Theory is…
An abstract system of concepts
and their relationships that help
us to understand a phenomenon
Thursday, May 14, 2020 1
Communication Theory is…
a generalization
that explains
how Communication Works
Thursday, May 14, 2020 2
General Purposes of Communication
• To discover/to learn
• To relate
• To help
• To persuade
• To play
Thursday, May 14, 2020 3
General Purposes of Communication
Thursday, May 14, 2020 4
Lasswel’s Formula (1948)
WHO Communicator
(Communicator) ‘Control’
WHAT Content
(Messages) Analysis
CHANNEL Media
(Medium) Analysis
TO WHOM Stakeholder
(Receiver) Analysis
Riset
EFFECT
Evaluasi
Thursday, May 14, 2020 5
Braddock (1958)
WHO WHAT MEDIUM TO WHOM
• Braddock menambahkan :
– Dalam situasi bagaimana? (Context)
– Apa Tujuannya?
– Effeknya bagaimana?
Thursday, May 14, 2020 6
Shannon & Weaver (1940)
Sumber Alat Alat
Tujuan
Informasi Pemancar Penerima
Sumber
Noise
Thursday, May 14, 2020 7
Communication Context
Channel
Source- Source-
Encoder Encoder
Effect Messages Effect
Receiver- Receiver-
Decoder Decoder
Noise
The elements of Human communication
Source : Joseph A. Devito
Thursday, May 14, 2020 8
Communication Context
• Physical
– Tangible environment, room, park, etc
• Cultural
– Culture : belief, values, way of behaving
• Social – psycological
– Status relationships, the roles that people play,
friendliness or unfriendliness, formality or
informality, serious or humorousness of the
situation
• Temporal
– The times of day in which the communication
takes place.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 9
Visualizations of relationship among
the sender, the messages, and the receiver
AB
A B
AB AB AB
intrapersonal interpersonal Group Mass
Thursday, May 14, 2020 10
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Symbolic :
Symbols are central to the communication
process because the represent the shared
meaning that are communicated. A
Symbol is a word, action, or object that
stands for or represent a unit of meaning.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 11
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Symbolic :
Meaning, in turn, is perception, thought, or feeling
that a person experiences and might want to
communicate to others. However, the private
meanings within a person cannot be shared
directly with others, they can become shared and
understood only when they are interpreted as a
message. a Message, refers to the “package” of
symbols used to create shared meanings.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 12
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Interpretive :
Message don’t have to be consciously or
purposefully created with specific intention of
communicating a certain set of meanings for
others to be able to make sense of the symbols
forming the message. Rather, communication
is always an interpretive process.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 13
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Interpretive :
the first outcome of communication is
understanding what the others are trying to
communicate. Understanding means that the
participants have imposed similar or shared
interpretations about what the messages
actually mean.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 14
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Interpretive :
the second outcome of communication is
reaching agreement on the particular issues
that have been discussed. Agreement means
that each participants not only understand the
other’s interpretations but also holds a view
that is similar
Thursday, May 14, 2020 15
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Transactional :
to suggest that communication is transactional
implies that all participants in the communication
process work together to create and sustain the
meanings that develop.
• The interactional view explicitly includes the
receiver in the communication process, and it
recognizes that the receivers provide the sender
with ongoing responses, called feedback about how
the messages are received.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 16
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is Contextual:
all communication takes place within a setting
or situation called a context.
• By context, we mean the place where people
meet, the social purpose for being together,
and the nature of the relationship.
• The context includes the physical, social, and
interpersonal setting within which messages
are exchanged.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 17
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is a Process :
People, relationships, activities, object, and
experiences can be described either in static
terms or as part of a dynamic Process.
• Viewing Communication in static terms
suggest that it is fixed and unchanging,
whereas viewing it is a process implies that
things are changing, moving, developing, and
evolving.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 18
Characteristics of Communication
• Communication is a Process :
a process is a sequence of many distinct but
interrelated steps.
• To understand communications as a process, it
is necessary to know how it can be change
overtime.
Thursday, May 14, 2020 19
