By nature, meaning design is not a homogeneous and univocal representation of reality but has an intrinsically composite character. Such hybrid theory of meaning entails that many aspects of meaning should be explained resorting to different layers and components of communication involving cognitive principles, knowledge factors, subjective experiences, and interactional principles, and no doubt much besides. Grice was essentially correct in thinking of meaning as a composite notion. The full meaning of an utterance may only be captured by considering different kinds of content: what is said, what is conventionally implicated, and what is presupposed.

Anolli, 2000

If there is one prerequisite that is critical for education, it is the need to communicate clearly and effectively. Communication is the core activity for an educator, conveying and sharing information from one person to another, from one organisation to another – or a combination of both. Professor Luigi Anolli has been one of the most distinguished leaders in the field of communication psychology in the past three decades through his contributions and his deep influence on many researchers and colleagues. Throughout his long career, he has made fundamental and profound contributions to various areas of psychology, including communication, emotion and culture psychology.

Luigi is one of the pioneers in the psychological study of miscommunication. Overcoming the traditional concept of miscommunication as a lack, fault and violation of rules, he has advanced modern communication psychology in a unique and far reaching manner. In this perspective, detailed in his Miscommunication as CHance Theory (MaCHT), communication sets up a unique and global category, which definitely includes miscommunication phenomena as important objects of investigation. Luigi also had a significant impact on defining and applying advanced techniques to understand and analyze a broad range of communicative and emotional phenomena – from Irony and Deception to Shame – throughout the physiological parameters, vocal nonverbal features, facial expression and posture emerging within a communicative interaction.

Luigi's work has been seminal in a broad spectrum of psychological research; not only has he settled a long list of critical questions but he has also opened new directions of research which have inspired students and colleagues throughout the world. His most recent contributions are related to the psychology of culture, described as the “natural” horizon of communication. Luigi's research as well as the one of his colleagues over the years have highlighted the importance of culture in understanding human behavior. Increasingly intrigued by culture, over a decade ago he started to review the cross-cultural literature in all areas of psychology. Soon he realized that culture played an important role for understanding communication, gradually recognizing its pervasive and profound influence on psychological processes in all areas of functioning.

The method, context, structure, language, knowledge and an understanding of the needs of the recipients to whom the information is being transmitted are vital in understanding the importance of communication in a culture. Without a proper understanding of the complex and dynamic process of meaning co-construction and sharing, the communication between different cultures will be very difficult.

Like many other colleagues, I have benefited from his presence and from his generous help. In the summer of 2004, Luigi Anolli joined my Faculty at the University of Milan-Bicocca where he founded the Centre for Studies in Communication Science (CESCOM).

The chapters in this book are authored by colleagues and friends of Luigi and the topics covered are closely related to Luigi's research. In fact, the contributions included in this festschrift encompass a series of topics in communication psychology to which he contributed directly, exhibited an abiding interest, and/or supported indirectly through his role as Director of the CESCOM.

I am very grateful to all the authors who have contributed their excellent theoretical and research chapters to this book. At this occasion, I would like to express my deepest friendship and gratitude to Luigi Anolli and to wish him many more happy and productive years ahead.

Prof. Susanna Mantovani, Dean of the Science Education Faculty, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy