ABSTRACT
In principle, one can also use the behavioral theory to frame and conduct analyses of meaningful phenomena, perhaps translating the results into meaning and symbol. Like the process of archaeological inference, the behavioral theory is receiver oriented. A person constructs inferences from an interactor's performance by employing relational knowledge. Interactors play three major roles in human communication: emitter, receiver, and sender. The behavioral theory requires that a research question about artifacts and communication be formulated in relation to specific interactors in a particular context, that is activity and place. In contrast, the behavioral theory requires the researcher to attend to any people in the immediate area who are not conversing and also to the artifacts and externs in that place. Indeed, a communication context is defined here as an activity occurring in a place.
