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COMMUNICATION:Nature of communication, Transactional approach, Communication is symbolic:

THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (I):Positivistic Perspective, Critical Perspective >>
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
LESSON 01
COMMUNICATION
Defining communication
Communication is seen as central to our everyday ideas about what makes life worth living. It is not
surprising that academicians have attempted to unravel the secrets of the communication process. In this
section of the study we will examine the theorizing and theories of this discipline of communication.
To understand communication theory we need to understand the nature of communication.
Nature of communication
People define terms in different ways, and those differences in definition can have a profound impact on
the extent to which we understand each other and the way we move forward with both academic and
everyday pursuits.
Given the variety of ways in which words are used and understood, we are often ill-served to search for
the single, so-called correct definition of a term.
In other words, it is better to evaluate definition in terms of their utility rather than in terms of their
correctness. So we should not assume that there is always a single right way to define a concept. There
is a great deal of variation in the definitions. Some are very abstract and some are extremely specific.
Few definitions are cited below.
Communication is the process by which an individual (the communicator) transmits stimuli (usually
verbal) to modify the behavior of other individuals (the audience). (Hovland Janis and Kelly in 1953)
Communication is the process by which we understand others and in turn endeavor to be understood by
them. It is dynamic, constantly changing and shifting in response to the total situation (Anderson, 1959)
Communication is all of the procedures by which one mind can affect another (W. Weaver, 1949)
Communication means that information is passed from one place to another. (Miller, 1951)
These definitions are incomplete in the sense that Weaver's definition is incredibly broad; it includes all
the procedures by which one "mind" could have an effect on another, whereas the other definitions
excludes too many activities that we normally think of as communication. However through this
definitional turmoil many conceptual features have emerged as important points of discussion.
Conceptualizing communication: points of convergence
Communication is a process:
Process-oriented conceptualization of communication suggests that it is continuous and complex and
cannot be arbitrarily isolated. David Berlo in 1960 popularized this idea in these words.
"If we accept the concept of process, we view events and relationships as dynamic, on-going, ever-
changing, continuous. When we label something as a process we also mean that it does not have a
beginning, an end, a fixed sequence of events. It is not static at rest. It is moving. The ingredients within
a process interact; each affects all others."
So when we look at communication as a process, we see that even simple interactions are influenced in
complex ways by the past and will also have important implication for the future. In early
conceptualizations of communication this process was seen as a primarily linear one, in which
communication moved from a source to a receiver. As we can see in the Lasswell's classical model of
communication:
Who?
Says what?
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
To whom?
Through what channel?
With what effect?
Lasswell's linear model of communication is not accepted for it does not incorporate a feedback loop
from receiver to source. Rather most communication researchers now take a transactional approach to
communication.
Transactional approach
Communication is transactional and hence highly complex. The concept of transaction is useful to
contrast it with the related ideas of action and interaction.
If we consider communication to strictly action, a source presenting a message to a receiver or an
audience, we would not consider the reaction of the audience or feedback from it. This is a one way
linear model of communication which is also labeled the hypodermic needle model or magic bullet
model of communication.
It suggests that communication is a simple process of injecting our messages into receivers.
In contrast, if we communicate from an interaction perspective, we move from beyond the hypodermic
needle to consider the importance of feedback from the receiver. This is the interaction model; we look
at not only the message of the source but also the reaction of the receiver.
Burgoon and Ruffner in 1978 said:
"People are simultaneously acting as a source and receiver in many communication situations. A
person is giving feedback, talking, responding, acting and reacting continually through a
communication event. Each person is constantly participating in the communication activity; all of these
things can alter the other elements in the process and create a completely different communication
event. This is what we mean by transaction".
A view of communication as transactional also emphasizes the importance of context. That is, not only
do participant constantly influence each other, they are also influenced by the context in which they
interact, e.g. comment made in an organization can take on a very different meaning depending on
whether it is heard in a formal performance appraisal meeting or in casual conversation in the cafeteria..
Communication is symbolic:
A third area of convergence in conceptualizations of communication is the belief that communication is
symbolic. To explore this concept, it is useful to talk briefly about the more general concept of sign,
investigated by the field of semiotics.
Semioticians see a sign as consisting of two inextricably linked parts - signifier and the signified.
Consider the work book and the object made of paper and glue that you hold in your hand right now. In
this case, the signifier is the word book and the signified is the signified is the concept of the book and
the referent is the physical object you are holding. This relationship is obviously not a perfect one-to one
correspondence and is often an arbitrary relationship in that there is no natural correspondence, for
instance, between the letters b-o-o-k and the object to which they refer.
Thus, symbols hold an arbitrary, rather than natural, relationship to what is symbolized, and a symbol
has no inherent meaning.
Other semioticians have also tried to understand these notions more or less in the same manner. For
example theorists, Ogden and Richards in 1946 explained this relationship in terms of a semantic
triangle in which the three points of the triangle are the symbol (the word book) the referent (the
physical object) and the reference (what you mean by book when you use the symbol). In this triangle,
the link between the symbol and the referent is arbitrary. That is, you might be quite clear about what
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
you mean when you use the term book, but that symbol might have different meanings for different
people.
However, with most symbols, some degree of shared meaning exists between interactants. As symbol
are developed through shared social experience and exist within a system of other symbols. However
gaps in communication occur if the shared meaning is not the same which happens when there are
different cultures or different social experiences.
