2 Mass Media: Definitions, Functions and Elements of Communication

Mrs. Shilpa Hattiangadi

Content Outline

Introduction
Objectives of the module
Definitions of Communication
Functions of communication
Elements of communication

Objectives of the module

At the end of the module learners will be able to:

Define ‘communication’;
Understand the meaning and nature of communication;
List the significant elements that influence the process of communication
Describe the functions of communication;
Cognise the process of communication;
Explain the functions of communication
Relate to the wide array of human activities where communication plays an important role

Introduction

Communication played a dynamic role in the evolution of life on earth. Communication made its presence felt right from the time when the first amoeba came to life. Communication is a much larger phenomenon than the one that involves language, signs and symbols. Besides human beings, animals and insects too have unique ways of communicating their needs for food, mating, territoriality etc. through their peculiar smells, calls or dances. They communicate effectively to warn against dangers.

Here are links to videos that elaborate the above explanation

How would the world be without communication? There will be tremendous chaos in the world due to lack of communication. It is really interesting to study this process of communication. It is all around us, touching our lives all the time, we communicate sometimes subtly and sometimes very openly by the choices we make, choices of colour, perfumes, clothes, etc. The way one communicates changes if one is speaking to a friend, parent, teacher, to oneself when one is lost in own thoughts. It will change in the event of an argument, the voice, pitch, intonation, etc. change with mood, situation. It shapes human behavior and hence it is crucial to have a clarity in understanding of communication. In our daily lives, communication is a system through which messages are sent and feedback is received. It is thus a process of transferring particular information or message from a source to a certain destination. Two or more persons interact and influence ideas, beliefs and attitudes of one another. The exchange of information happens through words, gestures, expressions, signs and symbols. It is a dynamic process of action and interaction towards a desired goal. Let us recall the Bidai Ceremony of a daughter, when the marriage ceremony concludes and it is time for the daughter to leave for her new house. An event high on emotions, happiness and anticipation of a bright future for the newly weds. Some cultures have beautiful folk songs expressing these mixed feelings, being worded and sung soulfully. One can observe communication of different types in this or many other such similar situations that occur in our day to day lives. A child is extremely intelligent to understand the mother’s gestures, eye movements or body language. After being repeatedly told to switch off the TV or put smartphone aside, all the mother needs to do is stand and look firmly into the eyes of the child. The child guesses through the mother’s expression and gets the hint that she / he needs to switch off the TV or that child is in for trouble.

To communicate, we make use of various means like speech, writing, printed and or pictorial matter, gestures and expressions, technology like radio, television, email, social media, so on and so forth.

A human being’s innate ability to think, to communicate and specific competence to acquire and use arbitrary symbols system of language makes humans so special. This ability of abstract thinking and communicating using symbols of language is indeed mind-blowing.

Communication takes place when a signal is transmitted from a source to the destination for the purpose of affecting or influencing the state of the destination in some way. It has evolved into an interdisciplinary field of study incorporating literature, psychology, sociology and statistics. The advent of technology and popularity of electronic media has propelled this field of study in the limelight. Mastery over communication skills can make a person an excellent communicator or orator. We do consider other media of communication very important but, language is definitely most significant as it forms a basis for gathering, storing, imparting knowledge and making or breaking relationships. Our need for communication is so strong and so basic that depriving an individual of this basic need can be considered as one of the severest form of punishments for criminals.

In a broader sense of the word, communication has many meanings and our understanding of communication will broaden if we look at a few of these meanings of communication. The study of communication is inter-disciplinary as it has captured interest of scholars from various fields like psychology, to understand causes and effects of communication, on individuals.

Sociologists and anthropologists study the process of communication between societies and cultures. Zoologists study communication between animals. Communication also refers to a field of study of non-verbal communication and effects of televised violence on children. Sometimes communication is studied from the perspective of languages’ and philosophy and at the same time form performing arts.

The world of communication is a complex, expansive and an evolving one. It adapts a very dynamic character as the methods, channels, instruments and approaches relating to the process of communication respond to new situations and challenges. The gamut of communication assumes a pervasive quality in the contemporary world and is constantly changing, evolving, imparting new definitions over and over again. Communication is to be understood as a way of life.

