![Common components of models of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Common_components_of_models_of_communication.svg)
Models of communication are simplified representations of the process of
communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
. Most models try to describe both
verbal and
non-verbal communication and often understand it as an exchange of
messages. Their function is to give a compact overview of the complex process of communication. This helps researchers formulate
hypotheses
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...
, apply communication-related concepts to real-world cases, and test
prediction
A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dicere'', "to say"), or forecast, is a statement about a future event or data. They are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge. There is no universal agreement about the exact ...
s. Despite their usefulness, many models are criticized based on the claim that they are too simple because they leave out essential aspects. The different components and their interactions are usually presented in the form of a diagram. Several basic components and interactions reappear in many of the models. They include the idea that a sender
encodes information in the form of a message and sends it to a
receiver through a
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
. The receiver needs to decode the message to understand the initial idea and provides some form of
feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
. In both cases,
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
may interfere and distort the message.
Models of communication are classified in various ways depending on their intended applications and on how they conceptualize the process. General models apply to all forms of communication while specialized models restrict themselves to specific forms, like
mass communication
Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...
. Linear transmission models understand communication as a one-way process in which a sender transmits an idea to a receiver. Interaction models include a feedback loop through which the receiver responds after getting the message. Transaction models see sending and responding as simultaneous activities. They hold that
meaning is created in this process and does not exist prior to it. Constitutive and
constructionist models emphasize that communication is a fundamental phenomenon responsible for how we understand and
experience
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
. Further types include encoding-decoding models, hypodermic models, and relational models.
The problem of communication was already discussed in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
but the field of
communication studies
Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...
only developed into a separate research discipline in the middle of the 20th century. All early models were linear transmission models, like
Lasswell's model
Lasswell's model of communication is one of the first and most influential models of communication. It was initially published by Harold Lasswell in 1948 and analyzes communication in terms of five basic questions: "Who?", "Says What?", "In What C ...
, the
Shannon–Weaver model
The Shannon–Weaver model is one of the first and most influential models of communication. It was initially published in the 1948 paper A Mathematical Theory of Communication and explains communication in terms of five basic components: a sourc ...
, Gerbner's model, and
Berlo's model
The Source-Message-Channel-Receiver model is a linear transmission model of communication. It is also referred to as SMCR model, Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver model, and Berlo's model. It was first published by David Berlo in his 1960 book ''T ...
. For many purposes, they were later replaced by interaction models, like
Schramm's model
Schramm's model of communication is an early and influential model of communication. It was first published by Wilbur Schramm in 1954 and includes important innovations over previous models, such as the inclusion of a feedback loop and the discuss ...
. Beginning in the 1970s, various transactional models of communication, like
Barnlund's model
Barnlund's model is an influential transactional model of communication. It was first published by Dean Barnlund in 1970. It is formulated as an attempt to overcome the limitations of earlier models of communication. In this regard, it rejects the ...
, were proposed to overcome the limitations of interaction models. They constitute the origin of further developments in the form of constitutive models.
Definition and function
Models of communication are representations of the process of
communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
. They try to provide a simple explanation of the process by highlighting its most fundamental characteristics and components.
Communication can be defined as the transmission of ideas. General models of communication try to describe all of its forms, including
verbal and
non-verbal communication as well as
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
,
auditory, and
olfactory
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste.
In humans, it ...
forms.
In the widest sense, communication is not restricted to humans but happens also
among animals and between species. However, models of communication normally focus on
human communication
Human communication, or anthroposemiotics, is a field of study dedicated to understanding how humans Communication, communicate. Humans ability to communicate with one another would not be possible without an understanding of what we are refere ...
as the most paradigmatic form.
They usually involve some type of interaction between two or more parties in which messages are exchanged.
The process as a whole is very complex, which is why models of communication only present its most salient features by showing how their main components operate and interact.
They usually do so in the form of a simplified visualization and ignore some aspects for the sake of simplicity.
Some theorists distinguish models of communication from
theories of communication
Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...
. This is based on the idea that theories of communication try to provide a more abstract
conceptual framework
A conceptual framework is an analytical tool with several variations and contexts. It can be applied in different categories of work where an overall picture is needed. It is used to make conceptual distinctions and organize ideas. Strong conceptu ...
that is strong enough to accurately represent the underlying
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
despite its complexity.
