Theories Covered Through the 7th Edition
The list below contains theories that are or have been covered in A First Look at Communication Theory.
Full = a chapter in the 7th edition is dedicated to this theory.
Brief = the theory is capsuled in the 7th edition, but not assigned a full chapter.
Archive = the theory was covered in a full chapter in previous editions. A pdf from the last edition in which it appeared is available.
When a theory name is clickable, it will go to the Theory Resources for that theory or open the archived chapter.
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Theories | Authors
You can also view the 7th Edtion Table of Contents to see supplementary material as well as theories
| Theories | Authors | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Action Assembly Theory (PDF) | John Greene | Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Adaptive Structuration Theory | Marshall Scott Poole | Full (Ch. 18) |
| Agenda Setting Theory | Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw | Full (Ch. 28) |
| Anxiety-Uncertainty Management Theory (PDF) | William Gudykunst | Brief + Archive (Ed. 6) |
| Attribution Theory (PDF) | Fritz Heider | Brief + Archive (Ed. 2) |
| Black Feminist Thought | Patricia Collins | Brief |
| Categorical Imperative | Immanuel Kant | Brief |
| Classical Management Philosophy | Weber, Taylor | Brief |
| Cognitive Dissonance | Leon Festinger | Full (Ch. 16) |
| Communication Accommodation Theory | Howard Giles | Full (Ch. 30) |
| Communitarian Ethics | Clifford Christians | Brief |
| Communication Privacy Management Theory | Sandra Petronio | Brief |
| Compliance Gaining Strategies | Marwell & others | Brief |
| Constructivism | Jesse Delia | Full (Ch. 8) |
| Coordinated Management of Meaning | W Barnett Pearce & Vernon Cronen | Full (Ch. 6) |
| Critical Theory | Karl Marx | Brief |
| Critical Theory of Communication in Organizations | Stanley Deetz | Full (Ch. 20) |
| Cultivation Theory | George Gerbner | Full (Ch. 27) |
| Cultural Approach to Organizations | Clifford Geertz & Michael Pacanowsky | Full (Ch. 19) |
| Cultural Dimensions | Hofstede | Brief |
| Cultural Studies | Stuart Hall | Full (Ch. 26) |
| Cybernetics | Wiener | Brief |
| Dialogic Theory | Martin Buber | Brief |
| Dialogic Ethics | Martin Buber | Brief |
| Dialogics | Bakhtin | Brief |
| Different Voice (PDF) | Carol Gilligan | Brief + Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Discourse Ethics-Theory of Communicative Action | Jürgen Habermas | Brief |
| Discursive Formation | Michel Foucault | Brief |
| Dramatism | Kenneth Burke | Full (Ch. 22) |
| Elaboration Likelihood Model | Richard Petty & John Cacippio | Full (Ch. 15) |
| Existential Theory (PDF) | Carl Rogers | Brief + Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Expectancy Violations Theory | Judee Burgoon | Full (Ch. 7) |
| Face Negotiation Theory | Stella Ting-Toomey | Full (Ch. 31) |
| FIRO Theory (PDF) | William Schutz | Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making | Randy Hirokawa & Dennis Gouran | Full (Ch. 17) |
| Genderlect Styles | Deborah Tannen | Full (Ch. 33) |
| General Semantics (PDF) | Alfred Korzybski | Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Goals-Plans-Action Model | James Dillard | Brief |
| Golden Mean | Aristotle | Brief |
| Groupthink (PDF) | Irving Janis | Archive (Ed. 3) |
| Hierarchy of Needs (PDF) | Abraham Maslow | Archive (Ed. 2) |
| High- and Low-Context Cultures | Edward Hall | Brief |
| Information Theory (PDF) | Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver | Brief + Archive (Ed. 3) |
| Information Systems Approach to Organizations (PDF) | Karl Weick | Archive (Ed. 6) |
| Interaction Adaptation Theory | Judee Burgoon | Brief |
| The Interactional View | Paul Watzlawick | Full (Ch. 13) |
| Interaction Process Analysis | Robert Bales | Brief |
| Interactive Universalism | Seyla Benhabib | Brief |
| Interpersonal Deception Theory (PDF) | David Buller & Judee Burgoon | Archive (Ed. 6) |
| Interact System Model of Decision Emergence (PDF) | B Aubrey Fisher | Archive (Ed. 2) |
| Linguistic Relativity | Edward Sapir & Benjamin Lee Whorf | Brief |
| Magic Bullet-Hypodermic Needle- Powerful Effects | Laswell and others | Brief |
| Meaning of Meaning (PDF) | I A Richards | Brief + Archive (Ed. 3) |
| Media Ecology | Marshall McLuhan | Full (Ch. 24) |
| The Media Equation (PDF) | Byron Reeves & Clifford Nass | Archive (Ed. 5) |
| Mediational Theory of Meaning (PDF) | Charles Osgood | Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Muted Group Theory | Cheris Kramarae | Full (Ch. 35) |
| Narrative Paradigm | Walter Fisher | Full (Ch. 23) |
| Performance Ethnography | Dwight Conquergood | Brief |
| Phenomenology | Husserl, Merleau, Ponty, Fish, Gadamer, Ricoeur | Brief |
| Postmodernism | Lyotard, Baudrillard, Derrrida, others | Brief |
| Principle of Veracity | Sissella Bok | Brief |
| Prophetic Pragmatism | Cornel West | Brief |
| Proxemic Theory (PDF) | Edward Hall | Archive (Ed. 1) |
| Relational Control | Millar & Rogers | Brief |
| Relational Dialectics | Leslie Baxter & Barbara Montgomery | Full (Ch. 12) |
| The Rhetoric | Aristotle | Full (Ch. 21) |
| Semiotics | Roland Barthes | Full (Ch. 25) |
| Significant Choice | Thomas Nilsen | Brief |
| Social Construction | Shotter, Harre, others | Brief |
| Social Exchange Theory (PDF) | John Thibaut & Harold Kelley | Brief + Archive (Ed. 2) |
| Social Information Processing Theory | Joseph Walther | Full (Ch. 11) |
| Social Judgment Theory | Muzafer Sherif | Full (Ch. 14) |
| Social Learning Theory-Social Cognition Theory (PDF) | Albert Bandura | Archive (Ed. 2) |
| Social Penetration Theory | Irwin Altman & Dalmas Taylor | Full (Ch. 9) |
| Speech Codes Theory | Gerry Philipsen | Full (Ch. 32) |
| Spiral of Silence | Elisabeth Noelle-Nuemann | Full (Ch. 29) |
| Standpoint Theory | Sandra Harding & Julia T Wood | Full (Ch. 34) |
| Structural Linguistics | Ferdinand de Saussure | Brief |
| Structuration Theory | Anthony Giddens | Brief |
| Symbolic Convergence Theory | Ernest Bormann | Full (Ch. 3) |
| Symbolic Interactionism | George Herbert Mead | Full (Ch. 5) |
| Two-Step Flow of Communication | Katz & Lazarsfeld | Brief |
| Uncertainty Reduction Theory | Charles Berger | Full (Ch. 10) |
| Yale Attitude Change | Hovland | Brief |