Berlo's model

Relation to earlier models

Berlo's model was influenced by earlier models like the Shannon–Weaver model and Schramm's model. Other influences include models developed by Theodore Newcomb, Bruce Westley, and Malcolm MacLean Jr. The Shannon–Weaver model was published in 1948 and is one of the earliest and most influential models of communication. It explains communication in terms of five basic components: a source, a transmitter, a channel, a receiver, and a destination. The source produces the message. To send the message, it has to be translated into a signal by the transmitter. To transmit this signal, a channel is required. At this stage, noise may interfere with the signal and distort it. Once the signal reaches the receiver, it is translated back into a message and made available to the destination. When making a landline phone call, the person calling is the source and their telephone is the transmitter. The wire is the channel and the person receiving the phone call is the destination. Their telephone is the receiver. Berlo made slight adjustments to many of the basic components of the Shannon–Weaver model to include them in his own model.