Theories of Human Communication

The third stage of inquiry is constructing answers.

Craig describes seven traditional standpoints that provide different ways oftalking about communication: (1) the rhetorical; (2) the semiotic; (3) the phenomenological; (4) the cybernetic; (5) the sociopsychological; (6) the sociocultural; and(7) the critical.

First, actionis voluntary.

In Western thought, relationships existbetween two or more individuals. In many other traditions, relationships are morecomplicated and contextualized, often involving the larger community and evolving out of differences in social positions of role, status, and power.

Robyn Penman has outlined five tenets of a practical-action approach

normative judgment.

“Communication Theory as a Field,” Robert T. Craig

Practical theory, which aims to improve life in concrete ways, is designed tocapture the rich differences among situations and to provide a set of understandings that lets people weigh alternative courses of action to achieve goals.

In theUnited States, researchers began by studying communication quantitatively, seeking to establish themselves as a social science. Although these researchers werenever in complete agreement on this objective ideal, quantitative methods were thestandard for many years.