SCIENCE OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION: UNIT- 2 Dr. Jose Murickan O.Praem __________________________________ 2.1: Communication Process: Communication is a social process like any other processes such as urbanization, industrialization etc. It is an on going process in which people engages themselves as individuals or a mass sharing, creating, sending or receiving varieties of meaning. Therefore, as a process it involves many separate but interrelated steps that occur over time. For example, when we prepare for and deliver a public presentation, we are not engaged in a single static act. Instead, it involves a sequence of interrelated activities such as planning, gathering materials, rehearsal, presentation of the speech and so on. We may even adjust the speech while giving it, based on the audience’s reaction. It would mean that in every exchange of communication messages are created, sent, received, interpreted, and responded to. Communication can be defined as an on going process in which the actions of sharing, participating, informing, receiving, and creating take place among the participants. In order to be at its most effective plane, the process of communication should share an understanding of the past, use the communication format of the past and be in continuity with the past. If not the process of communication becomes meaningless in any society. One must recognize that communication is an ongoing process in which people do not simply create and send messages to others through a medium, but they need to share the understanding and the medium before they communicate. Communication is essential for individuals, relationships, groups, organizations, and societies. It is communication that links human beings with the rest of the world, our means of making impressions, expressing ourselves, influencing others, and giving ourselves. It is through communication that we from relationships of all kinds. In groups, organizations and societies communication is the means through which we coordinate our own needs and goals with those of others. Communication involves responding to and creating messages. It is through the process of creating and interpreting messages that we interact with our surroundings and one another. Communication involves adapting to people and the environment. We create and interpret messages –as individuals and in relationships, groups, organizations and societies –to relate to the environment and to the people around us. In some cases, the process consists primarily of adjusting to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. In short, in every act of communication there are seven basic elements at work. They are the following. 1). Source: The sender or the originator of the message. 2). Message: It refers to the content or signal that the source sends to a receiver. 3). Receiver: The receiver is the listener or audience that interprets the message and then sends feed back to the source. 4). Channel: A channel is the sense—eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body—used to send the message. Each of these can be used independently, and will communicate a message. However, when more than one sense is used in the process of communication it becomes more accurate or effective. This is why face to face interaction is more powerful than a telephone conversation. 5). Context: The context refers to the time, setting and situation in which communication takes place. You don’t speak the same way to your parents or teachers or boss as you would do with your best friend. 6). Noise: Anything that hinders or interferes with a message is called noise. There are three different types of noise. A). Psychological noise: you are distracted or your mind is somewhere else. B). Physical noise: consists of external distractions that occur when communication takes place in a noisy restaurant, crowded street etc. C). Semantic noise: when individuals have different meanings for symbols like when a speaker uses a word not understood by the listener. 7). Feedback: It refers to the reactions of the listener to the source, may be verbal, non verbal or both. Feedback includes comments, facial expressions, and body mannerisms. 2.2 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION A model is a pictorial description of a piece or reality. It shows the main elements of any structure or process and tends to describe the relationship between them. Models help us to organize, explain, and predict the outcome of events through their images and representations. Since communication can be understood in different ways, communication models too can be explained and studied through a number of ways. Communication models try to relate the basic elements of the communication process, put them into a certain order and contribute to a better insight into the structures and the flow of these processes. The beginnings of the formulations of communication models started in the late 1940s. ‘Shannon and Weaver’s Mathematical Theory of Communication (1949) is widely accepted as one of the main seeds out of which Communication Studies have grown. 