are the media we use to carry messages. We classify channels according to which of our senses carries or receives the message, whether the message is being delivered verbally, nonverbally, or both, and the primary means of communication we use to deliver the message, that is, whether we use face-to-face interaction, text messaging, or a mass medium such as television or a podcast.
We are multichanneled communicators. We receive sound messages (we hear noises from the street), sight messages (we size up how someone looks), taste messages (we enjoy the flavor of a particular food), smell messages (we like the scent of a friend’s perfume), and touch messages (we feel the roughness of a fabric).
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Which channel are you most attuned to? To what extent do you rely on one or more channels while excluding or ignoring others? Effective communicators are adept channel switchers. They recognize that communication is a multichannel experience. The following dialogue between a husband and wife illustrates the multichannel nature of communication:
Wife: Jim, you’re late again. Is that a drink I smell on your breath? Now, we’ll never get to the Adams’ on time.
Husband: No, I didn’t stop for a drink. You must be smelling what’s left of my cologne. I tried my best to be on time (places a consoling hand on her shoulder).
Wife: (Sarcastically) Sure, you tried your best. (Drawing away and shaking her finger) I’m not going to put up with this much longer. My job is every bit as demanding as yours, you know.
Husband: (Lowering his voice) Ok. Ok. I know you work hard, too. I don’t question that. Listen, I really did get stuck in a conference. (Smiles at her) Let’s not blow this up. I’ll tell you about it on the way to Bill and Ellen’s.
What message is the wife (the initial source-encoder) sending to her husband (the receiver-decoder)? She is letting him know with her words, her voice, and her physical actions that she is upset and angry. Her husband responds in kind, using words, vocal cues, and gestures in an effort to explain his behavior. Both are affected by the nature of the situation (they are late for an appointment), by their attitudes (how they feel about what’s happened), and by their past experiences.
Noise
In the context of communication, noise is anything that interferes with or distorts our ability to send or receive messages. Although we are accustomed to thinking of noise as particular sound or group of sounds, noise can have both internal and external causes. Internal noise is attributed to a communicator’s psychological makeup, intellectual ability, or physical condition. External noise is attributed to the environment. Thus, noise includes distractions such as a loud siren, a disturbing odor, and a hot room; personal factors such as prejudices, daydreaming, and feelings of inadequacy; and semantic factors such as uncertainty about what another person’s words are supposed to mean.
Context
Communication always takes place in a context, or setting. Sometimes a context is so natural that we barely notice it. At other times, however, the context exerts considerable control over our behavior. Would your behavior be the same at a friend’s 21st birthday party and at a baby shower? Both are parties, but the context is different. Consider how your present environment affects the way you act toward others. Also, consider the extent to which certain environments might cause you to alter your posture, manner of speaking, attire, or means of interacting.
Feedback
Whenever we communicate, we receive feedback in return. The verbal and nonverbal cues that we perceive in reaction to our communication function as feedback. Feedback tells us how we are coming across. A smile, a frown, a chuckle, a sarcastic remark, a muttered thought, or simply silence in response to something we do or say can cause us to change, continue, or end a communication exchange.
Feedback that encourages us to continue behaving as we are is positive feedback; it enhances behavior in progress. In contrast, negative feedback extinguishes a behavior; it serves a corrective rather than a reinforcing function. Note that the terms positive and negative should not be interpreted as “good” and “bad”; these labels simply reflect the way the responses affect behavior.
Both positive and negative feedback can emanate from internal or external sources. Internal feedback is feedback you give yourself as you monitor your own communicative behavior. External feedback is feedback from others who are involved in the communication event. To be an effective communicator, you must be sensitive to both types of feedback.
Effect
As we communicate, we are changed in some way by the interaction. Communication has an effect and can be viewed as an exchange of influences.
An effect can be emotional, physical, cognitive, or any combination of the three. Communication can elicit feelings of joy, anger, or sadness (emotional); it can cause you to fight, argue, become apathetic, or evade an issue (physical); or it can lead to new insights, increased knowledge, the formulation or reconsideration of opinions, silence, or confusion (cognitive). Some effects are not always visible or immediately observable. Effects can be delayed.
Visualizing the Communication Process in Action
Through communication, we share meaning with others by sending and receiving messages—sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. Thus, communication includes every element that could affect two or more people as they knowingly or unwittingly relate to one another. At this point, we need to reiterate that communication occurs whenever one person assigns significance or meaning to another’s behavior. But, you might ask, will knowing this enable you to understand or establish better and more satisfying relationships with your friends, significant other, employer, parents? The answer is yes! If you understand the processes that permit people to contact and influence each other, if you understand the forces that can impede or foster the development of every kind of effective communication, then you stand a better chance of communicating effectively yourself.
A Transactional Model of Communication
Now that we have examined the basic elements of communication, we are ready to see how we can use a picture, or transactional model, of the communication process to reflect our understanding of communication in action. A model is a useful tool in discovering how communication operates and in examining your own communication encounters.
The model of communication in Figure 1.1 is a transactional one. A transactional communication model depicts communication as a continuous circle with sending and receiving as simultaneous rather than separate acts. Such a model enables us to visualize the vital complexity and dynamic nature of communication. Each person in the model is pictured sending and receiving messages (including feedback) through one or more channels at the same time as the other, because they both have sending and receiving responsibilities and their messages will build upon and affect one another.
Figure 1.1 Gamble and Gamble’s Model of Communication
Each
