2018 © Jolo Ramos

ARISTOTLE’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Script
Reporters:
 ASHLEY Al Mansouri
 ERIKA Becerrel
 ALLANA Cordoba
 AYAN Gonzales
 JESS Anne Papena

Introduction
AYAN: Good morning! We are Group 3 and we will be discussing Aristotle’s Model of Communication.
We will start with a brief introduction about communication, then explain how the model came to be. From
there, we will show the visual representation of the model and discuss each of its components. Without
further ado, let us begin.
JESS: G.G. Brown stated that communication is the transfer of information from one person to another,
whether or not it elicits confidence. However, he also pointed out this information must be understandable
to the receiver.
ASHLEY: A more modern approach to the definition of communication is it is the giving, receiving or
exchanging of ideas, information, signals, or message through appropriate media.
AYAN: These two definitions may seem a little different from each other, but both of them propose that
there are three components that need to be present to deem communication successful – the sender, the
receiver, and the message.
ERIKA: The first person to take initiative to formulate a model showing how communication between
persons work is Aristotle.
ALLANA: He was also the founder of Lyceum and his most common subjects of study are philosophy,
biology, zoology, and rhetoric, which plays an important role in the creation of his communication model.

The Theory
JESS: Aristotle believed that the foundation of a good rhetoric – many people being addressed by one
person – lies in its ethical and persuasive qualities, and this became the foundation to his communication
model.
ASHLEY: Rhetoric, as defined by Aristotle, is a faculty that concerns itself with availability of persuasive
means as may be observed in any particular case or situation.
AYAN: Aside from these, he also believed that rhetoric must possess three proofs, namely ethos, pathos,
and logos – ethics, emotion, and logic.
ERIKA: Ethos is the characteristic that establishes your credibility in front of the audience, allowing you
to persuade them.
ALLANA: Pathos, on the other hand, is the emotional bond between you and your audience, which will
make them think of you as one of their own, a member of the family, if you will.
JESS: Lastly, logos is the characteristic that allows you to tap into your rational faculties and present
facts that will support your claims in front of an audience.
 2018 © Jolo Ramos

ASHLEY: Aristotle’s communication model gained its inspiration from these three proofs, along with his
observations of audiences being publicly manipulated by skillful speakers of his time.
AYAN: These speakers had no regard of the truth in their communication. This didn’t sit well with him
and his mentor and teacher, Plato. This prompted him to study the process of communication further, which
as previously stated, led to the creation of the first communication model, before 300 B.C.
ERIKA: This model would then become the cornerstone of the development of public speaking skills, and
along with it, the power to create a propaganda.
ALLANA: Because of this, Aristotle’s model is regarded as a speaker-centered model, since it does not
put a certain focus on both interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of communication.

The Model

JESS: As you can see from the diagram, there are five components in Aristotle’s Model of Communication.
These are speaker, speech, occasion, audience, and effect. The arrows represent the flow of information
from the sender to the receiver.

Model Description
ASHLEY: Aristotle’s Model of Communication is a linear model of communication. When you say that a
model is linear, it means it is a one-way process where the sender is the only one who sends the message
and receiver doesn’t give any feedback or response.
AYAN: Linear model is the first model of communication and was also the most widely accepted among
all communication models.
ERIKA: As said earlier, Aristotle’s Communication Model is divided into 5 primary elements: Speaker,
Speech, Occasion, Audience and Effect.
ALLANA: The first component, which is the speaker, sender, or transmitter, is the one who operates on
the message in some way to produce a signal suitable for transmission over a channel. In other words, the
speaker is where the information being transferred originates from.
JESS: The second component, speech or message, which is derived from the Latin work mittere, meaning
“to send,” refers to a concept, information, communication or statement that is sent in an oral form to the
recipient.
ASHLEY: The message may also be in the form of graphic, written, audio, visual, or audio-visual
information. However, as established previously, Aristotle’s model focuses on the speaker. Therefore, the
message is in oral form.
ERIKA: The third component, occasion is the situation wherein the speaker delivers the speech/message
to its intended audience.
 2018 © Jolo Ramos

