Models of Communication Study Notes

Communication models provide visual representations through diagrams or pictorial representations to simplify the understanding of the complex communication process.
Models describe communication, visually display relationships among elements, and help identify and correct communication problems.
The three standard models of communication are the linear model, interactive model, and transactional model.

Overview: A unidirectional, one-way process with a distinct beginning and end where roles between sender and receiver do not interchange.
Characteristics: Promotes advice and influence rather than mutual understanding; sender is the prominent figure.
Disadvantages: Lacks feedback and does not demonstrate how context or personal experiences impact communication.
Aristotle's Model: Proposed before $300\text{ BC}$ ; the oldest model, focusing on the speaker and speech across five primary elements. Designed for public speaking and propaganda, keeping the audience passive.
Lasswell's Model: Developed by Harold D. Lasswell in $1948$ as an action model to analyze mass communication. Describes who, says what, which channel, to whom, and with what effect.
Berlo's SMCR Model: Postulated by David Berlo with four components (Sender, Message, Channel, Receiver) along with factors affecting each component.
Shannon-Weaver Model: Formed in $1949$ by Claude L. Wood Shannon and Warren Weaver. Known as the "mother of all communication models," created to improve technical communication in radio and television. Contains five elements (source, transmitter, channel, receiver, destination) and a sixth dysfunctional element, noise. Criticized for lacking feedback.

Overview: Also known as the convergence model; a two-way exchange of ideas and messages between sender and receiver.
Characteristics: Incorporates feedback and the field of experience, focusing more on interaction and forming relationships than on the message itself.
Applications & Disadvantages: Used for new technologies like the internet and social media. Its main drawback is the lack of simultaneous feedback, making feedback slow or indirect.
Schramm's Model: Developed by Wilbur Schramm; demonstrates that a shared field of experience (commonality of experience) between sender and receiver is necessary for effective interaction.

Overview: A continuous, interdependent two-way process where senders and receivers act simultaneously as communicators.
Characteristics: Offers simultaneous and instant feedback with no discrimination between sender and receiver; continues until the purpose of the transaction is achieved.
Disadvantages: Simultaneous communication generates unnecessary noise; non-verbal feedback without verbal responses can make it impossible to verify if the message was received as intended.
Barnlund's Model: Proposed by Dean Barnlund in $1970$ ; a multi-layered feedback system where sending, receiving, and continuous feedback occur simultaneously between parties.
Helical Model: Proposed by Frank Dance in $1967$ ; inspired by a helix (a three-dimensional spring-like curve in the shape of a cylinder or cone). Views communication as a dynamic process that progresses as experiences increase with age.

Does the television respond when a viewer talks back to a sports event or dramatic show?
- No, the television will never respond, demonstrating the linear model's total absence of feedback.
Which communication model is the most effective?
- The effectiveness of a model depends on the context, required feedback speed, and whether interaction is continuous or unidirectional.