ASSH2203

Models of Communication

Communication models are a representation of communication systems in different approaches. These

are categorized into three types- linear, transactional, and interactional. Linear models are one-way
communication and are commonly used for mass communication. The senders send a message, and
the receivers only receive it. It also does not require feedback. Transactional models are used for
interpersonal communication. Feedback will act as a new message that will start another
communication process. Interactional models are like Transactional, but it is commonly used in a
wider platform like the internet. However, feedback in this type of communication model can take a
long time since it has wider coverage than others.
Aristotle’s Model of Communication
Aristotle’s model is formed with five (5) elements: Speaker, Speech, Occasion, Audience, and Effect.
This model focuses on public speaking that aims to persuade the audience.

Example:
During a meeting, the President orders the Coast Guard to capture, not to kill poachers venturing in
local waters.

Speaker: the President

Speech: about his order regarding poachers
Occasion: meeting
Audience: members of the Coast Guard
Effect: capture the poachers instead of killing them

This model is more focused on public speaking than interpersonal communication.

Berlo’s Model of Communication
This model involves several factors in the communication process.

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The communicators or the source and the receiver are influenced by their characteristics demonstrated
in their attitudes, communication skills, and knowledge. A fourth factor that influences the
communicators is the social system and culture or the sociocultural system. The message comprises
the content and the communicators’ treatment and coding of the content. The five senses are the
channels of communication or how communication is transmitted. These are seeing, hearing, touching,
smelling, and tasting. Berlo acknowledges the complexity of the communication process by including
the influence of an all-encompassing sociocultural system (Pinzon & Jamandre 2017).

Lasswell’s Model of Communication

Harold Lasswell (1948) was a leading American political scientist and communications theorist who
advanced one of the earliest communication process models. Laswell’s model described the
communication process as a linear or one-way process in which communication is transmitted from a
sender to a receiver. A verbal transmission model comprised five questions that described one of the
earliest views on how communication works.
This model underscores the function of communication in society. According to Lasswell (1948),
communication in society has three functions:

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Surveillance of the environment – a function of surveillants such as political leaders and health officers
designed to alert society to the dangers and opportunities it faces.
Correlation of components of society – a function mainly carried out by institutions such as community
development workers, educators, and poll-takers designed to gather, coordinate, and integrate into a
meaningful form of responses of society toward changes in the environment.
Cultural transmission between generations – a function carried out by institutions such as the family,
church, school, and community to pass down their values, customs, and traditions to the next
generation. Lasswell was concerned with mass communication and propaganda. He believed that
communication must perform its key functions to protect, fortify, and enhance a nation’s stability. A
country must be responsible for consolidating its strength by controlling the forces that interfere with
efficient communication. The elements or formula of the model are explained as follows:
Who? – control analysis
What? – content analysis
In which channel? – media analysis
To whom? – audience analysis
With what effect? – effect analysis

Here is an example to illustrate how the model works. A family serves as the communicator (who) of
values (message) through the practice of family rituals such as family dinners and birthday celebrations
(channel) with the children, the next generation (to whom) who will preserve and pass on the culture
to future generations (effect). The communication cycle continues with the next generation.

Shannon-Weaver’s Model of Communication

Mathematician Claude Shannon and scientist Warren Weaver (1949) designed a mode, originally for
telephone communication. It includes five components – the information source, a transmitter, a
receiver, a destination, and noise.

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When we apply Shannon-Weaver’s model to a no-telephone communication situation, the information

source is the speaker; the transmitter is the vocal mechanism, and the receiver and destination is the
listener. The concept of noise is being added to this model. According to Shannon and Weaver’s model,
noise is anything that interferes with or distorts the intended meaning of communication. Noise can be
physical, psychological, physiological, or semantic. Physical noises are those distractions in the
environment such as seatmates talking, the sound of the air conditioner or electric fan, or the traffic
heard from outside the room. Psychological noises are thoughts that run through the communicator’s
mind during the interaction that takes his/her attention away from it. For example, psychological noises
are disturbances within the communicator’s body. When having a headache or feeling hungry, the
communicator may have difficulty focusing on the conversation. Semantic noises are differences in
the meaning or interpretation of words or messages.
As a result, communicators become distracted or confused. Noise in the communication transaction
must be avoided.

Schramm’s Model of Communication

Wilbur Schramm was a scholar and authority on the mass communication model, which was the
interactive model which shows the concept of process and interaction in communication. The source
is the speaker who encodes the message. The destination is the receiver, which decodes the message.
Schramm’s first model highlights the importance of overlap in the communicators’ field of experience
so that communication may occur. The common field of experience illustrates communicators' shared
meanings, without which communication is impossible. Conversely, the common field of experience
size determines the breadth and depth of communication between communicators.

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Schramm’s second model depicts the dual roles of communicators where they can be both senders or
encoders and receivers or decoders. They are also interpreters in the process as they assign meaning to
the message. The model also illustrates the circular sequential process in which one person interacts
with another, sending feedback to the first person.

References:
Businesstopia. 2022. Models of Communication - Businesstopia. [online] Available at:
<https://www.businesstopia.net/communication> [Accessed 15 February 2022].
Pinzon, M. J. L. (2017). Nature and Elements of Communication. In N. K. F. Jamandre (Ed.), Power Speak:
Oral Communication in Context (pp. 9–10). essay, ABIVA Publishing House, INC.
Kobiruzzaman, A. M. M. (2022, February 11). Models of communication, 3 types of communication models
linear. Models of Communication, 3 Types of Communication Models Linear. Retrieved February 18, 2022,
from https://newsmoor.com/3-types-of-communication-models-linear-interactive-transactional/

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