COMM102 MOD 1.pdf

COMMUNICATION PROCESS AND ELEMENTS 3rd: ENCODING Encoding is the process of assembling the message (information, ideas and thoughts) into...

COMMUNICATION PROCESS AND ELEMENTS 3rd: ENCODING Encoding is the process of assembling the message (information, ideas and thoughts) into a representative design ✧ DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION with the objective of ensuring that the receiver can comprehend it. WHAT IS COMMUNICATION? The relational process of creating and interpreting messages 4th: CHANNEL that elicits a response. -Em Griffin An encoded message is conveyed by the source through a channel. There are numerous channel categories: verbal, A social process in which individuals employ symbols to non-verbal, personal, non-personal, etc. establish and interpret meaning in their environment. - West & Turner, 2010 5th: DECODING This is where listening, and reading directions carefully, makes Comes from the Latin word “communis”, which means "to its claim to famedecode with care, my friends. make common". It is having something in common with the other person or being. 6th: RECEIVER Ultimately, the message is delivered to the receiver. A good It is a process that is ongoing, unending, dynamic, complex communicator takes the receiver's preconceptions and and continually changing. Dynamics of meaning making, frames of reference into consideration. hence there is no beginning and ending. 7th: FEEDBACK Communication is affected by individual and cultural A better word might be "reaction" or "responses." The source changes. judges its success based on the feedback it receives, so pay close attention. Elements involved in the communication process: source ✧ COMMUNICATION PROCESS message/(encoding) The communication process involves a sender, channel, and channel receiver, with a feedback loop ensuring messages are receiver/(decoding) understood despite potential noise. feedback context THREE COMPONENTS interference/noise Sender/Encoding: Initiates communication by encoding a message. Simple definition: Channel: Method of delivery, like email, phone SENDER sends a MESSAGE to a RECEIVER by means of some conversations, instant messages, text messages, or CHANNEL to produce a RESPONSE from the RECEIVER according face-to-face talks to the intention of the SOURCE Receiver/Decoding: Decodes the message, interpreting its meaning. COMMUNICATION - the imparting or exchanging of information or news. Most communication exchanges involve a continued dialogue - simply the act of transferring information from one between senders and receivers. place to another. Feedback Loop: Ensures messages are properly received and understood. ✧ 7 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION Effective Listening: Distinguishes between hearing and truly listening for understanding. Relies on active 1st: SOURCE listening, which involves engaging with the message The source is the person attempting to share information. The rather than passively hearing it, leading to better source can be a living or nonliving entity. comprehension. 2nd: MESSAGE Understanding is achieved when both sender and receiver At first glance, the message is simply the information you want agree on the shared meaning of a message, without the need to communicate. But it goes deeper than that. for inferences and assumptions. Not always achieved: Communication theorists examine messages from a semiotic perspective.  Noise: Interference that disrupts communication - ‘Communication research’ covered only media between sender and receiver, such as physical or effects done in sociology, psychology, political psychological distractions. science, and journalism. ○ Psychological- things that are going on in your head as you engage in the World War II created an urgent need to find effective ways to communication process, can be any inform, influence, and inspire maximum support for the war personal opinions, stereotypes, perspectives efforts. Ex. military recruitment ○ Physical- physical sounds that make it difficult to hear someone’s message Leading social scientists converged in Washington to discover ○ Physiological- hunger, fatigue, headache, how broadcast messages affected listeners. stress, or really anything that prevents us from giving our full attention WILBUR SCHRAMM ○ Semantic- have a hard time understanding He trained the first generation of empirically oriented the words, language, or grammatical communication researchers. He identified four founding structure of a message (cross-cultural fathers of communication research: Harold Lasswell, Kurt communication) Lewin, Paul Lazarsfeld and Carl Hovland. Example: Mary and Octopus Man illustrate the importance of HAROLD LASSWELL (Political scientist) clear communication in achieving goals. He analyzed content of Nazi propaganda to determine why it had powerful effects - encode all information - convey her message verbally (channel) defined: who said it, what was said, in what channel it was - octopus man gives feedback (shared understanding) said, to whom it was said, and with what effect it was said. The Empirical Revolution (1950-1970) - Communication discipline was becoming more DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF scientific. COMMUNICATION - Shannon and Weaver presented the linear mathematical model. - David Berlo (wrote the leading communication ✧ HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION textbook in the 1960s) - Communication model: SMCR - source, message, Two perspectives: channel, receiver 1. Scientific Perspective (Western) Communication is the transmission and reception of information. -Engr. Claude Turbulent Sixties (1960-1970) Shannon - Launching Pad for