Dev Com

• Communication Models


  Models are simple descriptions or graphic forms of frozen reality used to better study or explore the communication process
• McQuail and Windahl: '“become aware of the possibilities of testing models against circumstances or cases and of adapting any given model to suit the chosen application. The models presented are not so sacred that they cannot be easily given a somewhat different shape and formulation. It should become apparent that anyone is in a position to construct his own models of a given aspect of the communication process…”'
• Lasswell’s Model


  Describes communication by answering the questions: Who, Says What, In Which Channel, To Whom, With What Effect
• Lasswell’s model was the first real attempt among social scientists to depict the communication process
• Lasswell’s model was criticized for assuming communication is mainly a persuasive process and for omitting elements of feedback
• Despite its limitations, Lasswell’s model remains a convenient and comprehensive way of introducing people to the study of communication
• Shannon and Weaver’s “Mathematical Model”


  Developed by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, it focuses on the communication channel and the impact of noise on signal transmission
• Shannon and Weaver’s model is a one-way, linear model that introduces the concept of noise, which disrupts the smooth flow of communication
• Noise in the technical aspect is anything that disrupts transmission of a signal, while in human communication context, it disrupts the smooth flow of communication
• Newcomb’s Model


  Introduces the role of communication in a society or social relationship, maintaining equilibrium
• Newcomb’s model


  • Significant as it introduces the role of communication in a society or social relationship
  • Communication maintains equilibrium within a social system
  • ABX represents a system where equilibrium is maintained if A and B have similar attitudes about X
• Example of Newcomb’s model in everyday life: Farmer (A) and his wife (B) thinking of raising pigs in their backyard (X)
• Osgood and Schramm’s model


  • Main actors perform identical tasks of encoding, interpreting, and decoding messages
  • Does not fix and separate the roles of sender and receiver like traditional models
• Schramm: '“…it is misleading to think of the communication process as starting somewhere and ending somewhere. It is really endless. We are little switchboard centers handling and rerouting the great endless current of information…”'
• Osgood and Schramm’s model focuses on interpersonal communication and conveys a feeling of equality
• Gerbner’s model


  • More complex version of Shannon and Weaver’s model
  • Consists of two alternating dimensions—the perceptual or receptive, and the communicating or means and control dimension
• Gerbner’s model demonstrates a process where an event is perceived by a human or machine, leading to the perceptual dimension
• The Gerbner Model demonstrates a process where an event (E) is perceived by M (human or machine) as percept E1, which is then converted into a signal about the event (SE) resulting in a message or statement about E
• Gerbner Model

  Event -> Percept -> Signal about event -> Message or statement about event
• Components of the Gerbner Model

  • Event
  • Percept
  • Signal
  • Message or statement
• In the Gerbner Model, the choice of signal affects the presentation of the content
• In the Gerbner Model, the receiver M2 perceives a signal statement about the event (SE) and finds meaning in the message based on needs and concepts from their culture
• Westley and MacLean's Model is specific to mass communication as it involves a news reporter (A) sending a story to the newsroom (C) for editing before transmission to readers (B)
• Berlo's Model of Communication delineates the different actors of the communication process and the elements that mediate between them
• Berlo's model evolved from the SMCR model to the SMCRE model by adding the element of effect, and some depict it with feedback as well
• The Helical Model of communication, like Dance's model, portrays the communication process more accurately than circular models by showing a spiral progression
• Osgood and Schramm model


  Communication is circular, goes full circle to the same point from which it started
• Helical Model


  • Portrays the communication process as moving
• Dance’s model


  • Shows the dynamism of the communication process, man is active, creative, and able to store information
• Dance’s model shows the dynamism of the communication process. It gives the notion that man, when communicating, is active, creative, and able to store information. McQuail and Windahl (1981) suggest that the model “may be used to illustrate information gaps and the thesis that knowledge tends to create more knowledge.” Thus, it illustrates situations wherein a teacher can assume that each lecture adds to his students’ knowledge, helping them to become successively better informed. Thus, his new lectures can build on that knowledge.
• Kincaid’s Convergence Model


  Shows a process of convergence through which participants share information to reach mutual understanding
• Kincaid’s Convergence Model


  • Communication process reaches mutual understanding through information that cuts through uncertainty, leading to mutual agreement and collective action
• In communication models, not all elements are present, and in some models, these elements are given equivalents or called by other names
• Summary:

  Communication reflects trends:

  1. Communication is a process (Berlo, 1961).
• Summary:

  Communication takes place on three levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and mass communication. People cannot NOT communicate
• Summary:

  2. Communication is a transaction where people offer definitions of themselves to others (Stewart, 1990).
• Summary:

  3. Communication is a convergence of mutual understanding (Rogers and Kincaid, 1981)