Introduction to Mass Communication

Models of Communication
Welcome to Virtual Learning
Muneer Ahmed
UCPQC
[email protected]
 Lasswell Model of Communication

Harold Lasswell (1948):

 He said that a convenient way to describe communication is to answer these questions:
Who?
Says what?
Through which channel?
To whom?
With what effect?
 In its simplest form, communication is the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver.
Lasswell Model of Communication
 Understanding the Lasswell Model

In Which With What

Who? Says What To Whom
Channel Effect
Communicator Message Receiver
Medium
 Accumulative Analysis

 This model is self speaking of the process of communication which consists of five elements
namely communicator (who), message (says what), medium (in which channel), receiver (to
whom) effect (with what effect).

 Lasswell conceived communication as a linear process which starts from communicator and ends
at receiver with some effect.

 The major missing elements of this basic model are feedback and context of communication.

 However, this model is said to be highly helpful for organizing communication research as
audience analysis, content analysis, control analysis, reception analysis and effect studies which
are respectively represented by communicator, message, medium, receiver and effect.
 Continuous

 Straightforward enough, but what if the source is a professor who insists on speaking in a technical
language far beyond the receiving students’ level of skill? Obviously, communication does not occur.

 Unlike mere message-sending, communication requires the response of others. Therefore, there must
be a sharing (or correspondence) of meaning for communication to take place.

 A second problem with this simple model is that it suggests that the receiver passively accepts the
source’s message.

 However, if our imaginary students do not comprehend the professor’s words, they respond with
“Huh?” or look confused or yawn. This response, or feedback, is also a message.
 Osgood and Schramm’s Model of
Communication
 Communication researcher Wilbur Schramm, using ideas originally developed by
psychologist Charles E. Osgood, developed a graphic way to represent the reciprocal
nature of communication.
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 Osgood and Schramm envisioned communication as a circular process which has

beginning and or end.

 In their view, sender and receiver are interchangeable positions and though not
specifically mentioned, feedback is an essential component of this model.

 There are three functions on each part of the communication circle.

 They are : encoding, decoding and interpreting. Both sender and receiver are encoders,
decoders and interpreters at the same time.
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 Encoder–Who does encoding or sends the message

 Decoder–Who receives the message
 Interpreter–Person trying to understand (analyses, perceive) or interpret.
 Merits of this model

 1. Dynamic model-Shows how a situation can change

 2. It shows why redundancy is an essential part

 3. There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and receiver is the same person

 4. Assume communication to be circular in nature

 5. Feedback–central feature.
 Critical Analysis

 This depiction of interpersonal communication between two or a few people.

 It shows that there is no clearly identifiable source or receiver. Rather, because communication is
an ongoing and reciprocal process, all the participants, or “interpreters,” are working to create
meaning by encoding and decoding messages.

 A message is first encoded , that is, transformed into an understandable sign and symbol system.

 Speaking is encoding, as are writing, printing, and filming a television program. Once received,
the message is decoded; that is, the signs and symbols are interpreted.

 Decoding occurs through listening, reading, or watching that television show.

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 The Osgood–Schramm model demonstrates the ongoing and reciprocal nature of the
communication process.

 There is, therefore, no source, no receiver, and no feedback.

 The reason is that, as communication is happening, both interpreters are simultaneously source
and receiver. There is no feedback because all messages are presumed to be in reciprocation of
other messages.

 Even when your friend starts a conversation with you, for example, it can be argued that it was
your look of interest and willingness that communicated to her that she should speak. In this
example, it is improper to label either you or your friend as the source—Who really initiated this
chat?—and, therefore, it is impossible to identify who is providing feedback to whom.
 David Berlo’s Model of Communication

 David Berlo’s model of communication has four major parts :

o Source (S)
o Message (M),
o Channel (C)
o Receiver (R)
 It is conceived as a linear model. This model is otherwise called SMCR model denoting
each element.
Berlo’s Model of Communication
 Demerits of Berlo’s model

 Unlike other models SMCR model elaborates the sub sects of major components indicating the influence of
external factors like culture, language, text and social system and sensory organs on communication process.

 a. No feedback / don’t know about the effect

 b. Does not mention barriers to communication

 c. No room for noise

 d. Complex model

 e. It is a linear model of communication

 f. Needs people to be on same level for communication to occur but not true in real life

 g. Main drawback of the model is that the model omits the usage of sixth sense as a channel which is actually
a gift to the human beings (thinking, understanding, analyzing etc.).
Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

 Claude Shannon, an engineer at the Bell Telephone Company, along with Weaver
developed the most influential of all early communication models.

