Models of communication

Linear transmission models understand communication as a one-way process in which a sender transmits an idea to a receiver.

Constitutive and constructionist models stress that communication is a basic phenomenon responsible for how people understand and experience reality.

[6][7] The process as a whole is very complex, which is why models of communication only present the most salient features by showing how the main components operate and interact.

This is based on the idea that theories of communication try to provide a more abstract conceptual framework that is strong enough to accurately represent the underlying reality despite its complexity.

Their simplified presentation helps students and researchers identify the main steps of communication and apply communication-related concepts to real-world cases.

[4] Many basic concepts reappear in the different models, like "sender", "receiver", "message", "channel", "signal", "encoding", "decoding", "noise", "feedback", and "context".

It is a very wide term that can apply to the physical environment and the mental state of the communicators as well as the general social situation.

Due to their linear nature, they are often too simple to capture the dynamic aspects of various forms of communication, such as regular face-to-face conversation.

Such feedback loops make it possible for the sender to assess whether their message was received and had the intended effect or whether it was distorted by noise.

This is often combined with the claim that communication creates social realities like relationships, personal identities, and communities.

[35] This means that communication is not just the exchange of pre-established bundles of information but a creative process, unlike the outlook found in many transmission models.

[36][23] According to Robert Craig, this implies that communication is a basic social phenomenon that cannot be explained through psychological, cultural, economic, or other factors.

According to social constructionists, like George Herbert Mead, reality is not something wholly external but depends on how it is conceptualized, which happens through communication.

[53] A slightly different approach focuses more on the cooperative aspect of communication and holds that both sender and receiver benefit from the exchange.

[57][58][59] Hypodermic models, also referred to as magic bullet theories, hold that communication can be reduced to the transfer of ideas, information, or feelings from a sender to a receiver.

[72] His model is primarily concerned with public speaking and is made up of five elements: the speaker, the message, the audience, the occasion, and the effect.

It is widely cited as a model of communication but some theorists, like Zachary S. Sapienza et al, have raised doubts about this characterization and see it instead as a questioning device, a formula, or a construct.

[10][32][87] It is a linear transmission model that was published in 1948 and describes communication as the interaction of five basic components: a source, a transmitter, a channel, a receiver, and a destination.

[103] In Newcomb's words, communication enables "two or more individuals to maintain simultaneous orientation to each other and towards objects of the external environment".

[33][110][112] Feedback forms part of many types of communication and makes it easier for the participants to identify and resolve possible misunderstandings.

[124][125] In the 1970s, Schramm proposed modifications to his original model to take into account the discoveries made in communication studies in the preceding decades.

[159][153] Berlo analyzes it mainly based on the five senses used to decode messages: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting.

[161][162][163] It is intended as a response to and an improvement over linear and circular models by stressing the dynamic nature of communication and how it changes the participants.

Dance criticizes the circular approach by holding that it "suggests that communication comes back, full circle, to exactly the same point from which it started".

The upward widening movement of the helix represents a form of optimism by seeing communication as a means of growth, learning, and improvement.

[162][163] The basic idea behind Dance's helical model of communication is also found in education theory in the spiral approach proposed by Jerome Bruner.

[164] Dance's model has been criticized based on the claim that it focuses only on some aspects of communication but does not provide a tool for detailed analysis.

Communication is continuous in the sense that it does not have a beginning or an end: people decode cues and encode responses all the time, even when no one else is present.

For Barnlund, communication is also circular because there is no clear division between sender and receiver as found in linear transmission models.

[165][166][175] Barnlund's model is based on the idea that communication consists of decoding cues by ascribing meaning to them and encoding appropriate responses to them.

Diagram showing the most common components of models of communication
Many models of communication include the idea that a sender encodes a message and uses a channel to transmit it to a receiver. Noise may distort the message along the way. The receiver then decodes the message and gives some form of feedback. [ 1 ]
Linear transmission model [ 9 ]
Interaction model [ 9 ]
Transaction model [ 9 ]
Model of intrapersonal communication by Larry L. Barker and Gordon Wiseman. The left side of the diagram shows the start of the process: external and internal stimuli (red and violet arrows) are perceived. This triggers various cognitive processes (green areas) involved in the interpretation of the stimuli. These processes result in the generation and transmission of new stimuli, which are again perceived. [ 39 ]
Diagram of the steps of plant communication
Steps of plant communication [ 50 ]
Visual presentation of Lasswell's model of communication as a linear transmission model. [ 74 ] [ 75 ]
Shannon–Weaver model of communication [ 86 ]
Diagram of Newcomb's model of communication
The basic components of Newcomb's model are two communicators (A and B) and a topic (X). The arrows symbolize the orientations the communicators have toward each other and toward the topic. [ 96 ]
Diagram of Westley and MacLean's model of communication
Westley and MacLean's expansion of Newcomb's model. [ 105 ]
Schramm's model of communication differs from earlier models by including a feedback loop. [ 108 ]
One requirement of successful communication is that the message is located in the overlap of the fields of experience of the participants. [ 113 ]
Diagram showing Gerbner's model of communication
Gerbner's model of communication starts with the perception of an event. M is the communicator who formulates a message about this event. The message is then perceived and interpreted by the audience, labeled in the diagram as M₂ . [ 138 ]
Diagram of the SMCR model
Berlo's model includes a detailed discussion of the four main components of communication and their different aspects. [ 141 ] [ 142 ]
Diagram of Dance's helical model of communication
Dance's helical model understands communication in analogy to an upward-moving and widening helix.