Lasswell’s model

Harold Dwight Lasswell, the American political scientist states that a convenient way to describe
an act of communication is to answer the following questions

 Who

 Says What

 In Which Channel

 To Whom

 With what effect?

This model is about process of communication and its function to society, According to Lasswell
there are three functions for communication:

1. Surveillance of the environment

2. Correlation of components of society
3. Cultural transmission between generation

Lasswell model suggests the message flow in a multicultural society with multiple audiences.
The flow of message is through various channels. And also this communication model is similar
to Aristotle’s communication model.

In this model, the communication component who refers the research area called “Control
Analysis”,

Says what is refers to “Content Analysis”,

In which channel is refers to “Media Analysis”,

To Whom is refers to “Audience Analysis”

With What Effect is refers to “Effect Analysis”

Example:

CNN NEWS – A water leak from Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear power station resulted in
about 100 times the permitted level of radioactive material flowing into the sea, operator Tokyo
Electric Power Co said on Saturday.

Who – TEPC Operator

What – Radioactive material flowing into sea

Channel – CNN NEWS (Television medium)

Whom – Public

Effect – Alert the people of japan from the radiation.

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

BERLO’S SMCR MODEL OF

COMMUNICATION
The berlo’s model follows the smcr model this model is not specific to any particular
communication.

Berlo’s model lives a number of factors under each of the elements :

Source: The source is were the message originates.

Communication skills – It is the individual’s skill to communicate (ability to read, write, speak,
listen etc…)

Attitudes – The attitude towards the audience, subject and towards one self for e.g. for the
student the attitude is to learn more and for teachers wants to help teach.
Knowledge– The knowledge about the subject one is going to communicate for e.g. whatever
the teacher communicates in the class about the subject so having knowledge in what you are
communicating.

Note: It is not talking about the general knowledge it is all about the knowledge of the subject, so
it is the familiarity of what you are communicating.

Social system – The Social system includes the various aspects in society like values, beliefs,
culture, religion and general understanding of society. It is were the communication takes place.

For e.g. class room differs from country to country like behaviors, how we communicate etc.

Note: We can communicate only to the extent that the social system allows, when we
communicate take social system into account.

Culture: Culture of the particular society also comes under social system.

All to this model, only if you have the above in the proper or adequate proportion v can
communicate.

Encoder: The sender of the message (message originates) is referred as encoder, so the source is
encoding the message here.

Message

Content – The beginning to the end of a message comprises its content for e.g. From beginning
to end whatever the class teacher speaks in the class is the content of the message.

Elements – It includes various things like language, gestures, body language etc, so these are all
the elements of the particular message. Content is accompanied by some elements.

Treatment – It refers to the packing of the message. The way in which the message is conveyed
or the way in which the message is passed on or deliver it.

Note: When it is too much treatment also the communication will not happen properly.

Structure– The structure of the message how it is arranged, the way you structure the message
into various parts.

Note: Message is the same but if the structure is not properly arranged then the message will not
get to the receiver.

Code– The code of the message means how it is sent in what form it could be e.g. language,
body language, gestures, music and even culture is a code. Through this you get/give the
message or through which the communication takes place or being reached.
Note: Only when the code is proper, the message will be clear, improper use may lead to
misinterpretation.

Channel– It is nothing but the five senses through this only we do. The following are the five
senses which we use

 Hearing
 Seeing
 Touching
 Smelling
 Tasting

Whatever communication we do it is there either of these channels.

Hearing: The use of ears to get the message for e.g. oral messages, interpersonal etc.

Seeing: Visual channels for e.g. TV can be seen and the message is delivered.

Touching: The sense of touch can be used as a channel to communicate for e.g. we touch and
buy food, hugging etc.

Smelling: Smell also can be a channel to communicate for e.g. perfumes, food, charred smell
communicates something is burning, we can find out about which food is being cooked etc.

Tasting : The tongue also can be used to decipher e.g. Food can be tasted and communication
can happen.

Note: Despite not mentioning a medium we need to assume that as communication is taking
place channels can be any of the 5 senses or combination.

Decoder : Who receives the message and decodes it is referred to as decoder.

Receiver: The receiver needs to have all the thinks like the source.

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.
Note: Self image differs from person to person, for communicating the person should consider
the receiver. Keep the receiver in mind, speak accordingly and give them what they need.

Criticism of berlo’s smcr model of communication:

1. No feedback / don’t know about the effect

2. Does not mention barriers to communication
3. No room for noise
4. Complex model
5. It is a linear model of communication
6. Needs people to be on same level for communication to occur but not true in real life
7. 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).

OSGOOD- SCHRAMM MODEL OF

COMMUNICATION
in Communication Models,Interpersonal Communication

It is a Circular Model, so that communication is something circular in nature

Encoder – Who does encoding or Sends the message (message originates)

Decoder – Who receives the message

Interpreter – Person trying to understand (analyses, perceive) or interpret

Note: From the message starting to ending, there is an interpretation goes on. Based on this
interpretation only the message is received.
This model breaks the sender and receiver model it seems communication in a practical way. It is
not a traditional model.

It can happen within our self or two people; each person acts as both sender and receiver and
hence use interpretation. It is simultaneously take place e.g. encoding, interpret and decoding.

Semantic noise is a concept introduced here it occurs when sender and receiver apply different
meaning to the same message. It happens mostly because of words and phrases for e.g. Technical
Language, So certain words and phrases will cause you to deviate from the actual meaning of the
communication.

Note: When semantic noise takes place decoding and interpretation becomes difficult and people
get deviated from the actual message.

Advantage of Osgood- Schramm model of communication

1. Dynamic model- Shows how a situation can change

2. It shows why redundancy is an essential part
3. There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and receiver is the same person
4. Assume communication to be circular in nature
5. Feedback – central feature.

Disadvantage of Osgood- Schramm model of communication

This model does not talk about semantic noise and it assume the moment of encoding and
decoding.

Shannon and Weaver

The new model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies.
Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender
was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the
receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver
also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone
conversation, which they deemed noise. The noise could also mean the absence of signal.[1]

In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of

communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form
(as spoken language) from an emissor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This
common conception of communication views communication as a means of sending and
receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability.
Mathematicians Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the
following elements:

An information source, which produces a message.

A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal.
A destination, where the message arrives.

Shannon and Weaver argued that there were three levels of problems for communication within
this concept

The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted?

The semantic problem: how precisely is the meaning 'conveyed'?

The effectiveness problem: how effectively does the received meaning affect behavior?

Daniel Chandler critiques the transmission model by stating:[3]

It assumes communicators are isolated individuals.

No allowance for differing purposes.

No allowance for differing interpretations.

No allowance for unequal power relations.