 Models of communication 

are conceptual models used to explain the human communication process.

 A model is widely used to depict any idea, thought or a concept in a more simpler way through diagrams, pictorial
representations etc.
 There are 3 basic components that are integral parts of all communication models. They are:
Source Message Receiver
S------------M------------R
Types of models:
 Linear
 Interactive
 Transactional
 Linear model of communication is a simple one way communication model.
 The message flows in a straight line from sender to the receiver.
 There is no feedback.
 The only task that a receiver to receive the message.
 Linear Model assumes that there is a clear cut beginning and end to communication.
 For example; a letter, email, text message, lecture
 Interactive model of communication is two linear models stacked on top of each other.
 The sender channels a message to the receiver and the receiver then becomes the sender and channels a message
to the original sender.
 This model has added feedback, indicates that communication is not a one way but a two way process.
 It also has “field of experience” which includes our cultural background, ethnicity geographic location, extend of
travel, and general personal experiences accumulated over the course of your lifetime.
 Drawbacks – there is feedback but it is not simultaneous.
 Transactional model of communication assumes that people are connected through communication;
they engage in transaction.
 Firstly, it recognizes that each of us is a sender-receiver, not merely a sender or a receiver.
 Secondly, it recognizes that communication affects all parties involved. So communication is
simultaneous.
Linear models of communication are divided:
 Aristotle’s Model (before 300 B.C.)
 Lasswell's Model (1948)
 Shannon Weaver Model (1948 - 1949)
 Berlo's S-M-C-R Model (1960)

Aristotle’s Models in 384-322 BC

 He developed a linear model of communication for oral communication
 It is considered as the first model of communication and was proposed before 300 BC
 It is also is the most widely accepted among all communication models
 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.
Lasswell’s Model
 Lasswell’s model of communication (also known as action model or linear model or one way model of
communication) is regarded as one the most influential communication models.
 It is a one way model to communicate with others.
 It consists of the sender encoding a message and channeling it to the receiver in the presence of noise.
 Drawbacks – the linear model assumes that there is a clear cut beginning and end to communication. It also
displays no feedback from the receiver.
 For example; a letter, email, text message, lecture.

 This model is used for interpersonal communication or group communication to be disseminated message to

various groups in various situations.
 Lasswell's model was developed to study the media propaganda of countries and businesses at that time.
 Only rich people used to have communication mediums such as televisions and radios back them.
 It was made to show the mass media culture.
Shannon Weaver Model
 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.
 The Shannon–Weaver model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technology.
 Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, message, channel, and receiver.
 The sender was the part of a telephone a person speaks into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the
receiver was the part of the phone through which one can hear the person on the other end of the line.
 Shannon and Weaver argued that this concept entails three levels of problems for communication:
 i. The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted?
ii. The  semantic  problem: how precisely is the meaning 'conveyed'?
iii. The effectiveness problem : how effectively does the received meaning affect behavior?

Berlo’s S-M-C-R Model

 In 1958 he wrote a book “A Philosophy of Education” and in 1960 published his most famous book


 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.

Interactive models of communication are divided:

 Schramm’s Model (1957)
 Helical Model (1967)
 Westley and MacLean’s Model (1957)
Schramm’s Model (1957)
 Schramm's Model has different components for communications where
 Sender (transmitter) is the person who sends the message.
 Encoder is the person who converts the message to be sent into codes.
 Decoder is the person who gets the encoded message which has been sent by the encoder and converts it into the
language understandable by the person.
 Interpreter is the person who tries to understand and analyze the message. Message is received after
interpretation. Interpreter and receiver is the same person.
 Therefore, communication is social interaction where at least two interacting agents share a common set of signs
and a common set of semiotic rules.
 This commonly held rule in some sense ignores autocommunication, including intrapersonal
communication via diaries or self-talk, both secondary phenomena that followed the primary acquisition of
communicative competences within social interactions.
 Receiver is the person who gets the message. He/she decodes and interprets the actual message.
 Message is the data sent by the sender and information that the receiver gets. 
 Feedback is the process of responding to the received message by the receiver.
 Medium or media is the channel used to send the message. 
 Noise is the interference and interruptions caused during the process. It is also created when the intended
meaning of the message sent by the sender and the meaning interpreted by the receiver is different which
is known as Semantic Noise.

