Lesson 1: The Process of

COMMUNICATION
Department of Development Communication
Central Luzon State University
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija
 CONTENTS

Definition Elements Environment Levels Effective

& Process & Models Communication
 PART 1

DEFINING THE COMMUNICATION

 DEFINING THE COMMUNICATION

“sending” or “receiving”

✓ Connotes something one person does or give to someone else

“sharing”

✓ connotes something that two or more people do together.

Black and Bryant (1922) define communication as:

✓ the process by which individuals share meaning.

✓ the process by which an individual (the communicator)
transmits stimuli (usually verbal symbols) to modify the
z0000
behavior of other individuals (communicatee).
✓ occurring whenever the information is passed from one
place to another. Not simply the verbal, explicit, and
intentional transmission of message; it includes all those
processes by which people influence one another.
Communication is…

✓ transmission of information, ideas, attitudes or emotion from

one person or group to another (or others) primarily through
symbols (Theodorson and Theodorson, 1969).
✓ may be defined as “social z0000
interaction through messages”
(Gerbner, 1967)
✓ a process by which a source sends a message to a receiver
by means of some channel to produce a response from the
receiver, in accordance with the intention of the source (SRA,
Sourcebook, 1996)
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According to Kincaid and Schramm:

Not all communication has to be

Not all communication takes place
human communication.
in words.

z0000
Communication can take place over Communication not always require
large distances of space and time. two or more participants.

Not all participants in a communication Thinking is a form of

process have to be present at the same communication
time.
 8
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Communication as a process
and its four attributes:
SYSTEMATIC

A
Consist of group of
DYNAMIC elements which interact to
On-going; ever-changing, influence each other and
with no clear beginnings the system as a whole.
and endings.

SYMBOLIC B MEANING IS PERSONALLY

CONSTRUCTED
INTERACTION
Language is a form of symbol.
“The medium shapes the message.”
C Meanings are in people,
not in words.

D
 PART 2

ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)
 ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS
Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

SOURCE MESSAGE CHANNEL RECEIVER EFFECT

FEEDBACK
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

SOURCE
Source
• refers to a person
不足or a group of persons “with a purpose, a
之二
reason for engaging in communication” (Berlo, 1961).
• The source
不足 initiates the communication process.
之三
• Also referred to as the encoder, sender, information, source
or communicator.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

SOURCE
Receiver
• refers to the person
不足or group of persons at the other end of
之二
the communication process.
• He or she
不足is the target of the communication (Berlo, 1961).
之三
• The receiver listens when the source talks; the receiver
reads what the source writes.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

SOURCE
Message
• A source must have
不足something to transmit.
之二
• His or her purpose is expressed in the form of a message.
• The message
不足 may be an idea, purpose or intention that has
之三
been translated into a code or a systematic set of symbols
(Berlo, 1961).
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A message has three factors:

1. Message code – any group of symbols that can be structured in a way

that is meaningful to some person. Thus, language (sounds, letter and
SOURCE
words) is a code because it contains elements that are arranged in
meaningful orders.
不足
2. Message content 之二 – is the material in the message selected by the
source to express his/her purpose. Ex: research report (included writers
不足information presented, conclusions drawn.
assertion’s,
3. Message 之三treatment – decisions that the communication source makes
in selecting and arranging both code and content. Ex: A journalist writes
an article (what information to include, the angle of the story, the words
he will use.)
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

SOURCE
Channel
• modes of encoding 不足 and decoding the messages
之二
(e.g. speaking)
• message 不足vehicles (sound waves)
• vehicle之三
carriers (air)
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

Channel SOURCE

• determined by: availability, money, source preferences,

不足
which channels are
之二 received by most people at the lower
cost, which channels have the most impact; which channels
不足
are adaptable
之三 to the purpose of the source; which
channels are most adaptable to the content of the
message.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

Effect SOURCE
• The outcome of a communication or the response of the
不足
receiver to the message
之二 of the source.
• Sometimes it adheres to the desired outcome of the source,
不足
sometimes
之三 the effect is not the desired outcome.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

Effect SOURCE
1. Overt Effect – obvious or visible; responses include non-
verbal cues (nodding of head, signing of a contract).
2. Covert Effect – non-observable but sometimes they are
不足important.
the most
之三
* Communication can result in motivation or persuasion. It may
lead to awareness, interest, decision, or action.
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ELEMENTS OF THE PROCESS

Berlo’s Model of Communication (1961)

Feedback
SOURCE
• When an individual communicates with himself, the
messages he encodes are fed back into his system by his
decoder (Berlo, 1960).
不足
• A communication response is feedback to both source and
之三
receiver.
• Feedback could take form of non-verbal or verbal cues.
 PART 3

LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION
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LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION

INTRAPERSONAL INTERPERSONAL MASS

COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION
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LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION

1. Intrapersonal Communication
✓ communication with oneself.
2. Interpersonal Communication
✓ often defined as face-to-face communication
✓ person-to-person communication – communication between one person,
a group, or a room full of people at one time but still on a person-to
person basis.
3. Mass Communication
✓ A communication that employs technological devices (radio, television,
films) to disseminate symbolic content to large, heterogeneous, and
widely dispersed audiences (Janowitz, 1968 and McQuail, 1981).
✓ Communicating with large group of people at one time through the use of
social media.
PEOPLE CANNOT NOT COMMUNICATE
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

1. Laswell’s Model
• Harold D. Laswell, an American political scientist.

S M C R E
Who? Says What? In which To whom? With what
channel? effect?

