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4 - Definition and Components of Communication

The document discusses the essential role of communication in intercultural interactions, emphasizing its functions in identity formation, person perception, interpersonal needs, and persuasion. It defines communication as a dynamic process involving a source, encoding, message, channel, receiver, decoding, feedback, and noise, highlighting the complexity and interactivity of these components. Understanding these elements is crucial for effective communication, especially in diverse cultural contexts.

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16 views7 pages

4 - Definition and Components of Communication

The document discusses the essential role of communication in intercultural interactions, emphasizing its functions in identity formation, person perception, interpersonal needs, and persuasion. It defines communication as a dynamic process involving a source, encoding, message, channel, receiver, decoding, feedback, and noise, highlighting the complexity and interactivity of these components. Understanding these elements is crucial for effective communication, especially in diverse cultural contexts.

Uploaded by

Ann
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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COMMUNICATION

To understand intercultural interaction, you must first recognize


the role of communication in that process. Communication -
our ability to share our ideas and feelings - is the basis of all
human contact. Wherever people live, they all employ the
same activity when they attempt to share their thoughts and
feelings with others. While the verbal and nonverbal symbols
people utilize might sound and look different, the reasons
people communicate tend to be the same. To farther
highlight the importance of human communication, let us
look at some of those reasons.
THE USES OF COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION AND IDENTITY
One is born into this world without a sense of self. Self is not innate, but is
acquired in the process of communication with others. Through contacts
with others, information is accumulated that helps define who you are,
where you belong, and where your loyalties rest. So important is identity
to the study of intercultural communication that Chapter 6 will examine
more in detail the link between identity and intercultural communication.

COMMUNICATION AND PERSON PERCEPTION


Not only does communication allow acquiring information about personal
and cultural identity, it also assists in collecting information about other
people. That information serves two purposes. First, it enables you to
learn about the other person. Second, it assists in deciding how to
present yourself to that person. These judgments affect everything from
the discussion topics selected to whether you decide to continue the
conversation or terminate it. This information, collected from both verbal
and nonverbal messages, is essential in intercultural communication
because in many instances you are dealing with people for the first time.
THE USES OF COMMUNICATION - Continued
COMMUNICATION AND INTERPERSONAL NEEDS
In most instances people are social creatures; therefore, communicating with others
satisfies a basic social need of warmth and friendship. Сommunication is one of
the major ways to fulfill a social component within you. This linking up with
others provides a sense of inclusion and affection. Although cultures might
express these feelings and emotions differently, all people, both by nature and
nurture, have a need to communicate and interact with others.

COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION


This final function suggests that communication allows you to send verbal and non­
verbal messages that can shape the behavior of other people, getting others to
behave in ways we want. In the activities of a normal day, you engage in
innumerable face-to-face situations intended to influence others - from selling
products at work, to asking someone for directions when lost. In all of these
instances you are using communication as a tool that allows you to exercise
some degree of control over other people.

Having reviewed the purposes of communication, we are ready to define


communication and to discuss some of the basic principles of communication.
DEFINING COMMUNICATION
While definitions are necessary (they help establish boundaries), finding a single
definition for the word "communication" can be troublesome. For example, nearly
forty years ago Dance and Larson perused the literature on communication and
found 126 definitions of the word. Since then, because the word communication
is abstract, countless other definitions have been added to their list. In our effort
to develop a single definition we have endeavored to isolate the commonalities
of many of these definitions. We propose that human communication is a
dynamic process in which people attempt to share their thoughts with other
people through the use of symbols in particular context for the purpose of
eliciting a response.

THE COMPONENTS OF COMMUNICATION


From the brevity of our definition, because of limitations inherent in all definitions, it
might seem from our definition that com­munication is a linear process with each
phase of the interaction progressing as one thing happens at a time. However, in
reality in most instances the eight stages of communication that make up its
compo­nents occur almost simultaneously. An awareness of the interacting
components promotes understanding the way communication functions when
people exchange ideas and feelings.
SOURCE
We begin with the source—a person who has an idea, feeling, experience, etc., that he
or she wishes to share with another person. In other words, a source is a person
with a need to communicate. This need may be conscious (asking one directions to
keep from getting lost) or unconscious (automatically smiling at someone for ego
recognition). The source, as well as the other person, sends and receives
messages, since communication is an interactive process.

ENCODING
Because what you are feeling and thinking cannot be shared directly (no direct mind-to-
mind contact), you must use symbols to represent our internal states. This brings
us to our second component — encoding. By selecting of verbal or non­verbal
symbols, employing vocabulary and rules of grammar that are relevant to the
sender's language, he or she attempts to express and transmit what is going on
inside them. While the process of converting feelings into words and actions is
universal, the words and actions selected have their origins in the culture of the
sender.

MESSAGE
Encoding leads to the production of the message, which is a combination of symbols
that represent a source's particular state of being at a specific moment. While
encoding is an internal act (finding a code that represents a personalized reality),
the sending of messages is an external undertaking. The message, an external
representation of the internal state, must pass from one individual to another.
CHANNEL
Messages must have a means of moving from person to person. It is the channel
that, provides that necessary connection. Two channels that humans use are
sight and sound, and various ways in which they are used include a host of types
of media – from oral to written messages, from radio and television to the
Internet.

RECEIVER
After a message has been generated and moved along through a channel, it must
encounter a receiver. The receiver is the person who takes the message into
account, and thereby is directly linked to the source. Receivers may be those
whom the source intended to interact with or they may be other people who, for
whatever reason, came in contact with the source's message.

DECODING
In the next stage of the communication process the receiver decodes the message.
This operation (the converting of received symbols to meaningful interpretations)
is akin to the source's act of encoding, since both are an internal activity. The
decoding process within the receiver is often referred to as information
processing. In this stage the receiver attributes meaning to the message
generated by the sender. Decoding is the most difficult stage of the
communication process, since incorrect decoding causes most of the
communication problems.
FEEDBACK
When you send a message to another person you usually perceive the response
that person makes to your actions. The perception of the response to your
message is called feedback. Feedback typically has two stages. First, it applies
to the reactions you obtain from your communication partner. Second, in most
instances you use dial reaction to decide what to do next. For example, you
smile at someone, and your smile is greeted with a frown. You respond by
asking, "Are you okay?‘

Question: can a message be left without a feedback?

NOISE
The source is not alone in sending messages to the receiver. In actuality, every com­
munication event is characterized by a multitude of competing factors. Among
communication scholars, this notion of competing factors is referred to as noise.
It is defined as any intended or unintended factors that affects the fidelity of a
sender's message, and/or disrupts the communication process. Noise is often
thought of as interference to the communication process. Noise, for example,
can be produced by people sitting behind you talking on a cell phone or by an air
conditioner in need of servicing.

Question: Will communication take place if any of these components is missing?

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