Interpersonal Communication - Considered the coercive techniques of social 2. Humanistic Perspective (Europe) Communication is the agitation, nonverbal behavior, and the power of mass generation of meaning. -Philosopher I.A. Richards media in shaping culture. Early Years (1900-1950) Rise of Rhetoric The Hunt for a Universal Model (1970-1980) - Communication as an artful public address. - Critical theorists from Europe migrated to the US; - They scoffed at the media research establishment Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or that professed to be neutral, but always ended up writing; especially the use of figures of speech and other serving those who held political and economic power. compositional techniques. Ferment in the field (1980 to present): Recent trends in Aristotle’s Rhetoric communication research Persuasive discourse was analyzed by logos, pathos, ethos (or - Interpretive research - e.g. cultural studies, feminist logical, emotional, and ethical appeals). critiques - Ethnographic methods Communication and social change (1930-1960): - Interpersonal scholarship and personal relationships Media Effects 1993: Fragmentation in the field Journal of Communication Before WWII 1999: Robert T. Craig’s landmark article on 7 theoretical traditions unifying theories; Visual Communication 2007: Book on the 7 Theoretical Traditions - visual display of information, like, topography, photography, signs, symbols and designs ✧ MODELS AND TYPES OF COMMUNICATION - the process of using message to generate meanings in a mediated system, between a source and a large COMMUNICATION number of unseen receivers (e.g. TV show Communication is a basic feature of social life. It is through broadcasted via TV to viewers) communication with one another that personal relationships, communities and societies are made and maintained and it is Oral Communication through these social networks and relationships that we The ability to talk with others to give and exchange information become who we are. (Good, 2001) & ideas, such as ask questions, give directions, coordinate, work, tasks, explain & persuade It is a process in which participants create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual Intrapersonal Communication understanding. (Rogers, 1995) - internal use of language or thought. - communication with one’s self, and that may include self-talk, acts of imagination and visualization, and even recall and memory (McLean, S2005) Interpersonal Communication The exchange of information between two or more people. It involves independent individuals with own motivations, expectations, and interpretations. ‘Self Talk’: When Talking to Yourself, the Way You Do It Makes a Difference (from The Wall Street Journal): Based on Parties Do you ever talk to yourself? Be honest. Researchers say 1.Internal- communication within an organization; talking to yourself, out loud, is more common than many of us 2.External- communication with customers, other projects, might care to admit. Psychologists call it “self talk” and say vendors, etc. who do not belong within an organization how we do it makes a big difference in both our mood and our behavior. 1. Internal Communication involves communicating inside the organization with your colleagues and supervisors, or the ✧ MODELS OF COMMUNICATION people you work with. 2. External Communication involves communicating outside the organization, perhaps the customers, clients, suppliers, competitors and other organizations. Based on Internal Communication 1.Horizontal- communication between people, divisions, departments or units within the same level of organizational hierarchy; 2.Vertical- communication between different levels of the organizational hierarchy - 1. Linear Model ✧ Kinds/Types of Communication - first attempt on how this process works Verbal Communication (written and oral) - when communicating, the source will encode a - Verbal communication includes sounds, words, message, or take an idea and give it meaning language and speaking/writing through words, and send it to a receiver through a channel, or the medium through which a message is Non-verbal Communication delivered: such as phone, computer, handwritten - involves physical ways of communication, like, tone of note, or even face to face. the voice, touch, smell and body motion  - once the message is sent, it is up to the receiver to through unfamiliar territory.” (can guide us in our inquiry, decode, or draw meaning from the message search of meaning, ir uncharted territories of knowledge) - it also recognizes that both physical and - Em Griffin, A First Look At Communication Theory, 3rd psychological noise play a large role in how we both ed., 1997. encode and decode messages - the linear model was an excellent start but it is Theory is “a set of interrelated propositions that suggest why missing key elements events occur in the manner that they do.” - Hoover, K. R. (1984) The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking (3rd ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press “Theory is more accurately defined as a set of interrelated concepts that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations for the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena.” (to explain, to predict) - Tucker, Weaver, and Berryman-Fink, in Research in Speech Communication, 1981 “A (scientific) theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, Interactive Model laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.” - like the linear model but as the receiver is being sent - National Academy of Sciences,Boss, J. (2010). Think; a message, the receiver is also sending feedback to Critical Thinking for Everyday Life. New the