Introduction to Communication
Lizee Vincent
MODELS
A model is a representation of real world phenomenon in more abstract terms which can be
applied to different forms at different times. Communication is extremely complex process; it is
ever changing which makes it more complex. Complexity and constant change in
communication process makes it imperative that these elements and processes should be
presented in simple and generalized way to better explain and understand the structure and
functions of communication. Communication Models present this simplification. The format of
Communication Models depends on how we define and understand the process of
communication and how these are applicable to different forms of communication.
Functions of Communication Models
1. Models organize the various elements and process of communication act in a meaningful
and interesting way
2. Models aid in discovery of new facts about communication. Models should generate
questions concerning communications that can be researched
3. Models enables us to make predictions concerning communications i.e., what will
happen under certain conditions.
4. Models may provide means of measuring the elements and processes involved in
communication
Aristotle’s Rhetoric
Speaker
Speech
Audience
Effect
OCCASSION
Aristotle’s Model is simple and linear. Aristotle included five essential elements if
communication; the speaker, the speech or message, the audience, the occasion and the effects.
In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle advises the speaker on constructing a speech for different
audience on different occasions and for different effects. The aim of rhetoric is the search for all
possible means of persuasion. Western theories and models of communication have their origin
in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. This model is more applicable to public speaking than to interpersonal
communication.
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Lasswell Model of Communication
Harold D. Lasswell, an American political scientist, proposed a communication model in 1948,
which was not different from Aristotle’s Model presented 2300 years ago.
Lasswell’s Model portrays the message flow in a pluralistic society in which there are numerous
channels and multiple audiences. One could describe the pattern of message flow in modern
society through this Model.
Communication Component
Who
Says What
In What Channel
To Whom
With What Effect
Research Area
Control Analysis
Content Analysis
Media Analysis
Audience Analysis
Effect Analysis
Though this Model was developed to analyze mass communication, this model is used for
interpersonal or group communication to disseminate message to various groups in various
situations.
This Model was developed to study the media propaganda of countries and business at that
time. Only rich people used to have communication mediums such as TV and radios back then.
The Model was made to show mass media culture.
Laswell also brought the concept of “Effective Communication Process.” He talked about the
relation between presentations of facts and how it generates different effects. The use of
concept of effect makes Lasswell’s Model non-linear unlike its name. It is because effect can be
taken as feedback. Though, generally, the component of effect was made to be more about the
outcome of the message, the Model is applied in different media and fields despite being
developed specifically for mass communication. This Model is similar to the Communication
Model proposed by Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver. Their Model is more graphical than
Lasswell’s. George Gerbner expanded Lasswell’s Model and included the concept of reaction of
the receiver.
The major criticism of this Model is that it does not include feedback and it ignores the
possibility of noise. Without feedback, a communication process cannot be fruitful. The model
is also criticised for being very general and only including very traditional topics. The model is
very simplistic. The model is said to be propaganda based as it is more focused on the resulting
outcome and it is generally used for media persuasion.
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Shannon and Weaver Mathematical Model of Communication
Shannon and Weaver’s Mathematical Model appeared in 1949 in the classic text The
Mathematical Theory of Communication, by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver. It is the most
influential linear model and it was developed to help telephone engineers design efficient ways
to transmit electrical signals from place to place.
The Shannon–Weaver Mathematical Model was essentially a line from left to right that
travelled through boxes, depicting an information source sending a message through a
transmitter (encoder), which transforms the message to a signal, sending it through a channel
that is affected by noise. The signal then passes through a receiver (decoder), which transforms
the signal back to a message that finally reaches its destination. In the process of transmission
certain distortions are added to the signal which are not part of the message send by the source
and we call this Noise.
Information
Source
Transmitter
Message
Receiver
Signal
Received
Signal
Destination
Message
Noise Source
The Shannon–Weaver model was not meant to describe face-to-face human communication, but
it provided a baseline from which to do so. In live human interaction, one person (the source)
sends a set of oral signals (sounds) through the airwaves (channel) to the second person
(destination) via that person’s ears (receiver). If there is a lot of physical noise, this oral
message may not get through. In terms of electronic communication, a message may go
through several links of signals and channels before reaching a final destination.
Channel Noise: This suggests anything which interfers with the physical transmission of the
message. Shannon and Weaver introduced this concept first time in communication process.
