Communication Theories

Summary

The definition of communication is: the process of transferring information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood by both sender and receiver. It is a process of exchange information by a common language which using several methods.

Communications theory is the theory that is devoted to the probabilistic characteristics of the transmission of data in the presence of noise, and that is used to advance the design, development, and operation of communications systems. Formal communication theory (rhetorical theory) goes back 2500 years ago to Classical Greece when Plato, Aristotle, and the Sophists were speech teachers. The Greek tradition was continued and improved upon by the Romans, after which it remained static until the twentieth century. Indeed, Classical Rhetoric was and still is being taught today. However, as a result of the proliferation of mass communications via radio, movies, and television, and of empirical scientific methods, communication theory changed in the latter part of the twentieth century. Actually, the main impetus was the need for propaganda techniques and to persuade troops to fight during World War I and World War II.

There are three theorists of communication and the important thoughts illustrated by each model:

• Aristotle: The receiver holds the key to success.
• Lasswell: An effect must be achieved if communication takes place.
• Shannon and Weaver: Semantic noise can be a major communication barrier.
• Schramm: Overlapping experiences makes it easier to communicate successfully.
• The Rileys: Membership in primary groups affects how messages are sent and received.
• Berlo: Several important factors must be considered relating to source, message, channel, receiver.

Example and Self-Experience

Below, it is an interesting movie about The Future of communication.

A classic example of using the wrong channel is that of research conducted by an American newspaper on the eve of the Presidential elections in the 1940's. The message was simple: Who will you vote for? The audience was easy to define: a random sample of voters. The newspaper duly conducted a telephone poll of voters chosen at random from the phone book and announced that the Republicans would win. In fact the Democrats won with a massive victory. The reason they got it wrong was quite simple: at that time only the wealthier members of society would have telephones and the wealthier members of society would vote Republican.

I had an experience with semantic noise before. That happened to me the second day of my first part-time job in the pharmacy; I talked to a customer who asked for help because there was nobody who could come to help her. Since I was not fluent in the customer’s language, the customer got angry with me and complained to my manager in the end.

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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication:

http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~rbrokaw/commtheory.html

http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/comm/cm0109.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu0ztxdsFis
http://dennis2themax.blogspot.com/2008/01/definitions-of-communication.html
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/introductory/lasswell.html