Chapter 8

When I was reading about communication theory I found the section about Empirical Laws Paradigm to be the most applicable to everyday interaction. Empirical Laws Paradigm is the idea that there are universal laws that govern how we interact and communicate with each other. There are three characteristics of this theory; causation, prediction, and generalization. Causation is the cause and effect that creates the opportunity for communication. Prediction is when one individual assumes that a specific rule is in play and bases their next move off of what they believe would be in accordance with this rule. For example preparing a presentation and writing jokes for a specific part of your speech after saying something heavy in order to make the room a less serious environment. Generalization is the idea that if a prediction shows that a behavior produces a certain outcome, we can generalize our predictions to include a wide variety of people, situations, and contexts. For example, assuming that being polite to others will result in other people being more polite to you. 

As someone who had severe social disabilities as a child I have been observing and learning about communication for my entire life in order to improve the quality of my life and the relationships I can form. I think that studying this model will make it a lot easier for kids with social disabilities to visualize how they can communicate with those around them. Even for kids who are born neurotypical, studying these theories could have an unprecedented benefit on the communication skills of young children. Many issues children and even adults face are because of a lack of communication, or a flawed understanding of what someone wants from them. Teaching these theories at a young age could alleviate these issues from a large portion of our young population.