According to Frank Dance, there is no one fully comprehensive model of communication since each one highlights only certain aspects and distorts others. For this reason, he suggests that we adopt a family of different models.
Models of communication serve various functions. Their simplified presentation helps students and researchers identify the main steps of communication and apply communication-related concepts to real-world cases.
The unified picture they provide makes it easier to describe and explain the observed phenomena. It can guide the formulation of
hypotheses
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...
and
prediction
A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dicere'', "to say"), or forecast, is a statement about a future event or data. They are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge. There is no universal agreement about the exact ...
s about how communicative processes will unfold and show how these processes can be measured.
An important goal in this regard is to learn how to improve communication, for example, by avoiding distortions through
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
or by discovering how
societal
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...
and
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
conditions affect its quality.
Basic concepts
Several basic concepts reappear in many of the different models, like "sender", "
receiver", "
message", "
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
", "
signal", "
encoding
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
", "decoding", "
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
", "
feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
", and "
context
Context may refer to:
* Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary
Computing
* Context (computing), the virtual environment required to su ...
". Their exact meanings vary slightly from model to model and sometimes different terms are used for the same ideas. Simple models only rely on a few of these concepts while more complex models include many of them.
The ''sender'' is responsible for creating the message and sending it to the ''receiver''. Some theorists use the terms ''source'' and ''destination'' instead. The ''message'' itself can be verbal or non-verbal and contains some form of
information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
.
The process of ''encoding'' translates the message into a signal that can be conveyed using a channel. The ''channel'' is the sensory route on which the signal travels. For example, expressing one's thoughts in a speech encodes them as
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
s, which are transmitted using air as a channel. ''Decoding'' is the reverse process of encoding: it happens when the signal is translated back into a message.
''Noise'' refers to any influence that interferes with the message reaching its destination. Some theorists distinguish between environmental noise and
semantic
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
noise. Environmental noise distorts the signal on its way to the receiver. Semantic noise occurs during encoding or decoding, for example, when an ambiguous word in the message is not interpreted by the receiver as it was meant by the sender.
''Feedback'' means that the receiver responds to the message by conveying some information back to the original sender.
''Context'' refers to the circumstances of the communication. It is a very wide term that can apply to the physical environment and the
psychological state
A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definitio ...
of the communicators as well as the general social situation.
Classifications
Models of communication can be classified in various ways. The different proposed classifications often overlap. Some models are general in the sense that they aim to describe all forms of communication. Others are specialized: they only apply to certain fields or areas. For example, models of
mass communication
Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...
are specialized models that do not aim to give a universal account of communication.
Another important distinction is between linear and non-linear models. Most early models of communication are linear models. They present communication as a unidirectional process in which messages flow from the communicator to the
audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
. Non-linear models, on the other hand, are multi-directional: messages are sent back and forth between participants. According to Uma Narula, linear models describe single acts of communication while non-linear models describe the whole process.
Linear transmission, interaction, and transaction
![Linearmodel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Linearmodel.jpg)
A popular classification distinguishes between linear transmission models, interaction models, and transaction models. Linear transmission models describe communication as a one-way process. In it, a sender intentionally conveys a message to a receiver. The reception of the message is the endpoint of this process. Since there is no feedback loop, the sender may not know whether the message even reached its intended destination. Most early models were transmission models. Due to their linear nature, they are often too simple to capture the dynamic aspects of various forms of communication, such as regular face-to-face conversation.
By focusing only on the sender, they leave out the audience's perspective. For example, listening usually does not just happen, but is an active process involving
listening skills and interpretation.
However, some forms of communication can be accurately described by them, such as many types of
computer-mediated communication
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats ...
like
text messaging, sending an email, posting a blog, or sharing something on social media.
Some theorists talk of "action models" instead of linear transmission models to emphasize how they only focus on the actions of the sender.
![Interaction_models_of_communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Interaction_models_of_communication.jpg)
For interaction models, the participants in communication alternate the positions of sender and receiver. So upon receiving a message, a new message is generated and returned to the original sender as a form of feedback. In this regard, communication is a two-way process. This adds more complexity to the model since the participants are both senders and receivers and they alternate between these two positions.
For interaction models, these steps happen one after the other: first, one message is sent and received, later another message is returned as feedback, etc. Such feedback loops make it possible for the sender to assess whether their message was received and had the intended effect or whether it was distorted by noise.
