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Models of communication

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File:Communication shannon-weaver2.svg
Communication emisor

Communication major dimensions scheme

Encoding communication

Communication code scheme

File:Linear comm model.svg
File:Interaction comm model.svg
File:Transactional comm model.jpg

Models of communication refers to the conceptual model used to explain the human communication process.

Shannon and Weaver Edit

The first major model for communication was the Shannon–Weaver model developed in 1949 by Claude Elwood Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories[1] Following the basic concept, communication is the process of sending and receiving messages or transferring information from one part (sender) to another (receiver).[2]


In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emisor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This common conception of communication views communication as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability. Social scientists Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the following elements:

  1. An information source, which produces a message.
  2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
  3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
  5. A destination, where the message arrives.


The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted?

Daniel Chandler critiques the transmission model by stating:[3]

It assumes communicators are isolated individuals.
No allowance for differing purposes.
No allowance for differing interpretations.
No allowance for unequal power relations.
No allowance for situational contexts.

David Berlo Edit

In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication.[4] The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.

Schramm Edit



  1. Syntactic (formal properties of signs and symbols),
  2. Pragmatic (concerned with the relations between signs/expressions and their users) and
  3. Semantic (study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent).


Barnlund Edit

In light of these weaknesses, Barnlund (2008) proposed a transactional model of communication.[6] The basic premise of the transactional model of communication is that individuals are simultaneously engaging in the sending and receiving of messages.



Psychology of communication Edit

Bernard Luskin, UCLA, 1970, advanced computer assisted instruction and began to connect media and psychology into what is now the field of media psychology. In 1998, the American Association of Psychology, Media Psychology Division 46 Task Force report on psychology and new technologies combined media and communication as pictures, graphics and sound increasingly dominate modern communication.

Constructionist Model Edit

There is an additional working definition of communication to considerTemplate:Examples that authors like Richard A. Lanham (2003) and as far back as Erving Goffman (1959) have highlighted. This is a progression from Lasswell’s attempt to define human communication through to this century and revolutionized into the constructionist model. Constructionists believe that the process of communication is in itself the only messages that exist. The packaging can not be separated from the social and historical context from which it arose, therefore the substance to look at in communication theory is style for Richard Lanham and the performance of self for Erving Goffman.

Lanham chose to view communication as the rival to the over encompassing use of CBS model (which pursued to further the transmission model). CBS model argues that clarity, brevity, and sincerity are the only purpose to prose discourse, therefore communication. Lanham wrote, “If words matter too, if the whole range of human motive is seen as animating prose discourse, then rhetoric analysis leads us to the essential questions about prose style” (Lanham 10). This is saying that rhetoric and style are fundamentally important; they are not errors to what we actually intend to transmit. The process which we construct and deconstruct meaning deserves analysis.

Erving Goffman sees the performance of self as the most important frame to understand communication. Goffman wrote, “What does seem to be required of the individual is that he learn enough pieces of expression to be able to ‘fill in’ and manage, more or less, any part that he is likely to be given” (Goffman 73) Goffman is highlighting the significance of expression.

The truth in both cases is the articulation of the message and the package as one. The construction of the message from social and historical context is the seed as is the pre-existing message is for the transmission model. Therefore any look into communication theory should include the possibilities drafted by such great scholars as Richard A. Lanham and Erving Goffman that style and performance is the whole process.

Communication stands so deeply rooted in human behaviors and the structures of society that scholars have difficulty thinking of it while excluding social or behavioral eventsTemplate:Weasel-inline. Because communication theory remains a relatively young field of inquiry and integrates itself with other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, and sociology, one probably cannot yetTemplate:Dated maintenance category expect a consensus conceptualization of communication across disciplinesTemplate:Weasel-inline.

Communication Model Terms as provided by Rothwell (11-15):

  • Noise; interference with effective transmission and reception of a message.
    • For example;
      • physical noise or external noise which are environmental distractions such as poorly heated rooms, startling sounds, appearances of things, music playing some where else, and someone talking really loudly near you.
      • physiological noise are biological influences that distract you from communicating competently such as sweaty palms, pounding heart, butterfly in the stomach, induced by speech anxiety, or feeling sick, exhausted at work, the ringing noise in your ear, being really hungry, and if you have a runny noise or a cough.
      • psychological noise are the preconception bias and assumptions such as thinking someone who speaks like a valley girl is dumb, or someone from a foreign country can’t speak English well so you speak loudly and slowly to them.
      • semantic noise are word choices that are confusing and distracting such as using the word tri-syllabic instead of three syllables.
  • Sender; the initiator and encoder of a message
  • Receiver; the one that receives the message (the listener) and the decoder of a message
  • Decode; translates the senders spoken idea/message into something the receiver understands by using their knowledge of language from personal experience.
  • Encode; puts the idea into spoken language while putting their own meaning into the word/message.
  • Channel; the medium through which the message travels such as through oral communication (radio, television, phone, in person) or written communication (letters, email, text messages)
  • Feedback; the receivers verbal and nonverbal responses to a message such as a nod for understanding (nonverbal), a raised eyebrow for being confused (nonverbal), or asking a question to clarify the message (verbal).
  • Message; the verbal and nonverbal components of language that is sent to the receiver by the sender which conveys an idea.

