Palo Alto School (Invisible College) is a theoretical school of interpersonal communication . The name “Invisible College” is explained by the fact that scientists were not united by a common university base, where regular meetings and conferences would be possible: most of them worked in individualized laboratories. This group of researchers united the location of the laboratories - the city of Palo Alto in Santa Clara County, California , USA - and this explains the name “Palo Alto School”.
Content
History and theory
In the 1940s, a group of American scientists from various disciplines ( anthropology , linguistics , mathematics , sociology and psychiatry ) united on the basis of views diametrically opposed to the mathematical theory of communication by Claude Shannon . The group of scientists, known under the names "Invisible College" and "Palo Alto School", was founded by John Jackson, (Gregory Bateson subsequently joined them) joined forces with such researchers as
- Ray Birdwistel , an anthropologist and one of the founders of the science of kinesics,
- Edward Hall , an anthropologist and creator of the science of proxemics,
- Irving Hoffman , a sociologist,
- Paul (Paul) Wenceslas , psychotherapist and psychologist
- other.
Rejecting the linear model of communication, the scientists turned to the mathematical theory of information and cybernetics. The basis was taken by the retroactive , ring model of Norbert Wiener , describing the phenomenon of the constant exchange of information, its continuous circulation. Representatives of the Palo Alto school insisted that the mathematical theory was suitable only for telecommunications engineers, by whom and for whom it was created, while communication in general must be studied by the social sciences using a different model.
Sociologist in 1984 summarized the attitudes of the Palo Alto school:
In their opinion, the complexity, confusion even of the seemingly insignificant interaction situation is such that it is impossible to simplify it to two or three variables that interact in a linear way. Communication studies should be conducted taking into account complexity levels, multidimensional contexts and circulating systems.
- Armand Mattelart, Professor Armand Mattelart, Michèle Mattelart Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction [link 1]
In such a “circular” view of communication, the role of the recipient is as important as the role of the transmitter. Using concepts and models of a systems approach , linguistics and logic , scientists from the Palo Alto school tried to consider the situation of interaction as a whole, rather than focusing on isolated individual variables. The problem of communication was transferred to the micro-social level in order to understand how people live in constant interpersonal communication, how people interact and interact with each other in everyday life.
School representatives developed three hypotheses:
- The essence of communication is in interpersonal and interactive processes (the elements themselves are less important than the relationship between them).
- Any behavior of people has a communicative value (connections, relationships, responding to each other and mutually implying each other, can be considered as an extensive communication system). Considering the sequence of messages in a horizontal context (a series of consecutive messages) and in a vertical context (the relationship between the elements and the system), one can comprehend the “logic of communication”. (Hypothesis 1967)
- Mental disorders are a sign of impaired communication between those individuals who have the disease and the people around them.
Understanding isolated communication as a deliberate, conscious verbal act, which is inherent in the empirical-functionalist approach, was replaced by the idea of communication as a continuous social process that includes a number of behavioral models: speech , gestures , facial expressions and the physical space between individuals. Researchers at the Palo Alto School studied the gesticulation ( kinesic ) and interpersonal space ( proxemics ) and showed how poorly chosen behaviors in different situations indicate problems in the social environment as a whole. Instead of analyzing the content, researchers have begun to analyze the context . Communication has been seen as a permanent exchange, constant circulation, a continuous process taking place on several levels. In order to reveal the message, the meaning developed during this process, the scientists described the ways in which various behavioral models were embodied in a given context. They developed the term "pragmatics of communication", from the Greek "πράξη" ("praxi"), denoting the relationship of the subject with the subject.
One of the main ideas of the school was put forward by Paul (Paul) Watslavik . It can be expressed by the thesis "it is impossible not to communicate." According to Vatslavik, the whole life of people, all interaction in the human community, all being is built on communication, and the routine communication acts are given insufficient value compared to their real contribution to our life. People often communicate, without thinking, automatically, almost at a subconscious level - Watslavik calls this level “the level of communication grammar”. At the same time, this “grammar” is used continuously, continuously, although not being otrefleksirovannoy and even noticed by the individual applying it.
It is also worth noting that the researchers of the Palo Alto School considered the possibility of individuals to respond to messages sent by the media undoubtedly. Groups of individuals are able to interpret and use messages in an active way. The feedback concept (feedback, “feedback”) means not just returning information, but returning received, thoughtful and interpreted information. Representatives of the Palo Alto school felt that it was the ability of individuals to send messages back to senders that would have a significant impact on the media and cultural industries - as happened.
The identities of people, therefore, according to the theory of the Palo Alto school, are the result of the interactions described above; thanks to the above processes, it becomes possible to build discourses, messages and campaigns.
In 1959, Edward Hall , a member of the Palo Alto School, published his first book, Silent Language. His approach to the challenges of intercultural communication was based on his own field observations while serving as an officer in a regiment of African American soldiers during World War II , and then as an instructor to diplomatic personnel. Laying the fundamentals of the science of proxemics , Edward Hall’s book emphasized various languages and codes , “silent languages” that characterize each culture: languages of time, space, tangible property, forms of friendship, and reaching agreements. All these informal languages are a resource of cultural shock , bewilderment and misunderstanding arising between people who are carriers of different cultural codes .
Communication theory as an interaction of the Palo Alto school received due recognition only in the 1980s, when macrosociological models of communication were heavily criticized and sociologists returned to pro-topic , finally appreciating the contribution of the Invisible College.
Criticism
With the provisions of the theory of the school, Palo Alto disputes the empirical-functionalist theory , according to which any communicative act is a verbal, conscious and rational act. Before communicating a message, any communicator thinks about its meaning, making a choice in favor of a particular communication channel and mode of expression, and so on.
In general, disputes in the writings of scientists from the Palo Alto school are caused not so much by the theory of communication itself, but by its application. School representatives paid great attention to family psychology and tried to develop how the theory of interpersonal communication can be applied to family relationships in order to solve problems in particular families. However, as it turned out, from the point of view of practitioners, the complexity, diversity, multi-level approach of the Palo Alto school is rather a minus than a plus, since the complexity of the system prevents its effective use.
School representatives suggest “reframing” as a way to solve family problems, meaning by this that one must abstract oneself from a certain conflict or significant situation and re-interpret what has just been experienced. At the same time, according to the theory, only an outsider can detect the conflict and correctly interpret its character, since the participants themselves, due to the process’s absorption, speak in a single, internal, common language for the situation participants, which does not allow them to get complete view of the conflict. This contradiction raises questions among critics.
There is also a dispute regarding the concepts of "informative" and "communicative" in this theory. Representatives of the Palo Alto School view non-verbal acts as communicative, but there are researchers who consider non-verbal acts as informative, not directly bearing the communication load. Everything rests on the concept of "communication" and the fact that a particular person implies when using it, which gives rise to disputes between researchers.
For example, such a stumbling block was the concept of "equifinality", declared (along with integrity, feedback and homeostasis) of one of the four most important characteristics of interpersonal communication systems. Equifinality implies that there may be many different paths, which, however, will lead to the same result, regardless of the initial circumstances. In family psychology, this means that everyday events, no matter how different or similar they may be, will still result in the final state of the family. Thus, it turns out that the study of everyday events may not be as productive as the study of the final state. However, the whole theory of the Palo Alto school convinces us of the opposite: interpersonal communication is important even in the most trivial moments, and it must be studied! This contradiction also raises questions among critics.
Notes
Sources
See also
- Metacommunication
- Double message
- Cybernetics
- Systemic family psychotherapy