Defining and understanding ‘communication’–

Communication is a means of connecting people or places. John Fiske (Fiske, 1990), a media scholar, explains that there two main schools of communication. The first sees communication as a transmission of messages and the second, as production and exchange of meanings. The word ‘communication’ is derived from the Latin word ‘communicatio’ or ‘communicare’ that means communicate, discuss, impart or share. It was used prominently in French in late 14th century and later in English. Denis Mcquail, a communication scholar explains the human communication in linear terms as sending of meaningful messages from one person to another. Carl Hovland, a Psychologist explains communication as the process by which an individual or the communicator transmits the stimuli which are mostly verbal symbols to modify the behavior of the other individuals. Wilbur Schramm defines communication as a mechanism through which human relations exist and develop. A lucid explanation of the term communication is that, it is a process of sharing or exchange of ideas, information, knowledge, attitude and feeling among two persons or a group of people through certain signs and symbols or passing of information from source to destination.

Numerous dictionaries give varied meanings of the word –communication.

The act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.
Something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.
A document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.
Passage or opportunity or means of passage between places
Communications, a means of sending messages, orders, etc., including telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. b. routes and transportation for moving troops and supplies from a base to an area of operations.

The Business Dictionary defines communication as a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning. In business, it is a key function of management–an organization cannot operate without communication between levels, departments and employees.

Dance and Larsen define communication as ”the production of symbolic symbolic content by an individual to a code with anticipated consumption by others according to the same code. Walt Disney, the world famous cartoonist, said that “Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”

Isn’t it interesting that communication ca be defined in so many ways. I.A Richards defines communication as the exchange of meanings between individuals through a common system of symbols.

Communication has now evolved as an important discipline and more number of researchers are interested in studying this subject from diverse perspectives.

Let us understand some characteristics of communication-

The basic motive behind communication is the satisfaction of our needs. A child reaches out to the milk bottle, indicating eagerness to drink it. Chicks of birds chirp loudly in the nest indicating hunger.
Communication is the exchange of meaningful symbols.
A medium is required for the process of communication to take place.
It is a process which involves certain elements like sender, receiver, message, medium and effect.
The nature of communication is transactional.

The students of communication will appreciate the study of communication if they understand its features. Communication takes place all around us. It takes place continuously and at varied levels. Both, the sender and the receiver of the message must understand the meaning in the context. This is the main purpose of communication. It occurs between people who may or may not be at an equal level. Communication contains predictable elements wherein one knows what to expect. It can take communication at different levels by dispelling misunderstandings between individuals.

Elements of communication: McQuail sees human communication in linear terms as sending of meaningful linear terms as sending of meaningful messages from one person to another, messages from one person to another. These messages could be oral, written. Communication happens with some purpose or motive of the sender conceiving an idea or devising a message to be communicated to the receiver/s. It involves certain elements that are essential to complete the process of communication.

Sender is the person who begins the process of communication and is responsible for encoding the message. The sender may be inspired by some source of information for developing or communicating a particular message

Encoding is the process of putting thoughts and ideas of the message into symbolic form.

Message: The sender wishes to convey some need, information or idea to the receiver, which s/he encodes in a form that would be understood by the receiver. Thus a message is encoded information which is communicated to the receiver or destination. The message may be in different forms but it is essential for the message to exist. There cannot be communication in absence of a message.

Medium: The sender chooses the appropriate medium to send across the encoded message to the receiver. From ancient times until now, there have been many developments. With advancement of technology, the number of options people have today to send a message are numerous. Media means a channel through which something is communicated to others. The media for oral communication are conversation, telephone calls, conference, meeting and others. Writtencommunication uses media like newspapers, letters, e-mail, report, memo, chatting etc.

New media has converged many of these features that we see on applications used by users.

Decoding is the process through which receiver provides meaning to the message sent by the sender i. e., it helps the receiver to interpret or understand the sending message. The decoding depends on the knowledge and perception of the receiver, past experience with the similar communicator, personal desire etc. The process of translating the symbols into the interpreted message is decoding.

Receiver is the person or body who receives the message sent by the sender. The receiver is the destination that may be an individual or an organization. When the receiver receives the message, he decodes the message to create a meaningful idea from the message received. In case of two way communication, the receiver is required to provide response to the original sender of the message.

Feedbackis the response of receiver to communicate to the original sender to create a two-way communication. The feedback ascertains understanding between sender and receiver which can be written, spoken, signalled or given through other means.

Noise is the distortion during the communication process which causes disturbance to the message sent. The receiver can get a different message than what the sender has sent. Environment noise is any element or activity that disturbs, confuses or makes the communication process more difficult. Noise could be in form of semantic differences where the process of communication is hindered due to lack of understanding of the message, by the receiver, due to different reasons. Noise could be due to some discomfort due to health reasons or due to psychological reasons. The receiver may not be in a state-of-mind to receive the message due to some mental preoccupation.

We looked at the different elements which enable the process of communication. Thus, communication process becomes fulfilled and communication becomes effective.

