ARISTOTLE MODEL

THEORY(CONT)

He believed “Rhetoric” is the study of communication and persuasion and different message or speech
should be made for different audiences at different situations to get desired effects or to establish a
propaganda. This model was highly used to develop public speaking skills and create a propaganda at
that time so, it is less focused on intrapersonal or interpersonal communication.

Even if the model is speaker oriented and focuses on audience interaction in communication, there is no
concept of feedbacks.

For instance, a politician (speaker) gives a speech to get votes from the civilians (audience) at the time of
election (occasion). The civilians only vote if they are influenced by the things the politician says in his
speech so the content must be very impressive to influence the mass and the speaker must design the
message very carefully.

The speech must be clear as well as the speaker must have a very good non-verbal communication with
the audience like eye contact. This example is a classic case of Aristotle Model of Communication depicting
all the elements in the model.

Critical Elements of a Good Communicator

Aristotle has given 3 elements that must be present in a good communicator or public speaker. These
elements are related to each other and they reinforce the other elements.

Ethos

Ethos is the characteristic which makes you credible in front of the audience. If there is no credibility, the
audience will not believe in you and will not be persuaded by you. Expertise and positions also give
credibility to a person.

For instance, the mass will not listen to the promises of a corrupt politician, but if a politician is known for
his good deeds, there’s a high change his speech will be heard.

Pathos

If what you say matters to them and they can connect with it, then they will be more interested and they will
think you are more credible. Emotional bonds will make the audience captivated and they feel the speaker
is one of their own people.

For instance, if people of a village needs water and the politician tells them that he will help in building
roads, the people will not get influenced but might be more influenced if he says he’ll build a dam for
drinking water and irrigation.

Logos

Logos is logic. People believe in you only if they understand what you are trying to say. People find logic in
everything. If there is no logic behind the speaker’s work or time, they do not want to get involved.
Everybody has a sense of reason. You must present facts to the audience for them to believe in you.
For example, a presenter using factual data in an awareness program will attract the audience’s attention
and will make them believe in the need of awareness in the particular matter.

SMCR
INTRODUCTION

In 1960, David Berlo postulated Berlo’s Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) model of

communication from Shannon Weaver’s Model of Communication (1949). He described factors
affecting the individual components in the communication making the communication more
efficient.
The model also focuses on encoding and decoding which happens before sender sends the message and
before receiver receives the message respectively.

Berlo’s Model has mainly, four components to describe the communication process. They
are sender, message, channel and receiver. Each of the component is affected by many factors.

EXAMPLES OF SMCR

Defining the Components

Looking at the sequence within the SMCR model, you can identify the basic structures of the modern
perception of communication. The source represents where the information originates, the source of the
communication. The message is the encrypted piece of information provided by the source. The channel,
then, is the medium of transmission from the source to the receiver, and the receiver is the end recipient of
the information.
Interruptions in Communication

There are several different methods whereby disturbances offset this sequence of components, and
challenge the communication process. Loss and distortion represent two common examples of
disturbances. For example, disturbances can result from a person having less than superb communication
skills. In this case, the source does not adequately express the feeling or idea. Another source of
inadequacy in communication comes from the finite aspect of language itself. Since feelings and thoughts
can easily surpass expressions available through language, feeling and thoughts often do not receive
accurate representation.
One SMCR Model Among Many

The SMCR model is a common form for sequencing communication, and other popular communications
models typically use the same sequencing techniques. For example, David Berlo proposed a five-step
communications process in 1960. Harold Lasswell similarly developed a communications model that
recognizes the same sequencing for communication as the SMCR model.
An Early Theory of Communication

Writing thousands of years ago, Aristotle termed communication rhetoric and defined three primary aspects
of all communications: the speaker, the subject, and the person being addressed. Aristotle determined that
it was in fact the final part, the person addressed, who actually determines the meaning of the speech or
other forms of communication. According to Aristotle, that person’s interpretation ultimately establishes
what the communication signifies. It is this person, in the final step of the communication process, who also
determines whether communication happened at all. As with newer communications models, Aristotle’s
early theory acknowledges all four components of the SMCR model.

SHANNON AND WEAVERMODEL OF COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION (CONT)

This model is specially designed to develop the effective communication between sender and receiver.
Also they find factors which affecting the communication process called “Noise”. At first the model was
developed to improve the Technical communication. Later it’s widely applied in the field of Communication.

The model deals with various concepts like Information source, transmitter, Noise, channel, message,
receiver, channel, information destination, encode and decode.

Explanation of Shannon Weaver Model

The sender encodes the message and sends it to the receiver through a technological channel like
telephone and telegraph. The sender converts the message into codes understandable to the machine.
The message is sent in codes through a medium.

The receiver has to decode the message before understanding it and interpreting it. The receptor machine
can also act as a decoder in some cases. The channel can have noise and the receiver might not have the
capacity to decode which might cause problems in communication process.

Here, for instance, brain might be the sender, mouth might be the encoder which encodes to a particular
language, air might be the channel, another person’s ear might be the receptor and his brain might be
the decoder and receiver.

Similarly, air is the channel here, the noise present in his environment that disturbs them is
the noise whereas his response is the feedback. There were only 5 components when the model was
made. Noise was added later.

As Shannon was an engineer, this model was first made to improve technical communication, mainly for
telephonic communication. It was made to to maximize telephone capacity with minimum noise.

Later, Weaver applied it for all kind of communications to develop effective communication and the model
became famous as Shannon Weaver model. In engineering, Shannon’s model is also called information
theory and is used academically to calculate transmission through machines and also has a formula.

Example of Shannon Weaver Model

A businessman sends a message via phone text to his worker about a meeting happening about their
brand promotion. The worker does not receive the full message because of noise. It goes like this:

Businessman: We have a meeting at the office (“at 8 am” goes missing due to phone network disruption or
noise)
Worker (feedback) : At what time?