For example, interaction models can be used to describe a conversation through
instant messaging
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
: the sender sends a message and then has to wait for the receiver to react. Another example is a question/answer session where one person asks a question and then waits for another person to answer. Interaction models usually put more emphasis on the interactive process and less on the technical problem of how the message is conveyed at each step. For this reason, more prominence is given to the context that shapes the exchange of messages. This includes the physical context, like the distance between the speakers, and the psychological context, which includes mental and emotional factors like stress and anxiety.
![Transactionalmodel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Transactionalmodel.jpg)
Transaction models depart from interaction models in two different ways. On the one hand, they understand sending and responding as simultaneous processes. This can be used to describe how listeners use non-verbal communication, like
body posture
Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take.
There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning.
*''Position'' is a gen ...
and
facial expressions, to give some form of feedback about whether they agree with the message while the speaker is talking. This feedback may in turn influence the speaker's message while it is being produced. On the other hand, transactional models emphasize that meaning is created in the process of communication and does not exist prior to it. This is often combined with the claim that communication creates social realities like relationships,
personal identities, and
communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...
.
This also affects the communicators themselves on various levels, such as their thoughts and feelings as well as their social identities.
Transaction models usually put even more emphasis on contexts and how they shape the exchange of information. They are sometimes divided into social, relational, and cultural contexts. Social contexts include various explicit and implicit rules about what form of message and feedback is acceptable, for example, that one should not interrupt people or that one should greet people when they greet oneself. Relational contexts are more specific in that they concern the previous relationship and shared history of the communicators. This includes factors like whether the participants are friends, neighbors, co-workers, or rivals. The cultural context encompasses the different social identities of the communicators, such as race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and social class.
Constitutive and constructionist
''Constitutive models'' hold that meaning is "reflexively constructed, maintained, or negotiated in the act of communicating".This means that communication is not just the exchange of pre-established bundles of information but a creative process, unlike the outlook found in many transmission models.
According to Robert Craig, this implies that communication is a fundamental social phenomenon that cannot be explained through other factors, like psychological, cultural, or economic factors. Instead, communication is to be understood as the cause of other social processes and not as their result. Constitutive models are closely related to
constructionist models, which see communication as the basic process responsible for how people understand, represent, and experience reality. Some constructionists argue that reality is not something wholly external but depends on how it is
concept
Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs.
They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...
ualized, which happens through communication.
Others
Various additional classifications of communication models have been suggested. The term ''encoding-decoding model'' is used for any model that includes the phases of encoding and decoding in its description of communication. Such models emphasize that to send information, a code is necessary. A code is a sign system used to express ideas and interpret messages. Encoding-decoding models are sometimes contrasted with ''inferential models'', in which the receiver is not only interested in the information sent but tries to infer the sender's
intention
Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...
behind formulating the message.
''Hypodermic models'', also referred to as ''magic bullet theories'', hold that communication can be reduced to the transfer of ideas, information, or feelings from a sender to a receiver. In them, the message is like a magic bullet that is shot by active senders at passive and defenseless receivers. They are closely related to linear transmission models and contrast with ''reception models'', which ascribe an active role to the receiver in the process of communication and meaning-making.
''Relational models'' emphasize the importance of the
relationship
Relationship most often refers to:
* Family relations and relatives: consanguinity
* Interpersonal relationship, a strong, deep, or close association or acquaintance between two or more people
* Correlation and dependence, relationships in mathem ...
between communicators. For example, Wilbur Schramm holds that this relationship informs the expectations they bring to the exchange and the roles the participants play in the exchange. These roles influence how the communicators try to contribute to the communicative goal. In the context of instruction, for example, the teacher's role includes sharing and explaining information while the student's role involves learning and asking clarifying questions.
Relational models also describe how communication affects the relationship between the communicators. For example, the communication between patient and hospital staff affects whether the patient feels cared for or
dehumanized.
Relational models are closely related to ''convergence models''.
For convergence models, the goal of communication is convergence: to reach a mutual understanding. Feedback plays an important role in this regard: effective feedback helps achieve this goal while ineffective feedback leads to divergence.
''Difference models'' emphasize the role of
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
and
racial differences in the process of communication. Some posit, for example, that men and women have different communication styles and aim to achieve different goals through communication.
History
Communication was studied as early as
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
and one of the first models of communication is due to
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
.
