A Simultaneous Equation Model for Intervention in Communication Behavior [microform] / James E. Grunig.
As counterexamples to J. E. Grunig and J. B. Disbrow's probabilistic theory of communication behavior, which assumes that receivers have almost total control over communication behavior and that the only control possible for communicators is to limit communications to those publics most likely...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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1979.
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| Summary: | As counterexamples to J. E. Grunig and J. B. Disbrow's probabilistic theory of communication behavior, which assumes that receivers have almost total control over communication behavior and that the only control possible for communicators is to limit communications to those publics most likely to be communicating with them, this paper cites instances when media coverage of seemingly irrelevant issues or advertising campaigns have themselves stimulated public communication. The paper then reformulates Grunig's multisystems theory of communication behavior as a set of simultaneous equations to explain these counterexamples. The presented equations conceptualize interactions among four independent variables--problem recognition, level of involvement, constraint recognition, and presence of a referent criterion--as well as the feedback effects of two dependent variables, information seeking and information processing, upon the independent variables. The paper contends that the model offers two possible means of entering the equation system to control audiences' communication behavior: through passive information processing and through actual involvement of the audiences in the situation. Finally, the paper uses the model to explain the "knowledge gap" and the necessary conditions for the agenda setting effect of the media. (FL) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism (62nd, Houston, TX, August 5-8, 1979). ERIC Document Number: ED177542. |
| Physical Description: | 44 pages |