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Tammera Stokes Rice, College of the Canyons
Adapted by Katharine O’Connor, Ph.D., Florida SouthWestern State College
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES |
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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
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Figure 1.1: Official Portrait of President Barack Obama1
Introduction
Have you ever asked a parent for money and not received a response? Have you ever asked your boss if you can leave early from work and they just stare at you for what seemed forever? You may have asked yourself, “Why aren’t they communicating with me?” Well, they are communicating. You see, every verbal and nonverbal response is a form of communication, including silence. Doctor of Psychology and author, Paul Watzlawick (1967), points out in Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes one of the five axioms of communication is “One cannot not communicate” (p. 48). As long as there is someone to receive the communication, we are communicating.
In basic terms, communication is the sending and receiving of messages. Does this seem too simple? If so, it’s because IT IS! Of course, there is much more to the story, which is why we have an entire book and class about communication. Yet, this simple definition helps us see that we can learn the basic process of sending and receiving messages when we communicate. Throughout this text, we will learn all about the communication process in order to write and deliver a stellar speech. Let’s start with the models of communication.
Models of Communication
In order to understand the process of communication, we would like to take you back to the earliest model of communication and then provide you with a more contemporary and effective model of communication. Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) model of communication is the linear model. However, today we understand communication as a transactional model of communication. Let’s jump in.
Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication (Linear Model)
An early model of communication widely understood in the field of communication studies is the Shannon-Weaver Model. The model was first developed to improve communication in technologies. Later, social scientists adopted it to understand the communication patterns between individuals. Nowadays, we use it most when we text, email, chat, blog, etc. This is a one-directional model of communication which only moves from sender to receiver without immediate feedback. However, when we give a speech to a live audience, we use a different model which we will highlight below.
Figure 1.2: Shannon-Weaver Model2
Transactional Model of Communication
So, what happens when we communicate face-to-face? It is no longer one-way communication since we are sending and receiving messages simultaneously. This is called a transactional model of communication since there is a simultaneous exchange of messages from both the sender and receiver. When the sender sends a message to the receiver, the receiver receives the message as it is happening