Synopsis

Have you ever wondered whether the amount of violence in video games and films influences how people actually behave? Have you ever found yourself trapped in a destructive pattern of interaction and wished you knew how to break out of it? The theories in this book will help you understand how communication affects everyday experiences like these--and show you how to be more effective in your relationships and activities.

Julia T. Wood's Communication Theories in Action: An Introduction brings theories alive so that you see how and why they matter in everyday life. This book focuses on 23 carefully selected theories that sample the breadth of communication research--highlighting their connections so you can appreciate their similarities and differences. Wood helps you use these theories to understand your own communication, employing many examples that are relevant to your life, practical exercises, questions for reflection, and an inviting, motivational writing style that involves you in the process of theorizing.

Booknews

An introductory communications text emphasizing 20 selected theories and de-emphasizing empty and unexplained jargon. Wood (communication studies, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) dedicates each theory to practical application by providing students with relevant examples (often from her own experience), short student exercises using the theory, and critical evaluations that encourage critical attitudes. Besides covering such topics as interactional and dialectical theory, the volume examines new emerging feminist and cultural study approaches, making the text thorough and timely. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Biography

Julia T. Wood is the Lineberger Professor of Humanities and a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches courses and conducts research on gender, communication, culture, and communication in personal relationships. Dr. Wood has authored seventeen books and edited nine others. In addition, she has published more than eighty articles and book chapters, and she has won twelve awards for undergraduate teaching and thirteen awards for her scholarship. She received her B.A. from North Carolina State University, her M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.