However, the field of communication studies only developed in the 20th century into a separate research discipline. In its early stages, it often borrowed models and concepts from other disciplines, such as
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
,
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
,
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
, and
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
. But as it developed as a science, it started to rely more and more on its own models and concepts. Beginning in the 1940s and the following decades, many new models of communication were developed. Most of the early models were linear transmission models. For many purposes, they were replaced by non-linear models such as interaction, transaction, and convergence models.
Aristotle
One of the earliest models of communication was given by Aristotle.
He speaks of communication in his treatise
Rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
and characterizes it as a
techne
In philosophy, techne (; , ) is a term that refers to making or doing, which in turn is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "Teks-" meaning "to weave," also "to fabricate". As an activity, ''technē'' is concrete, variable, and context-depe ...
or
an art. His model is primarily concerned with public speaking and is made up of five elements: the speaker, the message, the audience, the occasion, and the effect.
According to Aristotle's communication model, the speaker wishes to have a certain effect on the audience, such as
persuading them of an opinion or a course of action. The same message may have very different effects depending on the audience and the occasion. For this reason, the speaker should take these factors into account and compose their message accordingly.
Many of the basic elements of the Aristotelian model of communication are still found in contemporary models.
Lasswell
![Lasswell's model of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Lasswell%27s_model_of_communication.svg)
Lasswell's model is an early and influential model of communication. It was proposed by
Harold Lasswell
Harold Dwight Lasswell (February 13, 1902December 18, 1978) was an American political scientist and communications theorist. He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics and was a PhD student at the University of Chicago. He was ...
in 1948 and uses five questions to identify and describe the main aspects of communication: "Who?", "Says What?", "In What Channel?", "To Whom?", and "With What Effect?".
They correspond to five basic components involved in the communicative process: the sender, the message, the channel, the receiver, and the effect.
For a newspaper headline, those five components are the reporter, the content of the headline, the newspaper itself, the reader, and the reader's response to the headline. Lasswell assigns a field of inquiry to each component, corresponding to control analysis,
content analysis, media analysis,
audience analysis, and effect analysis.
The model is usually understood as a linear transmission model and was initially formulated specifically for mass communication, like radio, television, and newspapers. Nonetheless, it has been used in various other fields, like
new media.
Many theorists treat it as a universal model applying to any form of communication. It is widely cited as a model of communication but some theorists have raised doubts about this characterization and refer to it instead as a questioning device, a formula, or a construct.
Lasswell's model is often criticized due to its simplicity, for example, because it does not include an explicit discussion of vital factors such as noise and feedback loops as well as the influence of physical, emotional, social, and cultural contexts.
These shortcomings have prompted some theorists to expand Lasswell's model. For example, Richard Braddock published an extension in 1958 including two additional questions: "Under What Circumstances?" and "For What Purpose?".
Shannon and Weaver
![Shannon-Weaver_model_of_communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Shannon-Weaver_model_of_communication.svg)
The Shannon–Weaver model is another early and influential model of communication.
It is a linear transmission model that was published in 1948 and describes communication as the interaction of five basic components: a source, a transmitter, a channel, a receiver, and a destination.
The source is responsible for generating the message. This message is translated by the transmitter into a signal, which is then sent using a channel. The receiver has the opposite function of the transmitter: it translates the signal back into a message, which is made available to the destination. The Shannon–Weaver model was initially formulated in analogy to how telephone calls work but is intended as a general model of all forms of communication. In the case of a landline phone call, the person calling is the source, their telephone is the transmitter translating the message into an electric signal, the wire acts as the channel, the person taking the call is the destination, and their telephone is the receiver.
Claude Shannon
Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory".
As a 21-year-o ...
and
Warren Weaver
Warren Weaver (July 17, 1894 – November 24, 1978) was an American scientist, mathematician, and science administrator. He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of machine translation and as an important figure in creating support for scien ...
categorize and address problems relevant to models of communication at three basic levels: technical, semantic, and effectiveness problems. They correspond to the issues of how to transmit the
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
s in the message to the receiver, how these symbols carry meaning, and how to ensure that the message has the intended effect on the receiver.
Shannon and Weaver focus most of their attention on the technical level by discussing how noise can interfere with the signal and thereby make it difficult for the receiver to reconstruct the source's intention found in the original message. They try to solve this problem by making the message
redundant so that it is easier to detect
distortions.
The Shannon–Weaver model has been influential in the fields of communication theory and
information theory
Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...
.