In media channels, this can be identified with the state of technology, operation of technology,
physical (through purchasing power) and social access to these channels and people’s exposure
to actual message.
In interpersonal communication, channel noise may be any distraction between the source and
the receiver. Principle of redundancy is used to reduce channel noise both in mass media and
interpersonal communication channels.
Semantic Noise: This occurs when message is misunderstood because of lack of understanding
of communicator’s frame of reference where receiver does not ascribes the same meaning to the
message what the communicator want or communicator uses difficult words or unknown terms.
Semantic noise can be reduced if communicator adjusts his vocabulary to audience needs,
interests and understanding.
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Osgood and Schramm Model of Communication
In 1954, Wilbur Schramm and Charles Osgood created one of the first models of face-to-face
human communication. Rather than a sender and a receiver, Schramm’s model depicted
interpreters who were simultaneously encoders and decoders. Though messages were still
depicted as travelling along a line, the line was circular, beginning with the first interpreter as
an encoder, travelling to the second interpreter as a decoder, and then returning from the
second interpreter as an encoder back to the original interpreter as a decoder. Schramm was
the first scholar to model communication as an interactive process. This form of model is known
as a circular model, also called a model of communication-as- interaction. Schramm’s inclusion
of the notion of interpretation is the conceptual basis for the meaning-centred approach at the
heart of the constitutive view.
Message
Decoder
Encoder
Interpreter
Interpreter
Encoder
Decoder
Message
The important characteristic of this model is that the receiver is also a sender of message. Thus
the message moves in cycles. And the sender and the receiver interact with one another
establishing a kind of interactive relationship between the source and the receiver wherein
person may be source one moment and a receiver the next and again a source the following
moment. This process mostly takes place in interactive communication.
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Gerbner’s Model of Communication
George Gerbner is one of the pioneers of communication research. In 1956, he
attempted the general purpose of communication model in which the communication
act is seen as a transmission of messages. The model assumes significance as it is seen
as an advancement over earlier models in two ways. It relates the messages to reality
and thus enables us to approach the question of perception and meaning; further it sees
communication process as consisting of two dimensions-Perceptual Dimension or
receptive dimension and the communicating or Means and Control dimension.
Perpetual Dimension:- In this Dimension E is an event in real life and it is perceived by
M man or machine. The event perceived by M becomes E1 which is only a portion of the
event because M has perceived it as according to his mood, attitude, culture etc. This is
known as “Perceptual Dimension.” There are three factors that involve between M and E
in perceptual dimension, selection, context and availability.
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M selects the interesting or needed content from the entire event E and filters out the
others.
The event occurs in a certain context and Availability is based on M’s mood, attitude,
culture and personality.
For example, the perception of a message from an event by a journalist; he cannot focus
on the entire event so, he filters out the excess information from the event. This filtered
event is not the same as the real event it is just a representation of the entire event
because the journalist has edited the event based on his attitude, mood, culture,
personality or press policies.
Means and Control Dimension: In this dimension E2 is the new event content drawn up
by M. Here M becomes the source to send the message bout E to someone else. M
creates signals or statements about the message S and Gerbner terms it as SE2. Here
S(form or signals) takeE2(M’s content). Here E2 is structured or formed by M and it can
communicate in a number of ways or based on the way structured.
M has to use channels to communicate and the channels are more or less controlled by
M. The question of control relates to M’s skill in using communication channels.
This process can be extended to infinitum by adding other receivers (M2, M3…) who
have further perceptions (SE2, SE3…) of the statements about perceived events.
An important point to be noted is that the message is altered at every level.
This model can be illustrated as in the case of news reporting. E can be any event that
has happened and the reporter (M) selects a particular part of event (E1) that may be
provide his channel higher TRP ratings or the news may boost the particular party
which his channel supports. This SE2 is sent through a medium to the mass audience.
Then the audience (M1) distributed the message (SE2) and he (M1) sends to his friends
with his interpretation and the process continues.
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COMMUNICATION THEORIES
Mass Communication means sharing of information or a message with a large number
of people at one place or at several places in one country or many countries. Many
social scientists studied the effect of mass communication within the society. This has
resulted in a number of theories which essentially trace the relationship between mass
communication and society.