source through their verbal and nonverbal responses to the message A theory is an abstract system of concepts and their - recognizes that communication can be influenced by relationship that help us understand a phenomenon. environment, or the context in which communication is taking place It attempts to make sense of things. A theory offers an account - it is still missing some key elements of what something is, how it works, what it produces to happen, and what can change how it operates.” (Wood, 2004) Communication (meaning making, relational, 2 way process) theory attempts to explain the production of information, how this information is transmitted, the methods used to convey it, and how meaning is thereby created and shared. (process of meaning making) ✧ Components of a Theory 1. Concepts are “labels” that theorists make to the patterns that they found across many inquiries. They are words or terms that label the elements of a theory. Transactional model - when communicating in the real world, each Concepts can be: individual take turns being both the source and the Real - directly observable (e.g., personal ritual, spatial, receiver, and sometimes they are both distance) simultaneously Nominal - not directly observable (e.g., democracy, love) Examples: DEFINITION, SIGNIFICANCE AND FUNCTIONS Groupthink - cohesiveness Dissonance (Cognitive dissonance) OF COMMUNICATION THEORY Cultivation (Cultivation theory) ✧ What is a Communication Theory? 2. Relationships: ways in which the concepts in the theory are “Theories are maps of reality. The truth they depict may be combined objective facts ‘out there’ or subjective meanings inside our Causal explanations heads. Either way we need to have a theory to guide us Practical explanations  Robert Craig propounded a model that encapsulates the field ✧ Theories of communication into seven traditions. focus attention on particular concepts clarify our observations The traditions reveal the breadth and diversity that spans the predict communication behavior field of communication theory. generate personal and social change (Littlejohn, 1999) Each Of these traditions captures a different aspect or specialized area of communication and knowing each one Functions of Theories gives new, and sometimes conflicting viewpoints, 1. Organize experience - a theory is a summary of the patterns on why we relate and comprehend the information we absorb seen from different observations about a certain event on a daily basis 2. Extend knowledge - it allows us to see implications that are. not evident from individual observations Each tradition: 3.Stimulate and guide further research - has a heuristic tends to define communication; function; It points the way to look for further knowledge and suggest a practical communication problem that this explanations kind of theory addresses; provide an example of research that the tradition has What is a heuristic function? inspired; Function in which one uses language as a means of exploring, learning, and acquiring knowledge about one’s environment, typically through the use of questions. (even question status quo) 4. Predict - they allow us to anticipate events we may never have encountered. Theories are lenses for understanding the world around us. Functions: Theories allow us: to organize and understand communication experiences; select communication behavior to study; broaden our understanding of human communication; ✧ Objective/Scientific Territory predict and control communication situations; challenge current social and cultural relationships, and An objective theory is credible because it offer new ways of thinking and living. fulfills the twin objectives of scientific knowledge. The theory explains the past and present, and it predicts the future. THE SEVEN TRADITIONS OF COMMUNICATION Social scientists of all kinds agree on four additional criteria a theory must meet to be THEORY good: relative simplicity The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what testability we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary practical utility view of society. It becomes a case either you're with us or against us. And if you're against us, you deserve to be quantifiable research. "canceled". -Rowan Atkinson ✧ Interpretive Territory constructed different ways of categorizing them to aid in understanding the theories better. There is no universally approved model for interpretive different traditions of understanding theories, rhetoricians, critical theorists, and other interpreters to better explain different concepts and viewpoint of repeatedly urge that theories should accomplish some or all of communication the following functions:  create understanding recognized through communication practices that cable identify values critical reflection. inspire aesthetic appreciation stimulate agreement Phenomenological tradition reform society Communication is theorized as dialogue. Authentic human conduct qualitative research relationships are sustained, and common ground is established through the direct experience of others (Craig, 1999; Griffin: 2003; Maguire, 2006). Therefore, this paper shall explicitly explain each tradition with contemporary examples. ✧ THE SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION Communication as interpersonal interaction and influence Scholars in this tradition believe there are communication truths that can be discovered by careful, systematic observation. They look for cause-and-effect relationships that will predict the results when people communicate. When they find causal links, they are well on the way to answering the ever-present question that relationship and persuasion practitioners ask: How can I get others to