2.2.1 BERLO’S SMCR MODEL According to David Berlo, communication can be understood from the perspective of the relationship between the sender and the receiver. For Berlo, there are 5 verbal communication skills. Two are encoding skills; speaking and writing. Two are decoding skills; listening and reading. The fifth is crucial to both encoding and decoding; thought or reasoning. As encoders, our communication skill level affects our communication fidelity in two ways. First, it affects our ability to analyse our own purpose and intentions. Secondly, it affects our ability to say something when we communicate. Our communication skills, our facility for handling the language code, affect our ability to encode thoughts that we have. We have certainly experienced at times the frustration of not being able to find the ‘right word’ to express ourselves. Here we need to remember that finding the ‘right word’ is not simply a matter of satisfaction. It also has to have approximately the same meaning for the receiver. According to Berlo, our ability to use language is very much related to our ability for thinking, and it can also affect the way we see the world and the way we think about it. Criticism of Berlo’s SMCR Model of Communication: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. No feedback / don’t know about the effect Does not mention barriers to communication No room for noise Complex model It is a linear model of communication Needs people to be on same level for communication to occur but not true in real life Main drawback of the model is that the model omits the usage of sixth sense as a channel which is actually a gift to the human beings (thinking, understanding, analyzing etc). 2.2.2 LASSWELL’S LINEAR MODEL Lasswell model is one of the earliest linear models. He was primarily concerned about the process of mass communication and propaganda that was carried out through mass media. His model has five major components. He refers to the communicator as a source/sender/transmitter. This model raises questions such as who says what in which/what channel to whom and with what effect? The emphasis here is very much on the transmission and reception of information. This model is also referred as an ‘information model’ of communication. This is one way by which communication, the message and its effects are given importance. In other words, Lasswell’s model of communication introduces us to the question of media effects. People normally do not communicate in vacuum. Instead, we normally communicate to achieve something. Even when we say just a “hello” to someone without really thinking about it, we want to have the effect of reassuring them that we are still friends, we are nice people and so on. In this model, the media is considered powerful while the audience is seen as ignorant. This model views communication as a process of sequential transmission of a fixed quantity of information-message, as determined by the sender or the source. The receiver/audience is totally passive in this model. Advantage of Lasswell model: It is Easy and Simple It suits for almost all types of communication The concept of effect Disadvantage of Lasswell model: Feedback not mentioned Noise not mentioned Linear Model 2.2.3 WILBUR SCHRAMM Wilbur Schramm (1907-1987) is considered one of the key proponents of communication research in the 20th century for his remarkable contributions to the better understanding of human communication, communication theory, and interpersonal communication knowledge as well as paradigm and curriculum development. The uniqueness of his approach to the study of communication could be found in his ability to bridge both humanistic and scientific perspectives as few researchers had done before him. It is interesting to note that originally Schramm was often criticized for taking a “linear” approach to communication, for he saw the focus on the message as originating from a “sender” and proceeding more or less intact until the message accomplished the desired effect upon the “receiver”1. Moreover, this approach was coupled with the view of a passive 1 Schramm was influenced by the Aristotelian principle that communication always requires at least three elements—source, message and destination. Cf. Keval Kumar (2004), Mass Communication in India, p. 18. receiver. With time spent in research, Schramm’s own understanding of the nature of communication grew and it became more evident to him and to his colleagues that the simple linear projection of communication was not as simple as once thought. He modified the original interpretation and emphasized communication as “relationship or sharing”. a). Schramm’s Concept of Communication as Relationship Schramm’s understanding of communication is deeply rooted in his notion of society and he affirms that communication is the tool that makes societies possible. Society, for him, is a sum of relationships in which information of some kind is shared. From this broad perspective, one could opine that Schramm has been influenced by Charles Cooley’s definition of communication. “By Communication is here meant the mechanism through which human relations exist and develop—all the symbols of the mind, together with the means of conveying them through space and preserving them in time” (Cooley, 1962: 61). The more closely one considers this mechanism the more intimate will appear its relation to the inner life of mankind. Thus, Cooley emphasized the aspect of communication as a process of human relationship, a tool, a progressive invention, whose improvements reacts upon mankind and alters the life of every individual and institution (Cooley, 1962: 64). Schramm develops the concept of communication: Human communication is something people do. It has no life of its own. There is no magic about it except what people in the communication relationship put into it. There is no meaning in a message except what people put into it. When we study communication, therefore, we study people—relating to one another and to their groups, organizations, and societies; influencing one another; being influenced; informing and being informed; teaching and being taught; entertaining and being entertained. To understand human communication, we must understand how people relate to one another (Schramm and Porter, 1982: 3). From what is said above, it is evident that Schramm sees communication as a fundamental human social process which involves a relationship. It is not accidental, he says, “that communication and community have the same root word. Without communication, there would be no communities; and without community, there could be no communication” (Schramm and Porter, 1982: 2). As communication involves relationships, Schramm is aware that these relationships are not