Communication at the Individual Level - Book Report/Review Example

Communication at the Individual Level  Communication theory is one of the most important linguistic theories since it explains the various types of issues which concern the society, which includes discussion on topics such as drug abuse. Communication theory also successfully explains the preoccupation that our culture has with communications. The significance of meta-discourses in public, private and academic discourses is also clarified by the communication theory.  The theory can be utilized for a better understanding of critique assumptions, analyzing public meta-discourse vocabularies, and having a deeper comprehension of the communication which is embedded in the public meta-discourse vocabularies. Furthermore, communication theory has a significant role in pubic interest meta-discourses. A drug company had recently launched an advertising campaign in which there were a number of slogans or quotations used to promote their product. Some of them were as follows:  "Talk to your kids about drugs." “Talk to your doctor about Ambien." “Ask your doctor if Advair is right for you." These quotations imply that the present culture is obsessed with drugs. The culture is also strongly obsessed with communications. Hence, the aforementioned ad has been able to capture both the issues, one of drugs and the other of communications. Both these cultural obsessions are clearly juxtaposed in the quotations. Drugs are generally taken for making us feel better. However, drugs can have a number of dangerous side effects as well. Hence, it is important that the teenagers and kids are made aware of the negative effects of drugs through regular communications. Communications therefore help the society to reduce the social and cultural ills such as drugs. Meta-discourse can be loosely defined as talking about talk. The cultural theory of communication states that communication can change behavior of people irrespective of their cultural background, contrary to what the communi-biologists believe. Communication theory includes reflexive and abstract meta-discourses on communication. The ad from the drug company implies that it’s always good to talk. Drug companies have realized that communication serves as the best tool to reduce drug intake and help promote their business. There have been a number of researches done to test the effect of a persons self schemata and its connection with the advertisements or messages. It has been observed that the products which match closely with an individual’s self schemata are the messages which are preferred by the individuals. It has also been observed that the messages which match an individual’s self schemata would create a decreased or an increased persuasion. It’s actually the quality of argument presented in the advertisement or message which determines whether the persuasion for the individual would increase or decrease. Research has also suggested that the self schemata of an individual store his or her self knowledge. It’s been noticed that self schema matching creates an increase in message elaboration. An individual’s self schemata often serve as a perceptual filter, helping the individual to select which information requires elaboration and which does not. To find out the effect of an individual’s self schemata match on the persuasion level, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment dealt with self schema and the appeal on the personality dimensions of extroversion and introversion. The results of the experiment clearly showed that the matched messages had a bigger impact on the quality of argument than mismatched messages. The second experiment contained the NC self schema variable for confirming the central importance of NC schema in developing an individual’s cognizer traits. The results of the second experiment proved that messages which matched an individual’s self schemata can increase the quality of information contained in the messages.  Although the major dimensions of self schema were identified, there are several other features of schematicity which can affect the persuasion levels for an individual. Some of them include the elaboration of the schema, the schema’s accessibility, the knowledge level on which the schema is based. The certainty of the individual on his or her schema dimension standing is another important feature of schematicity. Both the experiments on self schema throws more light on how self schema and why self schema increases the levels of persuasion of an advertisement or message.  There is yet another theory like the communications theory which has grown in popularity in the last decade; it’s the theory of behavioral development. The behavioral theory is important because it helps in offering a framework through which any kind determinants for behavior can be identified. Behavior theory certainly is linked to the communication theory since the greater awareness of the determinants of a given behavior help one to better develop communications.  In order to use a behavioral change model, one requires identifying the exact behavior one is aiming to study. It is necessary to differentiate between goals, behavioral categories and behaviors at the outset. The ones which target specific behaviors are the most successful behavior change communications. For example, a person who wants to check her lipid profile in a hospital may have a negative belief in getting it done in a hospital as compared to a clinic. Once the behaviors are identified in a group or target population, it gets easier to understand the differing behaviors among the group.  In theory based communication, identifying the specific beliefs such as behavioral, control or normative beliefs which help in discriminating between individuals who perform or don’t perform the behavior, is an important issue. The objective of health related communications which are persuasive is essentially to change or reinforce a given behavior. All in all, communications are agents which help in changing, creating or reinforcing specific beliefs. When the beliefs are chosen, these changes consequently affect the perceived norms, attitudes and self efficiency; which are the three determinants of an individual’s intention to indulge in that particular behavior.  At present the theories of communication are not as improved as the theories of change and behavioral prediction. There is still a long way to go for researchers in developing comprehensive and valid theories of message efficaciousness. This therefore is a challenge for the researchers interested in developing effective communications for promoting healthy behaviors in individuals and groups in society and culture. Hence, the behavioral change and behavioral prediction theories assist us in identifying the vital beliefs which determines a person’s intention to perform. One of the major differences between the behavioral theories and the theories of communication is that whereas communication theories help one to design the best and the most effective messages for being accepted by people, behavioral theories do not help in designing the best messages. However, both communication theories and behavioral theories help us to gain an insight into persuasive communications and message effectiveness. References Cameron. D. (2000) Good to Talk’ Living and Working In A Communication Culture, London: Sage. Read More