So when theorists say that communication is symbolic, they mean that it requires signs and symbols that
have relationships to referents that are to some extent arbitrary.
Conceptualizing communication: points of divergence
1. Communication as a social activity.
2. Communication and intention.
Communication as a social activity
The first point of divergence is whether communication necessarily involves two or more people (e.g., is
a social or interpersonal activity) or whether communication can occur within one individual (i.e.
intrapersonal communication-you communicate with yourself.) that is can you talk to yourself. One
group of scholars say that it is cognition or thinking and says that communication is in which two or
more people are involved. The more important point in conceptualizing communication as a social
process is in the function that communication serves as a social vehicle. That is when we see
communication as something that occurs between people the question arises of what communication is
doing in that relationship.
So when we are looking at the language as a social activity we are then looking primarily at the
pragmatic level. The pragmatic level of language study looks at language use. That is, a pragmatic view
looks at the ways in which we do things with words. That is communication, in this social sense, is a
vehicle through which we are trying to do something- we are trying to get others to understand or
appreciate our internal thoughts or emotion, or we might be trying to understand those internal states in
others.
Communication and Intention
One group of scholars say that "you cannot not communicate". Suggesting that meaning is inherent in
all human behavior, E.g. wearing an old jeans.
So this group makes communication synonymous or nearly synonymous with BEHAVIOR.
Whereas the other group disregard this idea that "you cannot not communicate", arguing that only
intentional behaviors should count as communication. In their view, communication occurs only when
there is clear intention the part of the source to communicate.
"Communication occurs in those situations in which a source transmits a message to a receiver with
conscious intent to affect the latter's behavior" (Miller, 1966)
Summary
In this chapter we have explored the terrain surrounding the concept of communication. We did number
of definitions. We did conceptualizations of communication- points of convergence: Communication as
a process; Communication is transactional; Communication is symbolic. Points of divergence:
Communication as a social activity and Communication and intention.
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Table of Contents:
  1. COMMUNICATION:Nature of communication, Transactional approach, Communication is symbolic:
  2. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (I):Positivistic Perspective, Critical Perspective
  3. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (II):Empirical problems, Conceptual problems
  4. FROM COMMUNICATION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MODELS:Channel
  5. NORMATIVE THEORIES:Authoritarian Theory, Libertarian Theory, Limitations
  6. HUTCHINS COMMISSION ON FREEDOM, CHICAGO SCHOOL & BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY
  7. CIVIC JOURNALISM, DEVELOPMENT MEDIA THEORY & DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPANT THEORY
  8. LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESS THEORY:Concentration and monopoly, Commercialism
  9. MCQUAIL’S FOUR KINDS OF THEORIES:Social scientific theory, Critical theory
  10. PROPAGANDA THEORIES:Origin of Propaganda, Engineering of Consent, Behaviorism
  11. PARADIGM SHIFT & TWO STEP FLOW OF INFORMATION
  12. MIDDLE RANGE THEORIES:Background, Functional Analysis Approach, Elite Pluralism
  13. KLAPPER’S PHENOMENSITIC THEORY:Klapper’s Generalizations, Criticism
  14. DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY:Innovators, Early adopters
  15. CHALLENGING THE DOMINANT PARADIGM:Catharsis Social learning Social cognitive theory
  16. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEROY:Symbolizing Capacity, MODELLING
  17. MODELING FROM MASS MEDIA:Recent research, Summary, PRIMING EFFECTS
  18. PRIMING EFFECT:Conceptual Roots, Perceived meaning, Percieved justifiability
  19. CULTIVATION OF PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL REALITY:History
  20. SYSTEMS THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES:System
  21. EMERGENCE OF CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
  22. REVISION:Positivistic perspective, Interpretive Perspective, Inductive approach
  23. CRITICAL THEORIES & ROLE OF MASS COMMUNICATION IN A SOCIETY -THE MEDIATION OF SOCIAL RELATIONS
  24. ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN SOCIAL ORDER & MARXIST THEORY:Positive View
  25. KEY PRINCIPLES USED IN MARXISM:Materialism, Class Struggle, Superstructure
  26. CONSUMER SOCIETY:Role of mass media in alienation, Summary of Marxism
  27. COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE:Neo Marxism, Characteristics of Culture
  28. HEGEMONY:What exactly is the meaning of "hegemony"?
  29. CULTURE INDUSTRY:Gramscianism on Communications Matters
  30. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY I:Internationalization, Vertical Integration
  31. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY II:Diversification, Instrumental
  32. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY III:Criticism, Power of Advertising
  33. AGENDA SETTING THEORY:A change in thinking, First empirical test
  34. FRAMING & SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Spiral of Silence, Assessing public opinion
  35. SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Fear of isolation, Assessing public opinion, Micro-level
  36. MARSHALL MCLUHAN: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE AND MASSAGE
  37. KNOWLEDGE GAP THEORY:Criticism on Marshal McLuhan
  38. MEDIA SYSTEM DEPENDENCY THEORY:Media System Dependency Theory
  39. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY:Methods
  40. RECEPTION THEORY
  41. FRAMING AND FRAME ANALYSIS:Information Processing Theory, Summing up
  42. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION I:Communication Science, Direct channels
  43. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION II:Communication Maxims, Emotions
  44. GLOBALIZATION AND MEDIA:Mediated Communication, Post Modernism
  45. REVISION:Microscopic Theories, Mediation of Social Relations