Types of Communication

Name: Vidhya Pandya
Semester: MA – 4
Roll No: 30
Paper No:- 15 Mass Communication and Media Studies
Enrolment No: 2069108420190031
Email id: vidhupandya10497@gmail.com
Year: 2018 -20
Submitted to: Department of English , Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University.
Assignment Topic : Types of Communication
Word : 2147

● Introduction :

“Language is more recent technology,
Your Body language, Your eyes,
Your energy will come through
Your audience before you even start speaking.”

- Peter Guber.

Communication is very important in every human beings for day to day
life. It is a very basic need for everyone. Not only the human beings but
nature and pets also need the communication. Although their

communication are much different from human beings but they also
communicate with their own language. In a very General Sense, when
one person give some message to other person then we call it communication.

According to Cambridge Dixonary Communication is....

¶ To Share information others by speaking, , writing, moving your body
or using other signals.

¶ To talk about your thoughts and feelings, and help other people to understand them.

● Communication :

The word communication derived from the Latin noun 'communis' and
Latin Verb “communicare” which means to share, to hold something in
common. Similar words such as communism, communalism etc, have
the same etymological origin. Communication is essential to all human
beings and it is as important as fresh air to breathe, good food to have
and good clothes to wear. Human beings communicate from cradle to
the grave. Dreaming, talking with someone, arguing in a discussion,
speaking in public, reading a newspaper, watching a television programme etc. are different kinds of communication we are engaged
in our day to day life. Any society or any individual cannot survive without communication.

● Definitions of Communication :

There are innumerable definitions on communication.
Oxford Dictionary defines communication as “the transfer or conveying
of meaning”. Wilbur Schramm gives a simple definition “sharing of meanin gon the basis of shared experiences and commonness”. But
communication is more than mere transferring or transmission of ideas and thoughts.

1. Communication is the exchange of meanings between individuals
through a common system of symbols. (I.A.Richards).

2. The transmission of information, ideas attitudes, or emotion from
one person or group to another or others primarily through symbols.
(Theodorson and Theordorson)

3. Communication is the transmission and interchange of facts, ideas,
feelings or course of action. (Leland Brown)

4. Communication is a social interaction through messages ( Grabner,1967)

5. The interchange of thoughts or information to bring about mutual
understanding and confidence or good human relations. (American
society of Training Directors).

6. ‘One mind affecting another’ (Claude Shannon)

7. ‘The mechanism through which human relations exist and develop’ (Wilbur Schramm)

8. ‘Transmission of stimuli’ (Colin Cherry)

9. Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he
wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of
meaning. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling,
listening and understanding. (Louis Allen)

● Functions of Communication :

Communication plays a very vital role in human existence . Without
communication there is no any meaningful life. No one can move ahead
without interacting with others. It’s a very difficult to survive life
without any interaction with each other.
Primary functions of communications are to inform, instruct, educate,
entertain and influence or persuade people. Beside these primary
functions communication has some secondary functions such as
debates, discussions, cultural promotion etc.

1. Information Function :

Information is plays a very vital role in Communication. Quality life will
be very poor without information. Communication provides
information about our surroundings. Information updates us on various
matters related to our day today activities. Information related to
health, wars, danger, crisis etc are important for the safety and well
being of our life.

2. Education and Instruction Function :

Education starts with very early in life, at school and home also and
continue throughout the life. Communication provides knowledge,
expertise and skill for smooth functioning by people in the society. It
creates awareness and gives opportunity to people to actively
participate in public life.

3. Entertainment Function :

Entertainment is an essential part of everybody’s life today.
Communication provides endless entertainment experience through
films, television, radio drama, literature, comedy, games etc.

4. Persuasion Function :

Communication helps to change attitudes and also reinforce or
strengthen existing values and beliefs. Communication helps in
reaching a decision in public policy, so that it helps to govern people.
Political leaders persuade voters to vote in favor of their respective
political party through various campaigns, leaflets, booklets etc.

5. Cultural Promotion Function :

Communication provides an opportunity for transmission of cultural
heritage; promotion and preservation of culture and tradition. It makes
the people fulfill their creative urges.

6. Integration Function :

It is through communication large number of people across the world
come to know about each other’s tradition and learn to appreciate
their way of life. It develops integration and tolerance towards each
other.

7. Discussion Function :

Debates and discussions clarify different view points on issues of
interests to the people. Through communication we find out reasons
for varying view points and impart new ideas to others.

◆ Types of Communication :

The act of communication can be categorized on the basis of a) how
many people are involved in the process, b) signs and symbols we use
in communication.
Based on the number of persons involved in communication, it is
classified as follows,

1. Transpersonal Communication :

Transpersonal communication refers to a person communicating with
spirit or God. It could be an evil spirit or a holy spirit but should be
anything higher than that of human being. Transcendental meditation
is a part of this type of communication. This is a vital experience in
religious and monastic life.

2. Intrapersonal Communication: 

Intrapersonal communication is individual reflection, contemplation
and meditation. It means a person communicating with self. The
message originates, transmits and ends within the person. It is
important because before communicating with others we think in our
minds. Our personality and self esteem are important factors.

3. Extra Personal Communication :

Communicating with animals other than human beings is termed as
extra personal communication. Communicating with pet animals, birds
etc are examples of these types of communication.

