COMM 250 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: George Herbert Mead, Metatheory, Interpersonal Communication
30 Apr 2018
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COMM 250 Exam 2 Review
Symbolic Interaction Theory (SIT): George Herbert Mead, 1934
Goal of SIT
• To explain how humans, through interaction with one another, create symbolic worlds,
and how these worlds affect behavior
Concepts and Explanations of SIT
• Mind- Ability to use symbols that have common social meanings
o Example: nod of the head, shrug of the shoulders
o Mind Explanation: We can not interact with others until we learn language
▪ Defined: Shared system of verbal and nonverbal symbols organized in
patterns to express thoughts and feelings
▪ Language uses significant symbols (symbols with shared meaning)
▪ Through language we:
• Share meanings
• Anticipate responses of others
▪ Mind reflects and creates society
• Use language to learn norms of society
• Change norms…
▪ Mind allows thought (inner conversation)
• Without social interaction, we can't think
• Thought allows role taking (taking the perspective of others)
o Leads to empathy and the development of self
• Self- Ability to reflect on ourselves from the perspective of others (what other people
think of us)
o Self develops from role taking (taking the perspective of others)
▪ Looking-glass self (ask what do others think of me? in the mirror)
▪ If other people think I am smart, then I must be smart
o Pygmalion Effect
▪ Self-fulfilling prophecy that others have for us
▪ Labels that we give people become internalized
▪ People live up to the labels that other people give them
• Society- The web of social relationships humans create
o Exists prior to individuals
o Created by individuals interacting
o Creates individual "selfs"
▪ Particular others (significant others)
▪ Generalized others (society as a whole)
Research generated from SIT
o Chicago School (university of Chicago)
▪ Tested SIT, Interested in interaction of everyday life through interviews,
case studies, etc. how the meanings they created affected their behavior
▪ Mead and Blumer
o Iowa School
▪ Manford Kuhn (20 statement test) quantitative methods
▪ “I am _____”
▪ Early on they filled in the role they play
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ Later in the list they added personality traits
o “New” Iowa School
▪ Carl Couch
▪ Turned testing back to more qualitative methods, used videotapes of
people interacting and observed behaviors
How do symbolic interaction theorists define communication? Relate to issues involved in
defining communication.
o Social
o Successful
o Symbolic Actions
o Cognition thought & perception are important
o Human to Human
o Correspondence; Meaning sent = meaning received
o Intentional
o Does not have to be ethical
• What are SIT’s metatheoretical assumptions? Ontological? Epistemological?
Axiological?
o Ontological (- studies the nature of reality)
▪ Humans make real choices
▪ Human experiences are social
▪ Human experience is contextualized. Relationships, culture, and situations
matter
o Epistemological (- questions how knowledge is obtained)
▪ Humanistic
▪ Qualitative-Interpretation of socially constructed meaning is what
mattered
o Axiological (- examines the role of values in communication)
▪ Value-Free
• Is SIT a good theory? (i.e., evaluate SIT using the evaluation criteria presented in
class)
o Scope: too broad
o Precision: ignores important concepts
▪ Emotions
▪ Self esteem (evaluation of self)
• Under what communication tradition would this theory fall?
o Phenomenological
o Semiotics
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
The Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM): Pearce 1976; Pearce & Cronen, 1980
Goal of CMM
• To explain how people co-create meaning in conversation
• What is the meaning that we come to in conversation with another person and what is
the meaning that they come to in conversation with us
CMM as Rules Theory
• People use rules to create and interpret meaning
• Use different rules, get different meanings (misunderstandings/conflict)
• Meaning is constantly coordinated
o People have to work together to understand each other
Assumptions Guiding CMM
• People create systems of meaning
• Organize meaning hierarchically
• People co-create a social reality
• Behavior is not interpretable except in context of larger system
o Personal (meaning we bring to the conversation) and interpersonal (meaning
we create in interaction with other people)
Hierarchy of Meaning: Six Levels
1. Content- The actual meaning of the words that are being used
a. Ex: That’s a brilliant idea brilliant means smart, so something thinks that your
idea is smart
2. Speech Acts- The action that we can accomplish by the words that we use
a. Ex: Praise, compliment, question, sarcasm, tone that you use
3. Contract- The relationship between two people
4. Episodes- Putting a time on the communication transaction (beginning, middle, end)
5. Life Scripts- We bring the different experiences in our live to different communication
situations
6. Cultural Patterns- Our culture dictates how we are going to interpret different things
How is Meaning Coordinated?
• Exists when people attempt to make sense of messages in conversations (interpersonal)
• Three possible outcomes:
o Coordinate meaning, not coordinate meaning, partially coordinate meaning
Depends on Three things:
1. Sense of morality (ethics)
a. Rights we have based on our roles in life
2. Available resources
a. Resources we have in order to come to a common understanding (all the things
we bring with us to understand a situation)
b. Ex: At the Doctor you might not understand what he is saying if you did not do
your research on medical terms
3. Following rules
a. Descriptions of how to process information
b. Provide common symbolic framework for communication
c. Provide opportunity for choice
Types of Rules
• Constitutive (definition)
o What a message should mean within a given context
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Symbolic interaction theory (sit): george herbert mead, 1934. Goal of sit: to explain how humans, through interaction with one another, create symbolic worlds, and how these worlds affect behavior. Research generated from sit: chicago school (university of chicago, tested sit, interested in interaction of everyday life through interviews, case studies, etc. how the meanings they created affected their behavior, mead and blumer. Iowa school: manford kuhn (20 statement test) quantitative methods. Relate to issues involved in defining communication: social, successful, symbolic actions, cognition thought & perception are important, human to human, correspondence; meaning sent = meaning received, does not have to be ethical. Axiological: ontological (- studies the nature of reality, humans make real choices, human experiences are social, human experience is contextualized. Relationships, culture, and situations matter: epistemological (- questions how knowledge is obtained, humanistic, qualitative-interpretation of socially constructed meaning is what mattered, axiological (- examines the role of values in communication, value-free.
