Recently neurophysiologists have made significant advances toward understanding human behavior. This dissertation integrates these advances within the rubric of communication, by presenting and testing a neurophysiologically based communication model. / Three relatively autonomous processing loci, each manifesting a unique logical program, are defined; (a) the limbic system--a preconscious, nonverbal, emotional program, (b) the right hemisphere--a nonverbal, visuo-spatial, synthesizing program, and (c) the left hemisphere--a verbal, analytic, sequential program. / The method by which these loci interract is then used to explicate human behavior; i.e., the right hemisphere and limbic system are said to control behavior more as physiological arousal increases. / This model is then used to generate theories of emotion, culture, and persuasion. Emotion is currently explicated from four theoretical perspectives. By identifying the neurophysiological substrates of each theory an holistic theory of emotion is generated; eg., body feedback theory-neural tracts connecting the body with the limbic system; central neural theory-limbic system; cognition arousal theory-left hemisphere; hemispheric theory-right hemisphere. / Cultural scripts are said to exist within each locus. Thus to alter cultural norms both verbal and nonverbal persuasion must transpire (probably in that order). / Finally persuasion theories are defined as situationally guided attribution theories in which a state of physiological arousal creates belief plasticity while the experimental method dictates to type and direction of belief change. / The model is experimentally tested within a persuasion scenario. The relationship between the channel (verbal, visual) used to form, attack, and measure (verbal, behavioral) a belief is tested. Results indicate that given a visually formed belief, a visual attack is most effective when measured behaviorally while a verbal or visual attack generate equal effects when measured verbally. / Lastly, a paradigmatic shift in research focus is advocated; i.e., because the scientific method reflects only one of three logical modes it cannot hope to generate an understanding of human behavior, an holistic approach is thus advocated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1531. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75818 |
| Contributors | VINSON, LARRY ROY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 155 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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