Lecture Notes: Communication Theory

Shannon and Weaver Bell Laboratories

There are different levels of communication problems that could potentially arise, these are:

Level 1 - Technical (accuracy)
Level 2 - Semantic (precision of language)
Level 3 - Effectiveness

Shannon & Weaver's communication model

Source; http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/trans.html

C & W's original model consisted of five elements:


1. An information source, which produces a message.
2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
4. A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal.
5. A destination, where the message arrives.

Audience and social class also comes into communication theory. It's obviously very important to know about different target audiences and who to apply communication/theory to.

Men
Women
Adults
Kids
Housewives

- then you can look further and at  different age groups within each group


Semiotics is the way we see things and how we process it in our heads for a message to be communicated to us.

1. Semiantics - Looks at what a sign actually stands for
2. Syntactics - The relationships amongst signs
3. Pragmatics - The practical uses and effects of signs


The Baywatch Theory of Art

3 Schools of phenomenological tradition:
- Classical phenomenology
- Phenomenology of perception
- Hermeneutic phenomenology


Rhetoric can be used to change the way we read things. It persuades us to see or read things differently.

Pics without context are meaningless; they need to be anchored.

Greek word: METAPHORA means "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects or activities



Sociophsychological tradition

Study of individual as a social being

Social and Cognitive Psychology - Paivio

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

PSYCHO THE RAPIST