The Application of Seven Communication Traditions

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Table of Contents

The Phenomenological Tradition
The Cybernetic tradition
The Sociopsychological Tradition
The Sociocultural Tradition
The Critical Tradition
The Rhetorical Tradition
References

The Phenomenological Tradition

It is a theory that deals with personal experience. People have a way of interpreting the things around them and coming up with a formidable experience (Griffin 2009).

The attributes can develop even from the time a person is young (Adler & Rodman 2003). After examining things and testing them, then one can make a personal judgment. ‘An example of personal experience is about love’ (Littlejohn & Foss 2011, p.75). One can understand love by personally experiencing it. One can also gain this experience from the level of contact with something or people determine the meaning it represents to someone (Adler & Rodman 2003).

Language also becomes the most important vehicle for learning. It has a way of developing meanings to certain things. People experience the world because of the way language expresses it to be. ‘There are things that people know because of the associated labels’ (Griffin 2009, p.210). For instance, when one buys goods that may be in a box, there are labels that indicate which side should face up (Adler & Rodman 2003).

For other goods, there are even labels that help the user to know which part to open. ‘The way a person interprets a message is central to the already available perception or phenomenological thought’ (Littlejohn & Foss 2011, p.73). The thoughts to interpret some message become active whenever similar messages are available. It is then the process of going back to the previous personal experience and using it to interpret the present information (Craig & Muller 2007).

The Classical Phenomenology expresses truth through direct experience. For some information or something to be entirely true, then one has to put away any biases (Craig & Muller 2007). The phenomenology of perception clarifies that people know things only because of their personal relationships to those things.

In as much as the world affects people, so do people affect the world through their personal knowledge (Macnamara 2013). Hermeneutic phenomenology adds communication to this definition. It is the words and languages that cause things to have a different meaning in life (Griffin 2009).

The Quitline Services Campaign is a progressive way that the government is using to reduce and or stop people from smoking (Miller 2005). The smokers can have time to talk to the campaign officials about their feelings. They can also have time to listen to what others have gone through and decide if they want to remain the same or change their behaviors.

The campaign can establish a means through which the people can assist each other through dialogue and personal assistance to colleagues to encourage quitting (Craig & Muller 2007). They can also have a forum through which the people can be writing their personal experience through social networks and the website.

The Cybernetic tradition

A family is not just a collection of individuals related by blood (Macnamara 2013). A family has an organized system of relating with each other. There are ways in which they interact with one another and influence each other towards making certain decisions (Craig & Muller 2007).

They have a way in which they communicate with family members to pass a specific message in a specific way. There are also changes that happen within and to the family after some time. They make things to change and people to behave in a certain way. Cybernetics is, therefore, the tradition of complex systems whereby the complex elements influence one another (Griffin 2009).

There is the involvement of physical and biological processes. Some behavioral and social attributes also contribute to cybernetics (Struever 2009). A system results from the contribution of very many others parts that form together something that is more than the collection of the initial parts.

In a system, there is the aspect of interdependence that binds the parts together (Craig & Muller 2007). One part must rely on the service of the other to make a reasonable impact. Systems also have the attribute of self-regulation and control. The reason for doing so is to maintain stability and to succeed in attains the desired goals. ‘The system can be complex and highly adaptable’ (Craig & Muller 2007, p.280).

When passing information, the government needs to ensure that the piece of information is highly influential so that it can erode the previous perspective no matter how strong it is (Griffin 2009). The government must not ignore the social and culture factors because they form a system that needs direct attention (Adler & Rodman 2003).

It may not be the best method to address individual smokers, but it can be a way to form new habits in the smokers. The government can develop a new culture in the reforming and reformed smokers.

The Sociopsychological Tradition

Every individual has different parts of the body that come together to make whole human beings. The interactions between these individual parts are what makes one a whole person.

The same applies to the human being (Craig & Muller 2007). One cannot become a solitary being without being part of a certain family, community, and or a country. The social interaction between these people is what binds them together.

Persons are entities with characteristics that lead them to behave in independent ways. Most of the sociopsychological theories are cognitive. They offer guidance on how people process information (Adler & Rodman 2003). The human mind is so powerful that it has the capability of grasping, accommodating, and changing information to make the individual to adapt to certain kind of behavior (Struever 2009).

Communication scientists are still in a dilemma as to how the human mind functions. They are still doing research to come up with clear explanation. The tradition has three branches that include the behavioral, the cognitive, and the biological (Craig & Muller 2007). The behavioral theories concentrate on how people behave in communication situations. There is a relationship between what one says and what one does.

It guarantees repetition of behavior if there is a reward that motivates them and helps the to continue the way one behaves. The cognitive theory focuses on the patterns of thought. It is how people, acquire, store, and process information that leads to a certain behavior. The mental operations also control what one does (Griffin 2009). The biological scientists have come to believe that most of what people do result from the biological traits. They may not come from learning or any situational factors (Adler & Rodman 2003).

