What is Communication?

Please get ready to take notes.

 Communication is:
• The deliberate or accidental transfer of
meaning;
• That which occurs when someone
observes or experiences behavior and
attributes meaning to it;
• A process;
• Our link to the rest of humanity.
• YOU CANNOT NOT COMMUNICATE
3 Models for Communication
– Communication as Action
– Communication as Transaction
– Communication as Interaction
 Communication as Action
• Meaning sent or transferred from sender to
receiver; Linear input/output
• 5 parts: sender, message, channel, receiver,
and noise

Noise
Noise Noise

Sender Message Channel Message Receiver

 What are these parts?
• Sender: originator of an idea
• Message: written, spoken (verbal), & unspoken (nonverbal)
elements of communication to which we assign meaning
• Channel: how the message is sent; verbal or nonverbal
• Receiver: person or persons to whom the message is
addressed
• Noise:anything that prevents effective communication at
any time. EX: poor sound system, lose signal on cell

Noise
Noise Noise

Sender Message Channel Message Receiver

 Encode & Decode
• Encode: a process of translating ideas,
feelings, and thoughts into symbols
• Decode: a process of translating
incoming information into
understandable concepts
 What’s wrong with this model?
We don’t simply send a message and stop
communicating. Often we get a message back;
this is called feedback.

Noise
Noise Noise

Sender Message Channel Message Receiver

Communication as Transaction
• Shannon-Weaver model (1948)
• Back and forth, like a Ping-Pong game; we talk, we listen,
we talk, we listen
• Adds feedback and context
 What are these added parts?
• Feedback: verbal or nonverbal responses to a message
• Context:physical, social (relationships), psychological,
and time element in which communication takes place.
PSPT
Noise Context
Noise Noise

Sender Message Channel Message Receiver

Feedback
Communication as Interaction
• Simultaneous; even as we talk we are reacting
• Most accurate to our communication process
• intercultural

Context
Noise Noise
Noise

Sender/ Sender/
Message / Feedback
Receiver Receiver
 Noise in the Shannon and
Weaver Model
• Physical:
– Occurrences in the physical surroundings or in
the media that can distort a message
• Physiological:
– Physical discomfort in the body of either the
sender or the receiver
• Psychological:
– Negative feelings in the mind of either the sender
or the receiver
 Noise, cont’d
• Perceptual
– Incorrect perceptions of the message and
the receiver by the sender, and vice-versa
• Semantic
– Misinterpretation of words and sentences
by the sender or receiver
 Review
• Com. as Action:
linear, from sender
to receiver
• Com. as
Transaction:
receiver responds
to the sender
through feedback
• Com. as
Interaction:
simultaneously
interactive
 Berlo’s SMCR Model

• SOURCE
• MESSAGE Four elements in
the
communication
• CHANNEL process

• RECEIVER
 Berlo’s Elements, cont’d
• SOURCE
– Communication skills
– Attitudes
– Knowledge
– Social system
– Culture
 Berlo’s Elements, cont’d
• MESSAGE
– Content
– Elements
– Treatment
– Structure
– Code
 Berlo’s Elements, cont’d
• CHANNEL
– Seeing
– Hearing
– Touching
– Smelling
– Tasting
 Berlo’s Elements, cont’d
• RECEIVER
– Communication skills
– Attitudes
– Knowledge
– Social system
– Culture