The Communication Process

Communication is a complex process, and it is difficult to determine where or with whom a

communication encounter starts and ends. Models of communication simplify the process by
providing a visual representation of the various aspects of a communication encounter
The first two, the transmission model and the interaction model, include the following parts:
participants, messages, encoding, decoding, and channels. In communication models, the
participants are the senders and/or receivers of messages in a communication encounter. The
message is the verbal or nonverbal content being conveyed from sender to receiver. For example,
when you say “Hello!” to your friend, you are sending a message of greeting that will be received
by your friend.
The internal cognitive process that allows participants to send, receive, and understand messages
is the encoding and decoding process.
Encoding is the process of turning thoughts into communication.
Decoding is the process of turning communication into thoughts.
Of course, we don’t just communicate verbally—we have various options, or channels for
communication. Encoded messages are sent through a channel, or a sensory route on which a
message travels, to the receiver for decoding. While communication can be sent and received
using any sensory route (sight, smell, touch, taste, or sound), most communication occurs
through visual (sight) and/or auditory (sound) channels

Transmission Model of Communication

The transmission model of communication describes communication as a linear, one-way

process in which a sender intentionally transmits a message to a receiver. This model focuses on
the sender and message within a communication encounter.
Although the receiver is included in the model, this role is viewed as more of a target or end
point rather than part of an ongoing process. We are left to presume that the receiver either
successfully receives and understands the message or does not. The scholars who designed this
model extended on a linear model proposed by Aristotle centuries before that included a speaker,
message, and hearer. They were also influenced by the advent and spread of new communication
technologies of the time such as telegraphy and radio, and you can probably see these technical
influences within the model.Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of
Communication
Think of how a radio message is sent from a person in the radio studio to you listening in your
car. The sender is the radio announcer who encodes a verbal message that is transmitted by a
radio tower through electromagnetic waves (the channel) and eventually reaches your (the
receiver’s) ears via an antenna and speakers in order to be decoded. The radio announcer doesn’t
really know if you receive his or her message or not, but if the equipment is working and the
channel is free of static, then there is a good chance that the message was successfully received.
Since this model is sender and message focused, responsibility is put on the sender to help
ensure the message is successfully conveyed. This model emphasizes clarity and effectiveness,
but it also acknowledges that there are barriers to effective communication. Noise is anything
that interferes with a message being sent between participants in a communication encounter.
Even if a speaker sends a clear message, noise may interfere with a message being accurately
received and decoded. The transmission model of communication accounts for environmental
and semantic noise.
Environmental noise is any physical noise present in a communication encounter. Other people
talking in a crowded diner could interfere with your ability to transmit a message and have it
successfully decoded. While environmental noise interferes with the transmission of the message,
semantic noise refers to noise that occurs in the encoding and decoding process when
participants do not understand a symbol. To use a technical example, FM antennae can’t decode
AM radio signals and vice versa. Likewise, most French speakers can’t decode Swedish and vice
versa. Semantic noise can also interfere in communication between people speaking the same
language because many words have multiple or unfamiliar meanings.
Although the transmission model may seem simple or even underdeveloped to us today, the
creation of this model allowed scholars to examine the communication process in new ways,
which eventually led to more complex models and theories of communication
This model is not quite rich enough to capture dynamic face-to-face interactions, but there
are instances in which communication is one-way and linear, especially computer-mediated
communication (CMC). As the following “Getting Plugged In” box explains, CMC is integrated into
many aspects of our lives now and has opened up new ways of communicating and brought some
new challenges. Think of text messaging for example. The transmission model of communication
is well suited for describing the act of text messaging since the sender isn’t sure that the meaning
was effectively conveyed or that the message was received at all. Noise can also interfere with the
transmission of a text. If you use an abbreviation the receiver doesn’t know or the phone
autocorrects to something completely different than you meant, then semantic noise has
interfered with the message transmission. I enjoy bargain hunting at thrift stores, so I just
recently sent a text to a friend asking if she wanted to go thrifting over the weekend. After she
replied with “What?!?” I reviewed my text and saw that my “smart” phone had autocorrected
thrifting to thrusting! You have likely experienced similar problems with text messaging, and a
quick Google search for examples of text messages made funny or embarrassing by the
autocorrect feature proves that many others do, too.

Interaction Model of Communication

The interaction model of communication describes communication as a process in which

participants alternate positions as sender and receiver and generate meaning by sending
messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological contexts.
Rather than illustrating communication as a linear, one-way process, the interaction model
incorporates feedback, which makes communication a more interactive, two-way process.
Feedback includes messages sent in response to other messages. For example, your instructor
may respond to a point you raise during class discussion or you may point to the sofa when your
roommate asks you where the remote control is. The inclusion of a feedback loop also leads to a
more complex understanding of the roles of participants in a communication encounter.
Rather than having one sender, one message, and one receiver, this model has two sender-
receivers who exchange messages. Each participant alternates roles as sender and receiver in
order to keep a communication encounter going. Although this seems like a perceptible and
deliberate process, we alternate between the roles of sender and receiver very quickly and often
without conscious thought.
The interaction model is also less message focused and more interaction focused. While the
transmission model focused on how a message was transmitted and whether or not it was
received, the interaction model is more concerned with the communication process itself. In fact,
this model acknowledges that there are so many messages being sent at one time that many of
them may not even be received. Some messages are also unintentionally sent. Therefore,
communication isn’t judged effective or ineffective in this model based on whether or not a
single message was successfully transmitted and received.

The interaction model takes physical and psychological context into account.

Physical context

Includes the environmental factors in a communication encounter. The size, layout, temperature,
and lighting of a space influence our communication

Psychological context

includes the mental and emotional factors in a communication encounter. Stress, anxiety, and
emotions are just some examples of psychological influences that can affect our communication. I
recently found out some troubling news a few hours before a big public presentation. It was
challenging to try to communicate because the psychological noise triggered by the stressful
news kept intruding into my other thoughts. Seemingly positive psychological states, like
experiencing the emotion of love, can also affect communication. During the initial stages of a
romantic relationship individuals may be so “love struck” that they don’t see incompatible
personality traits or don’t negatively evaluate behaviors they might otherwise find off-putting.
Feedback and context help make the interaction model a more useful illustration of the
communication process, but the transaction model views communication as a powerful tool that
shapes our realities beyond individual communication encounters.