Communibiology

The communibiological paradigm refers to a perspective on the study of human communication that focuses on the role of neurobiological systems in the production of behavior. Individual differences in communication behavior are conceptualized as reflecting individual differences in neurobiological systems. The initial rationale for the communibiological paradigm was based on the fact that after 30 years of research effort, the learning paradigm had failed to account for acceptable percentages of variance in either traits or behaviors. Similarly, models that suggested that humans can respond spontaneously to the demands of social situations also failed to produce accurate prediction of what people do during social encounters. The communibiological paradigm was proposed to lead to more accurate predictions of communicative behavior.

[Page 118]Within the communibiological literature, it is common for the paradigm to be expressed as a set of propositions parallel to those first proposed in the temperament literature. The propositions evolved as new research findings were published and as social and behavioral scientists changed the way they thought about the nature of social interaction. Before these propositions are examined in detail, it is important to place them in perspective. First, the propositions were not offered as knowledge claims. Instead, they should be viewed as assumptions or axioms on which theories can be constructed. All theories are based on assumptions. One of the most conspicuous characteristics is the explicitness with which theoretical assumptions are stated. Second, each proposition is heavily supported by empirical research. Although the propositions are not knowledge claims, a considerable body of research in support of each proposition is presented to demonstrate that the propositions are reasonable. The propositions presented below represent the most current version of the communibiological paradigm.

The first proposition is that all mental processes involved in social interaction are reducible to brain activity. It might seem obvious that all mental processes can be reduced to brain activity, but the implications of that proposition are incompatible with some lines of thought about interpersonal communication. The proposition indicates that communibiology takes a reductionistic perspective on the relationship between the mind and the brain. This means that all mental activity first begins as brain activity. As cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker has argued, to say that we can control our thoughts makes no sense unless by the term we, the activity of a cluster of brain cells is implied. Communibiology rejects the notion that some metaphysical force or entity guides thinking. Drawing heavily from the work of neuropsychology, the communibiological paradigm depicts the subjective experience of self-control as an illusion created by the left hemisphere in the cortex.

The second proposition in the communibiological paradigm is that communicator traits and temperament characteristics represent individual differences in neurobiological functioning. In the communibiological literature, communicator traits have been conceptualized as expressions of temperament. Traits play a central role in the communibiological paradigm. It should be clear to casual observers that people differ from one another in the way they react to stimuli. When people can be differentiated on the basis of their reactions, trait labels are used to refer to individuals. For example, if someone routinely reacts with anxiety when forced to interact with others in a social situation, that person might be referred to as socially anxious. In this case, social anxiety would represent a trait. According to the communibiological perspective, any theory of communication that ignores communicator traits is necessarily and substantially incomplete. The proponents of communibiology argue that this incompleteness will manifest itself most conspicuously in weak predictive power such as that observed in the learning theories. Studies conducted along the lines suggested in the communibiological literature have resulted in substantially more accurate predictions of behavior than have been observed in the situational paradigm research.

...