Howard Nothhaft
Biographic Data
| ID | 6760776 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Howard Nothhaft |
| GIVEN NAMES | Howard |
| FAMILY NAME | Nothhaft |
| SIGNATURE | NOTHHAFT H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lund University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4576-6205 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Strategic communication as lens-building and decision-making
Purpose The article suggests that decision-making, and especially epistemic duties in the formation of a basis for sound decision-making, should receive more attention in the didactics and pedagogy of strategy communication. Design/methodology/approach The article is conceptual-theoretical in nature but takes inspiration from a prior analysis of course contents of English-speaking strategic communication programs around the world. Findings The au…
The Meme’s-Eye View of Strategic Communication
The article argues that a memetic approach, or meme’s-eye view, could help bring together the strategic management view and the CCO-school. ‘Memes’ are understood as a second-order concept, i.e., as a reference to ‘memory traces’ in people’s minds and anchor-point of joint or collective intentionality. This view, it is argued, permits the conceptualization of communication as a resource. To illustrate, two cases are analyzed: 1) the Montagsdemos …
Peacocks, Penknives and Power
This article conceptualizes evolutionary theory as a bridge between existing theorizing in strategic communication on the one hand, the mind sciences on the other. It discusses six core concepts of evolutionary psychology that have a bearing on strategic communication theory: a) the human as a highly flexible social species; b) the regulation of individually-minded vs. collectively-minded behavior; c) advanced, symbolic communication as a mode of…
From Costly Signals and Competitive Niches to Reciprocity, Memes, and Memory Traces
This article gives an overview of the contributions in the special issue of the International Journal of Strategic Communication on evolutionary psychology and strategic communication. Forward-looking, it argues that recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have made it imperative for our discipline to come to grips with a biologized view of the human mind as an information-processing system that evolved to solve specific adaptive problems…
Information influence in Western democracies
The pragmatic-principle once again captures that human cognition evolved to serve the organism, as opposed to an abstract epistemic ideal, but in a way different from the reality-principle. The modularity-principle is a concept drawn from evolutionary psychology, where the degree of the human brain’s modularity is a contentious issue. A society allows free opinion formation, we theorize, as long as public life is grounded in the belief that the e…
Strategic Communication as an Emerging Interdisciplinary Paradigm
This study explores future directions in strategic communication scholarship by examining the emergence of strategic communication through the lens of interdisciplinary science. The disciplinary status of strategic communication is described through a content analysis of manuscripts published in the International Journal of Strategic Communication since its inaugural issue in 2007 (N = 207). Results reveal positive trends in research productivity…
Strategic Communication
The article explores how strategic communication successfully established itself as an academic discipline despite (or perhaps because of) being centered on an elusive concept. Drawing on ideas about the evolution of academic disciplines proposed by Alexander M. Shneider, we argue that strategic communication is currently caught in a cycle of constant reinvention obscured by a discourse of emergence. Although the discipline is undoubtedly becomin…
Strategic Communication
This article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in…
Disagreement About the Therapy, Not the Diagnosis
The article engages with the criticism of my suggestion to work towards synthesis and consilience (i.e., compatibility with natural science, especially cognitive science and evolutionary psychology) in strategic communication research. It notes that there seems to be agreement about the field’s unsatisfactory state, yet disagreement about the way forward. I attempt to demonstrate that none of the arguments developed by the critics breaks the case…
A Framework for Strategic Communication Research
This essay suggests that the conceptualization of strategic communication as a field uniting several disciplines was an important step forward, but progress in absolute terms has been disappointing so far. Individual researchers open up new avenues of exploration and regularly arrive at answers to questions internally consistent with their respective perspectives. But the body of reasonably verified scientific knowledge that goes substantially be…
Konzeption von Kommunikationsprogrammen
Strategic Communication and the Public Sphere from a European Perspective
The article attempts to clarify, from a European and especially German perspective, how the public sphere is related to the political, to democracy and to society. Furthermore, we want to shed some light on what public means in contrast to private and secret. We try to achieve that in three steps: First, we discuss the concepts by tracing the historical development of the public in the course of European history; second, we present two models of …
