Definition of symbols

Definition of the theories of the symbolic organisation

What Is A Schema Theory ?What is a schema What is a shema theoryWhat is a schema theory of the cognitive

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Social schemata theory

The “what” of schema theoryNeed of schemas in our sense making

processProvides ways of organizing informationProvides guides for understanding and

interactionVariety of frameworks can be drawn.

Fiske and Taylor(1984) framework for social schemas:

 

Schemas are not independantSchemas are imbedded with more abstract

schemasMemory organisation packets(MOPs) :

oraganise sequences of interactions.

The “How” of Schema TheoryA schema begins whenever a person

comes in contact with a new situation or idea.

Ex: Your first party at college.

Dynamic change and development

Three models of how new information might change existing schemas:

The bookkeeping model: Changes are gradually made to schemas to account for discrepant information and encounters.

The conversion model: A meaningful encounter with discrepant information can totally change a schema.

The subtyping model: Subcategories of the overall schema are formed to deal with new and discrepant information .

Attribution Theory

Definition:

Attribution theory is a social psychological theory that relates to the way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others. According to this theory, people tend to explain psychological or external causes as the determining factor in behavior.

Attribution theoryattempts to explain causes of behaviorDeveloped by Fritz Heider (1988)

Purpose:

The purpose behind making attribution is to achieve COGNITIVE CONTROL over one’s environment by explaining and understanding the causes behind and environment occurrences. Making attribution give order and predictability to our lives and help us to cope.

Process of attribution theoryPerception: observe the behavior.

Judgment: believe that the behavior was intentionally performed.

Attribute: determined to believe that the behavior was forced to be performed. Was it internal or external?

Example:

For example, if someone acts mean to you one day, would you attribute the behavior to the person being an idiot or a jerk (Internal attribution) Or to the person having a bad day (External attribution)?Attribution theory examines the ways in which people make these attributions. people make these attributions.

Methods used to categorize attribution theoryPsychology, Criminal Law

Human Resources Management

Education

Marketing Communication. Advertising

Narrative theoryaffect our ways of thinking and our

perceptionbegun in 1928 with the Russian Formalist

named Vladimir ProppWalter fisher(1984,1985,1987) states that

story telling is the most basic and universal activity of an human being

they base their decision making and also act on that storytelling concept.

Narrative rationalitythe author’s story is judge how it affects decision making and our behavior4 key elements present for the audience to judge

1. The plotline should be consistent,2. There should be enough details to understand the

story 3. Characters in the story should behave in a

realistic manner 4. There should be no unrealistic surprises or other

plausible interruption left out by the narrator.

narrative and cultureNarratives generate evidence and facilitate the broader impact of narrative subject matter, which then finds its way into cultural memory. Fictionalization as a narrative option sanctions the working through of problems as a “thought experiment” or wish-fantasy—though fact and fiction influence and mutually constitute one another. At the same time, narratives create meaning by organizing narrative material in plot structures that enable affective participation and mobilize social energies. And finally, the ambiguity of narratives makes it possible to produce diverging and at times controversial links to the world being narrated on the basis of differing starting assumptions.

The human element in narrative is important. We can say here that narrative must have a human (or human-like) agent who must do something, or something must be done to him or her. Even stories involving animals or

inanimate objects have characters which act like, or have features of, human beings. The human factor can be regarded as a paradigmatic core feature of narrative.

narrative and the human element

DramatismIs an interpretive communication studies theory, was developed by Kenneth Burke as a meta-method for analyzing human relationships. This theory compares life to a drama and provides the most direct route to human motives and human relations.

Burke

Dramatism answers the empirical question of how persons explain their actions.

In this theory, Burke discusses two important ideas – that life is drama, and the ultimate motive of rhetoric is the purging of guilt.

There are three key concepts associated with dramatism – identification, the dramatistic pentad, and guilt-redemption.

A Metaphor of DramaWe take dramaturgy to be a metaphor, perspective, and strategy for viewing life, not as life itself. But why is drama a useful metaphor of life? Three reasons can be represented here.(1) Drama implicates unlimited range of human activities. Dramatism makes substantive contributions to understanding of human relationships. It is a method that is applicable by anyone trained in its usage.(2) Drama has recognizable genres. Burke believes that humans use language in patterned discourses, and texts move us with recurring patterns underlying those texts.(3) Drama has certain audiences, which means rhetoric plays a crucial role when humans deal with experiences. Language strategies are central to Burke's dramatistic approach.

AssumptionsBecause of the complexity and extension of Burke's thinking, it is difficult to label the ontology behind his theory. However, some basic assumptions can still be extracted to support the understanding of dramatism.

(1) Some of what we do is motivated by animality and some of it by symbolicity. Burke's position is that both animal nature and symbols motivate us. For him, of all the symbols, language is the most important.(2) When we use language, we are used by it as well. Burke held a concept of linguistic relativity similar to the  Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Words set our concepts and opinions, which means people cannot see beyond what their words lead them to believe. This assumption suggests that language exerts a determining influence over people.(3) We are choice makers.  Agency is another key point of dramatism. "The essence of agency is choice. Social actors have the ability of acting out of choices.