 Their goal was to formulate a theory to guide the efforts of engineers to find out the most
efficient way of transmitting electrical signals from one location to another
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 As the prime concern of the developers of this model was to quantitatively maximize the signals
transmitted, this model is also called Mathematical Model of Communication.

 The model is based on technical communication settings where information source transmits the messages
after converting it to signals.

 These signals are captured using receivers and decoded. Communication through mechanical devices like
telephone or television is a best example for this model.
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  Sender (Information Source)

 The model starts with the sender. They are the person (or object, or thing) who has the information to
begin with (the ‘information source’). The sender starts the process by choosing a message to send,
someone to send the message to, and a channel through which to send the message.

 Encoder (Transmitter)

 The encoder is the machine (or person) that converts the idea into signals that can be sent from the sender
to the receiver. The Shannon model was designed originally to explain communication through means
such as telephone and computers which encode our words using codes like binary digits or radio waves.

 However, the encoder can also be a person that turns an idea into spoken words, written words, or sign
language to communicate an idea to someone.
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 Channel

 The channel of communication is the infrastructure that gets information from the sender and
transmitter through to the decoder and receiver. We sometimes also call this the ‘medium’.

 Examples: A person sending an email is using the world wide web (internet) as a medium. A
person talking on a landline phone is using cables and electrical wires as their channel.
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 Noise
 Noise interrupts a message while it’s on the way from the sender to the receiver. It’s named after the idea
that ‘noise’ could interrupt our understanding of a message. There are two types of noise: internal and
external.
 Internal noise happens when a sender makes a mistake encoding a message or a receiver makes a
mistake decoding the message. Here’s the two points where it can happen:

 At the point of encoding (for example, when you misspell a word in a text message);
 At the point of decoding (for example, when someone misinterprets a sentence when reading an email)
 External noise happens when something external (not in the control of sender or receiver) impedes the
message. So, external noise happens:

 At the point of transmission through the channel (for example, when we’re having a conversation by a
busy highway and the receiver is having trouble hearing over the sound of cars)
 Decoder

 Decoding is the exact opposite of encoding. Shannon and Weaver made this model in reference to
communication that happens through devices like telephones.

 So, in this model, there usually needs to be a device that decodes a message from binary digits or waves
back into a format that can be understood by the receiver.

 Receiver (Destination)

 The receiver is the end-point of Shannon and Weaver’s original linear framework. This is the step where
the person finally gets the message, or what’s left of it after accounting for noise.

 Examples: Examples of a receiver might be: the person on the other end of a telephone, the person reading
an email you sent them, an automated payments system online that has received credit card details for
payment, etc.
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 Feedback

 The ‘feedback’ step was not originally proposed by Shannon and Weaver in 1948. Norbert Weiner came up
with the feedback step in response to criticism of the linear nature of the approach. (‘Linear’ means that the
messages are only going one way).

 Feedback occurs when the receiver of the message responds to the sender in order to close the communication
loop. They might respond to let the sender know they got the message or to show the sender:

 Whether they got the message clearly without noise

 How well they understand the message

 Examples of the Shannon Weaver Model of
Communication
 A telephone conversation

 Sender: The sender is the person who has made the call, and wants to tell the person at the other end of the phone call something important.
 Encoder: The telephone turns the person’s voice into a series of binary data packages that can be sent down the telephone lines.

 Channel: The channel is the telephone wires itself.

 Noise: Noise may occur if the speaker mumbles, the telephone wires are interrupted in a storm, or the telephone encoders/decoders are malfunctioning.

 Decoder: The telephone that the receiver is holding will turn the binary data packages it receives back into sounds that replicate the voice of the sender.

 Receiver: The receiver will hear the sounds made by the decoder and interpret the message.

 Feedback: The receiver may speak in response, to let the sender know what they heard or understood.