Topic:

Audience

This topic page includes introductory information, a list of readings, and questions to guide your
reading and prepare you for class discussion; it may also include an individual or group
assignment, which may or may not be graded.

References to ABO are to Alred, Brusaw, and Oliu (2015).

Introduction
First, note that it is rare in disciplinary, professional, and technical communication to have a single
audience. Consider the person who writes a manual for a product: If the product has a narrow use,
the writer may be able to consider the manual as having a single audience. For example, a mass
spectrometer is a tool likely to be used only by folks with extensive knowledge of analytical
chemistry; these folks likely have a great deal in common with each other. If, on the other hand,
the product has a wide variety of users, the manual probably has many audiences. For example, a
piece of IKEA furniture might be assembled by people in all walks of life from cultures all over the
world. When you are confronted with the need to do an audience analysis, start by brainstorming
all the possible or likely audiences, then use the framework in this topic sheet to analyze each
audience.

In this course, we will use a framework for audience analysis that derives from what Larson
(2015) calls cognitive pragmatic rhetorical (CPR) theory. According to CPR theory, Writers and
Readers communicate in the context of their cognitive environments, which consist of the union of
the set of assumptions, goals, and emotional states accessible to them and the cognitive
environment they impute to those with whom they are communicating. What do these terms
mean?

Assumptions are thoughts that can be expressed in propositional form and are treated by the
individual agent as representations of the world, including the states of mind of the agent or
others (meta-representations) and including hypothetical propositions. The earth is closer in age
to four billion years than to five thousand years. If you believe this proposition, then it is an
assumption for you.

Goals are consequences (end states or otherwise) desired or unwanted by an agent capable of
motivating an agent to action. If you want to get a good grade in this class, that is one of your goals.

Emotions are, well, emotions: sadness, joy, anger, affection. They can be hard to define, and though
they may be related to assumptions and goals, and may in fact influence ones goals and
assumptions, they are usually fairly easy to distinguish from the former, at least in the abstract.

Assumptions, goals, and emotions have two characteristics that influence the effect that they have
on an agents cognition: strength and accessibility. Strength is a measure of the agents
commitment to an assumption or goal; in the case of emotion, it is the depth of feeling the agent
has. Think of accessibility as how close the assumption, goal, or emotion is to the surface of the
agents thoughtswhether it is top of mind. For example, Brian may want to lose 20 pounds in
2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Audience

Page 1

the next year very urgently; the strength of his goal is strong. But at the moment, he is in the office
of the Director of Undergraduate Studies discussing with her a grading dispute between a student
and him. His goal of resolving the grading dispute may not be as strong as his weight-loss goal, but
it is more accessible during his conversation with the DUS. Another example: Jinyoung believes
that the instructor expects her paper to be no more than five pages in length, but shes not sure;
her assumption has low strength, and she might ask a classmate to confirm it for her. She is
extremely confident that the current prime minister of South Korea is Hwang Kyo-ahn; while
sitting in a communication class, however, that fact is probably not top of mind for herwhich is
to say that it is not accessible.

According to CPR theory, an audiences accessible and strong assumptions, goals, and emotions
have a much greater effect on how it will interpret your communication than the less accessible
and weak ones. Keep in mind that an agents habitual assumptions, goals, and emotions tend to be
stronger and more accessible than others. For example, Wahida has often been told by her parents
that she is brilliant, and she more readily accepts assessments from others that are consistent with
that assumptionWahida is brilliantand the emotions associated with it than those that are
inconsistent with it. In fact, she may tend to hear only those assessments from others that are
consistent with what she already believes (sometimes called confirmation bias).

One final concept is important: While you are busy figuring out what the audiences cognitive
environment is, it is busy trying to figure out yours. Each of you is trying to form assumptions
about the cognitive environment of the other. Of course, among the assumptions you form about
the audiences cognitive environment may be assumptions you have about the assumptions that
the audience has about you. Each of you is imputing these assumptions to the other. Thus the
imputed cognitive environment means the assumptions one agent has about the cognitive
environment of another agent or group of agents, including the agents assumptions about the
cognitive environment that is being imputed to her. In other words, these are the assumptions that
the agent believes she and other the other agents all share about their current situation.

When you do an audience analysis, you should consider the audiences state of mind when it is
likely going to be using your communication. (Of course, this may greatly be influenced by
contextual factors.) Identify to the extent possible the assumptions, goals, and emotions that are
likely to be affecting the audiences cognition; consider how strong and accessible each is.
Remember that habitual ways of thinking are often the most accessible and strong. Finally,
consider what the audience may be thinking that you (or your documents sponsor) are thinking.
The attached CPR-theoretic audience analysis worksheet will help.

Readings for this topic

Read the following entries (probably best in this order) from ABO:
audience
readers
The attached CPR-audience analysis worksheet

Reading questions

Consider whether most documents have only one audience or many. Of the examples we
have looked at so far this semester, which would you say prevails?

2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Audience

Page 2

Be sure you know the differences among assumptions, goals, and emotions.
Make sure you understand the concepts of accessible and strong in this context.
Consider a document type that you use in your major or work. How does it take advantage
of the readers accessible and strong assumptions, goals, and emotions?
Think about the role of habituation and how doing something often makes it easier to do.
When can this be a disadvantage?
Note in the discussion of Audience/Writing for Varied and Multiple Audiences ABO explain
that a single text can sometimes have different segments targeted at different readers.
Which segments are appropriate for which readers?
Using the attached CPR-theoretic audience analysis worksheet, try your hand at analyzing
one of the communications we have discussed as examples so far this semester.

Classroom activities for this topic

Group: Brainstorm about who the potential audiences are for the example text that the
instructor shows in class.
Think, pair, share: Look at the example text provided by the instructor in class; using the
CPR-audience analysis worksheet provided by the instructor, describe at least one of the
audiences of the text.

Assignments for this topic

None.

Works cited
Alred, G. J., Brusaw, C. T., & Oliu, W. E. (2015). Handbook of Technical Writing (11th edition).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Larson, B. (2015, May). Gender/Genre: Gender difference in disciplinary communication (Ph.D.
dissertation). University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Audience

Page 3

CPR-theoretic audience analysis worksheet

See Larson (2015a, 2015b) for an explanation of these concepts.

Strong1
Accessible1
Assumptions

Goals

Emotions

Imputed
cognitive
environment

1 Remember to consider habit and its effect on strength and accessibility. Ask what the audience is used to.
2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Audience

Page 4

Consider the context

Your audiences assumptions, goals, and emotionsand particularly their strength and
accessibilityare likely strongly influenced by her context: the who, what, where, when, and why
of her surroundings. Make notes of them here to help you fill out the reverse of this worksheet.
Physical/material context







Social context







Financial context







Legal, regulatory, ethical context

Works cited
Larson, B. (2015a). Gender/Genre: Gender difference in disciplinary communication (Ph.D.
dissertation). University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Larson, B. (2015b). Topic: Audience. Retrieved from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/274452248/Topic-Audience
2015 Brian N. Larson

Topic: Audience

Page 5