COMS 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Testability

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Communications Studies
• Course: COMS 201
• Professor: Samantha Thrift

Document Summary

Theories pursue one of the four basic goals description, explanation, prediction, or understanding and reform. The foundation of a theory is description. What a theorist perceives and emphasises is affected by personal background, sensory skills, values, and so forth. 23 pairs of chromosomes as the basis of individual characteristics. Strongest indictments is that this model (shannon weaver communication model) misrepresents communication by portraying it as a one-way process in which information flows in a linear sequence. It also labels each communicator as either a sender or a receiver, instead of acknowledging that all communicators re both senders and receivers. A good theory is one that allows us to forecast what will happen under certain conditions and/or if certain other actions are taken. Different communication theories place more or less emphasis on the objectives of prediction, control, and understanding. It"s also possible to understand something that you cannot predict or control.