Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of human communication. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ["Theories of Message Reception and Processing" pp.

Transcription

1 Nick Charles Reading Summary MSP 4446 Psychological Processing of Media Fall 2016 Lombard Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of human communication. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ["Theories of Message Reception and Processing" pp ] The psychological processes that affect behavior and evaluation are vast and complex. When every decision and/or thought process is conducted, our behavior is affected. Behavior is defined as the way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus (Webster, n/d). In many cases our behavior is affected by an outside source. When humans observe something, the brain starts to fires off cognitive codes. Cognitive codes are the basic elements of information that are kept in memory and manipulated in various ways when we think (Littlejohn, p. 126). Cognitive codes form cognitive structures. Cognitive structures are products of cognitive codes and create words, sentences and images. This process is similar to that of computer coding cognitive structures are created just like forms of software are created. This entire process is called the Cognitive Process, and it is the foundation of all evaluation and behavior. Charles Osgood is one of the most beloved researchers in the psychology world. His most famous and influential theory known as the Charles Osgood theory deals with the ways in which meanings are learned and how they relate to thinking and behavior (Littlejohn, p. 127). This theory allows us to understand how we put meaning to words and also depicts how each person conceptualizes different meanings for the same object. For example, the word Flight can make people think of travel, fun and adventure; or for some the word may make people think of something completely opposite such as fear, uncertainty, and even death. Osgood explains that this happens because, Individuals respond to stimuli in the environment,

2 forming a stimulus response relationship (Littlejohn, p. 127). The stimulus response starts with a person noticing an airplane; there is then an, internal association that appear in the mind, and this association constitutes the meanings for the concepts of airplanes and flight (Littlejohn, p. 127). As a result of the internal association cognitive codes start to create cognitive structures which creates an internal meaning which manifests into an outward response. Osgood also expresses that all meanings are not learned from a direct experience; instead, experience with the natural stimulus are learned by an association between one sign and another, a process that can occur in the absence of physical contact with the original stimulus (LittleJohn, p. 127). Put into to simpler terms, each meaning basically rubs off on each other: for example, if someone places the meaning of fear with plane, it s most likely not because they have been in a plane crash themselves, it is because that person may have seen a movie with a fatal plane crash or has had a friend or family member who was in a plane crash which, in turn, rubbed off into that person s head. In addition to Charles Osgood s theory, another influential and important theory relating to evaluation and behavior is the Attribution Theory. The theory was founded by Fritz Heider and explains the processes by which you come to understand your own behavior and that of others (Littlejohn, p. 127). The theory expresses that every person notices their behavior through many different situations also known as evaluation of situations. There are three steps to the theory: 1. People assign meaning to what they observe, e..g, based on a similar experience; 2. People infer others behavior from personal experience, e.g., having empathy for someone because of your own experience; and 3. Once an attribution is made, it is very challenging to change. The theory also makes the familiar notion that most people are very

3 subjective when making causal inferences about themselves and other people. Rather than weighing all factors, people seem to make quick judgments based on available cues and emotional factors (Littlejohn, p. 133). This is what ultimately describes why, in most cases, people are so quick to judge others: they quickly link their thoughts of others to that of their previous experiences. Another familiar notion that the attribution theory describes is the Fundamental Attribution Error. This concept describes the tendency of people s insensitivities to circumstantial factors that cause events. For example, We tend to blame other people for what happens to them, but blame the situation for what happens to us (Littlejohn, p. 133). Another example is that if you fail a test, you are most likely going to blame the teacher, saying that the test was too hard; but if your friend fails the test, you are more likely to blame him/her, claiming that they didn t study or are unintelligent. Conversely, like the Attribution theory, another important theory that should be noted is the Information Integration theory. According to this theory, all information has the potential of affecting your attitudes, but two variables are important in how attitudes are changed (Littlejohn, p. 134). This theory is a perfect example of explaining how people develop beliefs and stick with them or, in certain circumstances, change their beliefs. The two important aspects of the theory are Valence and Weight. Valence is whether or not something supports (Positive Valence) or refutes (Negative Valence) a person s beliefs. Weight is how much a person believes something is true and credible. The more true the information is believed to be, the more weight is attributed to it; the more false the information is believed to be, the lesser weight is attributed to it. Valence affects how information influences your attitudes, and weight affects how much it does so (Littlejohn, p. 135). This goes to explain how advertising

4 affects people: if a political advertisement is aired and the message it is projecting relates to a certain demographic and reaffirms their beliefs, that advertisement has positive Valence and a high weight. Moreover, if an advertisement for fast food is aired and people think fast food is terrible and they just bypass the advertisement, that ad has negative Valence and low weight. Finally, one of the most influential theories in all of social psychology relating to behavior and evaluation is Leon Festinge rs Cognitive Dissonance Theory. The theory teaches that any two cognitive elements, including attitudes, perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors, will have one of three kinds of relationships (Littlejohn, p. 138). The three types of relationships are 1. Consistent/Consonant. 2. Inconsistent/Dissonant. and 3. Null/Irrelevant. For example, if you have a whole quart of ice cream and you know that it s extremely unhealthy to eat the entire container in one sitting and you decide to not eat it all and instead just have two scoops, your cognitions will be consistent and dissonance will be low. If, on the other hand, you know it s bad to eat the entire container, but you eat it all anyway, your cognitions will be inconsistent and dissonance will be high. Lastly, if you have the container of ice cream and you know it is unhealthy to eat it all and then you suddenly start thinking about cats, your cognitions are irrelevant and the dissonance is low. Festinger also describes methods that are used by people to reduce dissonance. One method is changing one of the cognitions; for example, convincing yourself that ice cream is good for you so you won t feel bad about eating the entire container. Another method is adding another element to one side of the tension; for example, instead of ice cream you switch to eating chips. Overall, the cognitive processes of behavior and evaluation is a complex topic to study, but through years of research social scientists have uncovered the uncertainties relating to our

5 cognitions. By reading and researching these theories, we can develop a better understanding of why and how people act the way they do, and why they make the informed, or uninformed, decisions that they do from eating ice cream to voting for the president of the United States. References Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of human communication. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ["Theories of Message Reception and Processing" pp ]. Webster (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2016, from