HOW WE THINK ABOUT

COMMUNICATION

EVERY DAY AND SCIENTIFIC

MODELS OF TALK

Lecture 2a
WE TALK
 The Perfect Communicator
Model
• Communication as Info Transmission
• Lies behind all of our talk
• “I told you once…so you should get it the
way I meant it.”
• “Now, act accordingly.”
• If not I’ll say it again the same way -
possibly louder
• “If you still don’t get it - you are a……”
 COMMUNICATION AS ACTION:
PREDICTABLE OUTCOMES

• COMMUNICATION
AS INNOCULATION!
- HIGH CERTAINTY

• BASED ON ARISTOTLE’S VIEW OF

COMMUNICATION AS RHETORIC
COMMUNICATION AS ACTION:
PREDICTABLE OUTCOMES
 SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC APPROACH:
COMMUNICATION AS PROBABLE
OUTCOMES
• IN 1949 BASIC MODERN MODEL
BY SHANNON AND WEAVER
• SENDER, MESSAGE, CHANNELS, RECEIVER
• SMCR MODEL
• THEY ADD NOISE OR INTERFERENCE AS A
CONCEPT
• REDUCES CERTAINTY
COMMUNICATION AS ACTION:
PROBABLE OUTCOMES
 NOISE
NOISE
• ANYTHING THAT DISTORTS OR
INTERFERES WITH MESSAGE
RECEPTION IS NOISE
• PHYSICAL
• SOMETHING THAT INTERFERES WITH PHYSICAL
TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGE
• PSYCHOLOGICAL
• “IN-THE -HEAD” INTERFERENCE (OTHER THOUGHTS,
BIASES, PREJUDICES)
• SEMANTIC
• NO SHARING OF MEANING (SYMBOL-REFERENTS)
 CHANNELS
CHANNELS

• AUDITORY
• VISUAL
• OLFACTORY
• GUSTATORY

• TACTILE
• WE USE FIVE CHANNELS SEPARATELY
OR IN COMBINATION
COMMUNICATION AS ACTION:
PROBABLE OUTCOMES

ENCODING
DECODING
 ENCODING

• A SENDER CONVERTS
IDEAS INTO SYMBOLS
THAT COMPRISE A
MESSAGE
• MAKES A PREDICTION
ABOUT THE RECEIVER
 DECODING

• ASSIGNING MEANING IN THE

ROLE OF RECEIVER TO
MESSAGE SYMBOLS
GENERATED BY THE SENDER