Communication theory 1
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The document provides an overview of communication concepts and models, including: 1) Shannon and Weaver's linear model of communication and its limitations in capturing meaning and context. 2) Westley and Maclean's model highlighting the role of communicators as advocates, channels, or behaving in a non-purposive role. 3) Uses and gratifications theory which views communication as interactive and audiences using media to fulfill different needs. 4) Agenda-setting theory which describes how media influences what issues the public thinks about.
Communication theory 1
- 2. Shannon and Weaver – Linear model of Communication Transmitter Receiver Destination Decode Source Encode Signal Signal received Message Message received
- 3. Problems with the Linear Model • But do senders and receivers have the same mindset? (McQuail 1987) • Assumes that information is neutral – without intrinsic meaning (Dervin 1989) • Reduces meaning to something delivered like a parcel (Reddy 1979)
- 4. Customer information Passengers must carry dogs on escalators
- 6. Hypodermic approach and two-step flow Hypodermic model Two-step flow model MASS MEDIA MASS MEDIA Individuals in social Isolated individuals contact with an constituting a mass opinion leader Opinion leaders
- 7. Westley and Maclean model - the role of the communicator E feedback V E N T S Channel: C aims to provide Behavioural: B members of the the public with information, public acting as an intermediary Advocacy: A aims to between A and the public. influence people, either Non-purposive role – directly or indirectly (eg individuals are not furthering PR people, pressure their own personal interests. groups) (Mass media) Windhal and Sigtnitzer with Olsen (1994)
- 8. Reading or watching the news 1. The audience consists of people…..each person is subject to many influences, of which the communicators’ message is typically only one small source of influence 2. People tend to read, watch, or listen to communications that present points of view with which they are sympathetic or which they have a personal stake 3. Careful framing must take account of both the intended and unintended effects of message content. Cutlip, Center and Broom, (2000)
- 9. People will put a certain amount of energy into understanding a message too simple too complex so what? ??? apathy too much effort lost interest lost interest Connection with personal experience helps understanding generates interest Adapted from Fruh, 1980 will tip the balance
- 10. Transparent Communication Many communication efforts have failed because the publics are aware of the facts but not reasons behind those facts. Today’s publics aren’t inclined to trust blindly. When organisations engage in transparent communication they provide the kind of information that: ▫ identifies the problem ▫ gets people interested in it ▫ airs the various options ▫ and otherwise creates a climate of understanding and involvement before plans are announced that affect the publics. Smith, R. D. (2005)
- 11. Media uses and gratification theory of communication “The audience is made up of individuals who demand something from the communication to which they are exposed” So the communication process is interactive. People use the mass media for different reasons: 1. To find out what is happening that has some impact on them 2. Entertainment and diversion 3. Reinforcement of opinions 4. Decision making about buying a product or service Uses and gratification theory assumes that people make highly intelligent choices about which messages require their attention and fulfil their needs. Wilcox et al (2005)
- 12. Agenda-setting Theory “The press is significantly more than a purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling readers what to think about.” Cohen, in McCoombs and Protess 1991
- 13. Five Stage Adoption Process 1. Awareness – new idea introduced in news story 2. Interest – more information sought 3. Evaluation – feedback from family, colleagues 4. Trial – idea tried out with others, e.g. “I read….” 5. Adoption – idea integrated into belief system, “I read…..becomes I think…..” Wilcox et al (2005)
- 14. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- 15. “With all the sophisticated mental apparatus we have used to build world eminence as a species, we have created an environment so complex, fast-paced, and information-laden that we must increasingly deal with it in the fashion of the animals we long ago transcended.” Robert B. Cialdini
- 16. The consistency principle Communication objective: to increase the number of people who will agree to go door to door collecting donations for a charity. How to gain commitment: call a sample of residents and ask them to predict what they would say if asked to spend 3 hours collecting money for a cancer charity. Not wanting to appear to be uncharitable many people will say that they will volunteer. In the US when this was followed up by an actual request for volunteers this generated a 700 per cent increase. Cialdini, R B (2007: 67-8)
- 17. Use of Fear Fear is one of the most studied emotional appeals in communication and social influence research. Pictures of a diseased lung, rotting teeth and the effects of throat cancer are to appear on cigarette packets from 1 October 2008
- 18. Messages: Use of Fear High fear messages about the dangers of smoking, when combined with believable recommendations, produce high scores on intended compliance.Three factors affect the impact of fear messages: 1. Seriousness or harmfulness of the subject 2. Likelihood or probability of the feared event 3. Efficacy of the recommended course of action Cutlip, Center and Broom (2000)
- 19. Anti-Smoking Campaign The Department of Health launched the latest in a line of anti- smoking ads last year (31 October). The advert opens on a darkened children's bedroom and a young girl is heard saying: "I'm not scared of the dark.” The ad then cuts through a series of images, including a crawling spider and the leering face of a clown, with the young girl saying "I'm not scared of spiders", and "I'm not scared of clowns". It ends with a group of young mums who are chatting together and smoking; the girl says: "I'm scared of my mum smoking."
