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MODELS OF COMMUNICATION
Presented by Rosafe E. Peralta, RN

1. Aristotles Communication Model

Aristotle, a great philosopher initiative the earliest mass communication model called
Aristotles Model of Communication.

He proposed model before 300 B.C who found the importance of audience role in
communication chain in his communication model.

This model is more focused on public speaking than interpersonal communication.

Aristotle Model of Communication is formed with 5 basic elements

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Speaker, (ii) Speech, (iii) Occasion, (iv) Audience and (v) Effect.

Aristotle advises speakers to build speech for different audience on different time (occasion)
and for different effects.

Speaker plays an important role in Public speaking.

The speaker must prepare his speech and analysis audience needs before he enters into the
stage. His words should influence in audience mind and persuade their thoughts towards
him.

Example:
Alexander gave brave speech to his soldiers in the war field to defeat Persian Empire.
Speaker

Alexander

Audience

Soldiers

Speech

about his invasion

Effect

To defeat Persia

Occasion

War field

2. Shannon & Weaver Model

Claude Elwood Shannon, an acclaimed mathematician, developed this communication

model in 1947 with Warren Weaver
First to develop an engineering model of human communication based on telephone
communication.
These two researchers were of the opinion that the ingredients in communication include:
(1) a source, (2) a transmitter,(3) a signal, (4) a receiver, and (5) destination.
Shannon and Weavers model is important as it introduces the concept of Noise which
refers to disturbances in the channel that may interfere with the signals transmitted and
produce different signals

Sender: The originator of message or the information source selects desire message.

Encoder: The transmitter which converts the message into signals.

Decoder: The reception place of the signal which converts signals into message. A reverse
process of encode.

Receiver: The destination of the message from sender.

Noise: The messages are transferred from encoder to decoder through channel. During
this process the messages may distracted or affected by physical noise like horn sounds,
thunder and crowd noise or encoded signals may distract in the channel during the
transmission process which affect the communication flow or the receiver may not receive
the correct message.

3. SMCR Model (David Berlo)

This model was advocated by David Berlo, and is also known as the Source-MessageChannel- Receiver Model of Communication

This model is significant because it emphasizes the importance of thorough understanding

of human behavior as a pre-requisite to communication analysis.
It underlines the role of the source and the receiver. The background of the source depends

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on several variables.
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Source: The source is where the message originates.

Communication skills

Knowledge

Attitudes

Social system

Culture

Encoder: The sender of the message (message originates) is referred as encoder, so

the source is encoding the message here.

Message

Content

Treatment

Elements

Structure

Channel- It is nothing but the five senses through this only we do. The following are
the five senses which we us.

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Hearing

Seeing

Touching

Smelling

Decoder: Who receives the message and decodes it is referred to as decoder.

Receiver: The receiver needs to have all the things like the source.

This model believes that for an effective communication to take place the source and
the receiver needs to be in the same level, only if the source and receiver are on the
same level communication will happen or take place properly. So source and
receiver should be similar.

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4. Lasswells Model (Harold Dwight Lasswell, 1902-1978)

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Harold Dwight Lasswell, the American political scientist states that a convenient way to
describe an act of communication is to answer the following questions
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Who (communicator)
Says What (message)
In Which Channel (medium)
To Whom (receiver)
With what effect? (effect)

This model is about process of communication and its function to society,

According to Lasswell there are three functions for communication:

1. Surveillance of the environment
2. Correlation of components of society
3. Cultural transmission between generation

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5. Osgood Model (Charles E. Osgood, 1954)

This model is
highly circular model. Message moves in cycles.
Important characteristic of Osgoods model is that the
message receiver is also a message sender.
The sender and the receiver interact with one
another establishing a kind of interactive
relationship between the source and the receiver
where
one person may be the source one moment and a receiver
the next
and again a source the following moment.
This process mostly takes place in interpersonal communication.
6. Dance Model (Frank Dance, 1967)
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This model is believed to be an improvement on the

Schramm-Osgood Circular model.

this model, communication is activated in a circular

manner according to E.X. Dance, the propounder of this model.

once communication process starts it comes back full

circle to exactly the same point from which it started

It will influence the receiver more if and when it comes

back.
This model is more close to interpersonal communication process, but fails to reflect or
explain all areas of communication effectively.

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According to the Helical model of communication, the process of communication evolves

from every birth of an individual and continues till the exiting moment. All living entities
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start communicating from the very first day of their origin.