Functions of communication-

Communication serves crucial functions for people.

It helps us in several ways by allowing us to express our ideas, feelings, towards oneself, or others in our family, society, known or unknown individuals. For eg. One wants to share victory over a match with friends or call up a mobile service provider helpline and express anguish over a wrong billing, or introspect about things that are going wrong in personal or professional life.
Communication scholar Harold Lasswell proposes the following functions of communication: Firstly surveillance of the environment, secondly correlation of the parts of society in responding to the environment and lastly transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next.

Communication allows us access to information, by imparting information about various events occurring around us and situations in society and the world. It helps one understand relations of power in society and politics. Communication can also facilitate innovation in fields of science and technology, medicine and many more. The process of communication can help one adapt in new places by understanding the work culture or society. It drives people towards growth and progress.

Another important function of communication is correlation of events. When one is able to explain, interpret, comment and participate in events happening around one’s environment or across the globe, one feels empowered with knowledge and power.

When empowered, the individual can provide support for established authority and norms.

Socializing is an important function of communication. It enables members of a society, nation or the world at large to come together, extend support to each other in times of crises, celebrate events together, unite to maintain harmony etc. Communication helps co-ordinate separate activities.

Communication helps to establish continuity by expressing the dominant culture and recognizing subcultures and new cultural developments.

Besides the ones mentioned above, providing entertainment and amusement, diversion and the means of relaxation is an important function of communication. It reduces social tension and unites people of the world at large. It mobilizes members to campaign for societal objectives in the sphere of politics, war, economic development, work and sometimes religion, consensus building for choosing of leaders, driving campaigns for different social causes.

Roman Jacobson posits a function each with these factors.

Communication has an emotive function. The emotive function is associated with the addresser. It is also known as expressive function as each instance of communication shows emotions, attitudes, state of mind, the social status of the speaker, i.e., all those elements that make the message uniquely personal. In some communication such as a performance, the speaker tries to highlight this function to the extent that other functions of communication remain only in the background with least effect.
Communication also has a poetic function which emphasizes the role of the addresser to encode a message in such a way that it could live after the given situation for which it was prepared. This is a reflexive relationship of message to itself and becomes very important in aesthetic and cultural communication.
Communication educates people and persuades them for change in behaviour. Another important function of communication is to fulfil needs of people.
Communicating to educate begins very early for an individual, through the primary care givers, parents, grandparents, neighbours, society, school, college and this process continues throughout life. It enables smooth functioning by providing the necessary expertise. Communication enriches the quality of our life and empowers us with knowledge.
It entertains us! We watch films, television, listen to radio, music, relish literature.
Preservation and promotion of culture is an important function of communication. The essence of our culture, heritage, folkmedia are passed on to future generations. The richness of languages is passed on and preserved by communicating it to the next generations.
Persuasion is an important function of communication as it helps in reaching for a decision on public policy. It attempts to influence a person’s attitude, opinion or behavior towards other people, events, ideas or objects.
Communication fulfils needs of people. It helps us to fulfil our basic needs through communication. Our social needs are fulfilled by communicating as we feel less lonely after talking to others, sharing and caring for others, it relaxes us after hearty chat with close friends or loved ones. Our lives would have been empty if social needs were not fulfilled, we effectively fulfils our daily needs by communicating with a co-worker about a task assigned or to the doctor exactly describing our symptoms.
In our day to day interaction with our family, friends, co-workers, teachers, strangers, it is seen that a large part of the day we are communicating. Personal communication is essential for our well-being Communication helps us to form an identity of our own by the way we communicate, the message we create and present ourselves as we want to be seen by others.

Summary

Communication today, is a highly evolved process and field of study.
Communication is a much larger phenomenon than the one that involves language, signs and symbols.
Besides human beings, animals and insects too have unique ways of communicating their needs for food, mating, territoriality etc. through their peculiar smells, calls or dances.
Communication takes place all around us. It takes place continuously and at varied levels.
It occurs between people who may or may not be at an equal level.
Communication contains predictable elements wherein one knows what to expect.
It can take communication at different levels by dispelling misunderstandings between individuals.

you can view video on Mass Media: Definitions, Functions and Elements of Communication

References

Fiske, J. (1990). Introduction to Communication Studies. New York: Routledge.
Hartley, P.(1993).Interpersonal Communication. New York: Routledge.
McQuail, D.(2010). Mass Communication Theory. London: SAGE.
Rosengren, Karl Erik. (2000). Communication: An Introduction. London: Sage Publication.
Schramm, Wilbur. (1966). The Science of Human Communication. Illinois: The Business Press.