Lasswell's model of communication

Lasswell's model of communication

(also known as Lasswell's
communication model) describes an act
of communication by defining who said
it, what was said, in what channel it
was said, to whom it was said, and with
what effect it was said. It is regarded by
many communication and public
relations scholars as "one of the earliest
and most influential communication
models."[1]:109 The model was
developed by American political
scientist and communication theorist
Harold Lasswell in 1948 while he was a
professor at Yale Law School.[2] In his
1948 article "The Structure and
Function of Communication in Society",
Lasswell wrote:

convenient way to describe an act of communication is to answer the following questions:

Who

Says What

In Which Channel

To Whom

With What Effect?

Concept and usage

This verbal communication model has been referred to as "a linear and Uni-directional
process", "a one-way process action model" a media theory "classic" widely used
segmentation of the communication process and a simple, linear, and potentially
hypodermic conceptualization of communication. The model organizes the "scientific study
of the process of communication". The main focus of the model is broken down by each
element of communication: "'who' refers to the communicator who formulates the message;
'what' is the content of message; 'channel' indicates the medium of transmission; 'whom'
describes either an individual recipient or the audience of mass communication; 'effect' is
the outcome of the message. The movement of the message travels from the communicator
to the audience. Although this model represents a one-way flow of communication, the
"effect" also refers to feedback in public relations. The model can be used in pedagogical
settings to teach students major elements of a communication process and as a starting
point for developing hypotheses. Lasswell stated that the "Who" referred to "control
analysis", the "Says What" referred to "content analysis", the "In Which Channel" referred to
"media analysis", the "To Whom" referred to "audience analysis", and the "With What Effect"
referred to "effect analysis”.

Question Element Analysis

Who? Control Analysis Control Analysis
Says What? Message Content Analysis
In Which Channel? Medium Media Analysis
To Whom? Audience Audience Analysis
With What Effect? Effects Effects Analysis
Eugene White's Model, Communication
According to Eugene
White's Model,
communication is a
repetitive, cyclical event
but the dynamic quality of
interaction is not depicted.
This model implies a step-
by-step sequence that
starts with thinking in the
part of the speaker and
ends with monitoring the
speaker. The speaker is the
originator of the
communication process and
the listener is the passive
reactor who does not
initiate communication.

These eight stages of oral communication are the following.

1. Thinking– a desire, feeling, or an emotion provides a speaker a stimulus to communicate a

need.

2. Symbolizing– before he can utter sounds, a speaker has to know the code of oral
language with which to represent his ideas and in order to make his selection.

3. Expressing– the speaker then uses his vocal mechanism to produce the sounds of
language accompanied by his facial expression, gestures, and body stance.

4. Transmitting– waves of sound spreading at 1,000 feet per second and waves of light
traveling at a speed of 186,000 miles per second carry the speaker’s message to his
listeners.

5. Receiving– sound waves impinge upon the listener’s ears after which the resulting nerve
impulse search the brain via the auditory nerve; light waves strike the listener’s eyes after
which the resulting nerve impulses reach the brain via the optic nerve.

6. Decoding– the listener interprets the language symbols he receives and thinks further.

7. Feedbacking– the listener may manifest overt behavior like a nod, smile, or yawn or he
may not show any behavior at all (covert behavior like fast heartbeat, a poker face, etc.)

8. Monitoring– while the speaker watches for signs of reception or understanding of his
message among his listeners, he is also attuned to what’s going on inside him; the speaker
is receiving and decoding messages about himself from his audience in order to adjust to
the particular situation.
 Berlo’s Model of
Communication
In 1960, David Berlo postulated
Berlo’s Sender-Message-
Channel-Receiver (SMCR) model
of communication from Shannon
Weaver’s Model of
Communication (1949). He
described factor The model also
focuses on encoding and
decoding which happens before
sender sends the message and
before receiver receives the
message respectively. Berlo’s
Model has mainly, four
components to describe the
communication process. They
are sender, message, channel
and receiver. Each of the
component is affected by many
factors. s affecting the individual
components in the
communication making the
communication more efficient.