However, it has been criticized because it simplifies certain parts of the communicative process. For example, it presents communication as a one-way process and not as a dynamic interaction of messages going back and forth between both participants.
Newcomb
![Newcomb's model of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Newcomb%27s_model_of_communication.svg)
Newcomb's model was first published by Theodore H. Newcomb in his 1953 paper "An approach to the study of communicative acts".
It is called the ABX model of communication since it understands communication in terms of three components: two parties (A and B) interacting with each other about a topic or object (X). A and B can be individual persons or groups, such as trade unions or nations. X can be any part of their shared environment like a specific thing or another person.
The ABX model differs from earlier models by focusing on the
social relationship between the communicators in the form of the orientations they have toward each other and toward the topic.
The orientations can be favorable or unfavorable and include beliefs. They have a big impact on how communication unfolds. It is relevant, for example, whether A and B like each other and whether they have the same attitude towards X.
Newcomb understands communication as a "learned response to strain" caused by discrepancies between orientations.
The social function of communication is to maintain equilibrium in the
social system by keeping the different orientations in balance.
In Newcomb's words, communication enables "two or more individuals to maintain simultaneous orientation to each other and towards objects of the external environment".
The orientations of A and B are subject to change and influence each other. Significant discrepancies between them, such as divergent opinions on X, cause a strain in the relation. In such cases, communication aims to reduce the strain and restore balance through the exchange of information about the object.
For example, if A and B are friends and X is someone both know, then equilibrium means that they have the same attitude towards X. However, there is a disequilibrium or strain if A likes X but B doesn't. This creates a tendency for A and B to exchange information about X until they arrive at a shared attitude. The more important X is to A and B, the more urgent this tendency is.
![Westley and MacLean's model of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Westley_and_MacLean%27s_model_of_communication.svg)
An influential expansion of Newcomb's model is due to Westley and MacLean. They introduce the idea of
asymmetry of information
In contract theory and economics, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other.
Information asymmetry creates an imbalance of power in transactions, which can ...
: the sender (A) is aware of several topics (X
1 to X
3) and has to select what to communicate to the receiver (B). B's direct perception is limited to only a few of these topics (X
1B).
Another addition is the inclusion of feedback from the receiver to the sender.
Westley and MacLean also propose a further expansion to account for mass communication. For this purpose, they include an additional component, C, that has the role of a
gatekeeper filtering the original message for the mass audience.
Schramm
![Schramm's model of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Schramm%27s_model_of_communication.svg)
Schramm's model of communication is one of the earliest interaction models of communication.
It was published by
Wilbur Schramm
Wilbur Lang Schramm (August 5, 1907 – December 27, 1987) was a scholar and "authority on mass communications". He founded the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1935 and served as its first director until 1941. Schramm was hugely influential in establish ...
in 1954 as a response to and an improvement over linear transmission models of communication, such as Lasswell's model and the Shannon–Weaver model.
The main difference in this regard is that Schramm does not see the audience as passive recipients. Instead, he understands them as active participants that respond by sending their own message as a form of feedback.
Feedback is an important part of many types of communication and makes it easier for the participants to identify and resolve possible misunderstandings.
![Schramm's model - fields of experience](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Schramm%27s_model_-_fields_of_experience.svg)
For Schramm, communication is based on the relation between a source and a destination and consists in sharing ideas or information.
For this to happen, the source has to encode their idea in symbolic form as a message.
This message is sent to the destination using a channel, such as sound waves or ink on paper.
The destination has to decode and interpret the message in order to reconstruct the original idea. The processes of encoding and decoding correspond to the roles of transmitter and receiver in the Shannon–Weaver model.
According to Schramm, these processes are influenced by the fields of
experience
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...
of each participant. A field of experience includes past life experiences and affects what the participant understands and is familiar with.
Communication fails if the message is outside the receiver's field of experience. In this case, the receiver is unable to decode it and connect it to the sender's idea.
Other sources of error are external noise or mistakes in the phases of decoding and encoding.
Schramm holds that successful communication is about realizing an intended effect. He discusses the conditions for this to be possible. They include making sure that one has the receiver's
attention
Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
, that the message is understandable, and that the audience is able and motivated to react to the message in the intended way.
In the 1970s, Schramm proposed modifications to his original model to take into account various discoveries made in
communication studies
Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...
in the preceding decades.