Here,

Sender: Businessman

Encoder: Telephone network company

Channel: Mobile network

Noise: Missing text due to disruption

Decoder: Mobile phone

Receiver: Worker

The transmission error is the noise in this case. The feedback lets the businessman know that the
message reached incomplete. The receiver gets the chance to get the full message only after his feedback.

Levels of Communication Problems

There are three levels of problems of communication according to Shannon Weaver. They are:

1. Technical problem –How a channel causes a problem

2. Semantic problem –Is the meaning of message sent and received very different
3. Effectiveness problem –How effectively does the message cause reaction

Advantages of Shannon Weaver Model

 Concept of noise helps in making the communication effective by removing the noise or problem
causing noise.
 This model takes communication as a two way process. It makes the model applicable in general
communication.
 Communication is taken as quantifiable in Shannon Weaver model.

LASSWELL MODEL
Explanation of Lasswell’s Communication Model
Though Lasswell’s model was developed to analyze mass communication, this model is used for
interpersonal communication or group communication to be disseminated message to various groups in
various situations.

Lasswell’s model was developed to study the media propaganda of countries and businesses at that time.
Only rich people used to have communication mediums such as televisions and radios back them. It was
made to show the mass media culture.

Lasswell also brought the concept of Effective Communication Process. He talked about the relation
between presentation of facts and how it generates different effects. The use of the concept of effect makes
Lasswell’s model non-linear unlike it’s name. It’s because effect can also be taken as feedback.

Though, generally, the component of effect was made to be more about outcome of the message, the
model is applied in different medias and fields despite being developed specifically for mass
communication.

This model is similar to the communication model proposed by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver. Their
model is more graphical than Lasswell’s. George Gerbner who is the founder of the cultivation theory,
expanded Lasswell’s model and included the concept of reaction of the receiver.

Disadvantages and Criticisms of Lasswell’s Model

The major criticism of Lasswell’s Model is that it does not include feedback and it ignores the possibility of
noise. Without feedback, a communication process can not be fruitful. Lasswell’s model is very linear and
does not consider barriers in the communication process.

The model is also criticized for being very general and only including very traditional topics. The model is
very simplistic. The model is said to be propaganda based as it is more focused on the resulting outcome
and generally used for media persuasion.

DANCE MODEL
Introduction
In 1967, Frank Dance  proposed the communication model called Dance’s Helix Model for a better
communication process. The name helical comes from “Helix” which means an object having a three-
dimensional shape like that of a wire wound uniformly around a cylinder or cone. He shows communication
as a dynamic and non-linear process.

What is a helix ?

A Helix is nothing but a smooth curve just like a spring which if goes upwards also comes downwards. The
Helical model of communication was designed by Frank Dance keeping the simple Helix in mind.

Theory
Dance’s model emphasized the difficulties of communication. Frank Dance uses the form of a Helix to
describe communication process. He developed this theory based on a simple helix which gets bigger and
bigger as it moves or grows. The main characterstic of helical model of communication is that it is
evolutionary.

Let us understand the model with the help of an example.

A child from the very moment he comes to this world starts communicating. When a baby is born, the nurse
rubs his back to make the child cry. If the child doesn’t cry, it is an indication of a still born child.
What does crying in this case refer to ?

It is actually a way the child is communicating to his parents that he is alive, absolutely hale and hearty and
ready to face the challenges of the world. As the child grows up, he cries whenever he is hungry or expects
something from his parents and sometimes simply for his parent’s attention. It is again a child’s own way of
conveying his message to the whole world. When the same child grows up and starts going to school, he
soon interacts with his parents, teachers, friends in the form of words. Now crying actually gets replaced by
words or his speech but one thing which is common is the process of communication which existed since
the child’s birth.

Thus the child actually started communicating from the very first day of his life and has been
communicating all through till the present day. This explains one part of helical model of communication.

According to the Helical model of communication, the process of communication evolves from the very birth
of an individual and continues till the existing moment. All living entities start communicating from the very
first day of their origin. When seeds are planted, they convey the message to the gardener that they need
to be watered daily and should be treated well with fertilizers and manure. When a plant emerges from the
seed it also starts communicating its need for water, sunlight, manure and fertilizers, thus supporting the
Helical model of communication. The same also applies for animals, birds, fishes and all living creatures.

Now let us throw some more light on a real life situation

An individual in his elementary classes learns to pronounce a particular word or react to a particular
situation. It has been observed that even though the child grows up, he continues to pronounce that
particular word in the same way as he did during his growing up days or for that matter, if the same
situation arises again he would under all circumstances react in the same way as he did in the past. The
fear of the child when suddenly the light goes off at night resulting in a complete blackout is present in his
younger days as well as when he grows up.

The above example again makes the Helical model of communication clear. According to the Helical model
as the process of communication moves forward it also comes back and is largely dependant on the past
behaviour of the individual. The model believes that communication process is just like a helix which moves
forward as well as comes backward and is dependent on the behaviour patterns of the past definitely with
some modifications and changes. As the child grows up, he does make slight changes in his past body
movements or past pronunciation or facial expressions. He makes certain changes, modifications in his
communication and tries to get rid of the communication errors. An individual will definitely get less nervous
in his teenage days as compared to his childhood days, thus a slight change in his behaviour.

Child (Day 1) communication evolves

↓
Communication continues
↓ ↑
(Communication depends on past activities)
↓
(Current day) communication continues with modifications

The Helical model of communication understands communication in a broader perspective and considers
almost all the activities of an individual from day one to till date. It cumulates all the activities occurring in
the complete span of an individual that affects the process of communication, which in turn goes forward
and also depends on the past activities.