 Field of Experience are the things that influences the understanding and interpretation of message like culture,
social background, beliefs, experiences, values and rules.
 Same message can be interpreted differently by different people. If the words and signs they both(sender and
receiver) use are common they communicate more efficiently.
 For example, a person who always eats with spoon is informed that that he has to eat with hands in that place, the
person will get offended because he will think it is impolite to eat that way. Socio-cultural gap will change the way
a person interprets the message.
Context of the relationship
 The people involved must have things in common to talk about. The message must be something important to
both. Communication will be easier if the relationship between the sender and receiver is close.
 For example, old friends will have many things to talk about in comparison to new ones as they will have a larger
mutual social circle.
 Context of social environment influencing the field of reference
 People communicate according to the situation they are in. People act and communicate according to the place,
time, reason and settings they are facing. The same people will act differently when they meet casually or for
official purposes.
Helical Model
 Dance’s model emphasized the difficulties of communication. Frank Dance uses the form of a Helix to describe
communication process. He developed this theory based on a simple helix which gets bigger and bigger as it moves
or grows.
 Frank Dance explains the communication process based on this Helix structure and compares it with
communication. In the Helix structure, the bottom or starting is very small then it’s gradually moves upward in a
back and forth circular motion which form the bigger circle in the top and its still moves further. The whole process
takes some time to reach.
 As like helix, the communication process starts very slowly and defined small circle. Communicators share
information only with small portion of themselves to their relationships. Its gradually develops into next level but
which will take some time to reach and expanding its boundaries to the next level.  Later the communicators
commit more and share more portions themselves.
Example
 When a child is born the only means of communication  is crying, he/she cries for everything like hunger, pain, cold
etc. As the child grows the means of communication become wider and broader. He learns to makes noises then
he learns language to obtain attention and to fulfil his needs. As a Helix the process of communication in this case
started from  crying and later it developed into a complex and compound means.

Westley and MacLean’s Model

 Westley and MacLean’s Model of Communication was suggested by Bruce Westley (1915-1990) and Malcolm S.
MacLean Jr. (1913-2001) in 1957. 
 The Westley and MacLean’s model can be applied in two contexts: interpersonal and mass communication, the
point of difference being the feedback. Feedback is direct and fast in interpersonal communication and indirect
and slow in mass communication. The model also differentiates message as purposive and non-purposive.
 Source (A) – Source is the message creator and sender.
 Environment (X) – Environment is the physical and psychological situation where the message is being created and
sent.
 Sensory experience (X1…) – Sensory experience is the first thing that the source sees by which the source gets the
idea for the formation of the message.
 Objects of Orientation (X1, X2,…) – Objects of orientation is the person’s social and cultural reality that has formed
from his/her past experiences and teachings.
 Message Interpretation or Coding (X’) – Message is interpreted with the objects of orientation of the receiver of
the message.
 Receiver (B) – The person who gets the message sent by the source and the person who interprets according to
his/her objects of orientation.
 Object of Orientation of Receiver (X, b) – The views and ideas of the receiver or his/her social reality is his/her
object of orientation. That is how the receiver interprets the message.
 Feedback (f) – The receiver forms another message after interpreting
the message and sends it back to the sender. It is known as feedback.
 Gatekeeper (C) – Gatekeepers are found in mass communication. The
gatekeeper is the editor who filters the message as per the needs of
the audience and media institution.
 Opinion Leader – Opinion leaders are well known and recognized
people who can influence public opinions.
 Transactional models of communication are divided:
 Barnlund’s Transactional Model (1970)
 Becker’s Mosaic Model (1986)
Barnlund’s Transactional Model (1970)
 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.
 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.


 Barlund’s Transactional Model
 Public cues (Cpu) 
 Private cues (Cpr) 
 Behavioral cues can be verbal (Cbehv) as well as non-verbal (Cbehnv).
 The jagged lines (VVVV)
 The valence signs, +,0 and –
 Speech act 
 Filters 
 Noise 

Becker’s Mosaic Model of Communication

 Every person lives and exists in the web of communications which reciprocally makes the person unique.
Messages construct humans and humans construct messages.
 Message depends on information source, culture, social situations, and environment.
 The constructed message is just a small step to the formation of complicated communication
environment which is known as a “Mosaic”.
 The mosaic is formed from the network of bits of information.
 Bits of information help in making a complete picture of any situation.
 There are many sources of information and messages.
 Every individual will take the information that he/she needs and ignores all others.
 These fragments of information can be about anything, in any time and in any space. The channels the
bits are sent can also vary.
 These bits are pieced together by a person as per the needs to form a message.
 When another person receives the message, the second person not only interprets according to the bits
of information that is in the message, but also interprets it with the help of all the past bits of information the
person can relate the message to.