Components of Berlo’s Model of Communication

S –Sender -Sender is the source of the message or the person who originates the message.
The person or source sends the message to the receiver. The following are the factor related
to sender and is also the same in the case of receiver.

Communication Skills -Communicatin skills of a person is a factor that affects the

communication process. If the sender has good communication skills, the message will be
communicated better than if the sender’s communication skills are not good. Similarly, if the
receiver can not grasp the message, then the communication will not be effective.
Communication skills include the skills to speak, present, read, write, listening, etc.

Attitude -The attitude of the sender and the receiver creates the effect of the message. The
person’s attitude towards self, the receiver and the environment changes the meaning and
effect of the message.

Knowledge -Familiarity with the subject of the message makes the communicated message
have its effect more. Knowledge on the subject matter makes the communicator send the
message effectively.
Social Systems -Values, beliefs, laws, rules, religion and many other social factors affect
the sender’s way of communicating the message. It creates difference in the generation of
message. Place and situation also fall under social systems.

Culture -differences make messages different. A person from one culture might find
something offensive which is very much accepted in another culture.

M-Message -A message is the substance that is being sent by the sender to the receiver. It
might be in -the form of voice, audio, text, video or other media. The key factors affecting
the message are

Content -is the thing that is in the message. The whole message from beginning to end is
the content.

Elements -are the non verbal things that tag along with the content like gestures, signs,
language, etc.

Treatment - is the way in which the message is conveyed to the receiver. Treatment also
effects the feedback of the receiver.

Structure -The structure of the message or the way it has been structured or arranged,
affects the effectiveness of the message.

Code -is the form in which the message is sent. It might be in the form of language, text,
video, etc.

C-Channel - is the medium used to send the message. In mass communication and other
forms of communication, technical machines might be used as a channel like telephone,
internet, etc. But in general communication, the five senses of a human being is the channel
for the communication flow and it affects the effectiveness of the channel.

 Hearing – We receive the message through hearing.

 Seeing – We perceive through seeing. We also get non-verbal messages by seeing.
 Touching – Many of the non-verbal communication happens from touching like
holding hands.
 Smelling – We collect information from smelling.
 Tasting – Taste also provides the information to be sent as a message.

R- Receiver -is the person who gets the message sent in the process. This model believes
that the thinking pattern and all other factors mentioned above must be in sync to that of
the sender for the communication to be effective. The message might not have the same
effect as intended if the receiver and sender are not similar. The receiver must also have a
very good listening skill. Other factors are similar to that of the sender.

 Communication skills
 Attitudes
 Knowledge
 Social Systems
 Culture
Aristotle Model of Communication
Aristotle(384-322 B.C) was a Greek philosopher and writer born in Stagira, Northern Greece.
He was also the teacher of Alexander the Great. He studied physics, logic, mathematics, etc.
While exploring the human nature scientifically, Aristotle developed a linear model of
communication for oral communication known as Aristotle’s Model of Communication. This is
considered as the first model of communication and was proposed before 300 B.C. It is also
the is most widely accepted among all communication models. Aristotle Model is mainly
focused on speaker and speech. It can be broadly divided into 5 primary elements: Speaker,
Speech, Occasion, Audience and Effect. The Aristotle’s communication model is a speaker

centered model as the speaker has the most important role in it and is the only one active. It
is the speaker’s role to deliver a speech to the audience. The role of the audience is passive,
influenced by the speech. This makes the communication process one way, from speaker to
receiver. The speaker must organize the speech beforehand, according to the target
audience and situation (occasion). The speech must be prepared so that the audience be
persuaded or influenced from the speech. He believed “Rhetoric” is the study of
communication and persuasion and different message or speech should be made for
different audiences at different situations to get desired effects or to establish a
propaganda. This model was highly used to develop public speaking skills and create a
propaganda at that time so, it is less focused on intrapersonal or interpersonal
communication. Even if the model is speaker oriented and focuses on audience interaction
in communication, there is no concept of feedbacks. For instance, a politician (speaker)
gives a speech to get votes from the civilians (audience) at the time of election (occasion).
The civilians only vote if they are influenced by the things the politician says in his speech so
the content must be very impressive to influence the mass and the speaker must design the
message very carefully. The speech must be clear as well as the speaker must have a very
good non-verbal communication with the audience like eye contact. This example is a classic
case of Aristotle Model of Communication depicting all the elements in the model.

