80

Chapter Four

explanations' How do you process this

some of it urge s action, and some provides
does it fit into youl mental maps and
information? What do'you do with it? FIow
the years?
the other information you have absorbed over
traits, theories of information
As is the case with research on co mmunication
But much of who you ale is shapcd by
processing have a psychological orientation.
as a person, and the
interaction. Although
traits and differences,
L

ones-creates a dividing point between

ries of the communicator' The chapter

theory clearly has had a

The sociopsychological tradition in communication
as individr'rals' Most ol the
powerful effect on howlve think about communicators
psychology, which is the study of human
theories are modeled on research in
in
does not d^eny that we also engage
behavior. The emphasis on the psychologicat
theories of communication center on
social behavior. The fsychologicuity oriented
individual as the unit of ar-raiysis'
social behavior, but tley do fe-ature the
The drive behind the sociopsycholo
gs behave

the

to answer th
and act tn a
look at two types of theory within this tr

Trait TheorY

is an individual's relaA trait is a distinguishing qualrty or characteristic; it

ts are
tively consistent *uy oi thinking, feeling, and

se
Perh
Lvior

theooften used to predict behavior, io it makes

belief
ries in the same section in this book'
on of
among psychologists today is that beh
ate atany given moment depends
traits and situational factors. How you communic
the situations' or environments' in
on the traits you exhibit as an individual and
which you find Yourself.l
psychology and communrcawhile many traits have been investigated in both
listing one tlait after another
tion, at some point, researchers began t6 realtze that
trait-factor models'
is not very helpfui. Psychologists began to develop -various
consist of a small set of general tlaits
sometimes calied ,uprri*itr.t ih.r. ,ioa.15
differences among them'
that can explain 1nu.ty other traits and individual
known fwe Joctor
one of the most popular trait-factor models is the commonly
identifies five rather general factors
model,described UV lofr" Digman.3 This model
specific traits The five factors
that, in combination, deterniine an individual's more
compulsions' phobias' anxietinclude (I) neuroticism, orthetendency to feel negative
enioy being in groups, be asseries, and distress; e\ extraversion, orthe tendency to
to be reflective' have
tive, and think opiimrstically', 13) openness, or the tendency

The Communicator

8l

Seeing human differences in terms o

ers wonder about the role of biology and heredity
in explainrng behavior. In other
words, if we all exhibit the same five factors to some
d.igree,perhaps they are bio_
logically cletermined. Indeed, within communication, Ih.
t.uit-fuctors approach
has led to serious investigaticln of the role of biology
in communication.
For a number
al bases

of huma' behavio
tion. Michael Beat

communicati
dispositions
structures or
experience th

disPosi

work is

in

rnto the

gen

cording
atter oiwhat is happening in our brains, and
what happens in our brains is largery geneticalry determinid.

I spent

experienc
discovered

twins explai

ways-to
ways'people
differences

hormone

The impact of the environment, or learning, is not very irnportant,

according
to this theory, so we can expect that individual differences in how people
communicate can be explained biologically as differences in individual brain functioning.
In fact, according to this theory, traits are based on temperament, which results
from the biochemistry of the brain. How you react in cornmunication situationsaggressively or shyly, for example-depends on what is going on in terms of the
biochemical processes in your brarn.
Another dimension of this theory is that factors such as aggressiveness ancl shyness are pdmarily, though not completely, inheritecl. This means that your actual
behavior results from a combination of temperament and. tratt states and that your
perception of and response to various situations is determined by this combination of
neurobiolo gtcalfactors. For this reason, behavior is not primarily situational. The way
you communicate depends mostly on your biologicaily determined traits and not on
the situation itself. People respond different$ to the same situatron because they have
different biologically determined temperaments and traits and not because of any fac-

I
82

Chapter Four

tors in that situation itself, Indeed, people tend to seek out situations that fit therr
traits, and they help to shape the situation in a way that is consistent ivith these tlaits.
Further, people tend to perceive situations differently, depending upcn their trrits
For example, if you are basically shy, you may perceive communicatron situations as
threatening, uuoid such situations, and minimize your interaction in suclL situations.
Numerous traits have been studied in communication research, anid we cantlot
covel them all here.s As examples, we feature two of the most commonly
researched traits in communic atron-argumentativeness and communication anxiefy, These were among the earliest traits researched in this traditton and serve as
prototypes of how this research has proceeded, but therc are many mole that we do
not have space to cover here.
The task of the communication-trait theorist is to use models to help explain
various communication behaviors. For example, conversational narcissism might
be explained as a combination of medium neuroticism, high extraversion, lolv
op.r11.rr, low agreeableness, and high conscientiousness' Argunrentativerless
might be understood as a combination of low neuroticism, high cxtraversion, 1or'v
op.rrn.rr, low agreeableness, and high conscientiousness. Communication anxiety
could include high neuroticism, low extraversion, low openness, low agreeabledifness, and low conscientiousness. The ftafi apptoach offers away tcl ltnderstand
ferences across human behavior while also acknowledging the sinrrlarjties'