His new approach gives special emphasis to the relationship between the participants. The relationship determines the goal of communication and the roles played by the participants.
Gerbner
Gerbner's model was first published by
George Gerbner
George Gerbner (August 8, 1919 – December 24, 2005) was a professor of communication and the founder of cultivation theory. He taught at Temple University, Villanova University, and the University of Pennsylvania.Lent, John A. 1995.Interview with ...
in his 1956 paper ''Toward a General Model of Communication''.
It is a linear transmission model. It is based on the Shannon–Weaver model and Lasswell's model but expands them in various ways.
It aims to provide a general account of all forms of communication.
An important innovation is that it starts not with a message or an idea but with an
event
Event may refer to:
Gatherings of people
* Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion
* Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest
* Event management, the organization of eve ...
. The communicating agent perceives it and composes a message about it.
For Gerbner, messages are not packages that exist prior to communication. Instead, the message is created in the process of encoding and is affected by the code and the channel. Gerbner assumes that the goal of communication is to inform another person about something they are unaware of.
He includes a total of ten essential components: (1) someone (2) perceives an event (3) and reacts (4) in a situation (5) through some means (6) to make available materials (7) in some form (8) and context (9) conveying content (10) of some consequence.
Each of these components corresponds to a different area of study. For example, ''communicator and audience research'' studies the first component while ''perception research'' is concerned with the second component. In Gerbner's example, "a man notices a house burning across the street and shouts 'Fire!'". In this case, "someone" corresponds to the man and the perceived event is the burning house. Other components include his voice (means) and the fire (conveyed content).
![Gerbner's model of communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Gerbner%27s_model_of_communication.svg)
The relation between message and reality is of central importance to Gerbner.
For this reason, his model includes two dimensions: the horizontal dimension corresponds to the relation between communicator and event while the vertical dimension corresponds to the relation between communicator and message. Communication starts in the horizontal dimension with an event perceived by the sender. The next step happens in the vertical dimension, where the percept is translated into a signal containing the message. The message has two important aspects: content and form. The content is the information about the event. The last step belongs again to the horizontal dimension: the audience perceives and interprets the message about the event.
All these different steps are creative processes that select certain features to be included.
For example, the event is never perceived in its entirety. Instead, the communicator has to select and interpret its most salient features. The same happens when encoding the message: the percept is usually too complex to be fully communicated and only its most significant aspects are expressed. Selection also concerns the choice of the code and channel to be used. The availability of a channel differs from person to person and from situation to situation. For example, many people do not have access to mass media, like television, to send their message to a wide audience.
Gerbner's emphasis on the relation between message and reality has been influential for subsequent models of communication. However, Gerbner's model still suffers from many of the limitations of the earlier models it is based on, such as the focus on the linear transmission of information without an in-depth discussion of the role of feedback loops or of the problem of how meaning is created.
Berlo
![SMCR model - full](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/SMCR_model_-_full.svg)
Berlo's model is a linear transmission model of communication. It was published by
David Berlo
David Kenneth Berlo (1929 – February 23, 1996) was an American communications theorist. He taught at Michigan State University and later served as president of Illinois State University.
Early life and career
He was raised in St. Louis, Mis ...
in 1960 and was influenced by various earlier models, such as the Shannon–Weaver model and Schramm's model.
It is usually referred to as the Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) model because of its four main components (source, message, channel, and receiver).
Each of these components is characterized by various aspects and the main focus of the model is a detailed discussion of each of them. For Berlo, all forms of communication are attempts to influence the
behavior
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
of the receiver. To do so, the source has to express their purpose by encoding it into a message.
This message is sent through a channel to the receiver, who has to decode it in order to understand it and react to it.
Communication is successful if the reaction of the receiver matches the purpose of the source.
Berlo's main interest in discussing the components and their aspects is to analyze their impact on successful communication.
Source and receiver are usually persons but can also be groups or institutions.
On this level, Berlo identifies four features: communication skills, attitudes,
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
, and social-cultural system.
Communication skills are primarily the ability of the source to encode messages and the ability of the receiver to decode them. The term ''attitude'' refers to the positive or negative stance that source and receiver have toward themselves, each other, and the discussed topic. ''Knowledge'' stands for the understanding of the topic and the social-cultural system includes background beliefs and
social norms common in the
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
and social context of the communicators.
Generally speaking, the more source and receiver are alike in regard to these factors, the more likely successful communication is.