However, not a single theory has been universally accepted. Early theories were based
on assumptions that mass media have enormous and direct influence upon society. But
later researchers did not provide evidence against any direct cause and effect
relationship between mass communication and society. Instead, they underlined the
importance of individual difference and personal influence on transmission, acceptance
and retention of message. These theories portray mass media as an outcome of changes
in society.
Four Theories of the Press/The Normative Theories
Mass media do not operate in vacuum. This assertion is generally agreed upon and has
led researchers to study the relationship between mass media and the government.
The first well-known attempt to clarify the link between mass media and the political
society was introduced by Frederick S. Siebert in 1956 and presented in Four Theories of
the Press by Frederick S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm. The
purpose of the work was to establish and explain four normative theories that ought to
illustrate the position of the press in relation to its political environment. By ‘press,’
Siebert and others meant all media of mass communication, including television, radio
and newspaper.
The original four theories of the press are the Authoritarian Theory, the Libertarian
Theory, the Soviet Media Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory.
A critical evaluation shows that these Normative Theories, which seeks to explain the
relationship between mass media and the government, are outdated and too idealist to
be useful in today’s media research. (Add from Pg 55 in Keval J Kumar)
The Authoritarian Theory
According to this theory, the state required direct governmental control of the mass
media. This system is easy to recognize in pre-democratic societies, where the
government consists of a very limited and small ruling class. The media in authoritarian
system are not allowed to print or broadcast anything which could undermine the
established authority and any offence to the existing political values is avoided. The
authoritarian government may go to the extent of punishing anyone who questions the
state’s ideologies.
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The fundamental assumption of the authoritarian system is that the government is
infallible. Media professionals are therefore not allowed to have any independence
within the media organization. Also foreign media are subordinate to the established
authority, in that all imported media products are controlled by the state.
The term was first used by Siebert to refer to an arrangement in which the press is
subordinated to state power and the interests of a ruling class. The theory justifies
advance censorship and punishment for deviation from externally set guideline.
Unacceptable attack on authority, deviation from official policy or offence against moral
codes should be criminal offence. Under certain circumstances, media are subjected to
authoritarian tendencies in democratic regimes as well, especially in times of war and
during internal and external emergencies (Eg. Emergency Period in India from 1975 to
1977). Other media like film are subjected to censorship. The authorities can and do
use the provisions of official secrets act to deny free access to information, thereby
hampering the freedom of press.
The Libertarian Theory/Free Press Theory
In contrast to the Authoritarian Theory, the Libertarian Theory, also called the Free
Press Theory, rests on the idea that the individual should be free to publish whatever he
or she likes. In this theory, attacks on the government policies are fully accepted and
even encouraged. Moreover, there are no restrictions on import or export of media
messages across the national borders. Journalists and media professionals ought to
have full autonomy within the media organization.
Libertarian Theory is based on the fundamental right of the individual to freedom of
expression, which is regarded as the main legitimating principle for print media in
liberal democracies. (Add from Keval J Kumar)
The Social Responsibility Theory
This theory states that the media has certain obligations to the society.
(Add about Hutchins Report from Kevel J Kumar)
As opposed to Libertarian Theory, the Social Responsibility Theory provides an
entrance to different mass media to minority groups. This theory puts the mass media
and the state at the same level, signifying an interaction where both parties are allowed
to criticize each other.
The Social Responsibility Theory is an extension of the Libertarian Theory in that the
press recognizes that it has a responsibility to the society to carry out its essential
functions. The social responsibility theory ascribes basically the same six function to
the press as the Libertarian Theory:
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





Providing information, discussion and debate on public affairs
Instructing and informing the public to make it capable of self-government
Protecting the rights of the individual against the government through its
watchdog function
Maintaining the economic equilibrium of the system by bringing together buyer,
seller and advertiser
Providing entertainment
Remaining independent of outside pressure by maintaining its own economic
self-sufficiency
The basic principles of Social Responsibility Theory uphold conflict resolution through
discussion; there is high regard for public opinion, consumer action and professional
ethics and jealous guard over private rights and important social interests. This theory
emerged in the United States in the 20th Century and it is evidenced today in the AngloAmerican nations.
