Communication consists of the transmission of a message between the sender and the receiver. It comes from the Latin communicatio and translates as sharing, participating in something or putting it in common.
Even so, the word communication is polysemic, since it can also be applied to the action of joining two points through different means. Either through telecommunications, as in the case of the telephone, or through means of transport or highways to communicate cities.
Elements involved in communication
-Sender: responsible for transmitting information. It can be a person or individual, a group or a machine.
-Receiver: one who, individually or collectively, receives the information from the issuer. Like the sender, this can be a person or a machine.
– Code: set or system of signs that the issuer uses to encode the message. In the case of people it can be the spoken or written language.
-Channel: part through which information is transmitted from the sender to the receiver and that the latter captures through his senses. The channel can be by natural means or a technical means (radio, telephone, TV, PC…).
– Message: the information itself that the sender transmits.
-Context: are the different circumstances (space, time, culture) that surround the mere act of communicating and allow us to understand the message as a whole.
-Noise: is any element or signal that distorts the original message of the issuer. There are environmental noises, from the channel, from the sender, from the message or from the receiver. When there is noise in the communicative act, it is important to locate it in order to eliminate or soften it and for communication to be effective.
-Feedback: It is a control mechanism of the message by the sender. The communication system is circular (sender and receiver constantly exchange roles) feedback determines the effectiveness of all messages sent by the sender.
Act of communicating
For communicating. Sender and receiver have to carry out the following tasks:
- Idea: it is a function of the issuer. It consists of being clear about what is going to be transmitted. This process is important because if the issuer is not clear about the idea, it cannot be transmitted and communication does not exist.
- Encoding: once the sender has the idea, he has to encode it through words, graphics, texts, symbols or any suitable way so that the receiver can receive the message. At this point it is, again, the sender’s job because he has to choose the most appropriate code to facilitate the transmission of the message and its reception by his interlocutor or receiver. Examples of codes : Language (Spanish, French, English, Galician, Catalan…), Sign Language, Morse code… There are special groups that have their own codes such as pilots or security forces, which have a more special way to convey your messages.
- Transmission: Once the message has been created and codified, the sender will have to transmit the message by the means that the sender chooses, the method and the channels. It is at this point when the issue of noise or communication barriers comes into play, which are the ones that give rise to misunderstandings or a lack of understanding in the act of communicating. There are different types of barriers.
- Personal: interferences produced by the sociocultural context, emotions or state of mind that make us misunderstand the message received.
- Physical: they establish interferences through the environment where the communicative act takes place or, in the case of writing, the paper. But in general in the medium in which the sender and receiver want to communicate.
- Semantics: they occur when sender and receiver use the same code but there are elements that do not mean the same thing to each other and, therefore, there is no good transmission and reception of the message.
- Reception: at this point enters, as its name indicates, the intention of the receiver. The communicative act will be effective when the transmission allows the receiver to pick up the message.
- Decoding: the receiver decodes the message so that it can be understood. In order to decode it, the sender will have to use a code that the sender understands. The receiver is the one who decides if he has understood the message and it must be taken into account that the receiver himself will decode it as long as he is attentive to what the sender communicates.
- Acceptance and use: when the receiver receives the message, he can accept or reject it. Both the entire message and part of it. And you own that information, so you can use it or not.
Communication features
To begin with, the dynamism between the sender and the receiver is key in the communicative act. As this happens, one or the other participates to a greater or lesser extent.
The communicative act is essential for social relations between humans. Communication allows the individual to organize and feel accepted in her environment, express their ideas and be heard. Obviously, that interaction with the group will take place if everyone shares a common code.
Communication functions
Messages may vary depending on your role. This means that, depending on what the issuer wants to express, it will be of different types:
-Formative: the sender uses the message to convey information.
-Expressive: the issuer uses language to communicate feelings, opinions, moods, etc.
– Appeal: the sender intends, with his message, to influence the receiver to do something or act in a certain way.
-Poetic: The issuer seeks to create beauty in the message, seeks to have an aesthetic purpose.
Types of communication
Depending on the code we use, communication can be grouped into two large types:
Verbal communication:
This type of communication is exclusive to human beings and can be divided into:
-Oral: exchange of information or messages through speech.
-Written: act of communication through written language.
Non-verbal communication
This is the most complex since it is expressed through body language and sounds without words.