MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

 COMMUNICATION
o dynamic, systematic or contextual, irreversible and proactive process in which com-
municators construct personal meanings through their symbolic interactions (Wood
1964)
 MODEL
o describes an object, event, process or relationship
o attempts to represent the essential or major features to describe the communication
process
 COMMUNICATION MODEL
o describe the communication process—how it works
 WHY STUDY MODELS?
o provide a schema for understanding various phenomena
 a good model presents the essential nature of what it describes and highlighting
key features thought important by the model builder
 any model of communication will select certain features and “freeze” them for
closer scrutiny
o visualizes for us how certain features are related to one another, and provides a more
orderly understanding than we might have without a model
o organizing value
o heuristic in nature
 models that provoke insights thought with its insights can lead to scholars to gen-
erate concepts and theoretical frameworks
COMMUNICATION MODELS
KEY ELEMENTS/
MODEL PERSON PATTERN DESCRIPTION
PROCESS
 premium on persuasion to his audience (“ethos”)
 factors mentioned in Artistotle’s Ars Rhetorica which
 speaker determine the persuasiveness of a speaker’s mes-
one-way
ARISTOTLE Aristotle (Greeks)  message sage:
sequential/linear
 audience o content, arrangement, manner of delivery
o ethos, arguments, logos, pathos (modes of per-
suasion)
 speaker delivering a message through a channel of
communication to another with such impact
 speaker  three key functions of communication in human so-
 message ciety: surveillance, correlation, transmission
one-way
LASSWELL Harold Lasswell  channel  communication must perform its key functions to pro-
sequential/linear
 receiver tect, fortify, and enhance a nation’s stability
 effect  country is responsible for consolidating its strengths
by controlling the forces that interfere with efficient
communication
 information
source  originally designed for telephone communication
 depicts noise as an element found only within the
Claude Elwood Shannon one-way  transmitter
SHANNON-WEAVER message and not throughout the communication
Warren Weaver sequential/linear  receiver
process
 destination
 transmitter, receiver, and noise are mechanical
 noise
one-way  source
SCHRAMM (Model 1)  similar to Lasswell’s
sequential/linear  encoder
 signal
one-way
 decoder  importance of an overlap of communicator’s fields in
SCHRAMM (Model 2) sequential/linear
overlapping  destination order that communication can occur
Wilbur Schramm  decoder  dual role of each communicator in that he is both
SCHRAMM (Model 3) dual roles  interpreter sender and receiver, and that both encoding and de-
 encoder coding entail personal interpretation
 decoder
 heuristic insight: emphasizes the dynamism of hu-
 interpreter
SCHRAMM (Model 4) constant cycle man communication
 encoder
 captures the notions of process and interactions
 message
 source  source and receiver are influenced by their personal
makeup of three factors: knowledge, attitude, com-
 message
BERLO David Berlo -- munication skills
 channel
o fourth factor: sociocultural system of the commu-
 receiver nicators
  communicator’s message concerns the following:
message consent, communicator’s treatment, cod-
ing of content
 channels of communication or the means by which
how the element is shared: five senses (seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, tasting)
o proves that perception is a key in communication
 acknowledges the complexity of the communication
process as evidenced by the influence of several fac-
tors on communication, to include an all-encompass-
ing system—the communicator’s sociocultural
framework
 thinking
 symbolizing  implies a step-by-step sequence of events that starts
 expressing with thinking in the mind of the speaker and ends
 transmitting with monitoring also by the speaker
WHITE Eugene White sequence/cycle
 receiving  communication is a repetitive, cyclical event but the
 decoding dynamic quality of interaction is not depicted
 feedbacking  speaker: originator, listener: passive reactor
 monitoring
 helix: depicts the process of communication as one
that progresses or moves forward in cyclical fash-
ion—moving forward bur coming back upon itself
o symbol of dynamics of human communication is
visually powerful
 spiral moving in progressively larger spheres as it
circular/spiral
DANCE Frank Dance none goes upwards: signifies the dynamic quality of hu-
(helix)
man connection in that what has occurred before in-
fluences what we say now
 continuum of human events: serves as a backdrop
for all human interaction
 circular, but grows bigger because we learn more
about each other
 time  dynamic, systematic process to which communica-
 personal sys- tors construct personal meanings through their sym-
tems bolic interactions
 phenomenal  communicators are linked together by their symbolic
SYMBOLIC INTERAC- world interactions
Julia Wood
TION MODEL  symbolic inter- o interactions may be either sequential or simulta-
action neous since no directions are specified
 communica-  a given interaction evolves out of earlier interactions
tion con- and is influenced by previous encounters as well as
straints the present situation
  shared sys-  over time, the shared world between communicators
tems is enlarged
 over time, learn each other’s values, beliefs, atti-
tudes, predispositions to situations, moods, and in-
terests
 over time, people also learn to use common symbols
to designate ideas, concepts, perceptions, rituals,
and expectations
 shared experiences may lead to a greater under-
standing between communicators
 communication that enables people to build shared
worlds
 there’s interrelation between systems
 the model emphasizes the communicator’s personal
construction of meanings through his individual phe-
nomenal world
 features constraints
 speaker
 message
 listeners
SPEECH COMMUNI-
 feedback
CATION TRANSAC- Bruce Gronbeck et al cycle  premised on speechmaking
TION MODEL  channel
 situation
 cultural con-
text