The field of communication is undeniably modern, with its attention to topics like social media, online relationships, and the effects of video games. But it has ancient roots. By understanding a little about the field’s history, you can see how the concepts and practices you’ll learn about in this book evolved from the past into their present-day forms.

Communication in Antiquity.Communication is an academic discipline that goes back thousands of years and traverses many different cultures. For example, one of the earliest books ever written—the maxims of the Egyptian sage Ptahhotep (2200 b.c.e.)—offers suggestions for improving your communication (Horne, 1917). In this ancient guidebook, Ptahhotep encourages people to be truthful, kind, and tolerant in their communication. He urges readers to practice active listening, especially in situations in which people lack experience, because “to not do so is to embrace ignorance.” He also emphasizes mindfulness in using language, noting that “good words are more difficult to find than emeralds.”

Almost 2,000 years after Ptahhotep, the communication tradition known as rhetoric emerged. Rhetoric is the theory and practice of persuading others through speech (Dues & Brown, 2004), and it became a formal discipline of study in ancient Greece and Rome (Kennedy, 1999). In Greece, Socrates and his student Plato were among the first to debate the nature of rhetoric. Socrates thought of rhetoric not as a philosophy but as a practical skill that people could gain through experience (Kennedy, 1999). Socrates and Plato also knew that people could use communication skills in unethical as well as ethical ways, and they argued strongly against using words to manipulate or exploit others. But it was Aristotle—perhaps the best-known ancient Greek scholar—who taught that ethical persuasion required a speaker to demonstrate credibility, provide logical reasoning, and appeal to the emotions of the listeners. As you’ll learn in Chapter 17, Aristotle’s teachings are still very relevant today in understanding how to develop a persuasive speech.

The study of rhetoric was also a concern of ancient Romans. Statesman and orator Cicero noted three practical objectives of public speaking: to instruct, to persuade, and to honor (Clarke, 1953). These goals are still discussed in modern public-speaking courses as informative, persuasive, and special occasion speeches. Cicero also outlined five requirements of speech crafting and presentation that are still in use today: invention (reasoning out truth to make your case compelling), arrangement (organizing the information you want to present), style (selecting suitable words to convey the information), memory (knowing your subject and remembering your words), and delivery (controlling your body and voice when presenting your speech). In Chapters 13–17, you’ll learn how these requirements guide the preparation and delivery of speeches.

Communication in the Early 20th Century.Throughout the era stretching from ancient Rome to the close of the 19th century, communication scholars stayed focused on rhetoric. In the 1900s, however, things started changing. Stimulated by philosophical interest in the human mind and behavior, scholars across a broad range of disciplines began studying forms of communication other than rhetoric (Knapp, Daly, Albada, & Miller, 2002). For example, in 1927, political scientist Harold Lasswell detailed the four persuasive aims of governmental propaganda: to create hatred against the enemy, to preserve friendship with allies, to gain the cooperation of neutral parties, and to demoralize the enemy. Harvard business professor Elton Mayo examined the effects of coworker interactions on productivity, giving rise to the human relations movement and the recognition that supportiveness is crucial for competent workplace communication (Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939). Psychologist Jean Piaget (1926) analyzed the role that children’s ability to perspective-take (see things from others’ viewpoint) played in shaping their communication. By World War II, dozens of scholars in several different disciplines were studying communication and communication-related topics, such as the effect of environments on interaction, empathy, and conflict.

Communication after World War II.Immediately following World War II, interest in the field of communication exploded, mostly owing to the use of mass media propaganda during the war. Countries on each side had harnessed film and radio to send messages on a massive scale to their respective populations, convincing them that their cause was just and that the enemy was “evil.” With so many professors wanting to research communication, and so many students wanting to learn about it, universities began creating dedicated communication departments. Some schools housed communication studies researchers alongside rhetorical scholars, creating departments focused on speech communication.

By the early 1970s, dozens of communication and speech communication departments existed in the United States. Colleges and universities taught classes in the traditional areas of public speaking and rhetoric, but they also introduced new areas, such as mass media effects, communication in relationships, group discussion, and organizational communication. As the discipline became further unified, it attracted even more interest among scholars and students. Topics of interest diversified further. By the end of the 20th century, nonverbal communication, gender and communication, communication across cultures, health communication, and communication technologies became standard offerings in undergraduate curricula at hundreds of American colleges and universities, and institutions outside of the United States began to offer communication classes as well.

Today, tens of thousands of students around the world graduate each year with majors in communication, and millions more take communication classes. These students learn about cutting-edge research, examining such things as how others’ online posts about you influence people’s perception of you (discussed in Chapter 3), verbal aggression and cyberbullying (Chapter 5), how to work productively in a virtual group (Chapter 11), and how to deal with speech anxiety (Chapter 15). Armed with a broad knowledge of communication theory and practical skills, students majoring in communication go on to pursue careers in areas as diverse as human resource management, public relations, sales, marketing, sports broadcasting, media production, news media, advertising, community relations, and political consulting. To see how being skilled in communication may apply to your career path, see Table 1.1.