ESSENTIAL THEORIES
You may not be able to address every theory in A First Look at Communication Theory
over the course of the term, especially if you include supplementary texts and cover one
theory per class. Therefore, you’ll have to make some hard choices about what to cover and
what to leave to other courses within your curriculum. You may want to cover fewer
theories, reinforce them well, and spend ample time in application and discussion. What you
Starting in 1998 and continuing for a decade, the American Film Institute produced a
yearly “top 100” list featuring the best of their industry, starting with the top 100 films. If you
wanted to be well-versed in American movies, that would be a good place to start. The films
that made the list did so by having achieved critical acclaim and sustained popular approval,
and are considered to have historical significance and enduring cultural impact. In like
fashion, we’ve created our own list of essentials—theories we believe are indispensable in a
course on communication theory. I (Emily), along with the textbook’s co-authors (Em,
Andrew, and Glenn), have each individually created lists of our top 15/top 20 theories in the
book. If the demands of your semester require you to scale back the number of theories you
can teach, these lists may be helpful in determining what to include and what to leave out.
Not surprisingly, our lists have many similarities but also points of departure based
on our own experiences, pedagogical practices, and personal ideologies. Our choices are
based on:
Emily: I want my class to serve as a broad platform with a net that encompasses most of
the subspecialties and traditions of our discipline. I have five criteria for inclusion. First,
I have included theories I think are most central to our discipline (and the research).
Em: About half of the theories covered in the book are objective, the other half are
interpretive. My selections reflect that split. Three of the interpretive theories take a
critical approach—a social justice emphasis ignored in some other theory texts. I’ve
Andrew: My list heavily favors “home–grown” theories that originate from or have been
heavily influenced by communication scholars. I’ve included a handful of classics from
beyond the discipline: Mead’s symbolic interactionism, which is a foundational theory
across the social sciences; social penetration theory, which is an interpersonal
communication staple; the elaboration likelihood model, which represents a venerable
tradition and style of social scientific persuasion research; and Burke and McLuhan,
Glenn: I’ve spent my research career publishing empirical studies, most of which are
focused on media phenomena, with some in the area of interpersonal communication.
Accordingly, my top theories list reflects my familiarity and preference for theories on
the objective side of the continuum and those that theorize about media or
interpersonal relationships. My list also reflects theories that I believe provide excellent
opportunities for beginning students to apply to their everyday experiences. Through
teaching the course to hundreds of students in recent years, I’ve discovered that the
The ultimate decision is up to you, but we hope these lists will stimulate discussion. In
addition, I consider Chapter 1-4 and 37 to be essential, no matter how many theories are
taught, and believe that every section introduction should be assigned, even if only one
theory from that context is covered.
Our Essential Theories, 10th Edition
Ch.
Emily
Em
Andrew
Glenn
5
Symbolic Interactionism (Mead)
6
Coordinated Management of Meaning (Pearce & Cronen)
7
Expectancy Violations Theory (Burgoon)
20
8
Social Penetration Theory (Altman & Taylor)
20
9
Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger)
10
Social Information Processing Theory (Walther)
20
11
Relational Dialectics Theory (Baxter & Bakhtin)
12
Communication Privacy Management Theory (Petronio)
13
Media Multiplexity Theory (Haythornthwaite)
20
20
14
Social Judgment Theory (Sherif)
20
20
15
Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo)
16
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)
17
Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making (Hirokawa & Gouran)
20
18
Symbolic Convergence Theory (Bormann)
20
19
Cultural Approach to Organizations (Geertz & Pacanowsky)
20
Communicative Constitution of Organizations (McPhee)
20
20
21
Critical Theory of Communication in Organizations (Deetz)
22
The Rhetoric (Aristotle)
20
23
Dramatism (Burke)
20
20
24
Narrative Paradigm (Fisher)
25
Media Ecology (McLuhan)
26
Semiotics (Barthes)
20
27
Cultural Studies (Hall)
28
Uses and Gratifications (Katz)
20
29
Cultivation Theory (Gerbner)
30
Agenda-Setting Theory (McCombs & Shaw)
20
31
Genderlect Styles (Tannen)
20
32
Standpoint Theory (Harding & Wood)
33
Muted Group Theory (Kramarae)
34
Communication Accommodation Theory (Giles)
35
Face-Negotiation Theory (Ting-Toomey)
36
Co-Cultural Theory (Orbe)
20
20
Denotes a “top 15” ranking
20 Denotes a “top 20” ranking