Argumentativeness, Argumentativeness is the tendency to engage in converyicw, and to rcilte

sations about controversial topics, to support your own point of
opposing be1iefs.6 Dominic Infante and his colleagues, who havc been primanly
1.tpotrribl. for developing this concept, believe that argumentativeness can
imp.ove learning, help people see others' points of view, enhance credibiliry, and
build communication skr1ls. Argumentative individuals are by de1'rnition assertlve,
although not all assertive people arc atgvmentative. It is entirelv possible to be
assertive without atgvltgyour point. To help sort these concepts out, these authors
distinguish befweerrtwo clusters of variables-argumentativeness, whicli is a positive trait, and verbal aggressiveness and hostiliry which are negative ones' Indced,
knowing how to argre properly may be a solution to otherwise hurtful aggressive
tendencies, so these have the possibility of balancing each other or-rl.

Ia

I1l

i
t
I

Ic

f
I

I
tt

{
It

Ia
I
d

!l

Ia

ta

ta
tt
ta

The Communicator

83

As a case in point, Infante and two colleagues studied husbands and wives in
violent relationships and discovered that violent marcrages are characterrzed,by
higher verbal aggressiveness and lower argumentativeness than are nonviolent
ones.7 Many nonviolent spouses deal with their problems by atgurng constructively, whereas violent spouses have not learned how to solve their differences
through communication.
Social and Communicative Anxiety. Many people are afrardof or dislike communicating, an issue that has captured the attention of communication researchers
and theorists. Within the communication field, the best-known work in this area is
that of James McCroskey and his colleagues on clmmunication apprehension (CA).8
Although everyone has occasional stage fright, trait CAis an enduring tendency to be
apprehensive about communication in a vartety of settings. CA is a trart vartable,
meaning that people score at various levels on scale measures of the trait. Some people are highly apprehensive, while others are less so. Normal apprehension is not a
problem, but pathological CA, in which an individual suffers persistent and extreme
fear of cotnmunication, is. Abnormally high CA creates serious personal problems,
including extreme discomfort and avoidance of communication to the point of preventing pro ductive and s atisflii ng p afircrp ation in society.
Communicatton apptehension is part of a family of concepts , social and communicative anxiety, that includes social avoidance, social anxiety, interaction anxiety, and
shyness. Miles Patterson and Vicki Ritts outlined several parameters of this group of
traits in a cornprehensive survey and analysis of this literature.e First, they found that
social and communicative anxiety is charactertzedby pltysiological aspects such as
heart rate and blushing, behavioral manifestations such as avoidance and self-protection, and cognitive dimensions such as self-focus and negative thoughts. Interestingly,
cognitive correlates were found to be the strongest of the three, which may mean that
social and communicative anxiety has most to do with how we think about ourselves in regard to communication situations. Negative thinkrng can lead to anxious
self-preoccupation that keeps a person from considering all of the information and
cues in the environment, disrupts normal information processing, and leads to
engaging in behaviors such as withdrawalthatreinforce the apprehensive cycle.
Theorists have various ideas about the source of high social and communicative anxiety. Some propose that it results from rregative communication experiences over time. Others argue that it is an inherited biological condition, an issue
discussed later in this section. A third possible source-also biological in origin-is
pr enatal fa ctors, p articul arly hormone exp o sure.

Cognition and lnformation Processing

Along with whatever neurochemical processes may be going on, you also
bring cognitive processes-your thoughts-to bear on any given communication
situation. If trart theories give you some labels to describe yourself and other communicators, cognitive theories go behind the scenes to explain how you think, how
you organize and store information, and how cognition helps shape your behavior.10 Cognition obviously is related to brain function, but cognitive theory emphasizes mental processes with special attention to the subsystems that control
attention, perception, comprehension, memory, and the production of behavior.
Thus, cognrtive explanations apply to all aspects of the study of communication.