TRANSMISSION MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Rhetoric – the practical art of persuasive communication; Aristotle

 Used in public speaking & English composition
 Rhetorical canons: Someone who wants to persuade an audience needs to come up
with certain messages involving different kinds of content and persuasive appeals:
1. Invention
2. Arrangement
3. Linguistic Style
4. Memory
5. Delivery
 Shannon and Weaver (1949) worked to understand mass media using the theory of
radio and telegraph communication

Components
 Source – encodes a message; i.e. the process of turning thoughts into communication
in a form that the receiver can understand (University of Minnesota, 2016)
 Message – verbal/nonverbal content conveyed from sender to receiver (University of
Minnesota, 2016)
 Channel – the means by which a message gets from one point to another; sensory
route through which a message travels
- Example: In live concerts, the space between a singer and an audience
carries light waves (vision) and sound waves (hearing)
 Medium – channels that involve technology in some form
- Example: Digital music being uploaded to social media/music apps
(YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, etc.)
 Receiver – decodes and interprets the message;
 Noise – anything that disrupts the transmission of information from one point to
another; things that interfere with a message being sent between participants
(University of Minnesota, 2016)

Assumptions
 Unilateral communication; one way (from source to receiver)
 Asymmetric communication; focused on the source only while the receiver is passive
(creates a power/activity imbalance between participants)
 Communication is the flow of information; anything that reduces uncertainty
(Shannon & Weaver)

Limitation
 One must ask: “is that where the communication ends?”
- The answer is no; this is the key limitation of the Transmission Model – it
presumes that communication only goes from receiver to sender, and that’s it.
INTERACTIONAL MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

 Wilbur Schramm (1954) sought to refine Shannon & Weaver’s linear model, asking
the question “What happens when the receiver gets the message and decodes it? Is
that where it ends, or does it continue?”
 In this model, many of the components from the Transmission Model carry over;
however, instead of ending at the point when the receiver decodes the message, it
establishes that the receiver responds further:
- Example: Eye contact, nodding, taking notes, other expressions and micro-
expressions
 By responding, the receiver also becomes a message source, encoding their own
message (called feedback) intended to return to the original source.

Components/Stages
 Feedback – messages sent in response to other messages (University of Minnesota,
2016)
- Feedback can include unintentional messages like nonverbal cues and facial
expressions, etc.
 The original source gets and decodes the feedback, now becoming a new receiver as
well;
 The original source, in response to this feedback, encodes a new message and the
cycle restarts from there.
 Note that the occurrence of noise is possible at any given point during the cycle; it
also comes in different kinds:
1. Environmental Noise – any physical noise present in a communication
encounter; i.e. technical difficulties, equipment failure, etc.
2. Psychological Noise – noise present in the mind/s of the source and/or
receiver; i.e. emotional distress, fear, anxiety, etc.
3. Physiological Noise – noise present in the physical sensations of the
source and/or receiver; i.e. sleepiness, tiredness, hunger, etc.
 Context – the conditions surrounding and influencing a communication act; it also
comes in different types:
1. Physical Context – can refer to one’s physical environment; anything
ranging from the temperature to how the surrounding area is situated;
2. Psychological Context – can refer to the state that the participants are in
which will impact how the messages are encoded/decoded; an example is
the personal significance (or lack thereof) of an act of communication to
the source/receiver;
3. Situational Context – the nature of an interaction; essentially “why” the
communication is taking place;

Characteristics
 Bilateral communication – a feedback loop; a cyclical turn-taking process between
the source and receiver;
 Symmetric communication – both participants have equal roles instead of being
focused solely on the source (i.e. Transmission Model);
 Exchange of meaning within contexts caused by the turn-taking within this model;
TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

 The Transactional Model shares some similarities with the Interactional Model, but
has its own differences.
 Dean Barlund (1970) was interested in a communication theory more relevant for
interpersonal communication.
 Emphasizes that communication is simultaneous (happening at the same time); i.e.
the source reacting to the receiver’s reaction to their message – an
exchange/transaction of responses happening all at once.

Components
 Public cues – elements in the surrounding environment; things that are going on
within one’s surroundings which will affect how one encodes/decodes messages
 Private cues – elements regarding one’s sense of self or another person that influence
their interpretation or how they do “meaning-making”; very similar to Psychological
Context.
 Behavioral cues – verbal and nonverbal actions in communication that influence
meaning-making
 Co-creation of meaning – mutual collaboration between two participants to create
new meaning; it is influenced by contexts such as:
1. Physical Context – can refer to one’s physical environment; anything
ranging from the temperature to how the surrounding area is situated;
2. Psychological Context – can refer to the state that the participants are in
which will impact how the messages are encoded/decoded; an example is
the personal significance (or lack thereof) of an act of communication to
the source/receiver;
3. Cultural Context – the aspect of one’s identity based on their beliefs and
experiences;
4. Relational Context – the history of interpersonal interactions and the
relationship between participants;
5. Social Context – the rules and norms for communication based on our
communities and social structures;

Characteristics
 Bilateral communication – both source and receiver encode/decode messages, but
instead of taking turns (Interactional), all of this happens at the same time;
 Symmetric communication – both participants have equal roles instead of being
focused solely on the source (i.e. Transmission Model);
 Co-creation of meaning by both participants within various kinds of context in order
for them to understand what each other is trying to communicate/convey;
JORDAN PETERSON’S ADVICE

 Peterson puts a heavy emphasis on practice. In fact, he starts and ends his response to
the student’s question with that very same word.

 He points out that practice can come in the form of reading or writing – further citing
that sparing 15 minutes a day to read and/or write is valuable for helping an
individual become more articulate and adept at communication.

 Peterson mentioned that all of the successful individuals that he’s acquainted with are
all good communicators – which, to him, proves that being a good communicator is
an incalculable skill that is fairly difficult to find. In connection with Verderber et. al.
(2017), their text also mentions that according to Hart (2010), employers are of the
opinion that communication skills are something that many new graduates lack.

 One practical example given by Peterson is when one is delivering a speech, or a

“talk” to an audience – according to him, they key is not to perceive the audience as a
whole “group” but rather a multitude of individuals; from his perspective, breaking
down how audience members individually react helps one to “govern” how they
adjust or adapt their communication strategies to better convey their message.