Understanding

Communication
 English word “Communication”
derived from
• Latin noun “communis” +
• Latin verb “ communicare”
• Which means ‘to make common’
 Communication simply put is
• 2 or more people coming together to
share, to commune
• Communication not just an actor process
but a social and cultural ‘togetherness’
 Communication as a Social
Science
• Communication Science or Communication
Studies – involved with popular cultures, people
as communicators
• Studies of propaganda by social scientists
resulted in interest among govts and
academicians
• Government funds for communication research
• Business & industry promoted media research
Communication Studies influenced
by
• Research, rapid growth of press, cinema,
radio, TV
• Owes origin to US 1930s –Institute of
Propaganda Research established for
influencing public opinion
• In UK & France – roots in literary and
linguistic studies
• In Germany – trace to Institute of Social
Research & Freudian psychoanalysis
• India – established with govt’s need for
propagating family planning, social
development and national integration
• The Indian Institute of Mass
Communication 1965
• Ministry of Information & Broadcasting –
training & conduct research
• University depts joined in
 Need for Communication
• Strong in Human beings
• Basic need as in eating, sleeping etc
• Both social & individual need
 Communication involves
• Active interaction with environments – physical,
biological & social
• When we acknowledge this, we adapt to the
environment
• The basic need for communication can be traced to the
process of mankind’s evolution from lower species
(animals sensory faculty to find food, protect )
• Lack of communication (& Excommunication”) or
‘sensory overload’ can be disorienting – can lead to
anxiety, apathy, impaired judgement, hallucinations,
schizophrenia
• Sensory overload – info explosion – satellite TV, internet
etc
 Communication & Language
• Sensory Communication was not enough
• Hence evolution of symbolic
Communication called ‘language’
• Non-verbal gestures to verbal, then to
written, printed word
• Language intertwined with culture
 Communication as Information
• Communication not just sending and
receiving info
• It is the whole experience – a human
relationship
• Significant info can bring about a
Communication relationship
 Right to Communicate
• Right to Info declared fundamental right
-United Nations Charter and Freedom of
Information Bill May 1997 (India)
 Defining Communication
• Interaction, interchange, transaction,
dialogue, sharing, communion and
commonness
• Communication is a process which
increases commonality – but also requires
elements of commonality for it to occur at
all – Denis McQuail
• Human Communication is a clash of symbols
and covers a multitude of signs. It is more than
media and message, information and
persuasion; it also meets a deeper need and
serves a higher purpose. Whether clear or
garbled, tumultuous or silent, deliberate or
inadvertent, communication is the ground of
meeting and the foundation of the community. It
is, in short, the essential human connection. –
Ashley Montagu and Floyd Mason
• Interaction within a culture is governed not so
much by language, but by ‘body synthesizers’
set in motion almost immediately after birth and
thereafter conditioned by culture.
Communication, therefore, is not a matter of
isolated entities sending discrete messages
back and forth, but a process of mutual
participation in a common structure of rhythmic
patterns by all members of a culture. – W S
Cardon
 Types of Communication
• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal (Face-to-face)
• Transpersonal
• Mass
 Intrapersonal Communication

• Individual reflection, contemplation,

meditation
• Transcendental meditation – is example of
this
 Interpersonal (face-to-face)
Communication
• Direct face-to-face between 2 persons
• Dialogue, conversation
• More persuasive, influential
• Privacy, personal space
• Different in different cultures
• Can be focused or unfocused interactions
 3 Stages of Interpersonal
Communication
• The Phatic Stage (warming up, hi hello
stage)
• The Personal Stage (more personal
element)
• The Intimate Stage (for friends, relatives,
degree of intimacy, reveal innermost
thoughts and feelings)
 Transpersonal Communication
• Conversing with divine, with spirits,
ancestors
• Vital experience in religious and monastic,
ashram life
 Group Communication
• The larger the group, the less personal and
intimate in possibility of exchange
• Degree of directness and intimacy depends on
size of group, the place where it meets, rel’ship
of members to one another, and to group leader
• So mutual participation & understanding may
suffer
• More complex than Interpersonal
Communication
• Feedback in key word
• In Interpersonal communication feedback
is instant, but not in group communication
• Face-to-face communication more
persuasive and influential
 Mass Communication
• Group communication has now been
extended by tools of mass communication
: books, press, cinema, radio, TV, internet,
mobile
• Generally identified with modern MASS
MEDIA
 Power of media
• Media and Law?
• Media and Celebrities?
• Media and Cinema?
• Mass Media and the Consumer?
• Mass Media and Politics?
• Mass Media and education?
• Mass Media & Health?
• Media and Sports?
 Interactive communication
• Via new media – video, cable, tele-
shopping, video-on-demand, teletext,
computers, internet – termed ‘interactive
communications’
• Telecommunications-based services –
telephones, pagers, cellular also
‘interactive’