Definition and

Historical
Background of
Communication

June 17, 2019

Objectives:

1.Define communication.
2.Explain the nature and process of
communication.
Definition

1.The word communication comes from the

word ‘’communis’’ which means common.
Communication therefore, is an act wherein a
person imparts knowledge, feelings, ideas
and information, with the intention of getting a
common understanding of the significance
intention, and use of the message.
2. Communication is the purposeful
activity of information exchange
among two or more participants with
the aim of conveying or receiving the
intended meanings.
Leagans

3. It is a process by which two or

more people exchange ideas,
facts, feelings or impressions in
ways that each gains a common
understanding of the message.
Loomis and Beegle

4. It is a process by which information,

decisions pass through a social
system, and the ways in which
knowledge, opinion and attitudes are
formed and modified.
 KEEP IN MIND!

The most important thing to

remember is that the message that
you intend to communicate is likely
to be misunderstood.
 How Communication Takes
Place?

Even without words,

communication can
happen.
 Our four senses, audio,
visual, touch and smell,
communicate.
 The ring of the
alar, says it is time
to get up.
The eyes looking
at the window
checking for the
weather.
The feel of the wind
on our skin tells us
whether it is hot or
cold.
 The smell from the
kitchen tells us what is
the food being cooked.
 Communication is a two way process,
consisting of a transmitter and a receiver. Hence, it
is necessary that transmitting facts be in a manner
that its intended meaning is delivered and the
receiver recognizes the use of the message. Then
it becomes a two-way process.
Through symbols and gestures, early human
beings communicated.
 Based on researches, it shows that
about 70% of a persons active time is spent
communicating-speaking , reading,
gesturing, writing, listening and watching.
The Nature of
Communication
 What sets us human beings apart from
all other species is we communicate in a
rich and sophisticated way. People
communicate through the following
channels:
Sound
Speech and language, vocalizations
such as sounds followed by a variety
of other noise as tapping and so on
can be communicative.
Vision
It is reading each other’s signals. This could
be through facial expressions, eye contacts,
gestures, body language, unrestrained and
non-conscious visual information coming
out of a person.
Touch and physical contact
Handshaking, stroking, patting, tapping,
kissing, hugging, close skin-to-skin, and so
on.
Smell
We do pick up olfactory information or
the sense of smell from one another.
–
Quotes to Ponder