A model is a graphic representation designed to explain the way a variable works.

It is a pattern,
plan, representation, or description designed to show the structure or working of an object,
system or concept. A model of communication offers a convenient way to think about it by
providing a graphical checklist of its various elements. Some of the important models discussed
in this section highlight the complexities of the process of communication.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle looked at communication from the rhetorical perspective .i.e
speaking to the masses to influence them and thus persuade them. Aristotle constructed a model
with three elements: speaker-speech-Audience in which the basic function of communication
was to persuade the other party. This is accepted by many as the first model of communication.
Thereafter in the twentieth century many more models came up. In the later part of the century,
the concept of communication changed due to the advent of various mass communication media
such as newspapers, radio, and television. During the First and Second World Wars,
communication was also used for propaganda and it was perceived as a magic bullet that
transferred ideas and knowledge automatically from one mind to another. However, this was
later foundto be a very simplistic model which showed communication as a linear one-way flow
of communication. Sociologists, political scientists and psychologists who joined the debate
around this time argued that communication was a complex process which was dynamic and
two-way in nature.
Some important models of communication are Lasswell Model. Shanon and Weaver model.
Osgoods Model and Schramn Model. Let us now discuss these models.

Lasswell Model (1948) : One of the early models of communication was developed by the
political scientist Harold D. Lasswell who looked at communication in the form of a question.
Who
Says What
In Which Channel
To Whom
With What Effect

This verbal model focussed attention on the essential elements of communication and identified
the areas of communication research. ‘who’ raises the question of identification of the source of
the message. ‘says what’ is the subject of analysis of the message. Communication channel is the
medium through which the message has traveled. ‘’ To whom’ deals with the characteristics of
the receivers and audience and ‘what effect’ can be seen as evaluation of the effect of the
message. These essentially comprise the basic components of communication. This model
implied that more than one channel could carry a message. It was considered an oversimplified
model which implied the presence of a communicator and a purposive message.

Shannon and Weaver Model (1949):

Warren weaver has been considered as one of the most important models of communication and
it has led to the development of many other models. It is referred to as the transmission model of
communication as it involves signal transmission for communication.

Information Transmitter Channel Receive Destination

r

Noise
Source
Message Tr Transmitted signal Receiver Message
Signal

Figure 1 Shannon and Weaver Model

In this model, the information source produces a message to be communicated out of a set of
possible messages. The message may consist of spoken or written word. The transmitter converts
the message into a signal suitable for the channel to be used. The channel is the medium that
transmits the signal from the transmitter to the receiver. The receiver performs the inverse
operation of the transmitter by reconstructing the message from the signal. The destination is the
person or thing for whom/which the message is intended.
This model introduced the concepts like ‘noise’ i.e. disturbances or errors in transmission,
problems in accepting the signal (message), etc. and the need for maintaining necessary balance
between ‘entropy’, which means the degree of uncertainty and ‘redundancy’. Which refers to the
uniqueness of the information. This implied that for effective communication the greater the
noise in communication, the greater is the need for building redundancy i.e. repetition of the
message which reduces the relative entropy or in other words, the uncertainty about the message.
This model was criticized for being based on the hardware aspects developed for engineering
problems and not for human communication. Another criticism was that it did not take the
element of feedback into account.

Charles Osgood’s Model (1954)

Osgood in his model (Figure 2) showed communication,as a dynamic process in which there is
an interactive relationship between the source and the receiver of the message (M). An individual
engaged in the communication process sends as well as receives messages and as such encodes,
decodes and interprets messages through a number of feedback mechanisms.

Encoder Decoder
Interpreter
M Interpreter
Source Receiver
Decoder M
Encoder
M-message

Figure 2 Charles Osgood’s Model

Osgood stressed the social nature of communication. This model was found more applicable in
interpersonal communication in which the source and receiver were physically present. For
example when a teacher teaches, the learners interact by raising queries, answering questions,
e.t.c. The role of interpretation of the message has also been highlighted in this model for
decoding a message.

Schramn Model (1954)

Wilbur Schramn, a well-known communication expert did not make a sharp distinction between
technical and non-technical communication. But drawing upon the ideas of Shannon and
Osgoods, Schramn proceeded from a simple human communication model to a more
complicated one (Figure 3). His first model has a lot of similarity with Shannon and Weaver
Model.

Source
Encoder Decoder Destination
Signal

Figure 3 Schramm Model

In the second model (figure 4. Schramm visualized the process of communication as a process of
sharing of experience and commonality of experience of those communicating. It introduced the
concept of shared orientation between sender and receiver.
The circle in this model indicate the accumulated experience of two individuals engaged in
communication. The source encodes and the destination can decode in terms of the experience.
 Field of experience
Field of experience

Encoder Decoder

Figure 4 Schramm Model

In this model the accumulated experience of two individuals engaged in communication is

emphasized unlike in the linear models discussed earlier in which interaction, feedback and
sharing of experiences find no place. The source can encode and the destination can decode in
terms of the experience/s each has had. Communication becomes easy as both the participants
have a common field of experience. If the circles do not meet there is an absence of such
common experience which makes the process of communication difficult.
Schramm further elaborated his mode by highlighting the frames of reference of the persons
engaged in communication. He took into account the wider social situations and the relationships
of both source and destination. He maintained that when both have the same kind of situations,
the message is selected, received, and interpreted according to the frames of references in which
noise and feedback by expressing that communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the
feedback may be delayed. The weakness of this model is that it is a less linear model, but it still
holds good for bilateral communication. The complex, multiple levels of communication among
several sources that may take place simultaneously, say in a group discussion, is not accounted
for.
The linear models of communication held that a message flows only from the sources to the
recipient as for instance from a radio to a listener. Later on the interactive model was developed
which takes into account bilateral communication. Then the transactional model of
communication was developed. It includes the components of linear model as well as the
interactive ones. It emphasizes both the content, i.e. what is being communicated and also
includes the component of relationship of the source and the recipient.
Example:
A teacher and learner will interact more if the content taught is based upon the experience of the
learners and also if the teacher is friendly and has a good relationship with the learners, there will
be more interactions.