Dissonance can help the smoker to stop smoking. The government can find some explanations on how to make these people remodel their thoughts towards smoking (Littlejohn & Foss 2011). The government can find some psychologists to work with the team so that they can understand the individual smokers before engaging them in the desired change (Adler & Rodman 2003).

The Sociocultural Tradition

It is a tradition that puts more emphasize on the identity of a person (Adler & Rodman 2003). Every individual belongs to a certain group of people.

One may be a student, a Christian, a Muslim, and a Hispanic (Craig & Muller 2007). The sociocultural approaches theory appeal to the understanding of the people, their norms, and rules. They engage the people as belonging to a given culture. Community or Society comes from some connections that include communication. It is the social interactions that enable people to make meanings of things (Miller 2005).

Smokers would always find a way to communicate. When they share cigarettes, they begin relationships that go a long way. Sometimes when they meet they start discussing events and matters that concern their colleagues (Carey 2009).

The government can use such interactions to build new relationships and pass a strong message. Because they keep meeting other smokers during their daily routines, the message can spread far and wide (Pernot 2009). Another way is to put them into groups (Carey 2009).

One group can comprise of the smokers who are unable to stop smoking because of their personal choice. The second one can include those who volunteer to quit smoking (Griffin 2009). Another group can be for those who have quitted and many more (Struever 2009). It would depend on how they categorize them. Those who have quit can be useful in government adverts giving others ideas on how to quit and live a healthy life (Craig & Muller 2007).

The Critical Tradition

Critical communication theory supports the tradition by coming up with the message that gives direction on how to control tobacco (Carey 2009). It also provides messages that would reach out to the smokers to make them stop doing so.

The Critical political economy theory gives the governing bodies like the governments the upper hand in stopping the habit (Littlejohn & Foss 2011). In short, the government is the one with all the power and, therefore, it can control it the way it seems well. However, it must use its moral obligation in a way that it promotes good health and peace (Adler & Rodman 2003).

The government can use its power in a positive way to help, support, and manage the menace. It has the available media channel to do its work (Pernot 2009). Through the media, they can construct and spread new and important ideas to the people (Carey 2009). They can use symbols and pictures to force the smokers to let go of their habit. The smokers may think that they are making their personal choice (Griffin 2009).

However, most of the tobacco companies have resources to counter what the government does so that they can stay relevant (Craig & Muller 2007). They may challenge the government’s decision through their messages and advertisements through the same media. It is upon the government and its agencies to put forward a forceful message (Carey 2009).

The Rhetorical Tradition

The theory dates back to very many years I the Greek history. It has to do with using words without putting emphasize on the action that somebody should take (Littlejohn & Foss 2011). Sometimes it can relate to what politicians do when they are looking for votes. It can relate to public speaking, teaching, and even preaching (Littlejohn & Foss 2011). It originally was important for persuasion (Craig & Muller 2007).

It was an art that involved putting arguments into constructive sense and making the speech. Later it became the process of adjusting ideas to people and people to ideas. It is the human symbol. Due to adjustments, it has now evolved to include the use of symbols to affect others (Carey 2009).

It focuses more on the speaker and the way the speaker says things rather what they say (Pernot 2009). The health sector may use benevolent rhetoric to help people improve their health. People, therefore, believe that the intention of the user is good (Adler & Rodman 2003).

There is also conversion rhetoric that can become useful to change the attitude of the people towards something (Adler & Rodman 2003). It is the way the preacher or the motivational speaker can engage people to help them choose a superior position over what they have been doing (Craig & Muller 2007). It could be the best method that the government can use (Struever 2009). But faced with the anticipated reaction from the smokers, it could only make matters worse (Carey 2009).

There are people who would still listen and think that the information is helpful to them. Sometimes a good speech by an influential person like an opinion leader can make a difference. It is upon the government and the government agencies to formulate the policies that would guide the way forward. Some family members can be very helpful.

References

Adler, R & Rodman, G 2003, Understanding human communication, Oxford University Press, New York.

Carey, J 2009, Communication as culture, Routledge, New York.

Craig, R & Muller, H 2007, Theorising communication: readings across traditions, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.

Griffin, E 2009, A first look at communication theory. 7th ed. McGraw Hill, New York.

Littlejohn, S & Foss, K 2011, Theories of human communication. 10th ed. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.

Macnamara, J 2013, The 21st century media revolution: emergent communication practices. 2nd ed. Peter Lang, New York.

Miller, K 2005, Communication theories: perspectives, processes and contexts. 2nd ed. McGraw Hill, Boston.

Pernot, L 2009, New chapters in the history of rhetoric, Brill, Leiden.

Struever, N 2009, The history of rhetoric and the rhetoric of history, Ashgate, Farnham.

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