1. The Evolution of Communication Theory
The Evolution of an Idea
The 20th Century
Communication Theory in the 21st Century
Reflections on the Evolution of Communication Theory
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

2. The Evolution of an Idea
Scholars and practitioners have been thinking about the nature of communication for more than 2,500 years.
From it’s early beginnings, communication was seen as a process in which a speaker constructed message to bring about desired responses in his or her receivers – the classical S → M → R = E perspective.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

3. The Evolution of an Idea
The earliest models of communication focused on one-way, linear processes in which a speaker attempted to formulate a message in order to influence an audience in a particular way.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

4. The Evolution of an Idea
This model assumed that the message sent was (or at least should be) the message received.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

5. The Evolution of an Idea
Origins of Communication Theory: Early Greece
Aristotle ( B.C.) and his teacher Plato ( B.C.) were the most central figures in early communication study.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

6. The Evolution of an Idea Origins of Communication Theory: Early Greece
For Aristotle, communication was primarily a verbal activity through which speakers tried to persuade – to achieve their own purposes with a listener through skillful construction of an argument and delivery of a speech.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

7. The Evolution of an Idea
Speaker
Argument
Speech
Listener(s)
The Rhetoric was written about 330 BC by Aristotle, and contains three books emphasizing the speaker, the audience, and the speech.
Many scholars consider Aristotle to be the greatest theorist of rhetorical communication.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

8. The Evolution of an Idea
Book I focuses on the means of persuasion, which Aristotle argues are ethos, pathos, and logos.
Book II examines the nature of the audience and how the speaker can evoke an audience’s emotions.
Book III deals with style and stresses as an important component of an effective message.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

9. The Evolution of an Idea
McCroskey identifies three esential elements in Aristotle’s Theory of rhetoric:
All arguments must be based on probabilities.
Audience adaptation.
Amorality.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

10. The Evolution of an Idea
Plato, in his writings, outlined what he thought would be necessary for the study of rhetoric to contribute to a broader explanation of human behavior.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

11. The 20th Century Harold D. Lasswell (1948), a political scientist.
He said that the communication process could be best be explained by the simple statement:
“Who says what to whom in what channel with what effect.”
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

12. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Lasswell’s work suggested that there could be a variety of outcomes or effects of communication, such as to inform, to entertain, to aggravate, as well as to persuade.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

13. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949) published the results of research they had undertaken for Bell Telephone to study the engineering problems of signal transmission.
Like Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver saw communication in terms of a one-way process by which a message was sent from a source through a channel to a receiver.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

14. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

15. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Shannon and Weaver described the workings of the model as follows:
The information source selects a desire message our of a set of possible messages … The selected message may consist of written or spoken words, or of pictures, music, etc … The transmitter changes the message into the signal which is actually sent over the communication channel from the transmitter to the receiver.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

16. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Shannon and Weaver described the communication process in this way:
Communication include(s) all the procedures by which one mind may affect another.
This of course, involve not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theatre, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

17. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Wilbur Schramm (1954) in “How Communication Works”, provided several additional models of communication, including the one shown below:
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

18. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
A source may be an individual or a communication organization.
The message may be in the form of ink on paper, sound waves in the air, impulses in electric current, or any other signal capable of being interpreted meaningfully.
The destination may be an individual listening, watching, or reading; a member of a group; or an individual member of a particular group we call the mass audience, such as the reader of a newspaper or a viewer of television.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

19. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Schramm saw communication as a purposed effort to establish a commonness between a source and receiver, noting that the word communication comes from the Latin communis, which mean common.
Schramm also introduced the concept of field of experience.
Schramm suggested the importance of feedback.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

20. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

21. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld (1955), political scientists, presented a two-step flow concept of communication.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

22. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

23. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Bruce Westley and Malcolm S. MacLean, Jr. suggested that the communication process begins with receiving messages, rather than sending them.
The process actually begins with a series of signals or potential messages.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

24. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

25. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Frank Dance (1967) developed what came to referred to as a helical-spiral view of communication.
Dance noted if communication is viewed as a process, we are forced to adapt our examination and our examining instruments to the challenge of something in motion, something that is change while we are in the very act of examining it.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

26. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

27. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc
The 20th Century
Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin, and Don Jackson (1967) wrote Pragmatics of Human Communication, which provided a general view of communication based on psychiatric study and therapy.
the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc

28. the_evltion_of_comm_thry_3rd_jc