Communication may fail, for example, if the receiver lacks the decoding skills necessary to understand the message or if the source has a demeaning attitude toward the receiver.
For the message, the main factors are code, content, and treatment, each of which can be analyzed in terms of its structure and its elements. The code is the
sign system used to express the message, like a
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
. The content is the idea or information expressed in the message. Choosing an appropriate content and the right code to express it is of central importance for successful communication. Berlo uses the term ''treatment'' to refer to this selection. It reflects the style of the source as a communicator. The channel is the medium and process of how the message is transmitted.
Berlo analyzes it mainly based on the
five senses
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...
used to decode messages: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting.
The SMCR model has inspired various subsequent theorists.
However, it is often criticized based on its simplicity because it does not discuss feedback loops and because it does not give enough emphasis on noise and other barriers to communication.
Dance
Frank Dance's helical model of communication was initially published in his 1967 book ''Human Communication Theory''.
It is intended as a response to and an improvement over linear and circular models by emphasizing the dynamic nature of communication and how it changes the participants. The fault of linear models is that they understand communication as a linear flow of messages from a sender to a receiver. This fault is avoided by circular models, which include a feedback loop through which messages are exchanged back and forth. Dance criticizes the circular approach by pointing out that it "suggests that communication comes back, full circle, to exactly the same point from which it started".
He holds that a
helix is a more adequate representation of the process of communication since it implies that there is always a forward movement. It shows how the content and structure of earlier communicative acts influence the content and structure of later communicative acts. In this regard, communication has a lasting effect on the communicators and evolves continuously as a process. The upward widening movement of the helix represents a form of
optimism by seeing communication as a means of growth, learning, and improvement.
The basic idea behind Dance's helical model of communication is also found in
education theory in the
spiral approach
:''See also spiral model'', a software development approach.''
The spiral approach is a technique often used in education where the initial focus of instruction is the basic facts of a subject, with further details being introduced as learning pr ...
proposed by
Jerome Bruner.
Dance's model has been criticized based on the claim that it focuses only on certain aspects of communication but does not provide a tool for detailed analysis.
Barnlund
![Barnlund's model - interpersonal communication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Barnlund%27s_model_-_interpersonal_communication.svg)
Barnlund's model is an influential transactional model of communication first published in 1970.
Its goal is to avoid the inaccuracies of earlier models and account for communication in all its complexity. This includes dismissing the idea that communication is defined as the transmission of ideas from a sender to a receiver.
For Barnlund, communication "is the production of meaning, rather than the production of messages". He holds that the world and its objects lack
meaning on their own. They are only meaningful to the extent that people
interpret
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interp ...
them and assign meaning to them by engaging in the processes of decoding and encoding. In doing so, people try to decrease uncertainty and arrive at a shared understanding.
Barnlund's model rests on a set of basic assumptions.
For Barnlund, any activity that creates meaning is a form of communication. He sees communication as ''dynamic'' because meaning is not fixed but depends on the human practice of interpretation, which is itself subject to change. Communication is ''continuous'' in the sense that it does not have a beginning or an end: people decode cues and encode responses all the time, even when no one else is present. For Barnlund, communication is also ''circular'' because there is no clear division between sender and receiver found in linear transmission models. It is ''irreversible'' due to the diverse effects it has on the communicators that cannot be undone.
It is also ''complex'' since many components are involved and many factors influence how it unfolds.
Because of its complexity, communication is ''unrepeatable'': it is not possible to control all these factors to exactly repeat a previous exchange. This is not even the case when the same communicators exchange the same messages.
Cues are of central importance in Barnlund's model. It is based on the idea that communication consists of decoding cues by ascribing meaning to them and encoding appropriate responses to them.
Barnlund distinguishes between public, private, and behavioral cues. Public cues are accessible to anyone in the situation, such as a tree in a park or a table in a room. Private cues are only available to one individual, like a coin in one's pocket or an itch on one's wrist. Behavioral cues are under the control of the communicators and constitute the main vehicles of communication. They include verbal behavior, like discussing a business proposal, and non-verbal behavior, like raising one's eyebrows or sitting down in a chair.
Barnlund's model has been influential, both for its innovations and for its criticisms of earlier models.
Some objections to it include that it is not equally useful for all forms of communication and that it does not explain how exactly meaning is produced.
References
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Conceptual modelling
Linguistics
Human communication
Communication theory