CHAPTER 4
MAPPING THE TERRITORY
Outline
I. Introduction.
A. Communication scholars hold widely divergent views as to what communication is.
B. Robert Craig thinks practical application is a great starting point for developing a
tool to help discriminate between theories.
D. Craig identifies seven established traditions of communication theory.
II. The socio-psychological tradition: Communication as interaction and influence.
A. This tradition epitomizes the scientific perspective.
B. Scholars believe that communication truths can be discovered by careful,
systematic observation that predicts cause-and-effect relationships.
C. Researchers focus on what is without their personal bias of what ought to be.
D. Theorists check data through surveys or controlled experiments, often calling for
longitudinal empirical studies.
III. The cybernetic tradition: Communication as a system of information processing.
A. Norbert Wiener coined the term cybernetics to describe the field of artificial
intelligence.
2. Communication is the link separating the separate parts of any system.
B. Theorists seek to answer the questions: How does the system work? What could
change it? How can we get the bugs out?
C. University of Washington communication professor Malcolm Parks studies personal
relationships by asking both partners to describe their social network.
1. The practical question Parks sought to answer was, “How are friendships shaped
by other people that the friends know?”
2. He approached this question from the cybernetic tradition because it’s designed
to understand how information flows through social networks.
IV. The rhetorical tradition: Communication as artful public address.
A. Greco-Roman rhetoric was the main communication theory until the twentieth
century.
B. Six features characterize the tradition.
1. A conviction that speech distinguishes humans from other animals.
3. A setting of one speaker addressing a large audience with the intention to
persuade.
5. An emphasis on the power and beauty of language to move people emotionally
and stir them to action.
6. Rhetoric was the province of males.
C. Readers of Aristotle’s The Rhetoric may be surprised to find a systematic analysis of
1. The practical question Jenkins sought to answer was, “How did Obama persuade
people by appealing to close relationships?”
2. He approached this question from the rhetorical tradition because it’s designed
to understand how language changes the minds of others.
V. The semiotic tradition: Communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs.
A. Semiotics is the study of signs.
B. Words are a special kind of sign known as a symbol.
C. I. A. Richards was an early scholar of semiotics.
2. Meanings don’t reside in words or other symbols, but in people.
D. Communication professor Michael Monsour (Metropolitan State University of Denver)
recognized that the word intimacy used in the context of friendship might mean
different things to different people, and the disparity could lead to confusion.
1. The practical question Monsour sought to answer was, “What does the word
intimacy mean to people in the context of friendship?”
2. He approached this question from the semiotic tradition because it’s designed to
understand how the meanings of symbols change between people and across
time.
VI. The socio-cultural tradition: Communication as the creation and enactment of social
reality.
A. Communication produces and reproduces culture.
B. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf pioneered this tradition.
1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity states that the structure of a
culture’s language shapes what people think and do.
2. Their theory counters the notion that languages are neutral conduits of meaning.
C. It is through language that reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and
transformed.
D. Patricia Sias, a communication professor at the University of Arizona, takes a socio–
cultural approach when studying friendships that form and dissolve in
organizational settings.
1. The practical question Sias sought to answer was, “What communication
practices shape deteriorating workplace friendships?”
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
2. She approached this question from the socio-cultural tradition because it’s
designed to understand how communication creates social realities.
VII. The critical tradition: Communication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse.
A. Critical theory derives from the German Frankfurt School.
B. The Frankfurt School rejected Karl Marx’s economic determinism, but embraced the
Marxist tradition of critiquing society.
C. Critical theorists challenge three features of contemporary society.
2. Critical theorists are suspicious of empirical work that scientists say is
3. Critical theorists see the “culture industries” of television, film, music, and print
media as reproducing the dominant ideology of a culture and distracting people
from recognizing the unjust distribution of power within society.
D. Southwestern University communication professor Davi Johnson Thornton
investigated the image of an interracial friendship on the TV show Psych.
1. Her critical analysis of the show argues that its particular portrayal of black/white
friendship might actually reinforce racism rather than work against it.
VIII. The phenomenological tradition: Communication as the experience of self and others
through dialogue.
A. Phenomenology refers to the intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint
of the person who is living it.
C. Phenomenological tradition answers two questions: Why is it so hard to establish and
sustain authentic human relationships? How can this problem be overcome?
1. The practical question Rawlins sought to answer was, “How do people create
mutual understanding in their friendships?”
