History of “Speech

Communication”: Models and

Messages
Lee & Baldwin
1. Rhetoric
 Earliest study: Ancient
cultures
– Greece: Aristotle, Plato
– Rome: Cicero, Quintilian
– China, India
 Beginning of a discipline
(1900-1940)
– 1914: National Association of
Academic Teachers of Public
Speaking
– Departments of English
– Focus on public speaking
1. Rhetoric, cont.
 From practice to theory
(1940-present)
– Aristotle (again): Logic,
credibility, emotion
– Burke (dramatism):
Speech to remove guilt
– Fisher (narrative
paradigm): Stories well
told (believable,
coherent)
2. Early Media Research
 The beginnings (1900-1920s)
– Some early writers
 Charles Cooley (sociology)
 Robert Park (sociology, journalist,
human rights activist)
 John Dewey (educational philosopher)
 2. Early Media Research
 Strong effects models:
Post WW 1 (1920s-1950s)
– Media as “hypodermic
needle” or “magic bullet”
– A “mass audience,”—people
with the same
characteristics/effects
– Started with analysis of radio
effects, Hitler’s propaganda,
and gaining support for U.S.
war effort (WWII)
– Radio available but only 3 tv
channels so viewing options
limited
2. Early Media Research
 Limited effects models (1950s to
1960s)
– Post WW2—a move from focus on
mass audience to demographic
groups
– People were seen as choice-makers—
not “sponges” soaking up media’s
influence
– Origin of Uses and Gratifications
Theory
2. Early Media Research
 Summary thoughts
– Strongest influence from sociology,
psychology, social psychology
– Strong basis in scientific method,
“media effects” paradigm
– A change over the years in how
strong media’s influence is
– Began in early 1900s, but focus
continues today
 3. Scientific View of Face-to-
Face Communication
 Persuasion
– A move from “rhetoric” (analysis of
speeches) to “variables”
 Both in change of attitudes/beliefs
(traditional persuasion) and change in
behavior (compliance gaining—more
recently)
– Some early writers (1930s-1950s)
 Kurt Lewin: Small group interaction, group
leadership, gatekeeping, networks
 Carl Hovland: Persuasion, source credibility, 2-
sided messages
3. Scientific View of Face-to-
Face Communication
 Relationship research
– Self-disclosure (Jourard,
1960s)
– Relational growth:
(1970s)
 Altman & Taylor:
Social penetration
theory
 Thibaut & Kelley:
Social exchange
theory
 Berger & Calabrese:
Uncertainty reduction
theory
3.5 Sociological View of Face-
to-Face Communication (Metts
add)
 Goffman
– Face and facework
 Brown & Levinson (socio-linguists)
– Politeness theory
 Scheflen
– Quasi-courtship behaviors
– Body language and social order:
Communication as behavioral control
4. Sociology of Culture
 Chicago School (of Sociology)
– View: communication creates culture
– Social reality as process, not effect;
“social construction of reality” (Berger &
Luckmann, 1969)
 Symbolic Interactionism & Media
– We co-create reality through messages
– Media messages are part of the process of
reality construction
5. Marxist (critical) Approaches
 The Original Marx
– The haves
(bourgeoisie) & have-
nots (proletariat):
owners & workers
– Economic system
(base) drives all else—
religion, education,
family, culture
(superstructure)
5. Marxist (critical) Approaches,
cont.
 Modified Marxism (1970’s to present)
– It’s not just class, but race, sex, etc.
– Oppression not always deliberate
– Cultural studies, feminism, semiotics
– Focus on group-held power, oppression
(racism, classism, sexism),
empowerment, resistence
– Media studies take a humanistic and
critical turn!
 Some Models of
Communication:
Ogden & Richards Triangle of Meaning
“D-o-g”
Reference (Thought)

Symbol Referent
(Word: D-o-g) (Reality)
 Lasswell’s Model of
Mediated Communication

Who says
What in
Which channel
to Whom
with What Effect?
(in what Situation and
Context?)
 Lasswell’s Model
Example: Presidential Media Event

Who: George Bush,

Kim Dae-Jung
What: Media Event
Which channel:
Whitehouse Webpage
to Whom: American
public
with What Effect: Positive PR for
Bush’s international program
in what Situation: Goodwill trip
and Context: War with Iraq; Tense
relations with North Korea
 Extensions of Lasswell
 Technological Determinism
(McLuhan): “The medium is the
message” (medium (influences)
everything else)
 Media Ecology Theory: TV (and other
changes in media)  harmful
societal effects (e.g., texting, SNS 
relationships?)
Symmetry (Balance) Models
Symmetry (Balance) Models
 Shannon & Weaver’s
“Information Theory” Model

Information Transmitter Receiver Destination

Source
Channel

Signal Received
Signal

Noise
Source
 Shannon & Weaver’s
“Information Theory” Model
Example: Broadcast following crisis
A B D E
C
television TV TV sets; viewing
Circuitry,
station broadcasting public
waves
equipment

Signal: Received
A storm! Signal:
A storm!

Noise Source:
Storm damages TV
equipment; static from storm
in reception
 Schramm’s Model

Field of experience Field of experience

Encoder Encoder
Message

Interpreter Interpreter

Message

Decoder Decoder
 Schramm’s Model
Example: Broadcast Reporting (medical)
Field of experience:
Field of experience: Limited medical
Expertise in medical experience
field

Encoder Encoder
Messag
e

Interprete Interprete
r r
Messag
e
Decoder Decoder
 Hall’s Circuit of Culture
Representation

Identity
Regulation

Consumption Production
 Hall’s Circuit of Culture
Example: Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement
 Representation:
The image

Identity:
Regulation: People’s
None association in
mind--stylish,
sexy

Consumption: Production:
Purchasing For certain outlets