Introduction to Module Two



Theory List

This is a list of theories used in communication for individual and social change. It is not an exhaustive list.

Individual

Attribution Theory: Explains individual decision-making through one of two attributions (1) internal attribution, the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character or personality or (2) external attribution, the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in.

Belief Congruency: claims that there is a hierarchy of beliefs, attitudes and values and explains how changes are made in each and predicts how the change will occur

Cognitive Dissonance: Cognitive dissonance is the psychological conflict from holding two or more incompatible beliefs simultaneously

Congruity Theory: predicts that if there are two contradicting people, sets of information, or concepts on which a judgment must be made by a single observer, the observer will experience pressure to change his or her judgment on one of the sides

Elaboration Likelihood Model: The ELM is based on the idea that attitudes are important because they guide decisions and other behaviors

Expectancy Value Model: Assumes that when more than one behaviour is possible, the behaviour chosen will be the one with the largest combination of expected success and value.

Fear Appeals: explains how fear can be used as a motivator for positive behavior, a reaction, or even lifestyle change. 

Inoculation Theory: supplying information to receivers before the communication process takes place in hopes that the information would make the receiver more resistant

Protection Motivation Theory: Argues that individuals cognitively process two appraisals. Threat appraisal is the estimation of the chance of contracting a disease (vulnerability) and estimates of the seriousness of a disease (severity). Coping appraisal consists of response efficacy and self-efficacy.

Reinforcement: Attitude changes result from an opinion change produced through reinforcement in areas such as attention, comprehension and acceptance

Sense-Making Theory: Sense-making requires us to look for explanations and answers in terms of how people see things rather than structures or systems

Transactional Model of Stress and Coping: A framework for evaluating the processes of coping with stressful events construed as person-environment transactions.

Interpersonal

Argumentation Theory: Assumes that through the formation of rational arguments, people can be persuaded to adopt new positions and behaviors.

Attraction-Selection-Attrition Framework: Asserts that organizational culture, climate and practices are determined by the people in the organization.

Balance Theory: When tensions arise between or inside people, they attempt to reduce these tensions through self-persuasion or trying to persuade others

Coordinated Management of Meaning: Examines how individuals collectively make sense of stories told and collaboratively give meaning to these stories.

Domestication: deals with the cultural, social and technological networks of the everyday life of households.

Language Expectancy Theory: This assumes that language is a rule-governed system and people develop expectations concerning the language or message strategies employed by others in persuasive attempts

Social Exchange Theory: People strive to minimize costs and maximize rewards and then base the likeliness of developing a relationship with someone on the perceived possible outcomes. 

Social Identity Theory: Different social contexts may trigger an individual to think, feel and act on basis of his personal, family or national “level of self”

Social Judgment Theory: Persuasion occurs at the end of the process where a person understands a message then compares the position it advocates to the person's position on that issue

Symbolic Interactionism / Looking-Glass Self: People use ‘the looking-glass self’: they take the role of the other, imagining how we look to another person.

Two-Step Flow Theory: This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory: URT was developed to describe the interrelationships between seven important factors in any dyadic exchange: verbal communication, nonverbal expressiveness, information-seeking behavior, intimacy, reciprocity, similarity, and liking.

Community-Level:

Adaptive Structuration Theory: Examines the production and reproduction of the social systems through members’ use of rules and resources in interaction

Agenda Setting Theory: Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media – the ability to tell us what issues are important.

Contagion Theories: Contagion theories seek to explain networks as conduits for “infectious” attitudes and behavior.

Cultivation Theory: Cultivation theory, in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality.

Dependency Theory: This theory predicts that you depend on media information to meet certain needs and achieve a certain goal

Enactment Theory: Assumes that, when people act, they bring structures and events into existence and set them in action

Knowledge Gap Theory: Proposes that the increase of information in society is not evenly acquired: people with higher socioeconomic status tend to have better ability to acquire information

Muted Group Theory: Begins with the premise that language is culture bound, and, because men have more power than women, men have more influence over the language, resulting in language with a malebias.

Network Theory: The study of how the social structure of relationships around a person, group, or organization affects beliefs or behaviors.

Spiral of Silence Theory: As the perceived distance between public opinion and a person's personal opinion grows, the more unlikely the person is to express their opinion.

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