2. He approached this question from the phenomenological tradition because it’s
designed to probe how people develop authentic human relationships.
IX. Fencing the field of communication theory.
A. These seven traditions have deep roots in communication theory.
X. The ethical tradition: Communication as people of character interacting in just and
beneficial ways.
A. Since ancient Greece, scholars have grappled with the obligations of the
communicator.
B. The NCA adopted a “Credo for Communication Ethics,” which tackles difficult
questions about communication and ethics: Is it always our duty to be honest? What
C. Craig has responded to our proposed ethical tradition by noting that, to define it
fully, we’d have to explain how it compares to every other tradition.
D. Concern for ethics spreads across the objective-interpretive landscape.
E. The ethical tradition encourages every other tradition to consider what is right or
Key Names and Terms
Robert Craig
A communication scholar from the University of Colorado who has defined seven
traditions of communication theory.
Cybernetics
The study of information processing, feedback, and control in communication systems.
Rhetoric
The art of using all available means of persuasion, focusing upon lines of argument,
organizations of ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking.
Symbols
Arbitrary words and non-verbal signs that bear no natural connection with the things
they describe; their meaning is learned within a given culture.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity
The claim that the structure of a language shapes what people think and do; the social
construction of reality.
Culture industries
Phenomenology
Intentional analysis of everyday experience from the standpoint of the person who is
living it; explores the possibility of understanding the experience of self and others.
Pragmatism
An applied approach to knowledge; the philosophy that true understanding of an idea or
situation has practical implications for action.
Principal Changes
The core content of this chapter remains consistent with the previous edition of A First
Look but has been edited for clarity and consistency. One change, however, is that after each
tradition and the accompanying illustrative research, the section ends with a recap of the
Kick-off Questions & Interaction Starters
• What piece of your family’s history or heritage shapes you most profoundly?
• Why do we make maps? What purposes do they serve?
• What are your underlying assumptions about communication? What communication
questions most interest you?
• Compare communication courses in your department. What assumptions about
communication do they share? How are their approaches different?
Suggestions for Discussion
Pluralism
While teaching this chapter, be sure to emphasize Robert Craig’s point that it’s probably
a mistake to seek “some kind of grand theoretical overview that brings all communication
study into focus”. The decision to feature Craig’s catholic approach to the discipline reiterates
the pitch for pluralism that anchors this manual’s preface. Much of the pleasure—and, on
occasion, pain—of our field comes from the diversity of the terrain. But, in order to avoid the
Another extended example: Cybernetic tradition of Shannon & Weaver
Each of the seven traditions presented in this chapter could easily warrant a book-
length treatment. In the present edition, the authors takes a single content area (friendship)
and illustrates its versatility across the traditions. Another approach might be to highlight a
authors will assert that a majority of communication scholars now dismiss Shannon and
Weaver’s classic model of information exchange. Nonetheless, it is important for students to
know that the premises about communication underlying information theory still play
important roles in the academy and in our culture. Discuss with your students Shannon and
Weaver’s general emphases and goals: clear, efficient, linear transmission and reception of
information, balance between novelty and redundancy, and so forth. You might start a
discussion by asking students when they might value a more simplistic understanding of
textbooks introduce their subject with ideas that stem directly from the information theory of
Shannon and Weaver. This is particularly true of texts covering public speaking and the
fundamentals of communication. To drive the point home, bring several of these textbooks to
class. Better yet, have your students bring in the books they’ve used in their introductory
courses.
Although your students may not realize it, much of the language we habitually use to
describe our speech and writing perpetuates the general perspective on communication
created by this theory. The conduit metaphors we marshal, for example, in which language
becomes a kind of pipeline for the efficient transfer of ideas from one mind to another, align
closely with Shannon and Weaver’s approach. In addition, many metaphors that characterize
communication as a journey also conform to their perspective. In fact, any time our
metacommunication emphasizes the way in which language functions (or fails to function) as a
medium for carrying our predetermined thoughts with fidelity and efficiency, we are
perpetuating the philosophy of communication advocated by information theory. Playing the
After you have covered the widespread applicability of Shannon and Weaver’s
approach, it’s time to move to the other side of the theoretical fence—those communicative
situations in which the linear model is not an effective approximation of human
communication. The socio-psychological tradition shares Shannon and Weaver’s empiricism,
although its interest in influence differs from the cybernetic emphasis on information. The
rhetorical tradition, in which speakers and writers seek to change the feelings or beliefs of
their audiences through persuasion, does not align well with the approach of Shannon and
Weaver. The semiotic tradition is compatible, but the socio-cultural approach, with its
emphasis on constitutive power of communication, is not. The critical tradition is overtly
suspicious of Shannon and Weaver’s sort of empiricism. Nor is the phenomonological
I’ve belabored the characteristics of the cybernetic tradition too much, perhaps, but the
intention has been to encourage you to inspire your students to spend a good deal of time
comparing the seven traditions the chapter presents as basic to our disciplinary territory. If
students master this material, and if they comprehend the essential differences and
similarities among these theoretical zones, they’ll have a wonderful foundation for successfully
understanding the entire book.