change? Socio psychological tradition Communication is theorized as expression, interaction, and (behavioral approach, focusing on stimuli and reaction, influence. Cause-and-effect relationships can be discovered esperssion, interaction and influence, seeking for universal through careful, systematic observation. laws) Cybernetic tradition ✧ CYBERNETICS TRADITION Communication is theorized as information processing, with the goal of getting the most information across with the Icast Communication as a System of Information Processing amount of interference. Feedback is the key concept that makes effective communication possible within a system. The study of information processing,feedback, and control in communication systems. Rhetorical tradition Concept of feedback anchored Communication is theorized as the practical art of discourse. the cybernetic tradition, which regards Persuasion in the context of collective or public deliberation is communication as the link connecting the separate often the focus of teaching and inquiry. parts of any system, such as a computer system, a family system, a media system, or a system of social Semiotic tradition support. Communication is theorized as intersubjective mediation by Seeks to answers: How does the system work? What signs and symbols. Because meanings are in people, gaps could change it? and How can we get the bugs out? between subjective realities are bridged through a shared language or sign system. (focuses on the system, individuals, organizations and channels, goal oriented, what is received can be different from Socio-cultural tradition the initial senders’ message, first one to outline importance of Communication is theorized as the (re)production of social feedback) order. Reality is socially constructed through micro level interaction processes. ✧ RHETORICAL TRADITION Communication as Artful Public Address Critical tradition Communication is theorized as discursive reflection. Social Rhetoric is the art of using all available means of persuasion, justice can be restored when ideological distortions are focusing upon lines of argument, organization of ideas, language use, and delivery in public speaking.  Rhetoric is more art than science. Critical scholars also condemn each use of words, Rhetoric is the discovery of all available means of persuasion. which hinders emancipation. For Example, feminists argue that women as a group usually do not speak in (influence through verbal and non-verbal communication, full voice because men control language. As a originated in Ancient Greece) result,the public discourse is full of war and sport metaphors, masculine domains with their own ✧ THE SEMIOTIC TRADITION internal jargon. Such a vision of groups devoid of the right to voice their opinions is not new at all. Communication as the Process of Sharing Meaning Through Signs (Discursive reflection, Frankfurt school, Discourse) ideology, Group who controls the language can be dominant within the Semiotics given society) The study of verbal and nonverbal signs that can stand for something else, and how their interpretation impacts society. ✧ THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL TRADITION Symbols Communication as the Experience ofSelf and Others Through Arbitrary words and nonverbal signs that bear no Dialogue natural connection with the things they describe; their meaning is learned within a given culture. Phenomenology: Intentional analysis of everyday experience from the standpoint of the person who is living it; explores the (already ‘spokens’, (re)presentation and transmission of possibility of understanding the experience of self and others. meaning, reality is not usually clearly spoken, decoding signs) (Standpoints and perceptions , interactions, questioning ✧ THE SOCIO-CULTURAL TRADITION semiotics and rhetoric, because some symbols may be Communication as the Creation and Enactment of Social interpreted in different viewpoints) Reality RECAP The socio-cultural tradition is based on the premise Cybernetic that as people talk, they produce and reproduce - all about the linear or not linear process but about culture. Most of us assume that words reflect what the system through which we transmit our message actually exists. Theorist in this tradition suggest that the process Socio-psychological often works the other way around. Our view of reality - focusing at an individual in this behavioral aspect of is strongly shaped by the language we use. his communicating practices Claims that the structure of a language shapes what people think and do; the social construction of reality. Socio-cultural Process of communication that "reality is produced, - relies on the context and the culture and the way how maintained, repaired, and transformed." do we reproduce this culture throughout the In this tradition, communication is considered as a communication process that involves concepts like social structure, Critical norms, rituals, identities and collective belief systems. - all about ideology and discourse This system focuses on the effects of the production, maintenance and reproduction of social formations Rhetorical (Ochieng, 2014). - it’s his communication as art of public speaking (Communication as a symbolic process in reproduction of Phenomenological social order: context, culture, social practices are created - focusing on the way how de we understand through interaction) experiences of other people and experiences of the communication practices themselves ✧ THE CRITICAL TRADITION Semiotic Communication as a Reflective Challenge Of Unjust Discourse - all about science and symbol which we can decode ow which will fail to decode The control of language perpetuates power imbalances.