Linear Model Edit

It is a one way model to communicate with others. It consists of the sender encoding a message and channeling it to the receiver in the presence of noise. Draw backs – the linear model assumes that there is a clear cut beginning and end to communication. It also displays no feedback from the receiver.

  • For example; a letter, email, text message, lecture.

Interactive Model Edit

It is two linear models stacked on top of each other. The sender channels a message to the receiver and the receiver then becomes the sender and channels a message to the original sender. This model has added feedback, indicates that communication is not a one way but a two way process. It also has “field of experience” which includes our cultural background, ethnicity geographic location, extend of travel, and general personal experiences accumulated over the course of your lifetime. Draw backs – there is feedback but it is not simultaneous.

  • For example – instant messaging. The sender sends an IM to the receiver, then the original sender has to wait for the IM from the original receiver to react. Or a question/answer session where you just ask a question then you get an answer.

Transactional Model Edit

It assumes that people are connected through communication; they engage in transaction. Firstly, it recognizes that each of us is a sender-receiver, not merely a sender or a receiver. Secondly, it recognizes that communication affects all parties involved. So communication is fluid/simultaneous. This is how most conversation are like. The transactional model also contains ellipses that symbolize the communication environment (how you interpret the data that you are given). Where the ellipses meet is the most effect communication area because both communicators share the same meaning of the message.

  • For example – talking/listening to friends. While your friend is talking you are constantly giving them feedback on what you think through your facial expression verbal feedback without necessarily stopping your friend from talking.

Communication Theory Framework Edit

Main article: Theory of communication

It is helpful to examine communication and communication theory through one of the following viewpointsTemplate:Weasel-inline:

  • Mechanistic: This view[attribution needed] considers communication as a perfect transaction of a message from the sender to the receiver. (as seen in the diagram above)
  • Psychological: This view[attribution needed] considers communication as the act of sending a message to a receiver, and the feelings and thoughts of the receiver upon interpreting the message.
  • Social Constructionist (Symbolic Interactionist): This view} considers communication to be the product of the interactants sharing and creating meaning. The Constructionist View can also be defined as, how you say something determines what the message is. The Constructionist View assumes that “truth” and “ideas” are constructed or invented through the social process of communication. Robert T. Craig saw the Constructionist View or the constitutive view as it’s called in his article, as “…an ongoing process that symbolically forms and re-forms our personal identities.” (Craig, 125). The other view of communication, the Transmission Model, sees communication as robotic and computer-like. The Transmission Model sees communication as a way of sending or receiving messages and the perfection of that. But, the Constructionist View sees communications as, “…in human life, info does not behave as simply as bits in an electronic stream. In human life, information flow is far more like an electric current running from one landmine to another” (Lanham, 7). The Constructionist View is a more realistic view of communication Template:Opinion because it involves the interacting of human beings and the free sharing of thoughts and ideas. Daniel Chandler looks to prove that the Transmission Model is a lesser way of communicating by saying “The transmission model is not merely a gross over-simplification but a dangerously misleading representation of the nature of human communication” (Chandler, 2). Humans do not communicate simply as computers or robots so that’s why it’s essential to truly understand the Constructionist View of Communication well. We do not simply send facts and data to one another, but we take facts and data and they acquire meaning through the process of communication, or through interaction with others.
  • Systemic: This view[attribution needed] considers communication to be the new messages created via “through-put”, or what happens as the message is being interpreted and re-interpreted as it travels through people.
  • Critical: This view considers communication as a source of power and oppression of individuals and social groups.[7]

Inspection of a particular theory on this level will provide a framework on the nature of communication as seen within the confines of that theory.

Theories can also be studied and organized according to the ontological, epistemological, and axiological framework imposed by the theorist.

Ontology Edit

Ontology essentially poses the question of what, exactly, it is the theorist is examining. One must consider the very nature of reality. The answer usually falls in one of three realms depending on whether the theorist sees the phenomena through the lens of a realist, nominalist, or social constructionist. Realist perspective views the world objectively, believing that there is a world outside of our own experience and cognitions. Nominalists see the world subjectively, claiming that everything outside of one’s cognitions is simply names and labels. Social constructionists straddle the fence between objective and subjective reality, claiming that reality is what we create together.Template:LopsidedTemplate:POV-statement

Epistemology Edit

Epistemology is an examination of how the theorist studies the chosen phenomena. In studying epistemology, particularly from a positivist perspective, objective knowledge is said[attribution needed] to be the result of a systematic look at the causal relationships of phenomena. This knowledge is usually attained through use of the scientific methodTemplate:POV-statement. Scholars often think Template:Weasel-inline that empirical evidence collected in an objective manner is most likely to reflect truth in the findings. Theories of this ilk are usually created to predict a phenomenon. Subjective theory holds that understanding is based on situated knowledge, typically found using interpretative methodology such as ethnography and also interviews. Subjective theories are typically developed to explain or understand phenomena in the social world.[How to reference and link to summary or text]