• Limitations: omits the elements of feedback; the model took for granted
that the communication is mainly a persuasive process. No feedback
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

2. Shannon and Weavers “Mathematical” Model

• Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver were engineers working for Bell
Telephone Company.
• the model answered the questions
Message Received Message
Signal
Signal
Information Transmitter Receiver Destination

Noise
Source

• one-way linear model

• introduced the element of noise – in technical aspect, noise is anything
that disrupts the transmission of a signal; in human communication
context, noise is anything that disrupts the smooth flow of communication.
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

3. Newcomb’s Model

• Introduces the role of communication in a X

society or social relationship.
• Communication maintains equilibrium within
a social system
• If A and B have similar attitudes about X,
then the system is in equilibrium. Should
their attitudes differ, then there is no A B
equilibrium and A and B must communicate
to find a way to put their system in balance.
e.g. farmer and wife arguing whether or not go into swine
production
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

4. Osgood and Schramm’s Model

Message
• Wilbur Schramm and Charles
Osgood
• Compares their model to Shannon Encoder Encoder
and Weaver’s (focus on channel) Interpreter
Interpreter
• Schramm and Osgood model
Decoder Decoder
focuses on the actors in the
communication to be equal in
performing the tasks of encoding, Message
interpreting, and decoding
messages.
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

5. Osgood and Schramm’s Model Message

• Cyclical representation
Encoder Encoder
“…it is misleading to think of Interpreter Interpreter
communication process as starting
Decoder Decoder
somewhere and ending somewhere.
It is really endless (Schramm, 1954)
Message

Equality in communication
Actor focus unlike SW which is channel focused
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

6. Westley and MacLean’s Model

• David Berlo
• SMCRE Model
Environment (Where the
message is created)
Gatekeeper
(filters the
Source message) Receiver

A C B

an adaptation from Newcomb’s model of communication, which talked about co-orientation for simultaneous
orientation in a two way communication.
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

6. Berlo’s Model
• David Berlo
• SMCRE Model
• In his book Process of Communication (1961), he also
discusses the element of feedback.

SOURCE MESSAGE CHANNEL RECEIVER EFFECT

FEEDBACK
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

6. Dance’s Helical Model

• Portrays the communication
process as moving.
• Shows the dynamism of the
communication process
• May be used to illustrate
information gaps and the thesis
that knowledge tends to create
more knowledge.
 MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

6. Kincaid’s Convergence Model

• D. Lawrence Kincaid
• Shows a process of convergence to which participants
share information so that mutual understanding is
reached. Once mutual understanding is reached, there
is mutual agreement, then collective action can be
taken.
 PART 4

ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION
Activity: Communication Barriers
 ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Even the most experienced communicators among

us have been misunderstood at one time or another.

• Distortions in message
• Misinformation
• Lack of information
 ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

A second look at effective communication…

Berlo explained: Effect is the difference between what a receiver

thinks, feels, and does before and after exposure to a message.
Thus, effect is best expressed in behavioral terms.

The communicator has one or more purposes:

to gain attention, understanding, or acceptance, or to elicit action.

 ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

E= Sc + Mc + Cc + Rc + Re
Where: E is effect
Sc is characteristic of source
Mc is characteristic of message
Cc is characteristic of channel
Rc is characteristic of receiver
Re is resources available to the receiver
 ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Noise

1. In the middle of an important meeting, the phone rings

insistently.
2. While rushing to revise a paper whose deadline was
yesterday, the electricity goes off and you lose half of what
you have already typed in the computer.
3. You’re explaining a procedure to a group of new freshmen
who look like nothing you’ve said so far has made sense to
them.
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ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Noise ✓ any interference with the message travelling along

the channel…which may lead to the signal
received being different from that sent
(Chandler,n.d.)

Static over telephone lines

Blaring of the radio
Car horns outside your window
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ENVIRONMENT OF COMMUNICATION

Noise

Negative impressions
Cultural differences
Undiagnosed learning
deficiencies
 CLASSIFYING
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TECHNICAL SEMANTIC
PROBLEMS PROBLEMS
How precisely the meaning
How accurately the message
is conveyed. (e.g. translating
can be transmitted. (e.g. radio a publication from one language
static; bad cellular signal. to another.