4. Interpersonal Communication : 

If communication takes place between two persons, it is called
interpersonal communication. It is direct and face to face
communication .It is the most perfect and effective form of
communication situation because the sender can receive immediate
feedback. Since two persons are involved in the communication
process, they both act as senders as well as receivers. The receiver can
clarify and emphasize many points through expression, gestures and
voice. Functions of interpersonal communication are : gaining better
understanding about ourselves, discovery of the external world,
influencing attitudes and values, building relationships.

5. Group Communication :

Group communication occurs within a group. A group consists of three
or more people who share a common goal, and consider themselves as
part of a group. The group could be a peer group of three or a larger
group of more people. There are primary groups and secondary groups.
Group communication is also a form of face to face interaction, but the
intensity and proximity is less than interpersonal communication,
however it is effective in resolving conflicts. The cohesiveness of the
group, structure of the group, and the role of the group leader are
important factors.

6. Mass Communication :

Communicating to large number of people using mass media like
newspapers, radio, Television, Internet can be called mass
communication.

● Elements of Communication :

A series of action take place in the process of communication. The task
of communication is crucial one. Success at this task required a
thorough understanding of the principles and elements of
communication and high level skill in their use on the part of all
communicators.
According to Paul Legans successful communication requires a skillful
communicator sending useful message through proper channel,
effectively treated, to an appropriate audience, that responds as
desired. The elements of communication can be graphically represents
as follows.

Let us analyse Joseph A Devito’s definition that ‘communication refers
to the act by one or more persons, of sending and receiving messages
distorted by noise, within a context, with some effect and with some
opportunity for feedback’ to find out the essential elements of
communication.
According to his definition, communication has the following elements:

a) Sender
a)Source
b) Message
c) Channel
d) Receiver
e) Noise
f) Feedback
g) Context
h) Effect

Discussion on each of these elements with examples will give us more
insight into the entire process of communication.

● Sender :

Sender is the idea generating component in communication process. In
human communication, sender may be a person or persons who create
or formulate the message to be sent to the receiver. Being the primary
source of the message, sender is also termed as source. In mass media,
for example, news reporter is the sender or source as he/she
constructs the message (news story). In a musical performance, the
singer is the sender as his message is enjoyed by the audience. Sender
is a critical component in communication as his/her social background,
personality status, education etc influence the quality of the message
he/she creates. The message is created from the idea generated in the
mind of the sender. The idea generation process is called encoding.

●The source/sender has three functions:

a) To decide what is to be communicated
b) Encoding (Put the idea in such a way that the receiver understands
it)
c) Transmitting the message to the receiver

● Message :

The message is any verbal or non-verbal method that produces
meaning in the mind of the receiver. Simply, it is the meaning
transferred from sender’s mind to receiver’s mind. This happens mainly
in two ways: verbal and non-verbal methods. Verbal message means
written or oral messages. They are composed of words. Example: A
newspaper report or a lecture by a teacher.Non-verbal messages are
those communicated through our behaviour, movements, actions,
clothes, style of conversation, pitch of the sound etc. What is
fundamental in message construction is the agreement between sender
and receiver in the code used for it. If the receiver cannot identify the
language or meaning of the message, the communication will be
defective.

● Channel :

The channel means medium by which sender transmits the message to
the receiver. Our five senses such hearing, touching, smelling , tasting ,
seeing are basic natural channels of human communication.
Communication can be classified on the basis of five basic natural
channels. They are: Tactile communication: Communication by touch or
taste, Olfactory communication: communication by smell, Audio
communication: Communication through soundwaves, Visual
communication: Communication through visual elements or properties.
We use any technically developed medium (like television, newspaper,
books etc) with the help of one or more of these five senses. Similarly,
sender uses one or more channels to maximize the communication
effect. For example – multi-media class room where teacher uses
projector, blackboard, lecture, gestures etc. simultaneously.

● Receiver :

Idea receiving end in communication process is called receiver. A
person or thing may be at the receiving end. The receiver’s role is as
important as a sender’s role. As in the case of a sender,
receiver has also three roles to play:

a) To receive the message

b) To decode the message Decoding is the process of extracting a
message from a code and interprets it. For this, sender and receiver
should have knowledge about the code (for example: language) used in
communication.

c) To respond to the message through feedback Receivers may be
audience watching movies, persons listening to music, students hearing
a lecture or a computer getting e-mail from a remote server.
Communication fails or remains faulty when message is rejected or
misinterpreted by the receiver.

● Feedback :

Information or message that is fed back to the source is called
feedback. If you get clapping for your singing, clapping is the feedback.
Questions raised by students in a class room for more information is
another example for feedback. Feedback originated either from the
own message is called self feedback. Example: When you talk to
somebody, you hear yourself and evaluate your tone, pitch etc.
Sometimes you may think that you could have sharpened or softened
your tone or pitch or text, because of your own feedback. Another type
of feedback is that originated from the receiver. It may be in the form
of questions, applauses, puzzled look etc. Feedback may be negative or

positive, immediate or delayed. Receiver’s indication to the sender that
the message was not received well is called negative feedback.

● Conclusion :

Thus, Communication plays a very vital role in every human beings and
every situation of life. Without communication there are a meaningless
life and too much problems occur to send a message to another person.

● Work Cited :

Pradeep, Dr. Lakshmi. Introduction to Electronic Media. Kozhikode, 2014.