IdentificationIdentification is the basic function of sociality, using both positive and negative associations. When there is overlap between two people in terms of their substance, they have identification. According to Burke it is an inevitable, thus both beneficial and detrimental characteristic of language in human relations.

Identification has the following features:

•The chief notion of a "new rhetoric"Examining Aristotle’s principles of rhetoric, Burke points out that the definition of the “old rhetoric” is, in essence, persuasion. Correspondently, Burke proposes a new rhetoric, which discusses several issues, but mainly focuses on the notion of identification. In comparison with “old” rhetoric, which stresses on deliberate design, “new” rhetoric may include partially “unconscious” factors in its appeal.

•Generated when two people ‘s substances overlapBurke asserts that all things have substance, which he defines as the general nature of something. Identification is a recognized common ground between two people’s substances, regarding physical characteristics, talents, occupation, experiences, personality, beliefs, and attitudes. The more substance two people share, the greater the identification. It is used to overcome human division.

•Can be falsified to result in homophilySometimes the speaker tries to falsely identify with the audience, which results in homophily for the audience. Homophily is the perceived similarity between speaker and listener. The so-called “I” is merely a unique combination of potentially conflicting corporate “we’s.” “For example the use of the people rather than the worker would more clearly tap into the lower middle-class values of the audience the movement was trying to reach.•Reflects ambiguities of substanceBurke recognizes that identification rests on both unity and division, since no one's substance can completely overlap with others. Individuals are "both joined and separated". Humans can unite on certain aspects of substance but at the same time remain unique, which is labeled as "ambiguities". Identification can be increased by the process of consubstantiation, which refers to bridging divisions between two people. Rhetoric is needed in this process to build unity.

Dramatistic Pentad

The Dramatistic Pentad is an instrument used as a set of relational or functional principles that could help us understand what he calls the ‘cycle cluster of terms’ people use to attribute motive. This pentad is a dissolution to drama. It is parallel with Aristotle’s four causes and has a similar correlation to journalists catechism: who, what, when, where, why, and how. This is done through the five key elements of human drama – act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose.

•Act: What was done

•Scene: Where it was done

•Agent: Who did it

•Agency: How the speaker did it; methods or techniques

•Purpose: Why it happened

Guilt Redemption

According to Burke, Guilt Redemption is considered the plot of all human drama, or the root of all rhetoric. In this perspective, Burke concluded that the ultimate motivation of man is to purge oneself of one's sense of guilt through public speaking. The term guilt covers tension, anxiety, shame, disgust, embarrassment, and other similar feelings. Guilt serves as a motivating factor that drives the human drama.Burke's cycle refers to the process of feeling guilt and attempting to reduce it, which follows a predictable pattern: order(or hierarchy), the negative, victimage (scapegoat or mortification), and redemption.

•Order or HierarchySociety is a dramatic process in which hierarchy forms structure through power relationships. The structure of social hierarchy considered in terms of the communication of superiority, inferiority and equality. The hierarchy is created through language using, which enables us to create categories. We feel guilt as a result of our place in the hierarchy.•The NegativeThe negative comes into play when people see their place in the social order and seek to reject it. Saying no to the existing order is both a function of our language abilities and evidence of humans as choice makers. Burke coined the phrase "rotten with perfection", which means that because our symbols allow us to imagine perfection, we always feel guilty about the difference between the reality and the perfection.

VictimageVictimage is the process of scapegoating. Here, the speaker blames an external source for his ills. According to Burke, there are two different types of scapegoating, universal and factional. In universal scapegoating, the speaker blames everyone for the problem, so the audience associates and even feels sorry for the victim, because it includes themselves. In fractional scapegoating, the speaker blames a specific group or a specific person for their problems. This creates a division within the audience. The victim, whoever it may be, is vilified, or made up to violate the ideals of social order, like normalcy or decency. As a result, by people who take action against the villains become heroized because they are confronting evil.

RedemptionThis is a confession of guilt by the speaker and a request for forgiveness. Normally, these people are sentenced to a certain punishment so they can reflect and realize their sins. This punishment is specifically a kind of “death,” literal or figuratively.Many speakers experience a combination of these two guilt-purging options. The ongoing cycle starts with order. The order is the status quo, where everything is right with the world. Then pollution disrupts the order. The pollution is the guilt or sin. Then casuistic stretching allows the guilt to be accepted into the world. Next, is the guilt, which is the effect of the pollution. After that, is victimage or mortification which purges the guilt. Finally comes transcendence which is new order, the now status quo.

conclusionsymbolic organization theories have a

major role to play in communicationhelps individuals to process a wide variety

of information about the social world in an efficient way, establishes a good perception between the participant as they already have a well organized set of ideas and information to share through the application of the schema theory.