7. Schramm Model (Wilbur L. Schramm, 1954)

According to Schramms model, coding and encoding
are the two essential processes of an effective
communication.
He also emphasizes that the communication is
incomplete unless and until the sender receives a
feedback from the recipient.
Schramm believed that an individuals knowledge and
cultural background also play an important role in
communication. Individuals from diverse cultures,
religion or background tend to interpret the message in different ways.
According to this model, when a sender passes on the information to the receiver, the
receiver must interpret ion the desired form the sender wants and give him the feedback or
respond accordingly.
Any communication where the sender does not get the feedback, the communication is not
complete and thus ineffective.

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8. Gerbners Model (George Gerbner)
George Gerbner's General Model emphasizes the dynamic nature
human communication. It also gives prominence to the factors
which may affect fidelity.
The model shown diagrammatically is to be read from left to right,
beginning at E - Event.
stands for event, M for man or machines; S stands for shape
(form) while the second E is content.
This model suggests that the human communication process may
regarded as subjective, selective, variable, and unpredictable and
that human variables are unpredictable and that human
communication systems are open.

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be

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9. Newcombs Model (Theodore M. Newcomb)
Introduced by Theodore M. Newcomb of the University of Michigan in 1953.
He gives different approach to the communication process.
The main purpose of this theory is to introduce the role of communication
a social relationship (society) and to maintain social equilibrium within the
social system.
He concentrates on the social purpose of communication, showing all
communication as a means of sustaining relationships between people.
Sometimes its called as an ABX model of communication.
The Newcombs model works in a triangular format or A-B-X system

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B Receiver

X Matter of Concern

A Sender

The relationship between A and B is like student and teacher, government and public or newspaper
and readers. Sender and Receiver may work in a same flow but the same time some factor like X
may affect their flow of relationship. X it may be third persons, issue, topic or policy.
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10. Gate Keeping Model (Westley and MacLeans Model of Communication)

In 1957 Westley and MacLeans model of communication

is proposed by Bruce Westley (1915-1990) and Malcolm S.
MacLean Jr (1913-2001).

This model can be seen two contexts, interpersonal and mass

communication. And the point of difference between interpersonal
and mass communication is the feedback.

In interpersonal, the feedback is direct and fast. In the mass, the feedback is indirect and slow.

Gate keeping Model: A here, is sender who receives messages from many sources X1, X2, X3, X4,
X and according to his perception of event writes a report and sends it to gatekeeper C who
performs the editorial-communicating function; that is the process of deciding what and how to
communicate. C, therefore, keeping the specific audience in mind, may emphasize or deemphasize
a certain point in the message to strike a balance and then sends it to the audience B.

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THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION
Presented by Rosafe E. Peralta, RN

1. HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY OR MAGIC BULLET THEORY

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The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct,
immediate, and powerful effect on its audiences.
As the name Bullet theory suggests, the messages were thought to be like
magic bullets that were shot directly into the receiver.
Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication,
including:
o The fast rise and popularization of radio and television
o The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as
advertising and propaganda

Focus on the impact of motion pictures, and

Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the
Nazi party
The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and
uniformly by shooting or injecting them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired
response.
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Example :

In 1930, Newly formed mercury theater and Orson Wells join together and created a fake news
bulletin about aliens invasion in american city called Grovers Mill, New jersey. They broadcast this
news bulletin in between the radio program called The War of the Worlds. The Panic Broadcast
was reached merely 12 million American people and one million were seriously believed. Due to
this broadcast the whole country was in chaos

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2. TWO STEP FLOW THEORY

History:

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In 1944 Paul Lazarsfeld, (1901-1976) an American
Social Researcher, Bernard Berelson (1912 1979) and Hazel
Gaudet introduced The Two-Step Flow of Communication in the
book called The peoples choice: How the voter makes up his
mind in a presidential campaign. New York: Columbia
University Press
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Opinion Leader:
o Opinion Leader is a leader for a certain group who gives details and information to lesser active
persons in the group. In office, the managing director is an opinion leader and in public, a political
leader is an opinion leader. They interpret the information to their own group. But one thing the
Opinion leader is a leader only for their own group not for all.

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3. MULTISTEP FLOW THEORY

This theory was first introduced by sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld et al. in 1944 and elaborated
by Elihu Katz and Lazarsfeld in 1955.
The multi step flow theory assumes ideas flow from mass media to option leaders before being
disseminated to a wider population.

e multi step flow theory also states opinion leaders are affected more by elite media than runof-the-mill, mass media. This is evident by political opinion leaders receiving their information
from unconventional sources such as The Huffington Post, instead of Fox or MSNBC.