AYAN: The fourth component, which is the audience or receiver is the one that performs the inverse
operation of that done by the speaker/transmitter. The receiver is the one who reconstructs the message
from the signal.
ALLANA: In simpler words, the receiver is the person (or group of persons) for whom the message is
intended.
JESS: The fifth and last component is the effect, or the outcome that the message brings about to the
audience/receiver. It may be a reaction or a changed view on a certain yet relevant topic.
ASHLEY: If you observe the model, it is pretty easy to understand. However, with this ease of
comprehension came criticisms, who dubbed the model too simple and narrow.
AYAN: The first of these criticisms is that communication is only shown as a one-way process. There is
no concept of feedback because information only flows from speaker to audience.
ERIKA: This is not true, because communication is not one-way, especially nowadays, when there are
many tools that people can use to send and receive all kinds of information.
ALLANA: Second, there is no concept of communication failure, such as noise and barriers. Noise is any
type of disruption that interferes with the transmission or interpretation of information from sender to
receiver.
JESS: May it be physical, psychological, semantic, or physiological noise is a common hurdle when it
comes to communication, especially in cases wherein a small misunderstanding can cause a large problem.
ASHLEY: Also, barriers such as cultural differences, lack of attention or interest, and differences in
perception and viewpoint, are crucial parts of the communication process that were not introduced in the
model.
ERIKA: Lastly, Aristotle’s model is only applicable to public speaking. Interpersonal and intrapersonal
speaking are not involved.
AYAN: As said earlier, it is a speaker-centered model. Therefore, the focus is the speaker only, without
any regard for the audience or receiver. This can be attributed to the fact that public speaking during
Aristotle’s time served as one of his inspirations for the model.
ALLANA: This concludes our discussion. Next, we will show you an example of a situation that follows
the principles of Aristotle’s Model of Communication. Let’s have a look.
end of script
Additional Information:
4 types of noise that can disrupt communication
The four types of noise are physical, physiological, psychological, and semantic.
As I describe those four types of noise, I’ll do so from a podcaster’s perspective.
1. Physical noise interferes with communication
 Physical noise is interference that is external to both speaker and listener; it hampers the physical transmission of the
signal or message.
Examples of physical noise:
 loud party at the neighbors while you’re trying to record
 loud kids who don’t want to take their nap
 irritating hum of your computer, air conditioner, or heater.
2. Physiological noise interferes with communication
 Physiological noise is created by barriers within the sender or receiver.
Examples of physiological noise on the podcaster’s side:
 articulation problems
 2018 © Jolo Ramos
 mumbling
 talking too fast
 talking too slow
 forgetting to pause
 forgetting to breathe
An example of physiological noise on the listener’s side: hearing problems. Maybe the listener can’t hear high tones as clearly as
they used to. For some, low tones are the problem. Their difficulty in literally hearing words and sounds becomes physiological
noise.
3. Psychological noise interferes with communication
 Psychological noise is mental interference in the speaker or listener.
 Three examples of psychological noise are wandering thoughts, preconceived ideas, and sarcasm.
“WANDERING THOUGHTS” CAN BE A KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE
 This is primarily a listener problem. If you’re trying to communicate a concept in your podcast, “wandering thoughts” is
an obstacle because your listener may be distracted and have difficulty keeping up with you. This is often a problem when
talking about abstract ideas.
 Sometimes as podcasters, we cause a listener’s thoughts to wander, especially if we talk too fast, too slow, or fail to pause.
 But occasionally “wandering thoughts” can be a podcaster problem, too. Have you ever started talking about one point
only to find yourself lost talking about something completely unrelated? It takes a lot of concentration (and maybe
planning) to stay focused.
“PRECONCEIVED IDEAS” CAN BE A KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE
 Another type of psychological noise is when people think they already know something. That noise interferes with a
listener’s willingness to hear a new perspective.
 Other preconceived ideas include biases, prejudices, presuppositions, and closed-mindedness.
 When there is psychological noise like this, you have to work harder than usual to make sure you’re communicating
clearly.
“SARCASM” CAN BE A KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE
 If you don’t care to actually persuade someone to see things your way, then sarcasm is the easy way.
 Sarcasm is noise to your listener unless your listener already agrees with you.
 If your listener disagrees with you, then sarcasm guarantees they won’t pay attention to your message.
 Sarcasm can also rile them up. When they come back at you with their knee-jerk response, that’ll be noise to you.
 And then true communication stops.
 Finally, there is another type of noise that appears to be psychological, but it’s actually linguistic and deserves its own
category.
4. Semantic noise interferes with communication
 Semantic noise is interference created when the speaker and listener have different meaning systems.
 Maybe when I use a word, you have a slightly different meaning in mind. This can cause confusion.
JARGON CAN BE SEMANTIC NOISE
 Jargon is a fantastic linguistic shortcut. If everyone listening agrees and understands the terminology, then jargon makes
communication quicker and clearer.
 However, if listeners have different definitions of the terminology, then jargon becomes noise. This is especially noisy to
people outside your particular job or field.
ABSTRACT IDEAS CAN BE SEMANTIC NOISE
 Another kind of semantic noise is when your words and sentences are nebulous or ambiguous.
 Some people find it almost impossible to speak concretely.
 This is a problem I have, which is one reason I need to write (even when I’m podcasting). But even when I’ve written, I
sometimes discover my words were not concrete enough.
 I’m actually concerned that I have been too abstract with my words in this article. If I have, then you might have
misunderstood me. And then my own semantic noise has interfered with our communication.