simple. While acknowledging the role of cultural differences, experiences and use of language in the process of sharing information, he also affirms that communication is not conducted entirely, or even mostly, in words. Communication as relationship for him includes also gesture, facial expression, a pitch pattern, a level of loudness, an emphasis, etc., since these also carry information. Schramm is of the opinion that such a relationship does not have to be face to face, and it is from this perspective that he sees mass media. Mass media, says Schramm, “make communication possible over great distance: they are simply machines put into the communication process to duplicate man’s writing (the printing press) or to extend his senses of sight and hearing (television, films, radio)” (Schramm, 1977: 14). However, he also admits that there is a difference in the quality of feedback, power, and cost between communication relationships that are close and direct, and those that are far in time and space. In any case, whether immediate or distant, the communication relationship according to Schramm includes three elements and two kinds of action. The constitutive elements of a communication relationship for Schramm are: a) the communicator, b) the message and, c) the receiver. The two kinds of actions come from the communicator and the receiver, respectively. Firstly, the communicator constructs signs (verbal, nonverbal, auditory, visual, or tactile) as best he can, and hopes he will call forth the desired responses. Secondly, a receiver selects (among the stimuli available to him) from the content of the messages, chooses, interprets and disposes of it as he intends (Schramm, 1977: 14-16). Thus, the realm of effective communication lies in the area of shared experiences between the communicator and the receiver. In other words, when person A and person B have a greater area of shared experience between them, it is highly possible that they have a deeper meaning within their communication relationship. The core of Schramm’s renewed understanding recognizes communication as a relationship, a sharing, rather than something someone does to someone else. When this relationship works effectively, it results in what he calls a kind of “in tune-ness” (the remarkable human experience). On the contrary, when it works poorly it bears disunity, misunderstanding and sometimes hostility. However it works, Schramm concludes, “this is the process that allows us to form the images in our heads that map our environments and guide our behaviour” (Schramm and Porter, 1982: 4). b). From Passive to Active Audience There has been, thus, a gradual abandonment of the idea of a passive audience and the concept of a highly active and selective audience—manipulating rather than being manipulated by a message and a full partner in the communication process—began to prevail. In review of his own findings and theory Schramm states: We had been concerned with ‘getting the message through’, getting it accepted, getting it decoded in approximately the same form as the sender intended—and we had undervalued the activity of the receiver in this process. We tended to undervalue the importance of the psychological processes that might be triggered by present and stored perceptions of social relationships and role patterns, in such way as to enter into the response to any communication. …thus we have come 180 degrees from a theory of the passive audience to a theory of an active audience (Schramm, 1977: 11). Through his research and reviews Schramm modified his original perspective and opened a wider horizon, taking the audience from the realm of passive receivers to that of active ones who take part and choose their media content. c). The Interactive Communication Theory Since the early 1950’s there had been a renewed interest in dealing with the communication process as a whole due to insights gained into audience behaviour. Schramm and other researchers had greater interest in learning “why communicators do what they do” as well as exploring system models to describe “how a society, organization, or other group affects the performance of its communicators at the same time as it is affected by them”. This phase of understanding in communication science became known as the concept of mutual causation which later opened a new horizon for understanding many communication patterns. Schramm argues: [T]he mass media contributes to changes in taste, and audience feedback contributes to changes in program policy; policies change public opinion and public opinion changes policies; persuasion changes attitudes, which can change behaviour, which reinforces attitude change; economic development brings about increases in communication and communication facilities, which bring about increases in economic development; and so forth. These ideas of communication as a relationship (rather than a target-shoot) and an interaction (rather than an action) now require us to fill in some neglected areas in the process (Schramm, 1977: 11-12). Thus, understanding communication as relationship and as an interaction paved the way for a paradigm shift in the communication research and development. In the wake of the renewed understanding Schramm defined communication as “the sharing of an orientation toward a set of informational signs”. And, information according to him is any content that reduces uncertainty or the number of alternative possibilities in a situation. It could be emotions, facts or opinions, guidance or persuasion, and it does not have to be in words, or even explicitly stated (the latent meanings, “the silent language”, are important information). Yet, another important feature of this information is that “it does not have to be precisely identical in both sender and receiver (Schramm, 1977: 13). The core of Schramm’s interactive theory of communication is thus based on a relationship. This relationship may exist between two persons, or Person