Some Thoughts on Theory

In class this week, I talked about some key Theories of Mass Communications, including framing, agenda setting and my all-time favorite, the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion. (Note: all of these links are to a great web site on communication theories developed by the University of Twente in The Netherlands.)

I think Scientific Theories (social science and hard science) are incredibly valuable because they offer us ways to understand and explain the otherwise inexplicable.

Theories also help us predict future events...if we can figure out how, why and under what circumstances certain things happen, we stand a better chance of replicating good results and avoiding bad ones. (Truly, those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. Just look at Iraq. But I digress....)

So that's Theory with a capital "T"...the kind that's based on data and reason, observation and/or experimentation, and replicable results...not on what we wish was true.

Then there's the other kind of theory...theory with a lower-case "t"...the kind most of us mean when we say, "Here's my theory on that." What we've usually got is an idea about how things work...it might be right, might be wrong, might be we're just joking around.

For example, here's a lower-case "t" theory put forth on the Daily Kos blog about why some people prefer Macs. And I've got to tell you, from my personal perspective as a Mac user, it's right on target. But, of course, that's just a theory...with a lower-case "t."