Shannon–Weaver
Model
Communication
The Shannon–Weaver model as
portrayed in a report from the
United States Office of
Technology Assessment.

The Shannon–Weaver model of

communication has been called
the "mother of all models. Social
Scientists use the term to refer to
an integrated model of the
concepts of information source,
message, transmitter, signal,
channel, noise, receiver, information destination, probability of error, encoding, decoding,
information rate, channel capacity, etc. However, some consider the name to be misleading,
asserting that the most significant ideas were developed by Shannon alone.

In 1948 Claude Elwood Shannon published A Mathematical Theory of Communication article

in two parts in the July and October numbers of the Bell System Technical Journal. In this
fundamental work he used tools in probability theory, developed by Norbert Wiener, which
were in their nascent stages of being applied to communication theory at that time.
Shannon developed information entropy as a measure for the uncertainty in a message
while essentially inventing what became known as the dominant form of information theory.
The book co-authored with Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication,
reprints Shannon's 1948 article and Weaver's popularization of it, which is accessible to the
non-specialist.[5] In short, Weaver reprinted Shannon's two-part paper, wrote a 28 page
introduction for a 144 page book, and changed the title from "The Mathematical Theory”
Shannon's concepts were also popularized, subject to his own proofreading, in John Robinson
Pierce's Symbols, Signals, and Noise, a popular introduction for non-specialists. The term
Shannon–Weaver model was widely adopted in social science fields such as education,
communication sciences, organizational analysis, psychology, etc. At the same time, it has
been subject to much criticism in the social sciences, as it is supposedly "inappropriate to
represent social processes and "misleading misrepresentation of the nature of human
communication", citing its simplicity and inability to consider context. In engineering,
mathematics, physics, and biology Shannon's theory is used more literally and is referred to
as Shannon theory, or information theory. This means that outside of the social sciences,
fewer people refer to a "Shannon–Weaver" model than to Shannon's information theory;
some may consider it a misinterpretation to attribute the information theoretic channel logic
to Weaver as well.

Barnlund Model of
Communication
Dean Barnlund proposed a
transactional model of
communication in 1970 for basic
interpersonal communication which
articulates that sending and
receiving of messages happens
simultaneously between people
which is popularly known as
Barlund’s Transactional Model of
Communication. The model has
been further adapted and reformed
by other theorists as General
Transactional Model. The model
shifted from the trend of linear
model to dynamic and two way communication model. Barnlund’s Transactional Model is a
multi-layered feedback system. This is a continuous process where sender and receiver
interchanges their places and both are
equally important. The message passing
takes place with a constant feedback
being provided from both parties. A
feedback for one is the message for the
other. Components of Barlund’s model
Cues refers to the signs for doing
something. As per Barnlund there are:
public cues, private cues and behavioral
cues. In the model diagram shown
above, spiral lines gives graphic representation to the assumptions like public cues and
private cues.

 Public cues (Cpu) are physical, environmental or artificial and natural or man-made.
 Private cues (Cpr) are also known as private objects of orientation which include
senses of a person. Both these cues can be verbal as well as non-verbal. Another set
of cues are behavioral cues.
 Behavioral cues can be verbal (Cbehv) as well as non-verbal (Cbehnv).

The arrows and their directions show that the message is intentionally sent and actively
taken where the receiver plays a key role of giving feedback. Arrows also show the process
of production of technical encoding, interpretation and decoding. The jagged lines show that
the availability of cues can be unlimited and are denoted as VVVV. The valence signs, +,0
and – are also attached to these types of cues which illustrates the amount/degree/strength
of attractiveness of the cues in the message. Speech act refers to particular instance of
communication in the model. Filters are the realities of people engaged in communication.
Here the senders’ and receivers’ personal filters might differ according to cultures,
traditions, content of the message, etc. Noise is the problem that arises in communication
flow and disturbs the message flow.