The Social Responsibility Theory is based on the assumption that media serve essential
functions in society. Therefore, it should accept and fulfil certain obligations to the
society. These obligations are to be met by setting high professional standards in
communication of information, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance. In accepting
and discharging these obligations, the media should be self-regulatory within the
framework of law and established institutions. In the public interest the media should
underplay that news which might lead to crime, violence and social tension or cause
offence to ethnic or religious minorities. The media should be pluralist, should reflect
the diversity of their society and allow access to various points of view, including the
right to reply.
The Soviet Media Theory/The Communist Media Theory
This theory is closely tied to the communist ideology. Siebert traces the roots of this
theory back to the Russian Revolution based on the postulates by Marx and Engels. The
media organizations in this system were to serve the interests of the working class and
not intended to be privately owned. Just like in Authoritarian Theory, Soviet Media
Theory acknowledges the government as superior to the media institutions. However
there is a major difference between the two theories that needs to be clarified. The
mass media in the Soviet model are expected to be self-regulatory with regard to the
content of their messages. Also, the Soviet Theory differs from the Authoritarian
Theory in that the media organizations have a certain responsibility to meet the wishes
of their audience.
The underlying standard of the Soviet Media Theory is to provide a complete and
objective view of the world.
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Just as the Social Responsibility Theory is an outgrowth of the Libertarian Theory,
Soviet Media Theory is an outgrowth of the Authoritarian Theory. However, according
to the Authoritarian Theory, the press resides outside the government, whereas, in
Soviet Media Theory, the press and the state are held to be one.
The main purpose of the Soviet Media Theory is to ensure the success of the soviet
socialist system and to promote the objectives of the soviet socialist party. This theory
foresees media to be under the control of the working class whose interest they are
meant to server. Private ownership of the press or other media is ruled out. The
media must serve positive functions in society relating to information, education,
motivation and mobilization.
Development Media Theory
The limited application of the four theories of the press to the third world countries,
which are vastly different from each other and also from western countries, led to the
birth of a new approach whereby communication is use to carry out development tasks.
(Add from Keval J Kumar)
Democratic Participant Theory/Democratization Theory
This is the most recent addition to the list of the theories of the press; is relevant to the
developed liberal societies but has some elements of the development media theory.
McQuail notes that it is most difficult to formulate this theory ‘partly because it lacks full
legitimization and incorporation into media institutions and partly because some of its
tenets are already to be found in some of the other theories. ‘ in his opinion, this theory
represents a challenge to the reigning theories and merits separate identification.
The main feature of the democratic participant theory relates to the needs, interest, and
aspirations of the active receiver in a political society. It is concerned with the right to
information, the right to answer back, the right to use the means of communication for
interaction in the small-scale settings of the community.
The theory favours:



Multiplicity of media
Smallness of scale, of operation
Horizontality of communication at all levels. It opposes uniform, centralized,
high cost, highly professionalized and state-controlled media.
It is argued that the media should exist primarily for the audiences and not for media
organizations and professionals.
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Contemporary Theories
Berlo’s Bucket Theory/SMCR Model of Communication
In 1960, communication scholar David Berlo coined the term SMCR (Source-MessageChannel-Receiver) to describe a linear model of communication.
This model is significant because it emphasizes the importance of ‘through
understanding of human behaviour as a pre-requisite to communication analysis.’ It
underlines the role of the source and the receiver.
The source is where the message originates. The source requires a certain set of
communication skills (individual ability to read, write, speak, listen etc.), attitudes
(towards the audience, subject and towards oneself), knowledge (about the subject one
is going to communicate), the social system (the various aspects in society like values,
beliefs, culture, religion and general understanding of society where the communication
takes place), and culture of the particular society.
The Source, using the above skill set, encodes a message. The beginning to the end of a
message comprises its content. Content is accompanied by some elements. It includes
various things like language, gestures, body language etc. Treatment is the way in
which the message is conveyed or the way in which the message is passed on or
delivered. The structure of the message is how it is arranged into various parts. The
code of the message means the form it is sent. Language, body language, gestures,
music and culture is a code. Only when the code is proper, the message will be clear,
improper use may lead to misinterpretation.
Channel is nothing but the five senses through which humans communicate with the
surroundings.
The receiver needs to have the same skill sets like the source for the communication
process to be complete.
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This model believes that for an effective communication to take place the source and the
receiver needs to be in the same level, only if the source and receiver are on the same
level communication will happen or take place properly. So source and receiver should
be similar.
