International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Steven H. Chaffee (1935–2001) was an internationally recognized mass communication scholar who had a crucial role in developing and shaping the field of communication during the last third of the twentieth century. He was born in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935. He received a BA in history (with distinction) from the University of Redlands in 1957, and an MA in journalism from UCLA in 1962. In 1965 he completed a PhD in communication at Stanford where he studied with →  Wilbur Schramm and Richard Carter, who supervised his dissertation. He served in the US Navy as a public information officer (1958–1961) and worked as news editor and reporter for various Los Angeles newspapers (1961–1962). Chaffee began his teaching career in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965. He established during his 16 years there a prolific research record: eight books and monographs, and 50 journal articles and book chapters. Much of his research was conducted in collaboration with Jack McLeod and graduate students in the Mass Communications Research Center where the innovative ideas for co-orientation and family communication pattern concepts were developed ( McLeod & Chaffee 1972 ; Chaffee et al. 1973 ; →  Family Communication Patterns ). His summary of the scientific evidence for a connection between televised violence and adolescent aggressiveness ... log in or subscribe to read full text