Exercises and Activities
Your genealogy
To enrich your students’ understanding of and appreciation for the basic traditions of
the discipline, you may wish to share with them your own intellectual background as well as
the educational stories of some of your colleagues. Presenting selected branches of the
departmental “family tree” can be a concrete way to demonstrate the broad applicability of the
An alternate order for presenting the traditions
In the chapter, Griffin presents the seven traditions arranged according to where they
fall on the objective-interpretive continuum. If you or your students have a predilection toward
history, you might consider presenting the traditions in a roughly chronological fashion, which
lends itself to a discussion of world events that have affected communication. Starting with
Emerging at the turn of the twentieth century, the semiotics tradition and its movement
away from strict reliance on the written texts to investigate the use of symbols may be well–
placed with a discussion of the global impacts of both World Wars and the explosion (both
literally and figuratively) of emerging technology. The critical tradition, with its European
beginning between the first and second World Wars, again highlights the historical context and
may help students by placing the thought tradition alongside world events, political climates,
Cybernetics emerged toward the end of WW2 and reflects the emerging global interest
in technology. Ask your students what other technological advances occurred at this time,
such as the television, automobiles, and early computers, and how they might reflect the
cybernetics view regarding parts of a system. As for the socio-cultural tradition of the late
1940s, you might choose to discuss sociologists, missionaries or cultural anthropologists
(such as Margaret Mead) who lived and worked around the globe and emphasized tolerance
and understanding after the atrocities of WW2. With advances in technology making the world
“smaller,” people were exposed to places and people previously unknown, and these
circumstances help shaped the socio-cultural perspective.
Mapping the traditions
Figure 4.1, the “survey map” of the seven traditions, deserves comment. They have
done a fine job of placing the theories along the objective/interpretive continuum, and
provided a reasonable rationale for placements. Nonetheless, one could question the
positioning of particular traditions. I, for example, might extend the domains of semiotics and
rhetoric toward the interpretive pole, and Stan Deetz (whose critical theory appears later in the
Solving problems
When Andrew teaches this chapter, he emphasizes Craig’s commitment to solving
practical problems. He starts by playing an audio clip of a customer service call gone wrong
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFJlgrtpGZY). He then addresses how each of the
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the
prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Cyberneticists would look for problems in the flow of information through the network.
Why did the call get bumped up to the “manager on the floor”? How distant is that in
the network from a truly powerful decision-maker? Putting the call on the Internet
seems like a way to route the information around the company’s network structure.
Rhetoricians would look at the caller’s persuasion. He takes a rational (logos) approach.
What might an appeal to pathos or ethos look like?
Semiotics focuses on signs. For the cell phone company, the “cent” sign doesn’t seem
to represent what it does for the caller.
The socio-cultural tradition might inquire about the culture of the phone company.
Perhaps cultural characteristics hinder them from responding to the customer, despite
the logical nature of his argument.
The critical tradition would lay blame at the feet of the capitalist system, which puts the
caller in a position of weakness relative to the phone company, with its army of
Further Resources
Bruce E. Gronbeck’s 1998 Carroll C. Arnold Distinguished Lecture, “Paradigms of Speech
Communication Studies: Looking Back to the Future” (Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA, 1999)
provides an alternative view of the discipline’s “territory.”
For further discussions of traditions in communication theory, see:
Robert T. Craig, « The Constitutive Metamodel: A 16-Year Review,” Communication Theory, Vol.
25, 2015, pp. 356-374.
Marc Howard Rich, “Spiritual Debate in Communication Theory: Craig’s Metamodel Applied,”