传播学复习要点

Chapter11.“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” It is said by Marshall McLuhan.2.Robert Cathcart and Gary Gumpert, two media researchers, have called the phenomenon of seeing the present in terms of the past a “media generation gap.”3.Definition of CommunicationCommunication is the transmission of information with the intention of influencing an audience. It is a symbolic, purposive, two-way process which is highly contextualized.4.Characteristics of CommunicationCommunication Is a ProcessCommunication Is SymbolicCommunication Is ContextualCommunication Is Purposive\Communication Is Two Way5. Models of Communication(1)Aristotle’s Modelone of our earliest models in his Rhetoric.In Rhetoric, Aristotle provided us with a basic idea of what variables would have to be considered in a communication event: speaker, message, audience, and form (fig. 1.1).(2)Berlo’s ModelIn The Process of Communication, David Berlo provided one of the simplest and most useful contemporary models of communication. Berlo’s source-message-channel-receiver model, commonly referred to as the SMCR model, has six basic constituents:1.The source2.The encoder3.The message4.The channel5.The decoder6.The receiverIn order for us to communicate with each other, we have to translate our thoughts into symbols (encode them) in order to transmit messages. In our contemporary world, we have to rely on technology to encode and decode our messages.Berlo’s model is linear, and therefore limited.(3) Shannon and Weaver’s ModelShannon and Weaver’s communication model (fig. 1.2) introduces the concepts of noise, entropy, redundancy, bit, feedback, and channel capacity. Noise is anything in the channel (ormedium) that interferes with the message.A serious limitation of the Shannon and Weaver model is that it does not take meaning into account.(4)Lasswell’s ModelIn 1948, political scientist Harold Lasswell came up with what has since been called the Lasswell formula as a model for explaining communication. He concluded that a useful way to describe communication was to ask the following about it:WhoSays WhatIn Which ChannelTo WhomWith What Effect? 9Lasswell’s verbal model is helpful because it introduces the concept of effect. The model takes into account the fact that messages are not just decoded by receivers, but also have an impact on them.（5）Gerbner’s ModelIt deals with the nature of the human communicator and the role perception plays in communication. Gerbner’s model clearly distinguishes between an actual event, the way it is perceived by the sender, how that perception is made into a message, and the way the message is perceived by the receiver. This model is useful in describing both communication and perceptual problems. Applied to the mass media, it can also be used to explore how accurately events in the real world are reported by the news as measured by audience perceptions.（6）DeFleur’s Model1966, Melvin DeFleur created a communication model that was a development of the Shannon and Weaver model. In DeFleur’s model，the two-way process nature of communication is highlighted. His inclusion of feedback and his depiction of communication as circular suggest that the process of obtaining meaning from messages is complex. Frequently sender and receiver have to exchange roles as they work to overcome noise and negotiate a common meaning.Generally, the term feedback refers to any response a receiver might send to a source in response to an original message.（7）Westley and MacLean’s ModelThe Westley and MacLean model, dating from 1957, has been influential because it deals with the complex situation of mass communication rather than the two-person models featuring a single sender and receiver.This model (fig. 1.5) has its origin in s ocial psychology and in the work of T. M. Newcomb who sought to represent the dynamics of communication situations by examining how people developed and maintained their relationships with each other.Building on Newcomb’s work, Bruce Westley and Malcolm MacLean devised a more complicated model to account for communication in the mass media. In this model, A and B are still communicating about some object or topic X. Because this is a mass communication situation, however, A is acting as an advocate by selecting from many possible X s the one that is to be communicated to person B. A’s intent in selecting among these topics is to purposively modify B’s perception of X. A could be a politician or an advertiser, for example, and X could be any topic from our social environment. C is an agent of both A and B. C’s role is to select certain A’s and provide them with access to the channel reaching B or the audience. C’s inte nt is to meet B’s needfor adequate information.Chapter II1. Communication plays a variety of roles in our lives and in our society as a whole. Functional approaches to communication attempt to define and describe exactly what those roles might be.Functional theories assume that societies, groups, and individuals exist as systems and that these systems try to maintain themselves in a state of equilibrium or homeostasis.Deciding what purpose a communication event serves is not always easy because sometimes communication events serve multiple functions. Although we generally create messages with a conscious intention in mind, sometimes messages serve other functions as well.Not all the functions of a communicated event may be intended (or manifest): some may be unintended (or latent).（news coverage of stunt driver Evel Knievel’s jump）Functional analysis helps us see how communication events affect the normal operation of a given system. Events which help maintain systems are considered functional; those which cause strain are considered dysfunctional.Categories of Communication FunctionThe categories most often used to describe the different functions communication serves are information, instruction, persuasion, and entertainment.PersuasionPersuasion refers to that class of messages designed to alter our beliefs or behavior. The key to recognizing communication’s persuasive function is to look for appeals to personal values and motives. The Greek rhetorician Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) wrote about three major types of appeal. He called them Iogos(理性ration), or the appeal to logic; ethos（气质）, or the appeal to character; and pathos（情感）, or the appeal to emotions.When persuasion is designed to influence human actions by manipulating spoken, written, or pictorial representations, then it is considered propaganda.Harold Lasswell, a pioneering theorist in the realm of propaganda, argued that advertising also falls into the category of propaganda.People with whom the listener and viewer can readily identify or look up to are ideal for creating effective propaganda. A similar approach is used in creating commercials. That’s why celebrity endorsements（明人代言）and testimonials are so often very successful.EntertainmentCommunication events whose function is to give us pleasure are called entertainment. Most of the people who provide entertainment events for us are professionals working in an entertainment industry—radio, television, film, or publishing.Problems with InformationWe expect information to be complete and accurate, but the mere fact that information is prepared by human beings means that completeness and accuracy cannot be assume d. People who provide information serve as gatekeepers. They have to make some decisions about what information should be made available and what can be eliminated.A second problem is that sometimes what appears to be information is really