- 20. Messages: Using a health & beauty approach “The white paper on public health has generated significant column inches focusing on the proposed ban on smoking in public places, which presents both an opportunity and a challenge for PR professionals. On the one hand, it creates increased media interest in smoking cessation, but it also turns smokers off from the health message. Cohn & Wolfe Healthcare We’ve been more successful in the past by account manager, quoted in PR Week, 7 Jan 2005 taking more of a health and beauty approach rather than a strict health message to communicate more directly with women who smoke”
- 21. From The Sunday Times November 2, 2008 Now the buyer must beware Martin Lindstrom, the boy wonder of branding, tells that the future of shopping is all in the mind
- 22. Using the Right Language Researchers in the US approached 217 sunbathers and gave them either “gain” (protect yourself from the sun and you will help yourself stay healthy) or “loss” (not using sun-cream increases your risk of early death) messages. They then gave coupons to hand in for free sun-cream. 71% of people given a gain message picked up sun-cream Only 50% of people given a loss message picked up sun-cream Observer magazine, 17 October 2004
- 25. The Social Proof Principle
- 26. Binge drinking in the UK – how can communications help to solve the problem?
- 27. Semiotics How systems of signs (language, symbols, images) are used in the social construction of meaning. How we make things and events signify (or carry meaning), e.g. in ‘spin’. Rather than things and events having an inherent meaning given by nature, language is socially constructed. Meanings are never ‘given’, ‘natural’ or ‘obvious’. Signs are read in relation to codes - wider systems of meanings.These codes require broad cultural and social agreement, for meaning to be produced.
- 28. Semiotics – a receiver perspective Denotative Connotative Ambiguous Polysemic The literal, dictionary The internal Perhaps the Multiple meaning. associations each messages have associations, reader/viewer multiple varying from brings to the dictionary person to message meanings person, and from culture to culture Tench and Yeomans (2009:261)
- 29. What is “meant” is invariably more than what is “said.” (Smith 1988, Olson 1994)
- 31. Binary opposition is one of the most important principles governing the structure of language. Lyons 1977 Left Right Boom Bust Success Failure
- 32. “It’s prejudice that’s queer.” “My son’s homophobic, but I hope it’s just a phase.” Terrence Higgins Trust 1999 campaign against homophobia
- 33. Narratives help to make the strange familiar. They provide structure, predictability and coherence. Chandler 2002
- 34. Four Plots The Quest (Source: Romantic) The Downfall (Source: Tragedy) Where a progressive hero- Where a hero is pitched from adventurer, challenges the status success to danger and humiliation, quo or conventional wisdom, primarily as a result of fate or experiences set-backs, but external events ultimately succeeds The Contest (Source: The Scam (Source: Irony) Melodrama) Where a hero is exposed as Where a polarised struggle between incompetent, corrupt or a fool, two heroes characterised as good apparently heroic actions are and evil, leads to a climactic battle reinterpreted as a scam to fleece in which the opposition is defeated others
- 35. The Language of Colours Colour Symbolises Used By Power, Activity, Red Rescue Pink Calm, Feminism Movement, Orange Construction, Energy Light, Future, Yellow Philosophy Money, Growth, Green Environment Trust, Authority, Blue Security Royalty, Spirituality, Purple New Age
- 36. white protection, purification, moon work, clarity of vision and insight, healing, pure focused energy, strengthens the powers of other colours, sincerity, calm, blessing, simplicity silver fluidity, psychic gifts, clarity of inner vision, purifying, calm, the mysterious (think of the moon) gold connection with higher powers, divine inspiration, spiritual energy, attraction and abundance, leadership (think of the sun) red passion, courage, ernergy, sex, attraction and magnetism, sensuality, the opposite sex, forcefulness, self assertion, love, physical vitality, warmth, action (think of fire) pink affection and romantic love, compassion, friendship, benevolent forces, understanding, diplomacy, purity, healing of the feminine orange energy, attraction, self-control, organisation, self esteem, warmth, adaptability, vitality, joy, kindness, alertness, creativity, harvest, maturity (think of the harvest sun and moon)
