Basic Linear Communication Models: Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver

EARL GUZMAN holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and has a professional experience that spans 5 years. Among his most notable roles are: Legislative Staff Officer at the Senate Electoral Tribunal and Catalog Writer for ABS – CBN. He currently works as an Online Content Writer under the creative marketing department of tech merchandising company Beyond the Box.

PART IT H E L A S S W E L

L F O R M U L AWHO WAS HAROLD LASSWELL

THE LASSWELL FORMULA EXPLAINED

BACKGROUND HAROLD LASSWELL

WHY DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LASSWELL?

Because it will enable us to better understand how his theory works, what it is intended for, under what paradigm it operates,

and what it seeks to describe.

HAROLD LASSWELL WAS

A Political scientist;A creative innovator in social science;A Multi-disciplinary academic;Prominent scholar in Propaganda Research

Chief of the Experimental Division for the Study of War Time Communication. There, he analyzed Nazi propaganda films to identify mechanisms of persuasion used by Nazi’s to secure the support of the German populace.

THEORY HOW DOES IT WORK?

THE LASSWELL FORMULA

Typical example of Transmission Model of Communication

One of the earliest and most influential

models of communication

Aimed at describing the function of

communication to society

A process that has five elements;

seeks to answer five questions

This model is about process of communication and its function to society, According to Lasswell there are three functions for communication:

SURVEILANCE OFTHE ENVIRONMENT

CORRELATION OF COMPONENTS OF

SOCIETY

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION

BETWEEN GENERATION


THE LASSWELL FORMULA“A convenient way to describe an act of communication is to answer the

following questions…”

WHO?SAYS

WHAT?IN WHICH CHANNEL?

TO WHOM? WITH WHAT EFFECT?

COMMUNICATOR MESSAGE MEDIUM RECEIVER

EFFECT

CONTROLANALYSIS

CONTENTANALYSIS

MEDIAANALYSIS

AUDIENCEANALYSIS

EFFECTANALYSIS

WH

OTHEORY HOW DOES IT WORK?

THE LASSWELL FORMULAE X P L A N A T I O N

CONTROL ANALYSISWho refers to the communicator or the sender of the message. He may also be referred to as the source or transmitter of the message.

This element of communication is studied through Control Analysis. It investigates things such as who owns this newspaper or broadcast station? What are their aims? What are their political allegiances? What is their ideology?

SAYS WHATCONTENT ANALYSISThis pertains to content of the message.

Content Analysis investigates how the message is presented to the public and is usually concerned with questions of representation. Some examples are:

How are marginalised sectors of the society represented in popular mass media forms?How is Philippine Politics described in documentaries produced abroad?

THE LASSWELL FORMULATHEORY HOW DOES IT WORK?

E X P L A N A T I O N

MEDIA ANALYSISPertains to the medium by which the message is transmitted.

Media Analysis investigates the suitability of the chosen channel or medium in carrying out the message based on the content, purpose, and target among other things. It finds the answers to questions such as:

Is the medium appropriate?Can it reach the people we want to reach?

W/C CHANNEL

TO WHOMAUDIENCE ANALYSISRefers to the audience or people receiving the message.

Audience Analysis attempts to know everything about the audience’s demographics.

AgeSex / GenderEconomic StatusEducational Attainment

THE LASSWELL FORMULATHEORY HOW DOES IT WORK?

E X P L A N A T I O N

EFFECT ANALYSISRefers to the outcome or consequences triggered by the message sent. It posits that people communicate in order to achieve a desired end.

Effect Analysis’ primary concern is to determine whether or not the media has any effect to the audience and if it does have an effect, how has it affected the receivers.

WITH WHAT

EFFECT

THE LASSWELL FORMULA


E X A M P L E

Embattled Vice President Jejomar Binay wrote letters to his critics and bought an ad space in a newspaper to defend himself from allegations hurled at him. The headline of his ad read (in glaring bold letters):

“LIES, HEARSAY, GUESSWORK, CONJECTURES…”

THEORY EXAMPLE

THE LASSWELL FORMULAWHO?

SAYS WHAT?

IN WHICH CHANNEL?

TO WHOM?

WITH WHAT EFFECT?

CONTROLANALYSIS

CONTENTANALYSIS

MEDIAANALYSIS

AUDIENCEANALYSIS

EFFECTANALYSIS

The communicator is an embattled politician who

plans to run for office next year; he is considered

a political dynast /

patriarch with vast resources

under his disposal.

“LIES, HEARSAY, GUESSWORK,

CONJECTURES…”

Professes his innocence; paints himself as a victim of selective justice and demolition by perception while simultaneously

accusing members of the

administration of weaving webs of

deceit.

BROADSHEET

The VP chose a broadsheet

newspaper to publish his retort

against his detractors. It

cannot be established whether the

newspaper has ties with the

Binays.

GENERAL PUBLICELECTORATE

CRITICS

The VP was not just targeting his

critics, he was also trying to appeal to the electorate.

EMBATTLED POLITICIAN

SEEKING HIGHER OFFICE

Since publishing his ad, no trust rating surveys have yet been conducted. There is however, some response from the people who received letters from him. One such response came from Philippine STAR columnist Carmen Pedrosa who continued to doubt VP Binay’s credibility and his plans for the nation. Response from social media were also mainly negative.

PART IIS H A N N O N &W E A V E R ‘ S

M A T H E M A T I C A L

M O D E L

BACKGROUND SHANNON & WEAVER

Dubbed as the mother of all models, the Shannon & Weaver

Model is the embodiments of concepts such as information source, message, transmitter,

signal, channel, noise, receiver, and slew of others.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

In 1948, American mathematician Claude Shannon and electronic

Engineer Warren Weaver collaborated to write an

article called the “Mathematical Theory of Communication” with the primary goal of improving technical communication.

THEORY SHANNON & WEAVER




The Shannon & Weaver model bears a strong semblance to Lasswell’s model, albeit, this one has some elements which the other model lacked: feedback and noise.

While Lasswell’s model was more concerned with the effect of the message and the function of communication with respect to society,

Weaver& Shannon’s model’s primary concern was to find out the most effective means of human communication.



SOURCE ENCODER CHANNELThis is the origin of the message. The source is the starting point of the communication process.

When the source sends a message, it is translated into signals or codes.

This refers to where the transmitted signal travels through and may vary depending on the type of signal.



DECODER DESTINATION FEEDBACKTo be able to understand the message sent, it must be decoded first. The decoder reconstructs the signal and present the message according to the signal it received.

The intended recipient of the message sent by the source.

Feedback refers to clarifications made by the sender to confirm that he really got the message. Please note though that this element is NOT part of the original model.



NOISERefers to internal or external interruptions to the signal

The model suggests that a message begins at an information source, which is then relayed through a transmitter and sent via signals to the receiver. Once you speak, your voice (signal) is carried through the air toward the listener’s ear. As the sound waves produced by your voice travel, it is joined by a myriad of other sounds and distractions (noise). The receiver takes in everything, trying to maximize the message while minimizing the noise, after which, the receiver conveys its message back to the sender.

Basic Linear Communication Models: Lasswell, Shannon and Weaver

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