MODELS

Aristotle s Rhetoric . Lasswell s formula

Aristotle s Rhetoric
the art of public speaking or writing effectively ( one person speaking to many). According to Aristotle Rhetoric means, the ability in each particular case , to see the available means of persuasion.

Rhetoric :

elements

ETHOS
The speaker and his/her character as revealed through the communication.

LOGOS
The words used by the speaker.

PATHOS
The audience and the emotions felt by them during the rhetoric.

Importance of ETHOS

Importance of PATHOS
Although no presenter today would speak without considering the audience .it was a novel idea by him. He was the earliest rhetorician identifying the audience and their perception as an important part of public speaking.

Importance of LOGOS
Depending on who makes up the audience , the shape of the topic for speech is selected.

Lasswell s model
Harold Lasswell a political scientist has introduced a model of communication. Based on the studies on the process of political campaigning and propagandas.

communications have a source that communicates a message through the channel or medium to a destination (audienc e) that ,hopefully , creates the desired effec t.

Lasswell s model : elements

WHO

SAYS WHAT

IN WHAT MANNER

TO WHOM

WITH WHAT EFFECT

Lasswell s model : Characteristics 1 Based on effect of the sender s message on receiver. 2 There is no feedback for the message. 3 It is very linear in nature. 4 Presents communication as more of persuasive process rather than
an informative.

Lasswell s formula

WHO Communicator Control research

SAYS WHAT Message Content research

IN WHAT MANNER Channel Medium research

TO WHOM Receiver Audience research

WITH WHAT EFFECT Effect Effects research

Lasswell s formula
Was primarily concerned with mass communication & propaganda. Directs us to the kinds of research needed to be conducted to answer the above cited questions. Types of research Control Content Medium Audience effects

Lasswell s: communicator
Believes that there must be someone (something) that communicates in every form of communication. This formula refers to the communicator as source or transmitter or sender of the message.

Lasswell s: communicator
CONTROL ANALYSIS The application of Lasswell s formula to the media ( the question Who?) has come to be associated with control analysis. who owns the newspaper? What are their aims? What are their political alliances? Do they attempt to set the editorial policy? How does the editor decide what to put in the paper? .and so on

Lasswell s: the message

Mainly Concerns with the messages present in the media. Lasswell s Message relates to an area of study known as content research.

Lasswell s: the message

CONTENT RESEARCH Applied to the questions of representation, the no. of occurrences of the representation and comparison with some kind of objective measure such as official statistics. E.g. how are women represented in the TV serials ? how is our society represented in films?

Lasswell s: the message

Though in much of our everyday interpersonal communication we probably are not all that conscious of thinking about the messages. But these are relevant as they can project the image that we are willing to create about ourselves to others.

Lasswell s: channel
Carrier for the message. Similar to the use of word medium when we talk about communication. Medium refers to a combination of different channels. E.g. television uses both auditory (sound) & visual (sight) channel.

Lasswell s: channel
MEDIA ANALYSIS The question of which channel or medium to use to carry the message is a vitally important one in all communication. Important to investigate the possible media available for the message to be communicated properly .
What are the conventions of this medium? Is this medium appr opriate to my audience? Does it appeal to them? How will they get hold of it? ..and so on

Lasswell s: channel
This analysis give us some thought to the notion of channel capacity, which is quite clearly defined in information theory but less defined in everyday interpersonal c ommunication. Certainly there are limitations to the information which can be carried in a single channel.

Lasswell s: receiver

Refers to what we might ordinarily call audience or readership.

Lasswell s: receiver
AUDIENCE RESEARCH It is not only mass media where knowledge of audience is vitally important. The same applies to our everyday life in our contact with other people. This is relevant so that no unjustified assumptions are made about the audience.

Lasswell s: effects
This model introduces us to the question of media effects as well. It says no one communicates in a vacuum , but always to achieve something, to reassure themselves that they are acknowledged.

Lasswell s: effects
EFFECTS RESEARCH The question of whether the media have any effect or not and ,if so, how they affect their audiences. To find out the kind of effect our communication has , we need some kind of feedback through listening to responses , watch signs of interest & boredom etc.

Lasswell s: CRITICISM
Only describes one way communication. Linear model is limited to explaining how messages are sent to a destination. Accounts for how the speaker gets through the listener but does not account for the way the listeners affect the speaker. Does not deal in a realistic way with how communication is a 2 way process of give and take between a speaker and an audience of listeners.