Communication theory

Communication is the most complex and elevating achievement of human beings. Most people spend up to 70 percent of our waking hours engaged in some form of communication. Listening and responding to the messages of others occupies much of this time; the rest is taken up by talking, reading, and writing. An additional consideration is the rich assortment of nonverbal cues humans share, which also constitute a form of communication. All together, the stream of verbal and nonverbal information that bombards our senses is composed of as many as 2,000 distinguishable units of interaction in a single day. The kinds of interaction change constantly: morning greetings, cereal labels, bus signs, charts, traffic lights, hate stares, graffiti, coffee shop chat, gestures, laughter, and head nods: The themes are endless. All of this constitutes subject matter for the study of communication. The book seeks to acquaint students with a basic understanding of the process of human communication. The breadth and scope of subject matter is adaptable to a number of approaches to the first course in communication, whether theoretical, practical, contemporary, or traditional in orientation. --Publisher description.

Originally published: Basic readings in communication theory. 2nd ed. New York : Harper & Row, ©1979.

Communication : the context of change / Dean C. Barnlund -- The mathematics of communication / Warren Weaver -- Feedback / Theodore Clevenger, Jr., and Jack Matthews -- A transactional model of communication / Dean C. Barnlund -- Social perception and appraisal / George J. Simmons and J.L. McCall -- Some tentative axioms of communication / Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin, and Don Jackson -- Social interaction in everyday life / Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann -- The nature of symbolic interactionism / Herbert Blumer -- Symbolic strategies / Sol Worth and Larry Gross -- Facial engagements / Erving Goffman -- When people talk with people / John C. Condon, Jr. -- Language within language / Albert / Mehrabian -- Defensive communication / Jack R. Gibb -- Communication boundaries / Erving Goffman -- Turn-taking in conversations / John M. Wiemann and Mark L. Knapp -- Visual behavior in social interaction / Phoebe C. Ellsworth and Linda M. Ludwig -- Hand movements / Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen -- The significance of posture in communication systems / Albert Communicative silences : forms and functions / Thomas J. Bruneau -- Understanding ourselves / Michael Polanyi -- Interaction and…