- 37. purple power, healing, magic, combatting disease and infections, spirituality, psychic healing, meditation, judgement, flamboyance, ceremony (think of royal purple) yellow attraction and activity, communication, eloquence, intellect, confidence, travel, concentration, agility, inspiration, happiness, luck, optimism, faith, balance green money, prosperity, healing, growth, employment, fertility, success, health, harmony, new beginnings, renewal (think of green plants) blue healing, relaxation, peace, truth, wisdom, clarity of expression, serenity, meditation, harmony, calm, devotion, spiritual understanding, introspection (think of a clear blue sky or the ocean) brown earthy, grounding, steady, stable, concentration, healing, cleansing, working with animals and the home, the feminine (think of the earth) grey neutrality, balance
Editor's Notes
- #3: Frankfurt school
- #5: A couple of examples that show it is not!
- #6: And for the atheists among you!
- #7: Mass media: Nazis?
- #8: Introduces advocacy and feedback, relate to new media
- #11: Link to symmetry
- #12: Active communicators who select media? Sometimes choose a medium because it reinforces your identity, says something about you
- #14: How behaviour is changed
- #20: Have any of you seen the latest anti-smoking TV ad? Perhaps the message here is how can you be a good parent (a trait on the whole highly sought after) and do something that terrorises your young children?
- #22: This is Martin Lindstrom – anyone heard of him? He is what is known as a branding guru and he uses MRI scanners to monitor subjects brains to see how they respond various messages. Smoking gone up since ban on ad and health warnings on cigs. Smoking Kills and Coke and American Pop Idol. Neuro-marketing claims to help us understand why certain messages work.
- #30: At its simplest semiotics seeks to show how what is meant is more than what is said. As a form of analysis it has often been used as a way of detecting so-called hidden agendas. There have been a number of studies of advertising said to show gender bias, for example, one study claimed that in magazine advertising featuring both sexes typically the man would be placed higher than the woman reflecting her subordination. Another study of toy advertising claimed that in TV adverts for girls toys the camera lingered longer on the girls, used fades (presumably for a softer effect) and showed less overhead shots.
- #34: A corporate story is a comprehensive narrative about the whole organisation, its origins, its vision, its mission. However, the emotionally formulated core story is much more than just a vision or mission statement. By incorporating elements such as competencies, fundamental beliefs and values, it mirrors something deep within the organisation and provides a simple yet effective framework guiding the organisation in all its actions. (Holten Larsen in Schultz et al. 2000:197)
- #37: You may well have a favourite colour and the next two slides may or may not tell you what that says about you. These are the most commonest interpretations of the use of various colours but they are by no means universal. We all know that whereas in the West the ideal wedding dress is white in China it would be red. Perhaps the Chinese have got it right – a recent university experiment found that women wearing red were found to be the most attractive and had the most money spent on them!
- #38: Purple may be thought of as a new age sort of a colour but it is also heavily associated with the Christian church. One of our students brought in a number of adverts for assorted financial funds with each fund characterised by a specific colour. They all seemed so wrong, for example, the sharia compliant advert was in purple and the environmentally friendly fund was red. It was interesting how the selection of a colour for a simple newspaper advertisement which was mostly text could be so significant. But the point is colour is a form of shorthand that acts as a signal for the reader.