What sort of terms ought theories of human action incorporate?

Greene, John O.

doi:10.1080/10510979409368422

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The uniplanar characterization (i.e., a focus on a single level of what is, in fact, a hierarchy of representational system^),^ emerges in a variety of forms in models of message production. It can be discerned most clearly in models that restrict analysis to those aspects of message behavior that correspond to relatively abstract act-types such as are captured in our everyday conceptions of our own and others' behavior (e.g., "promising," "asking a favor," "telling a joke," and so on; see Greene, 1994). More generally, it appears any time focus is restricted to an idea unit or utterance representation with no explicit provision for lower level mechanisms for actually instantiating these more abstract behavioral features.…”

Section: Variations On the Uniplanar Themementioning

confidence: 99%

Evanescent Mentation: An Amelioative Conceptual Foundation for Research and Theory on Message Production

Greene¹

2000

Commun Theory

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139-155Current theorizing about message encoding can be seen to reflect a characterization of the phenomenon that is overly static, coherent, and uniplanar, including some variations on the uniplanar theme-too verbal, too propositional, and too mentalistic. This paper examines each of these points of received understanding and suggests the need for approaches that are better able to capture the fluid, disjointed, and multiplanar character of messages and message production. The dominant approach to message production, the goals-plansaction framework, is then examined in light of this alternative characterization, with the result being the emergence of a rich set o f new conceptual issues and questions. Finally, the potential of a particular theory of message production, second-generation action assembly theory (Greene, 1997), for addressing these issues is examined.The aim of this paper is to suggest that our current modes of thinking, talking, and theorizing about message-production processes convey a sense of the phenomenon that is too static, too coherent, and too uniplanar, including a set of somewhat more sophisticated variations on the uniplanar theme-too verbal, too propositional, and too mentalistic. Consequently, there is a need for developing new conceptual frameworks that are capable of accommodating, and illuminating, more realistic characterizations of message behavior and the underlying cognitive processes that give rise to those behaviors. In developing my position, I first explicate what I mean by each of the characterizations listed above and indicate what appears to be inadequate, or downright wrong, about each of these points of received understanding. In the second section of the paper, I indicate how each of these standard assumptions can be seen to be embedded in the goals-plans-action (G-P-A) framework, and to lay out components of the new agenda for research and theory that emerges when we reconsider the G-P-A scheme in light of the revised assumptions advanced here. Finally, I'll seek to show how the theoretical questions and problems posed by the adoption of the

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Section: Variations On the Uniplanar Themementioning

confidence: 99%

Evanescent Mentation: An Amelioative Conceptual Foundation for Research and Theory on Message Production

Greene¹

2000

Commun Theory

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“…As we shall see, the bulk of scientific realist explanation in communication stops at the psychological level, which is somewhat consistent with Harre ("the new paradigm emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in the genesis of action," 1974, p. 150) and not necessarily inconsistent with Taylor and Toulmin. A second challenge singular to the social and behavioral sciences that is particularly relevant to communication scholarship concerns the status of functional explanatory forms. As will be discussed below, realist explanation in communication science is ideally achieved through accounts of the causal impact of individual-level psychological structures .and processes (Greene, 1994). However, as Greene notes, a complete account for communication also requires a social component.…”

Section: Challenges To Scientific Realismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not so with those who have adopted cognitive psychological concepts for their communication theory. Relevant metatheory (Greene, 1994;Planalp & Hewes, 1981) takes an explicitly realist stance, but cognitive communication theory has not been consistent with this commitment. Proposed cognitive structures relevant to declarative knowledge have included schema (Planalp, 1985), prototypes (Ray, 1986), and implicit theories (Pavitt & Haight, 1986); those relevant to procedural knowledge have included plans (Berger, 1995), MOPS (Kellermann, 1995), and procedural records (Greene, 1995).…”

Section: Scientific Realism and Communication Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Third Way: Scientific Realism and Communication Theory