For e.g. Communication skills on source side is good then the receiver should equally
have good listening skills. We cannot say the entire message passed doesn’t reaches the
receiver has it is because the receiver may not good in listening, so only for the effective
communication the source and the receiver to be in the same level.
Criticism of Berlo’s SMCR Model of Communication:
1. No feedback / don’t know about the effect
2. Does not mention barriers to communication
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Indian Communication Theories
Sadharanikaran Model of Communication (SMC)
In recent years communication scholars in India and Sri Lanka have made attempts to
develop theories of communication based on Indian classical texts and on popular
Indian culture.
Sadharanikaran, drawing from classical Hindu poetics, is rooted in the Natyashastra of
Bharatamuni. There have been attempts to extend its history up to the Vedic period, but
scholars widely believe that Bhattanayaka introduced the concept of sadharanikaran.
He is credited for use of the term in his commentary on Natyashastra to explain the
concept of rasa.
The term sadharanikaran is derived from the Sanskrit word sadharan; and has been
translated into English as “generalized presentation”, “simplification”, and
“universalization”. This concept is bound with another concept, sahridayata, that is, a
state of common orientation, commonality or oneness. Sadharanikaran is the
attainment of sahridayata by communicating parties.
When senders and receivers accomplish the process of sadharanikaran, they attain
saharidayata and become sahridayas. The essence of sadharanikaran is to achieve
commonness or oneness among the people. In this light, the Latin word ‘communis’ and
its modern English version ‘communication’ come close to sadharanikaran.
Sadharanikaran model of communication illustrates how the communicating parties
interact in a system (i.e., the process of sadharanikaran) for the attainment saharidayata
(commonness or oneness).
The model comprises the following elements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Sahridayas (Preshaka, i.e., sender, and Prapaka, i.e., receiver)
Bhava (Moods or emotions)
Abhivyanjana (Expression or encoding)
Sandesha (Message or information)
Sarani (Channel)
Rasaswadana (Firstly receiving, decoding and interpreting the message and
finally achieving the rasa)
7. Doshas (Noises)
8. Sandarbha (Context)
9. Pratikriya (Process of feedback)
If communication is taken as a step-by-step process, the sahridaya-preshaka (simply,
the sender), who has bhavas (moods or emotions or thoughts or ideas) in mind, is the
initiator of the process. The sahridaya-sender has to pass the process of abhivyanjana
for expressing those bhavas in perceivable form. It is the sahridaya-prapaka (simply, the
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receiver) with whom the bhavas are to be shared. He or she has to pass the process of
rasaswadana.
The position of the sahridaya-sender and the sahridaya-receiver is not static. Both
parties are engaged in the processes of abhivyanjana and rasaswadana.
The sender inherits bhava. It is due to the bhavas that human beings are engaging in
communication or sadharanikaran process. The bhavas have been categorized into
different types, such as sthayee bhavas (permanently dominant), vyabhichari or
sanchari bhavas (moving or transitory) and satvika or sattvaja bhavas (originating from
the mind, temperamental). Corresponding to bhavas, human inherits rasas.
Abhivyanjana refers to the activities that a source goes to translate bhavas into a form
that may be perceived by the senses. It can be understood as expression or encoding in
English. The guiding principle while encoding in sadharanikaran is simplification.
Simplification is the essential dimension here. In the communication process; the
complex concepts and ideas are simplified by the speaker (source) with illustrations
and idioms appropriate for the understanding of the listeners (receiver of the
messages). This approach makes communication a dynamic, flexible, practical and
effective instrument of social relationship and control.
Sanketa (code) is an integral part of abhivyanjana. A kind of code is a must to let the
bhavas manifested. Codes are symbols that are organized in accordance with specific
rules. For example, the language is a code. The sender encodes the bhava in a code. For
communication to be successful, both the sender and receiver must understand the
code being used. Abhivyanjana may be in verbal or non-verbal code, and both codes
may be used simultaneously.
With the completion of the process of abhivyanjana, bhavas are manifested as sandesha.
In other words, sandesha is outcome of the abhivyanjana process. A message is the
manifestation of the bhava into a form (code) that is perceivable by the senses. It is the
information that the sender wants to pass on to the receiver. It is the actual physical
product that the source encodes, and which the receiver’s sensory organs can detect. In
other words, it is the coded idea that conveys meaning.