Axiology Edit

Axiology is concerned with how values inform research and theory development.[8] Most communication theory is guided by one of three axiological approaches . The first approach recognizes that values will influence theorists' interests but suggests that those values must be set aside once actual research begins. Outside replication of research findings is particularly important in this approach to prevent individual researchers' values from contaminating their findings and interpretations.[9] The second approach rejects the idea that values can be eliminated from any stage of theory development. Within this approach, theorists do not try to divorce their values from inquiry. Instead, they remain mindful of their values so that they understand how those values contextualize, influence or skew their findings.[10] The third approach not only rejects the idea that values can be separated from research and theory, but rejects the idea that they should be separated. This approach is often adopted by critical theorists who believe that the role of communication theory is to identify oppression and produce social change. In this axiological approach, theorists embrace their values and work to reproduce those values in their research and theory development.[11]

Mapping the theoretical landscape Edit

A discipline gets defined in large part by its theoretical structureTemplate:Weasel-inline. Communication studies often borrow theories from other social sciencesTemplate:POV-statement. This theoretical variation makes it difficult to come to terms with the field as a wholeTemplate:POV-statement. That said, some common taxonomies exist that serve to divide up the range of communication research. Two common mappings involve contexts and assumptions.

Contexts Edit

Many authors and researchers[attribution needed] divide communication by what they sometimes called "contexts" or "levels", but which more often represent institutional historiesTemplate:POV-statement. The study of communication in the US, while occurring within departments of psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology (among others), generally developed from schools of rhetoric and from schools of journalism . While many of these have become "departments of communication", they often retain their historical roots, adhering largely to theories from speech communication in the former case, and from mass media in the latter. The great divide between speech communication and mass communication becomes complicated by a number of smaller sub-areas of communication research, including intercultural and international communication, small group communication, communication technology, policy and legal studies of communication, telecommunication, and work done under a variety of other labels. Some of these departments take a largely social-scientific perspective, others tend more heavily toward the humanities, and still others gear themselves more toward production and professional preparation.

These "levels" of communication provide some way of grouping communication theories, but inevitably, some theories and concepts leak from one area to another, or fail to find a home at all.

The Constitutive Metamodel Edit

Main article: Communication Theory as a Field

Another way of dividing up the communication field emphasizes the assumptions that undergird particular theories, models, and approaches. Robert T. Craig suggests that the field of communication as a whole can be understood as several different traditions who have a specific view on communication. By showing the similarities and differences between these traditions, Craig argues that the different traditions will be able to engage each other in dialogue rather than ignore each other.[12] Craig proposes seven different traditions which are:

  1. Rhetorical: views communication as the practical art of discourse.[13]
  2. Semiotic: views communication as the mediation by signs.[14]
  3. Phenomenological: communication is the experience of dialogue with others.[15]
  4. Cybernetic: communication is the flow of information.[16]
  5. Socio-psychological: communication is the interaction of individuals.[17]
  6. Socio-cultural: communication is the production and reproduction of the social order.[18]
  7. Critical: communication is the process in which all assumptions can be challenged.[19]

Craig finds each of these clearly defined against the others, and remaining cohesive approaches to describing communicative behavior. As a taxonomic aid, these labels help to organize theory by its assumptions, and help researchers to understand why some theories may seem incommensurable.

While communication theorists very commonly use these two approaches, theorists decentralize the place of language and machines as communicative technologies. The idea (as argued by Vygotsky) of communication as the primary tool of a species defined by its tools remains on the outskirts of communication theory. It finds some representation in the Toronto School of communication theory (alternatively sometimes called medium theory) as represented by the work of Innis, McLuhan, and others. It seems that the ways in which individuals and groups use the technologies of communication — and in some cases are used by them — remain central to what communication researchers do. The ideas that surround this, and in particular the place of persuasion, remain constants across both the "traditions" and "levels" of communication theory.

Some realms of communication and their theories Edit

References Edit

  2. Crag, Robert T. (1999). Communication Theory as a Field, International Communication Association. URL accessed 12.07.2011.
  3. Chandler, Daniel (1994). The Transmission Model of Communication, University of Western Australia. URL accessed 11.06.2011.
  5. Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.), The process and effects of communication (pp. 3-26). Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
  7. Littlejohn, S.W. and Foss, K.A. (2008). Theories of human communication, 9th edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
  8. Miller, Katherine (2005). Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts 2nd Edition, Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
  9. Miller (2005). {{{title}}}, 30.
  10. Miller (2005). {{{title}}}, 30–31.
  11. Miller (2005). {{{title}}}, 31.
  12. Craig, Robert T. (May 1999). Communication Theory as a Field. Communication Theory 9 (2): 119–161.
  13. Craig 1999, pp. 135-136.
  14. Craig 1999, pp. 136-138.
  15. Craig 1999, pp. 138-140.
  16. Craig 1999, pp. 141-142.
  17. Craig 1999, pp. 142-144.
  18. Craig 1999, pp. 144-146.
  19. Craig 1999, pp. 146-149.

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