LESSON Explaining the Nature 2 of Communication Introducing the Models of Communication The best way to understand communication is to see it graphically. Many authors and researchers have come up with their own models based on what they want to emphasize as being an important component of communication. The following four models of communication will introduce the elements of communication, which will be discussed in the next lesson, a The first and earliest model is that of Aristotle (58C), who was a teacher of Rhetoric and even put up an academy to produce good speakers. The following is a representation of his model: (Listener) SPEAKER UDIENCE| ARISTOTLE’S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION Although Aristotle focused on the Speaker and the Message, the most important part in his model is the Setting where the Listener is situated. It is the Setting that dictates the Message. The three settings in Aristotle's time were legal, deliberative, and ceremonial. The Legal Setting meant the courts where ordinary people defended themselves (there were no lawyers then). The Deliberative Setting meant the political assemblies, the highest of which was the Roman Senate. The Ceremonial Setting meant the celebrations held when they won a war, when they lost a leader or had a new one, and when they welcomed a visiting leader from another kingdom or country. Such occasions called for speeches of welcome, poems of tribute or of eulogies, and poems of lament. The second model is that of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1948) which gave us the concept of “noise” This often called the Telephone Model because it is based on the experience of having the message interfered with by “noise” from the telephone switchboard back in the 1940s. In this model, Shannon and Weaver assert that the Message sent by the Source (Speaker) is not necessarily the Message received by the Destination (Listener) This is due to the intervention of noise” or anything that hampers the communication. Even today, with our advanced cellphone technology, there are still barriers to clear transmission and reception of calls. Dropped calls, calls that echo, faint signals—all interfere with the communication of the message.