Preface

 

The overriding thesis of this section of C-CS is that communication is cognitive. If so, then the research of cognitive scientists is relevant to communication scholars. The overriding query of this section is: Why is it, then, that only a few communication departments incorporate cognitive science research into their curricula?

The first entry in Communication and Cognition is an overview of the history of communication theory. It is followed by an account of the history of models of communication as a guide to the development of concepts central to the study of communication in the 20th century. Next is a review of current textbooks in communication theory from 2002-2008. Having established the standard conceptions of the components of communication, each of the subsequent entries feature the relations between a specific component and cognition simply understood as "mental activity." This series is followed by a reconsideration of the way the "fields" of communication studies are demarcated.

The final entry proposes an alternative to a disciplinary paradigm for the study of communication, noting that the continuously changing conceptual domain that has been "mapped"and that such maps provide research guidelines. The various cognitive maps of communication, like paradigms, provide directions for further research; but, unlike ideal paradigms, no one map is used by all communication scholars. A search for a disciplinary paradigm to establish the academic viability of any academic study is unrealistic but ineluctable (given the existing structure of the American university). Describing the relations among various projects in a research domain as contingent cognitive maps of that domain matches the day to day work of scholars. The view that they do or must share a research paradigm does not.

jjs

_______________

Notes:

The C-CS project focuses on "interpersonal communication" as the prototype of communication situations in general.

Cognitive Science is generally defined as a study of the mind.

."Concept maps are intended to represent meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions" (Learning How to Learn, 15).

The incessant claims that the work of a group of researchers has forced a "paradigm shift" is an indication of the limitations of the concept of a research paradigm.