Coping with Complexity
Many models currently discussed in PR studies lack a supporting meta-theory of what managing communication is about, and consequently paint a simplistic picture of what communicating with publics or managing phenomena such as reputation actually means. While it is common to speak of “building” trust or “constructing” images, “cultivating” seems a more appropriate metaphor. Publics are complex, dynamic social systems that act in accordance with th…
Auf der Suche nach Qualität
Die vorangestellten Worte finden sich im Editorial des Jahrbuchs Public Relations 1996, das Barbara Baerns im genannten Jahr gemeinsam mit Joachim Klewes herausgibt. Die Autorin äußert sie in einem gut gelaunten Streitgespräch mit ihrem Mitherausgeber — und angesichts des Kontextes ist man versucht, den Begriff "Erfolg" in Baerns' Zitat durch das Wort "Qualität" zu ersetzen. Das Jahrbuch Public Relations greift die Qualitätsdiskussion auf, als di…
Strategic Communication
This article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in…
A Framework for Strategic Communication Research
This essay suggests that the conceptualization of strategic communication as a field uniting several disciplines was an important step forward, but progress in absolute terms has been disappointing so far. Individual researchers open up new avenues of exploration and regularly arrive at answers to questions internally consistent with their respective perspectives. But the body of reasonably verified scientific knowledge that goes substantially be…
Strategic Communication and the Public Sphere from a European Perspective
The article attempts to clarify, from a European and especially German perspective, how the public sphere is related to the political, to democracy and to society. Furthermore, we want to shed some light on what public means in contrast to private and secret. We try to achieve that in three steps: First, we discuss the concepts by tracing the historical development of the public in the course of European history; second, we present two models of …
Strategic Communication
The article explores how strategic communication successfully established itself as an academic discipline despite (or perhaps because of) being centered on an elusive concept. Drawing on ideas about the evolution of academic disciplines proposed by Alexander M. Shneider, we argue that strategic communication is currently caught in a cycle of constant reinvention obscured by a discourse of emergence. Although the discipline is undoubtedly becomin…
The Meme’s-Eye View of Strategic Communication
The article argues that a memetic approach, or meme’s-eye view, could help bring together the strategic management view and the CCO-school. ‘Memes’ are understood as a second-order concept, i.e., as a reference to ‘memory traces’ in people’s minds and anchor-point of joint or collective intentionality. This view, it is argued, permits the conceptualization of communication as a resource. To illustrate, two cases are analyzed: 1) the Montagsdemos …
Strategic Communication as an Emerging Interdisciplinary Paradigm
This study explores future directions in strategic communication scholarship by examining the emergence of strategic communication through the lens of interdisciplinary science. The disciplinary status of strategic communication is described through a content analysis of manuscripts published in the International Journal of Strategic Communication since its inaugural issue in 2007 (N = 207). Results reveal positive trends in research productivity…
Peacocks, Penknives and Power
This article conceptualizes evolutionary theory as a bridge between existing theorizing in strategic communication on the one hand, the mind sciences on the other. It discusses six core concepts of evolutionary psychology that have a bearing on strategic communication theory: a) the human as a highly flexible social species; b) the regulation of individually-minded vs. collectively-minded behavior; c) advanced, symbolic communication as a mode of…
Coping with Complexity
Many models currently discussed in PR studies lack a supporting meta-theory of what managing communication is about, and consequently paint a simplistic picture of what communicating with publics or managing phenomena such as reputation actually means. While it is common to speak of “building” trust or “constructing” images, “cultivating” seems a more appropriate metaphor. Publics are complex, dynamic social systems that act in accordance with th…
Auf der Suche nach Qualität
Die vorangestellten Worte finden sich im Editorial des Jahrbuchs Public Relations 1996, das Barbara Baerns im genannten Jahr gemeinsam mit Joachim Klewes herausgibt. Die Autorin äußert sie in einem gut gelaunten Streitgespräch mit ihrem Mitherausgeber — und angesichts des Kontextes ist man versucht, den Begriff "Erfolg" in Baerns' Zitat durch das Wort "Qualität" zu ersetzen. Das Jahrbuch Public Relations greift die Qualitätsdiskussion auf, als di…
Coping with Complexity
Many models currently discussed in PR studies lack a supporting meta-theory of what managing communication is about, and consequently paint a simplistic picture of what communicating with publics or managing phenomena such as reputation actually means. While it is common to speak of “building” trust or “constructing” images, “cultivating” seems a more appropriate metaphor. Publics are complex, dynamic social systems that act in accordance with th…
