Models of communication are conceptual models used to explain the human communication process. Following the basic concept, communication is the process of sending and receiving messages or transferring information from one part (sender) to another (receiver).
1. SHANNON AND WEAVERS MODEL :
One of the earliest models of communication that introduced was Claude Shannon's model introduced in 1949.
This laid the foundation for the different communication models that are today, and has greatly helped and enhanced the communication process in various fields.
In Shannon's model, the information source typically refers to a person, who then sends a message with the use of a transmitter.
This transmitter could be any instrument today, from phones to computers and other devices. The signals that are sent and received can be vary depending on the method of communication.
The box at the bottom called NOISE refers to any signals that may interfere with the message being carried. This again would depend on the method of communication.
The receiver is the instrument or the person on the other side that receives the. This model is the simplest models to understand the workings of the communication process.
The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability.
Mathematicians Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the following elements:
An information source, which produces a message. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal. A destination, where the message arrives.
2. BERLO'S MODEL
This model, stresses on the relationship between the person sending the message and the receiver.
According to this model, for the message to be properly encoded and decoded, the communication skills of both the source and the receiver should be at best. The communication will be at its best only if the two points are skilled.
Berlo's model has four main components and each component has its own sub components describing the assisting factors for each.
In 1960, David Berlo expanded Shannon and Weaver's 1949 linear model of communication and created the Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) Model of Communication.
The SMCR Model of Communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.
EXAMPLE-
3. SCHRAMM MODEL
Communication is usually described along a few major dimensions: Message (what type of things are communicated), source / emissor / sender / encoder (by whom), form (in which form), channel (through which medium), destination / receiver / target / decoder (to whom), and Receiver.
Wilbur Schramm (1954) also indicated that we should also examine the impact that a message has (both desired and undesired) on the target of the message. Between parties, communication includes acts that confer knowledge and experiences, give advice and commands, and ask questions. These acts may take many forms, in one of the various manners of communication. The form depends on the abilities of the group communicating.
Together, communication content and form make messages that are sent towards a destination. The target can be oneself, another person or being, another entity (such as a corporation or group of beings).
Communication can be seen as processes of information transmission governed by three levels of semiotic rules:
- Syntactic (formal properties of signs and symbols),
- Pragmatic (concerned with the relations between signs/expressions and their users) and
- Semantic (study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent).
Therefore, communication is social interaction where at least two interacting agents share a common set of signs and a common set ofsemiotic rules.
This commonly held rule in some sense ignores autocommunication, including intrapersonal communication via diaries or self-talk, both secondary phenomena that followed the primary acquisition of communicative competences within social interactions.
4. ARISTOTLE MODEL :
According to this model, the speaker plays a key role in communication. They are the one who takes complete charge of the communication.
The Aristotle model of communication is the widely accepted and the most common model of communication where the sender sends the information or a message to the receivers to influence them and make them respond and act accordingly. Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking, seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear by designing an impressive content, passing on the message to the second part and they simply respond accordingly. Here the sender is the active member and the receiver is passive one.
The Aristotle model of communication is the widely accepted and the most common model of communication where the sender sends the information or a message to the receivers to influence them and make them respond and act accordingly. Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking, seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear by designing an impressive content, passing on the message to the second part and they simply respond accordingly. Here the sender is the active member and the receiver is passive one.
The sender first prepares a content which he does by carefully putting his thoughts in words with an objective of influencing the listeners or the recipients, who would then respond in the sender’s desired way.The content has to be very very impressive in this model for the audience or the receivers to get convinced.
The model says that the speaker communicates in such a way that the listeners get influenced and respond accordingly.
The speaker must be :
- Very careful about selection of words and content in this model of communication.
- Should understand the target audience and then prepare his speech.
- Make eye contact with the second party is again a must to create an impact among the listeners.
One will definitely purchase the mobile handset from that store where the sales man gives an impressive demo of the mobile. It depends on the sales man what to speak and how to speak in a manner to influence the listeners so that they respond to him in a way he actually wants i.e. purchase the handset and increase his billing.
