Computation, Representation, & Situations |
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ABSTRACT Cognitive Science has studied cognition as computation and its representation. The computational model of the mind has been challenged by a connectionist model of the mind. A third candidate, a dynamicist model of the mind, has recently entered the picture to account for interactions "of a cognizer with its environment." From the perspective of communication theory, representations of cognition are always situated. It treats communication as a "complex, dynamical interaction" of senders and receivers in specific situations. Situated communication exhibits modes of expression. It is possible to understand communication science as a dynamic system governed by the exigencies of situations. This is not an argument that a dynamicist model is "a new paradigm." |
The study of communication, as we have inherited it institutionally, can be said to begin with Wilbur Scrhamm's discovery that the questions raised by Harold Lasswell's communication model—"Who says what, to whom via what channels, with what effect?" could only be answered with respect to specific situations. Tthe exigencies of persuading the American public to support the war effort could only be dealt with by analyzing the situation. Schramm helped draft Roosevelt's fireside chats, giving him direct experience of what needed to be said to whom via the radio in order to produce the effect of supporting the war effort in a specific way—buying war bonds, not buying nylons from the black market.. The underlying principle in these early studies was simply that the exigencies of the situation had to be acknowledged in the text of the message for its favorable reception.
Of course, not every communication situation is governed by an exigency such as WWII. Nonetheless, communications arise from "interests" however minor. They are the "spark," so to speak, that ignites discourse. Without some element of the situation to "spark" it, discourse would not occur. (See the appendix on "Sparks of Interest in Situations Ignite Discourse.")
jjs
Notes:
_ .The concept of an "exigency" is borrowed from Lyold Bitzer's "The Rhetorical Situation." See the appendix on "Sparks of Interest in Situations Ignite Discourse."| ... 
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last revised:
June 13, 2007
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