For transmission of sandesha, there needs to be a sarani (channel or medium), which is
the means through which sandesha travels across space. The message sent by the
source or sender cannot reach the receiver without the channel or medium. The
channels may be natural corresponding to biological nature of human being such as:
auditory (hearing), tactile (touching), visual (seeing), olfactory (smelling) and taste
(tasting through the taste buds on the tongue) channels. The channels may be artefacts
such as paintings, sculptures, letters, etc. These two types of channels are extensively
described in Natyashastra. The channels may be mechanical such as telephones, radio,
TV, computers and so on.
There is no such thing as perfect communication. There are continuous forces at work,
doshas or noises, which tend to distort the message and lead to miscommunication. If
we draw on Hindu poetics, the concept of rasa-bhanga (disruption in rasaswadana) is
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there. There may be many causes for this. The model should be interpreted to include
all of the noises, viz. semantic, mechanical, and environmental.
Pratikriya refers to the responses of the receiver after receiving the message. It is the
process of feedback, which allows the receiver to have active role in the communication
process.
Feedback can be understood as the same step-by-step process returning messages
following exactly the same steps outlined above. Sadharanikaran process demands
sahridayas undergoing the same kind of automated dynamism in taking the role of
sender and receiver back and forth. Here, both the parties (the sahridaya-sender and
the sahridaya-receiver) act as senders and receivers simultaneously. And, the process of
encoding and decoding also occur simultaneously.
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Rasa-Bhava Theory
The Rasa-Bhava is the central concept in Indian performing arts such as dance, drama,
cinema, literature etc. Bhava means “to become”. Bhava is the state of mind while Rasa is
the aesthetic flavour that results from that Bhava. The Bhava themselves carry no meaning in
the absence of Rasa. Thus Rasa is basically forms and manifestations of Bhava in the
form of multitude of sensations through taste, emotion, and delight. In other words,
Rasa is the dominant emotional theme that is invoked in the audience. When we watch a
movie, a sad scene makes us cry – that is Rasa. The Rasa-Bhava is what establishes a
relationship between the performer and the audience.
Bharata says that which can be relished – like the taste of food – is rasa.
According to Bharata, the playwright experiences a certain emotion (bhava). The
director of the play should properly understand the idea and bhava-s of the character
and convey his knowledge and understanding to the actors. The actors perform their
parts using their own vision and experience, but they should follow the main idea and
key bhavas emphasized by the director, Sutradhara.
The term bhava means both existence and a mental state, and in aesthetic contexts it
has been variously translated as feelings, psychological states, and emotions. In the
context of the drama, bhavas are the emotions represented in the performance.
Rasa is the emotional response the bhavas inspire in the spectator (the Rasika or
Sahridaya). Rasa is thus an aesthetically transformed emotional state experienced by the
spectator. Rasa is accompanied by feelings of pleasure and enjoyment. Such emotions
tunes perception of the spectators, they create atmosphere of empathy, make people
more sensitive, help to open mind and heart to understand the idea and message of the
play.
Rasa Theory holds that ordinary emotions (bhavas) typically involve a specific agent
reacting to a specific situation. These emotions exist primarily as latent impressions
(samskaras) due to the person’s past experience. Our everyday experience of emotion,
then, is thoroughly distinctive and centred on an individualized notion of self (one’s own
self, in other words). These changing and everyday emotions are known as fleeting or
temporary emotions (vyabhichari bhavas). Contrary to these particularized ways of
responding to one’s exact situation and needs or desires are permanent emotions (stha-yi-bhavas), which then attain the status of rasa.
Eight of these permanent bha-vas (stha-yi-bha-vas) are identified by Bharatamuni:
pleasure (rati), humor (ha-sa), sorrow (s´ôka), anger (krodha), courage (utsa-ha), fear
(bhaya), disgust (jugupsa-), and wonder (vismaya). These are said to be caused by a
subject’s reaction to some specific situation containing various causes (ka-rana) and to
lead to certain effects (ka-rya) in terms of the bodily reactions of a subject (facial
expressions, bodily gestures, etc.).
Bharata has also described eight Rasas viz. Śṛngāram (love, attractiveness), Hāsyam
(laughter, comedy), Raudram (fury, wrath), Kāruṇyam (compassion, tragedy),
Bībhatsam (disgust, aversion), Bhayānakam (horror, terror), Vīram (heroic mood) and
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Adbhutam (wonder, amazement). Further, Abhivangupta introduced a ninth rasa called
Śāntam which denotes the peace or tranquillity. These total nine rasas make the
Navarasa.