A A Person B B between one person and many, or may take place between a group and an individual, a collective society and an individual, or a society and a group or A Model for Schramm’s Interactive Communication Theory organization. However, the essence of this relationship is found in what Schramm calls, being “in-tune” with each other, focusing on the same information (Schramm, 1977: 13-14). This central element of the communication relationship is usually embedded in certain social relationships that contribute to the use and interpretation of information. Into the communication relationship all participants bring a well-filled life experience, and it is against this stored experience that they interpret the signals that come to them and decide how to respond to them. When two people, for example, A and B are going to communicate, their stored experiences have to intersect over some points of common interest. As indicated in the above Figure, the overlapping area, AB, is the realm of shared experiences where meaningful communication takes place. Schramm adds: The most typical and frequent pattern of communication is therefore an extended two-way relationship…a relationship in which signs are shared although they do not mean precisely the same thing to any two participants, but as a result of which the understanding is likely to grow closer and closer as the exchange continues” (Schramm and Porter, 1982: p. 42). So, the process is best understood as a relationship rather than as something A does to B or B to A, a relationship that involves sharing of signs (messages) that lead toward a convergence of understanding. To conclude, Schramm’s model of communication and of his Interactive Theory stands today as a fundamentally valid and accepted premise for further study. The nucleus of interactive theory, therefore, ensures communication as: a) a relationship, b) a process of sharing, and c) interaction, where both the communicator and the receiver are equally important and active. 2.2.4 THE OSGOOD MODEL OF COMMUNICATION The Osgood Model of communication is quietly different from the conventional models of communications in the earlier days. In this exclusive model, Osgood considered a circular form of the communication process. Here both sender and receiver are assumed to have equal contributory role as well as importance in the process of communication. As per the model Osgood wanted to point out that, the sender sends message to get response from the receiver as well as the receiver accepts the message from the sender to respond as well. The sender encodes any message to deliver to the receiver where, the receiver decodes the message in meaningful manner and finally, after encoding a message, delivers to the sender as an answers or response. Now the sender accepts the message after decoding it in same manner. So, it is clear from the model, that the sender performs both encoding and decoding as well as the receiver does the same to complete the process of communication as well. Encoding and decoding both are the important part of the communication as performed by the sender as well as the receiver, in making the transmitted messages understandable to fulfill their purposes. 2.4 SELF-AWARENESS & THE JOHARI WINDOW Self-awareness is basic to all communications. Self awareness can be explained by examining the several aspects of yourself as they might appear to others as well as to yourself. Accrding to Joseph Looft & Harington Edham human self is divided into four areas or “panes”. Each window pane pictures different aspects or versions of the self. The versions are the open self, the blind self, the hidden self and the unknown self. However, it is important to note that these areas are not separate from one another but rather are independent. 2.4.1 The Open Self This self represents all the information, behaviors, attitudes, and feelings about yourself that you and others know. This could include your name, skin color, sex, age, religion and political beliefs among other matters. The ‘size’ of the open self varies according to your personality and according to whom you are relating. With some people you may be open and with others not. Probably you are selectively open-open about some things and not about others. 2.4.2 The Blind Self The blind self represents knowledge about you that others have but you do not. This might include your habit of finishing other people’s sentence or rubbing your nose when you become anxious. It may include your tendency to overact to imagined insults or to compete for attention. Blind areas – like famous blind spots – interfere with communication, so it is important to reduce your blind self as much as possible. 2.4.3 The Unknown Self The unknown self represents those parts of yourself that neither you nor other know. This is information that is buried in your subconscious or that has somehow escaped awareness. You gain insight into the unknown self in several ways. Sometimes this area is revealed through hypnosis, dreams, or psychological tests, like the inkblot test devised by the Swiss Psychiatrist Herman Rorschach. Another way is to explore yourself in an open, honest, and understanding way with those whom you trust – parents, lovers, and friends. 2.4.4 The Hidden Self The hidden self represents all the knowledge you have of yourself but keep from others. This window pane includes all your successfully kept secrets. It may include your dreams and fantasies, experiences about which you are embarrassed, and attitudes, beliefs, and values of which you may be ashamed. You probably keep secrets from some people and not from others. For example, you might not tell your parents you are dating someone of another race or religion, but you might tell a close friend. So too, you might not let your friends know you have difficulty asking for a date, but you might discuss this problem with a brother or sister. 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888