Strategic Communication and the Public Sphere from a European Perspective
The article attempts to clarify, from a European and especially German perspective, how the public sphere is related to the political, to democracy and to society. Furthermore, we want to shed some light on what public means in contrast to private and secret. We try to achieve that in three steps: First, we discuss the concepts by tracing the historical development of the public in the course of European history; second, we present two models of …
Konzeption von Kommunikationsprogrammen
A Framework for Strategic Communication Research
This essay suggests that the conceptualization of strategic communication as a field uniting several disciplines was an important step forward, but progress in absolute terms has been disappointing so far. Individual researchers open up new avenues of exploration and regularly arrive at answers to questions internally consistent with their respective perspectives. But the body of reasonably verified scientific knowledge that goes substantially be…
Disagreement About the Therapy, Not the Diagnosis
The article engages with the criticism of my suggestion to work towards synthesis and consilience (i.e., compatibility with natural science, especially cognitive science and evolutionary psychology) in strategic communication research. It notes that there seems to be agreement about the field’s unsatisfactory state, yet disagreement about the way forward. I attempt to demonstrate that none of the arguments developed by the critics breaks the case…
Information influence in Western democracies
The pragmatic-principle once again captures that human cognition evolved to serve the organism, as opposed to an abstract epistemic ideal, but in a way different from the reality-principle. The modularity-principle is a concept drawn from evolutionary psychology, where the degree of the human brain’s modularity is a contentious issue. A society allows free opinion formation, we theorize, as long as public life is grounded in the belief that the e…
Strategic Communication as an Emerging Interdisciplinary Paradigm
This study explores future directions in strategic communication scholarship by examining the emergence of strategic communication through the lens of interdisciplinary science. The disciplinary status of strategic communication is described through a content analysis of manuscripts published in the International Journal of Strategic Communication since its inaugural issue in 2007 (N = 207). Results reveal positive trends in research productivity…
Strategic Communication
The article explores how strategic communication successfully established itself as an academic discipline despite (or perhaps because of) being centered on an elusive concept. Drawing on ideas about the evolution of academic disciplines proposed by Alexander M. Shneider, we argue that strategic communication is currently caught in a cycle of constant reinvention obscured by a discourse of emergence. Although the discipline is undoubtedly becomin…
Strategic Communication
This article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in…
The Meme’s-Eye View of Strategic Communication
The article argues that a memetic approach, or meme’s-eye view, could help bring together the strategic management view and the CCO-school. ‘Memes’ are understood as a second-order concept, i.e., as a reference to ‘memory traces’ in people’s minds and anchor-point of joint or collective intentionality. This view, it is argued, permits the conceptualization of communication as a resource. To illustrate, two cases are analyzed: 1) the Montagsdemos …
Peacocks, Penknives and Power
This article conceptualizes evolutionary theory as a bridge between existing theorizing in strategic communication on the one hand, the mind sciences on the other. It discusses six core concepts of evolutionary psychology that have a bearing on strategic communication theory: a) the human as a highly flexible social species; b) the regulation of individually-minded vs. collectively-minded behavior; c) advanced, symbolic communication as a mode of…
From Costly Signals and Competitive Niches to Reciprocity, Memes, and Memory Traces
This article gives an overview of the contributions in the special issue of the International Journal of Strategic Communication on evolutionary psychology and strategic communication. Forward-looking, it argues that recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have made it imperative for our discipline to come to grips with a biologized view of the human mind as an information-processing system that evolved to solve specific adaptive problems…
Strategic communication as lens-building and decision-making
Purpose The article suggests that decision-making, and especially epistemic duties in the formation of a basis for sound decision-making, should receive more attention in the didactics and pedagogy of strategy communication. Design/methodology/approach The article is conceptual-theoretical in nature but takes inspiration from a prior analysis of course contents of English-speaking strategic communication programs around the world. Findings The au…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Public Relations and Crisis Communication (8 works) · Strategic Communication (7 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Social science (5 works) · Conceptualization (4 works)