’t understand it!” as an answer. The discussion surrounding this
question should be equally challenging and revealing.
The threads help us to compare and cluster the diverse theories presented in A First
Look at Communication Theory. A second method of arranging them that will foster useful
comparisons is by primary research methodology. For each theory, have students determine
whether experimentation, surveys, textual analysis, or ethnography is most important. As with
pull from several traditions (e.g., strands of socio-cultural, critical, and phenomenological
thought run through Baxter and Bakhtin’s relational dialectics theory).
“Dear Em, Andrew, and Glenn” letters
Another method of review is to require students to write letters to the authors outlining
what they see to be the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook in a frank, constructive, and
collegial manner. As an instructor, you can evaluate their letters on a variety of factors: the
sophistication, specificity, and balance of the critique; the strength of the prose; and the depth
Further Resources
Integrative essays on communication theory include:
John Stewart, “Developing Communication Theories,” in Developing Communication Theories,
Gerry Philipsen and Terrance L. Albrecht (eds.), State University of New York Press,
Albany, 1997, pp. 157–92.
Other texts which show a range of connections across the disciple:
Nancy Baym, Scott W. Campbell, Heather Horst, Sri Kalyanaraman, Mary Beth Oliver, Eric
Rothenbuhler, René Weber, and Katherine Miller, “Communication Theory and
Research in the Age of New Media: A Conversation from the CM Café,” Communication
Monographs, Vol. 79, 2012, pp. 256–267.
Marianne Dainton, Elaine D. Zelley, Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life: A
Practical Introduction, 4th ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2019.
11.
Gregory J. Shepherd, Jeffrey St. John, and Ted Striphas (eds.), Communication as…
Perspectives on Theory, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2006.
Bryan B. Whaley and Wendy Samter (eds.), Explaining Communication: Contemporary Theories
and Exemplars, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Barbie Zelizer, “Making Communication Theory Matter,” Communication Theory, Vol. 25,
2015, pp. 410-415.