According to the multi step flow theory, opinion leaders intervene between the medias direct
message and the audiences reaction to that message. Opinion leaders tend to have the great
effect on those they are most similar tobased on personality, interests, demographics, or socioeconomic factors. These leaders tend to influence others to change their attitudes and behaviors
more quickly than conventional media because the audience is able to better identify or relate to
an opinion leader than an article in a newspaper or a news program..

An important factor of the multi step flow theory is how the social influence is modified.
Information is affected by the norms of each new community group that it enters. It is also
shaped by conflicting views surrounding it.

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7) SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY (Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 1916 2010)

Propounded by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, this

theory states that the media publicizes opinions
that are mainstream and people adjust their
opinions according to their perceptions to avoid
being isolated.

Through this Spiral of Silence theory Neumann indirectly explains the Jews status during World
War II under Nazis control. Here, Adolf Hitler dominated the whole society and the minority Jews
became silent due to the fear of isolation or separation.

The one view dominated the public scene and others disappeared from the public awareness as it
adherents became silent. In other words, the people fear of separation or isolation those around
them, they tend to keep their attitudes to themselves when they think they are in the minority.
This process is called Spiral of Silence.

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5. PLAY THEORY (William Stephenson)

Play is an activity pursued for pleasure. The daily withdrawal of people into the mass media in
their afterhours is a matter of subjectivity. The effect of mass communication is neither escapism
nor seducing the masses. Rather it is seen as anti-anxiety producing, and are regarded as
communication-pleasure.

A communication researcher, William Stephenson, has said that media are there to provide
pleasure. Newspapers are not read for news or information, but for pleasure and entertainment.
Stephenson thus concludes that entertainment is the primary function of mass media

He branded media as buffer against conditions which would otherwise be anxiety producing. He
interprets the impact in these terms because he feels that mass media protect people from
worries by deliberately focusing on the higher aspects of life. He feels that this will lighten the
burden of the audience. He believes that social responsibility and several other obligations of
people diminish pleasure of life for them.

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7. GATEKEEPING THEORY (Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890-1947)

Kurt Lewin coins the word called Gate keeping. Its nothing
but to block unwanted or useless things by using a gate.
Here, the person who make a decision is called
Gatekeeper. At first it is widely used in the field of
psychology and later it occupies the field of communication.
The Gatekeeper decides what information should move to
group or individual and what information should not.
The gatekeeper is having its own influence like
social, cultural, ethical and political. Based on
personal or social influences they let the information to the group.
Through this process the unwanted, sensible and controversial informations are removed by the
gate keeper which helps to control the society or a group and letting them in a right path.
In home mother plays the vital role and she has to decide what their kids needs and what
should avoid.

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6. USES & GRATIFICATION THEORY THEORY

(Elihu Katz, Jay G. Blumler and Michael Gurevitch)

is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content
for gratification purposes.

The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need
but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion.

It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting
and integrating media into their own lives.

The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.

The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications.

This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for
viewers' gratification.

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7. SELECTIVE EXPOSURE, PERCEPTION & RETENTION THEORY (Joseph Klapper)

Selective exposure occurs when people tend to expose themselves selectively only to
communications which are in general accordance with their established convictions and avoid
communication which seem to challenge their beliefs.
Selective perception means that the news that is regarded favorably is more likely to be recalled
by a reader, viewer, or listener than the items that are regarded unfavorable. Also, the viewer will
shape his or her interpretation of a news event according to ones attitude. People remember
what they want to remember.
Selection retention, according to Joseph Klapper, occurs when a person who has been exposed to
a communication of a few minutes before, presents a distorted or incomplete report of its
contents, it is difficult to determine whether the content of (media exposure) was selectively
perceived in the first place, whether it was correctly perceived but not retained, or whether the
two processes complemented one another.
Joseph Klapper points out, selective exposure, selective perception and selective retention do not
occur among all people in all communication situations. Researchers have found that about onethird of a group does not practice selective exposure, one-fifth are exposed to more
communication opposing their interests. But it has been proved that selective processes do occur
most frequently.

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8. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE THEORY

Melvin Defluer and Everette Denis gave the individual difference theory.
The psychological approach to understanding communication effects
As a different personality reaction to stimuli is different, thus individuals will react differently to
a particular media.
When information flows to individuals, each human being brings a unique pattern of
predispositions to mass communication.
An individuals needs, attitudes, prior belief, and other cognitive and emotional states play an
important part in screening and selecting media exposure and interpretation.
This means that certain audiences are selective to what they read, listen to, or watch.
the pattern of understanding and interpretation of one person may be different from that of
another who is attending to identical media content.