Communication Studies

The study of persuasion and effective communication originating with Aristotle's three appeals: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic). Rhetoric examines how speakers and writers craft arguments to influence audiences.

A linear model of communication proposing that a sender encodes a message, transmits it through a channel, and a receiver decodes it, with noise potentially disrupting the process at any point. It was originally developed for telecommunications.

A model emphasizing that communication is a simultaneous, reciprocal process in which all parties are both senders and receivers. Meaning is co-created through shared context, feedback, and relational history.

The transmission of meaning through cues other than words, including facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact, tone of voice (paralanguage), proxemics (use of space), and haptics (touch). Research suggests that nonverbal cues carry a significant portion of social meaning.

Developed by Daft and Lengel, this theory ranks communication channels by their capacity to convey rich information. Richer media (face-to-face) handle ambiguous and complex messages better, while leaner media (email, text) are suited for routine and clear messages.

A theory that shifts focus from what media do to people to what people do with media. It assumes audiences actively select media to fulfill specific needs such as information, entertainment, social interaction, and personal identity.

Proposed by McCombs and Shaw, this theory holds that while the media may not tell people what to think, they are remarkably successful at telling people what to think about. The prominence given to issues in media coverage influences public perception of their importance.

Developed by Altman and Taylor, this theory uses the metaphor of an onion to describe how relationships develop through progressive layers of self-disclosure, moving from superficial information to deeper, more personal revelations as trust builds.

Developed by George Gerbner, cultivation theory argues that long-term exposure to media, especially television, gradually shapes viewers' perceptions of social reality. Heavy viewers tend to perceive the world as more consistent with media portrayals than it actually is.

Developed by Howard Giles, this theory explains how people adjust their communication style during interaction. Convergence occurs when speakers adapt to be more similar to their interlocutor, while divergence occurs when they emphasize differences.