Advantages of Barnlund’s Transactional Model of Communication

 The model shows shared field experience of the sender and receiver.
 Transactional model talks about simultaneous message sending, noise and feedback.
 Barnlund’s model is taken by critics as the most systematic model of communication.

Disadvantages of Barnlund’s Transactional Model of Communication

 Barnlund’s model is very complex.

 Both the sender and receiver must understand the codes sent by the other. So they
must each possess a similar “code book”. (The concept of code book is not
mentioned in the model but understood.)

Schramm’s Model of
Communication
After learning the Shannon weaver
model, let’s find out about Schramm’s
model of communication which has its
roots from the Shannon weaver model
itself. Wilber Schramm proposed the
model of communication in 1954.
Information is of no use unless and
until it is carefully put into words and
conveyed to others. Encoding plays a
very important role because it initiates
the process of communication by
converting the thought into content.
When the information reaches the recipient his prime responsibility is to understand what
the speaker intends to convey. Unless and until the second party is able to understand or
decode the information what the sender wants to communicate, the message is actually of
no use. Thus encoding and decoding are two most important factors of an effective
communication without which information can never flow between two individuals.
Schramm’s model also revolves around the above principle. According to the Schramm’s
model, coding and decoding are the two essential processes of an effective communication.
He also emphasizes that the communication is incomplete unless and until the sender
receives a feedback from the recipient. Imagine a person sharing his thoughts with his friend
and his friend not responding to him. Is the communication complete? NO.Schramm
believed that communication is actually a two way process between the first party and the
second party. Let us understand more with the help of an example

Jennifer to Sam -“Will you accompany me for a movie ?”

Sam kept mum and did not respond and hence the communication between Sam and
Jennifer was not complete. If Sam was not interested for the movie, he could have
responded or given the feedback to Jennifer about his unwillingness. According to
Schramm’s model, whenever the information reaches the recipient, it becomes his
responsibility to give the feedback and let him know if he has downloaded the message in
exactly the same manner the speaker wanted. If he is not clear with anything or has any
doubts, it must be cleared with the speaker. Thus when the speaker conveys any message
to the listener, the listener, decodes the message and once again passes the message to the
speaker after understanding it and completing the full circle.

Sender

M↓ ↑M

Receiver

M - Stands for message

Schramm believed that an individual’s knowledge, experience and cultural background also
play an important role in communication. Individuals from diverse cultures, religion or
background tend to interpret the message in different ways.

Billy to Servant - “Please bring something hot for me to drink as I am suffering from sore
throat.”

The servant brought him a glass of lukewarm water but Billy actually wanted a cup of hot
chocolate coffee. Hence different interpretation by the servant. He was not on the common
grounds with Billy and failed to understand his master’s information. It was neither Billy’s
nor the servant’s fault but actually the differences in both their backgrounds which was to
blame. Go through another example

John to Teddy -“I get late for my office, please buy me a clock”

Teddy went to a local market and gifted a clock to John and John was never late to office
after that. He could have also misinterpreted the message, then how come he could
understand his friend’s desire? A Clock is always a clock whether Teddy has to bring it or
any other individual has to bring it. A clock can never be confused with a wrist watch or for
that matter something else. There are some messages which are more or less same for
everyone. They are called as messages with a Denotative meaning which are almost the
same for all individuals and in such cases chances of misinterpretation and
misunderstanding gets nullified.

Please once again refer to the above situation of John and Teddy and slightly modify the
situation. When John wanted a clock, Teddy brought two clocks for him as he was two
concerned for John and didn’t want him to get late. In this case John actually wanted a single
clock but Teddy brought his emotional quotient and personal affection in between. Such
meanings are called Connotative meaning which are affected by emotional factors. A
message can also get distorted due to wrong body movements, gestures, facial expressions
and many other factors.

To conclude according to this model of communication when a sender passes on the

information to the receiver, the receiver must interpret it in the desired form the sender
wants and give him the feedback or respond accordingly. Any communication where the
sender does not get the feedback, the communication is not complete and thus ineffective

Riley & Riley

Model 0f

C0mmunication
John W. and Matilda White Riley, the husband and wife team of sociologists from Brunswick
published many articles together on communication. The Riley developed a model to
illustrate the sociological implications in communication. They discuss their ideas about
communication theory in an article entitled “Mass Communication and the Social System”
(Sociology Today, 1959). The basis for their ideas lies in the work of Aristotle and Lasswell,
and point out the importance of the sociological view in communication in another way.