opinion or propaganda pretending to be fact.Another problem with information lies in the way we bring facts to bear in our individuallives. When we receive information, we try to integrate it into our existing knowledge in order to make use of it.How we see the world is shaped by our cultural and personal experiences and these affect how we react to factual data.Problems with InstructionMany minority and women’s groups point to implicit biases in instruction when they critique the course offerings in colleges and universities.Two other problems related to the instructional function of communication are the fact that not all people learn the same way and that not all people have the same motivation for learning.Problems with PersuasionThe intent of persuasion is to get us to change either our behavior or our attitudes about something. In order to get us to act, persuasion often works on our deepest-held personal beliefs.In order to avoid having our emotions manipulated, receivers of persuasive messages often have to make a special effort to remain aware of such techniques being applied to us.Media sources effectively act as agenda setters（议程设置者）.The news, by selecting what stories we hear about, tells us essentially what it is that is important for us to know. There is currently a bit of controversy among communication researchers about whether or not the media can make us think what they wish, but t here is general agreement that they can at least get us to think about what they wish.Problems with EntertainmentEntertainment and leisure are big business, and these businesses are driven by profit motives. Some critics of the media—especially television—point to their commercial nature as a major cause of the poor quality of their products.The discussion of television as the “great wasteland”; objections of many peop le to t he sex, violence, and drugs associated with rock culturethe search for quality is second to the search for profit. Critics of the media as big business would consider much of the entertainment they produce dysfunctional.It encourages passivity.“ narcotizing” effect；mediated entertainment may encourage social isolation.2. THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATIONMass communication—radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the like—affects us all. SurveillanceThe term refers to the function the mass media serve when they keep close watch over what is happening in the environment.Just as with communication’s information function, surveillance raises issues of gatekeeping.Another dysfunctional aspect of surveillance is directly related to the abundance of information available to us in the information age. （overwhelming，overload）CorrelationIt is the function mass media provide when they interpret what is happening in theenvironment.One of the problems with correlation is the issue of agenda setting.SocializationSocialization refers to the function media play in teaching members of society what their roles are and how things work. Socialization is often considered a regulatory function. Actually they do teach us about how to be and what to do.Entertainment refers to mass media’s primary function as a source of enjoyment or pleasure. PERSONAL FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATIONThe four functions of communication we will look at here include the following: the personal identity function, the social integration function, the cognitive function, and the escape function. Personal Identity FunctionPersonal Identity FunctionOn a personal level, one of the most important functions that communication serves is to provide us an understanding of who we are.Self-concepts are developed through communication.Social Integration FunctionRelated to how we feel about ourselves is how we feel about others’ judgments of us. The social integration function of communication refers to the way in which communication is used toCognitive Functionwe can understand current events because we can remember the past and project our understanding to the future.Thus, the cognitive function of communication, the ability to internalize speech, frees us of the constraints of time and space because we can use our memory and imagination to deal with the future. The cognitive function of communication also f rees us from our own perception of the world and allows us to see the world through what we believe to be the eyes of another.Escape FunctionAll of us use communication to relax, as a diversion, a release, or an escape at some time or other. From the point of view of the individual, virtually any kind of communication can serve this escape function.Chapter IIIMemory is the process whereby we are able to recall what we have learned consciously or what we have retained through nonconsious associations.Learning refers to the process by which we acquire or modify previously acquired information and skills.PERCEPTIONPerception is a two-part process. The first part of the process involves use of our sensory systems to apprehend the elements of the physical world which surround us—the sights, sounds, smells of the external environment. The second part of the process involves the integration ofthese sensory impressions with information already stored in our memories.Human Senses and Communication TechnologyTelevision, like film, relies on persistence of vision to create its illusion of continuous motion. Persistence of vision refers to the amount of time that an image lingers in the visual sensory system before it is replaced by another discrete image.Psychological Dimensions of PerceptionThe psychological dimensions of sensory processing, however, depend on memory and learning and are more directly related to communication study.Thus, memory and learning condition our sensory experiences by supplying value and weight to the messages we receive.Context—as determined by past experience and memory—provides meaning to our sensory impressions and makes understanding and responding to the various languages we use to communicate with each other possible.State of mind and life experiences affect our perception, and, consequently, affect how we interpret messages we receive.Attentionthe ability to concentrate, is one of the important psychological variables affecting communication.Selective ProcessesSelective perception The perception is greatly influenced by such factors as our needs, beliefs, attitudes, and a host of other mental and emotional factors. Culture, education, mood, attitudes, and motivation are some of the variables that affect perceptionwe are likely to interpret what we see and hear in terms of already existing psychological factors.Selective attention refers to the tendency of people to concentrate most intently on those messages that are consonant with their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors and to ignore those messages that are dissonant.Selective exposure is the tendency of people to expose themselves to messages congruent with the psychological variables and to avoid those messages that are at variance with those variables.Selective retention reflects the impact of our past experience and preferences on our perception of information. It refers to the process whereby we remember some things and forget others.MEMORYPsychologists have determined that the capacity of the STM is 7 ±2 items.As we learn and develop memories, we develop methods of handling information by placing it in groups rather than dealing with each item separately.Psychologists commonly refer to categories, which are composites of experience, as constructs.memories are contextual。