Anatomy of the Two Subdisciplines of Communication Study

Evidence is summarized here for the degree to which the field of communication study is divided into two Subdisciplines: mass communication versus interpersonal communication. This division is expressed (a) in the general lack of cross-citations between five mass communication journals and five interpersonal communication journals, (b) by separation of the two Subdisciplines in communication associations, and (c) by the awarding of doctoral degrees in programs specializing mainly in interpersonal communication or in mass communication. The historical and other reasons for this bifurcation of communication study and the functions and dysfunctions of this division are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF DOMINANCE TENDENCIES ON FLOOR HOLDING AND INTERRUPTION BEHAVIOR IN DYADIC INTERACTION1

Eighteen dyads (10 female and eight male), each composed so as to have one member who scored high and one who scored low on a test of personality dominance, were given a cooperative problem-solving discussion task lasting fifteen minutes. The persons with the more dominant personalities held the floor more and attempted more interruptions in proportion to their partners’ total amounts of speaking time than did those with less dominant personalities. There was also evidence that the high dominant subjects were more successful in completing their interruption attempts, although this result fell somewhat short of statistical significance. Despite the fact that the trend of the results appeared to be consistently stronger among males, there were no significant sex differences. Implications of the findings for the interpersonal communication theory of Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967) are discussed.     

CODING VERBAL CONFLICT TACTICS: NONVERBAL AND PERCEPTUAL CORRELATES OF THE “AVOIDANCE-DISTRIBUTIVE-INTEGRATIVE” DISTINCTION

Coding procedures developed by Sillars (1980a) classified statements made during interpersonal conflict into “avoidance,”“integrative,” and “distributive” categories. In the present paper we present evidence that these distinctions provide an intuitively sound and theoretically meaningful basis for coding communication during conflict. Two studies are reported. In the first study, verbal tactics correlated in the expected ways with observer perceptions of the disclosiveness and competitiveness of conflict discussions. In the second study, several predicted relationships between verbal tactics and nonverbal behaviors were confirmed, although regression analysis indicated that most of these relationships could be accounted for by the high degree of talkativeness associated with integrative tactics. Overall support for the coding distinctions was obtained from the two studies.     

Interpersonal Versus Mass Media Communication A False Dichotomy

We challenge the intellectual separation of interpersonal and mass media communication, arguing that this division of communication research rests primarily on grounds of historical convenience and university politics. There is little theoretical justification for the dichotomous division of our field, yet we provide evidence that communication scholars seldom cross-cite research articles between the two subdisciplines, rarely attend scientific conferences in ways that span this distinction, and often are segregated in separate university departments. The intellectual costs of this division are discussed, and possible means of furthering intellectual exchange between the two subdisciplines are discussed.     

ANALYSIS OF RELATIONAL COMMUNICATION IN DYADS: NEW MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES

Relational communication refers to the control or dominance aspects of message exchange in dyads, as distinct from an emphasis on the report or referential aspects of communication. In relational communication analysis, the focus is on messages as transactions, and the major theoretic concepts which emerge in this analysis are symmetry, transitory, and complementarity of control. This paper contains a brief review and critique of existing interaction analysis techniques, followed by a detailed discussion of new measurement procedures that capture both the control and processual (time-varying) nature of dyadic interaction. The first step in these procedures yields a code (by speaker) based on the grammatical format of each sequential utterance. The second step yields a translation of each message format and response made into a control code, based on the relationship between the message and its immediate predecessor. These codes are next translated into transactional codes, which can then be analyzed in terms of the three major theoretic concepts. These measurement procedures require minimal subjective judgment, particularly at the initial coding level. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways we are attempting to operationalize major “themes” or patterns of control in lengthy, ongoing dyadic exchanges.     

LOCKE AND THE OBJECTS OF PERCEPTION

Abstract: It is common to assume that if Locke is to be regarded as a consistant epistemologist he must be read as holding that either ideas are the objects of perception or that [physical] objects are. He must either be a direct realist or a representationalist. But perhaps, paradoxical as it at first sounds, there is no reason to suppose that he could not hold both to be true. We see physical objects and when we do so we have ideas. We see or hear birds and bells but we also have visual and auditory ideas of birds and bells. This suggestion is explored through examination of what Locke says about perception in his Elements of Natural Philosophy and the accounts offered both by Locke in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and by some of Locke's successors.