 Larger Social Structure 1 contains Communicator, Primary Group a1 and a2.

Communicator (c) is representing the larger social group 1.
 Larger Social Structure 2 contains Receiver, Primary Group b1 and b2. Receiver (R) is
representing the larger social group 2.
  Larger Social group 1 and larger social group 2 is comes under the Over All Social
System.

Who is this Primary Group ?

Primary groups are distinguished by their degree of intimacy say may be friends, relatives.
There is also secondary group otherwise known as the reference group (though not
mentioned in the figure) who doesn’t share a very intimate relationship with C or R but do
influence in the communication process. e.g.: any organization C or R belong to (fan club).

The model indicates that the Communicator (C) sends a message with agreement to the
expectations of the groups and other people in the larger social system. The communicator
is a part of a larger social structure and the group is called as a “Primary Groups”. In simple
words, a communicator is influenced by the primary group.

The Receiver is also works as like as Communicator which is also influenced by the other
groups in the larger social system. The receiver (R) receives the feedback based on the
communicator’s message from its primary social groups. Then send that feedback to
communicator (C) to rectify any issues or problems.

The important point is the both Communicator and Receiver are a part of an over-all social
system.

Importance of the Model:

 The model clearly illustrates that communication is a two-way proposition.

 Communicator and recipient are interdependent and interrelated by feedback

mechanisms.
 Communicator and receiver are part of a larger social context (be it family,
community, or work place); and are not acting in isolation.
Example:

Let’s say there has been a new library website unveiled, it is determined that the library
terms, or jargon, used for navigating the website is confusing the students as they browse
the site. The communicator (C) would be the library Dean and staff who have created the
website and have included terminology and relate to (influence by the primary group). The
college librarians would be the larger social structure in which Communicator (C) is a part of
librarian’s staff community as well as student’s community.The receiver (R) is the college
student who does not understand the jargon and becomes frustrated in his/her search for
information. The receiver, who is a member of sociological groups containing all students,
has their own expectations which is relate to the library web site and how they navigate it.
The Receiver (R) informs about the issues directly to Communicator (c). Based on the
receiver’s compliant, the communicator solves these issues by his primary group members
(staffs). This communication model helps to solve the dispute between the two groups in the
large social structure as well as it evolves the better understanding between those two
groups.

Jakobson's Model of Communication

The six factors of an
effective verbal
communication. To each
one corresponds a
communication function
(not displayed in this
picture). Roman Jakobson
defined six functions of
language (or
communication functions),
according to which an
effective act of verbal
communication can be
described. Each of the
functions has an associated factor. For this work, Jakobson was influenced by Karl Bühler's
organon model, to which he added the poetic, phatic and metalingual functions.

The six functions of language

 The referential function: corresponds to the factor of Context and describes a

situation, object or mental state. The descriptive statements of the referential
function can consist of both definite descriptions and deictic words, e.g. "The autumn
leaves have all fallen now." Similarly, the referential function is associated with an
element whose true value is under questioning especially when the truth value is
identical in both the real and assumptive universe.
 The poetic function: focuses on "the message for its own sake" (the code itself, and
how it is used) and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans.
 The emotive function: relates to the Addresser (sender) and is best exemplified by
interjections and other sound changes that do not alter the denotative meaning of an
utterance but do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state,
e.g. "Wow, what a view!"
 The conative function: engages the Addressee (receiver) directly and is best
illustrated by vocatives and imperatives, e.g. "Tom! Come inside and eat!"
 The phatic function: is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore
associated with the Contact/Channel factor. The Phatic Function can be observed in
greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with strangers. It also
provides the keys to open, maintain, verify or close the communication channel:
"Hello?", "Ok?", "Hummm", "Bye"...
 The metalingual (alternatively called "metalinguistic" or "reflexive") function: is the
use of language (what Jakobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe itself.