These signs of emotions are then incorporated into the writing and staging of dramatic
artworks. A sympathetic auditor attends to the artwork and experiences certain
emotions. Due to the removal of his or her interests from the aesthetic situation, the
audience member does not feel real fear, since there is no actual threat to his or her life.
Rasa theory holds at least three important points for the study of communication. First,
the account given by Bharata and Abhinavagupta highly values the audience. Art objects
work only insofar as they have a certain sort of interaction with a specific, actual
audience. This theme is not far from Aristotelian and modern notions of communication
being audience centered and effect driven. The auditor is said to play an important role
in the actualizing of rasas. This includes being prepared or open in a certain way, as well
as approaching the art object as an art object.
While this may lead one to see some notion of identification going on behind the rasa,
such identification is tempered by the second point rasa theory makes about
communication. Artistic communication in rasa theory occurs only when the auditor is
detached and disinterested in the action occurring in the drama. Thus, an auditor does
not identify with a character on stage in regard to his or her specific ego needs, but
instead experiences the general state of emotion evoked by observing that character.
The main identity in such experience is in the mood that is experienced by both the
character and the auditor. Rasa theory tends to use the evocation of experience in an
audience in a communicative fashion.
The third interesting point rasa theory makes concerning communication is that the
detached communication that occurs in aesthetic contexts cannot be experienced in
everyday communication.
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Introduction to Communication
Lizee Vincent
The Newcomb’s Model/ABX Model
The NewComb’s Model of Communication was introduced by Theodore M Newcomb of the
University of Michigan in 1953. He gives a different approach to the communication process. The
main purpose of this theory is to introduce the role of communication in a social relationship
(society) and to maintain social equilibrium within the social system. He does not include the
message as a separate entity in his diagram, implying it only by use of directional arrows. He
concentrates on the social purpose of communication, showing all communication as a means of
sustaining relationships between people. Sometimes it’s called as an “ABX” model of
communication.”
Newcomb considered communication as a way in which people adjust to their
environment and to each other. The model is based on the concept of balance between
one's attitudes and beliefs and those that are important to an individual. The model
considers the role of communication as a way to maintain social balance within the
social system. If the balance is disturbed, communication is used to restore it.
The Newcomb’s model works in a triangular format or A-B-X system:
A = Sender
B = Receiver
X = Matter of Concern, object of communication, topic.
The relationship between A and B is like student and teacher, government and public or
newspaper and readers. Sender and receiver could be individuals or groups. A and B
may work in a same flow but at the same time some factor like “X” may affect their flow
of relationship. “X” may be third persons, issue, topic, policy or anything that is a part of
A's or B's social environment. A and B are communicator and receiver; they may be
individuals, or group. X is part of their social environment.
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Introduction to Communication
Lizee Vincent
The object of communication could be: an actual physical object (such as a house which
the couple is considering purchasing) an event (such as a wedding ceremony, a rock
concert) an activity (such as playing cards or watching movies on television every
Sunday) an attitude (such as loving action movies or being opposed to abortion)
behaviour (such as donating uniforms to the poor).
In simpler terms this model suggests the interaction between sender and receiver for
any common goal or cause. Both sender and receiver are at the same level but their
interpretation for the common goal or cause may or may not differ.
Newcomb sees four basic components of this relational system:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A's attitude toward X,
A's attraction to B,
B's attitude toward X, and.
B's attraction to A.
According to the model, both A and B have a natural tendency towards balance in their
co-direction toward X and each other (their partner). If A changes her/his relationship
to X; B have to change his/her relationship with A or with X in order to maintain balance
with the social system.
For example:
If A has a negative attitude toward smoking (X) and a very positive attraction toward B,
but B has a positive attitude toward smoking (X) and toward A, then A will experience
an imbalance resulting in a push toward revision of attitudes to regain balance.
In this case, imbalances are resolved by:
1. A decreasing the amount of liking towards B
2. A changing her/his attitude towards X
3. A changing B's attitude towards X in order to align with A.
This model assumes that people need adequate information about their social
environment. Without it we cannot feel part of the society.
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