Pavitt¹

1999

Communication Theory

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Several commentators have distinguished between two general philosophies of science, “logical empiricism” and “perspectivism,” and implied that communication theorists who use quantitative social scientific methods are, as a consequence, logical empiricists. This dichotomy ignores a third position, “scientific realism,” which is dominant in current philosophy of science. This essay distinguishes these three major philosophic movements and advances the argument that communication theorizing is realist when it presumes the reality and causal efficacy of critical theoretical concepts. An acceptance of the scientific realist approach implies a set of three commitments for the communication theorist: to the reality of one's theoretical concepts, to scientific explanation as causal process, and to the “reliability of meaning.” Relevant communication theorizing is discussed in light of these commitments.

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“…One consequence of this approach has been that evidence for the models appearing in our literature is indirect, relying on inferences about internal processes drawn from observations of output (e.g., memory tests, response latencies). Although considerable progress in the explication of the cognitive processes involved in message planning has been made through cognitivist analysis, Greene (1994) and others (e.g., Beatty & McCroskey, 1998;Cappella, 1991) have argued that a fuller understanding of message production could be gained by integrating physiological, especially neurological, processes into theoretical models. Dillard et al (2002) described the distinguishing characteristic of cognitive models as ''their interest in the thought processes that precede and accompany communication' ' (p. 437).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A substantial corpus of scholarship attempting to describe the constitutive processes of message planning has appeared in the social interaction literature (Berger, 1995, 1997, 2002; Berger & Bell, 1988; Berger & diBattista, 1992; Berger, Karol, & Jordan, 1989; Dillard, Anderson, & Knobloch, 2002; Greene, 1994, 1995, 1997; Greene, O’Hair, Cody, & Yen, 1985; Hample & Dallinger, 1990, 1998; Infante, 1980; Kellermann, 1991, 1995; Kellermann, Broetzmann, Lim, & Kitao, 1989; Kellermann & Lim, 1990; Knowlton & Berger, 1997; Meyer, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1997; Plax, Beatty, & Feingold, 1991; Waldron, 1990; Waldron & Applegate, 1994; Wilson, 1990, 1995). In contrast to message production models crafted by cognitive neuroscientists (e.g., Indefrey & Levelt, 2000), theoretical treatments in the communication literature are almost exclusively cognitivist in perspective.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spectrum Analysis of Cortical Activity During Verbal Planning: Physical Evidence for the Formation of Social Interaction Routines

Beatty

Heisel

2007

Human Comm Res

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A substantial body of scholarship focused on the processes involved in message planning has accumulated in the communication literature. One of the central tenets of memory models upon which most of the message planning models are based is that dynamic memory systems organize and reorganize knowledge structures to maximize information processing efficiency. Accordingly, efficiency can be achieved by merely retrieving and enacting plans that have achieved goals previously under similar conditions. Plan failure, however, requires alteration or even production of an original plan. Although researchers have relied exclusively on output (e.g., response latency, memory tests) to draw inferences about planning processes, it is possible to observe cognitive processes more directly by measuring cortical responses. In the present study, electrical activity was monitored in the region of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during verbal planning. Results indicated that (a) electrical activity while planning under conditions that permitted enactment of verbal plans that required no modification was significantly lower than during planning in the initial trial but, (b) electrical activity while planning under conditions in which previous efforts failed was significantly higher than during planning in the initial trial. These results provide physical evidence for the hypothetical cognitive processes proposed in the cognitivist models of routine formation.A substantial corpus of scholarship attempting to describe the constitutive processes of message planning has appeared in the social interaction literature

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What sort of terms ought theories of human action incorporate?

Cited by 9 publications

References 68 publications

Evanescent Mentation: An Amelioative Conceptual Foundation for Research and Theory on Message Production

Evanescent Mentation: An Amelioative Conceptual Foundation for Research and Theory on Message Production

The Third Way: Scientific Realism and Communication Theory

Spectrum Analysis of Cortical Activity During Verbal Planning: Physical Evidence for the Formation of Social Interaction Routines

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