EFFECTIVENESS
PROBLEMS
How effectively does the received message affect
behavior. (e.g. editor makes comments for the purpose of
making a piece of writing more concise or precise.
 CLASSIFYING
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A group of scientists classify barriers of communication into three:

physical barriers, psychological-cultural barriers, and social barriers

A B C D E
CHANNEL ENVIRONMENTAL SEMANTIC SOCIO- OTHERS
PSYCHOLOGICAL
 CLASSIFYING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

1. Channel Noise

• e.g. static, wrong spelling, letters too small to read,

dead air on the radio.
• these affect the channel, medium, or instrument used
in transmitting a message. in turn, they affect the
fidelity of the message.
• Fidelity means that the message received is faithful
to the one sent.
 CLASSIFYING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

2. Environmental Factors
• barriers that are present in the environment in which
a communication takes place.
• they are external to the communication process but
may create conditions under which communication
effectiveness is hampered.
• e.g. uncomfortable sitting arrangements, rooms that
are too hot, wall paper is too bright, meeting right
after lunch.
- Physical barriers: mountains; inaccessibility to radio and television
 CLASSIFYING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

3. Semantic Noise
• it happens when the message received as sent but
the meaning received was different from the meaning
sent.
• Occurs when we use, hear, or read words with
double meanings.
• E.g. gay meant happy or joyful
• Language serves as a bridge between peoples and
culture, however, it can also serve as a barrier.
 CLASSIFYING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

4. Socio-Psychological Barriers
• e.g. emotional blocks, charisma, stereotyping, first
impressions, and absent-mindedness
• Stereotyping – means judging people before you
know all the facts about them; believing that they
have common characteristics common among
members of each group.

Example: Ilocanos – Kuripot

Villagers are laughing at the tourist.
Illiteracy
 CLASSIFYING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

4. Other Barriers
• Ethnocentrism – in viewing a group or culture as
superior to all others.
• E.g. we interpret messages from the context of our
experiences. Most of the time it help us respond
appropriately to stimuli, however at times, negative
experiences makes us dysfunctional (disbelief,
rejection, distortion, or misinterpretation).
Example: Americans VS. Asians
 PART 5

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Communication Competence

Rothwell(1992) noted that knowing what constitutes

human communication does not automatically make
you an effective communicator. He points out that one
must first understand what it means to communicate
competently.
Barriers can be overcome if we are aware that they exist.
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Qualities of a Competent Communicator

1. They have a We-not-Me Orientation.

2. They understand communication effectiveness.
3. They have a sense of appropriateness.
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

1. They have a We-not-Me Orientation

• People who work well in a group are often more
competent in achieving communication goals than those
who do not.
2. They understand communication effectiveness
• “someone who knows what changes in communication
behavior need to be made, want to make these changes,
can hardly be deemed a competent communicator”
(Rothwell, 1992)
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

3. They have a sense of appropriateness

• a competent communicator must have a sense of
context.
• “avoid violating social or interpersonal norms,
rules or expectations” (Spitzberg and Cupach,
1989 in Rothwell, 1992)

The way you act at work is certainly different from the

way you act in church, or in favorite restaurant.
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Four basic components of communication competence,

Littlejohn and Jabusch (1982):

1. Understanding
2. Communication skills
3. Interpersonal sensitivity
4. Ethical responsibility
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Shockley-Zalabak (1988) modified these into four easily

remembered elements:

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS SENSITIVITY VALUES

A B C D
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

• Knowing what to do, when to do, and

how to do it.
KNOWLEDGE • Know when to keep quiet and know
A when to stop.
• Knowledge of how to communicate
with different kinds of people.
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

• Ability to demonstrate your knowledge in

actual situations (Rothwell, 1992).
SKILLS
• Communication skills, both verbal and non-
B verbal, are intrinsic to the success of any
individual.

• Use of interpersonal skills to their advantage

• Good communicator > Brainy
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

• Competent communicators must be

sensitive to the consequences of the
SENSITIVITY
communication choices they make.
C • Situation requirements: relationships
they have with others in a group; goals
of the communicator in light of the
group’s goals.
- Know your audience
- Be sensitive in dealing with other people
- Advance thinking/come prepared
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

• The desire to avoid previous mistakes

VALUES and find better ways of communicating
D with group members (Rothwell).
• Commitment to better communication.
STAND if it
hits you.
1. Assumes that the message
communicated will be uninteresting
and unimportant. Thus, you steer
your minds in another direction even
before the source begins.
2. You begin by mentally criticizing the
source’s delivery. You are too busy
adding up his/her physical faults and
wondering why he/she rates your
attention.
3. You are too busy thinking up an
argument or rebuttal to listen with
understanding.
4. People listen only for factual data
and want to be spared of the “details.”
5. People try to outline everything they
hear in a conference or at a
convention. But in their busy efforts
to outline what’s said, they hear only
1/3 of it.
6. People frequently pretend to give the
source their undivided attention.
They then proceed to tune him/her in
or out at will while retaining an
attentive facial expression.
7. People permit others to speak
inaudibly or to give fragmentary
information instead of asking for
clarification or repetition.
8. People tune out any message that
borders on the technical.
9. People are allergic in certain words,
ideas or phrases they find distasteful.
They tend to change topic or avoid
discussion.
 10.Their minds wander.

Mere visual attentiveness isn’t listening at all.