11- Aquila
Schramm Model of Communication
What is Osgood-Schramm Model of Communication?
Osgood-Schramm Model
The Osgood-Schramm conversation process DOES NOT recognise a difference between
the sender and receiver. Instead, it depicts both parties as encoding and decoding
messages SIMULTANEOUSLY while providing FEEDBACK just as quickly. According to the
model, this creates reciprocal and synchronous INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION just
like in a face- to-face conversation with a colleague.
In this model we have 5 components
Encoder
Message
Decoder
Interpret
and Feedback
Now, let us discover who are the proponents of our model.
PROPONENTS OF THE MODEL :
1.) Charles Egerton Osgood, was born on November 20, 1916 , in Somerville,
Massachusetts. He was an American psychologist and a professor at the University of
Illinois. He played a key role in developing the Osgood-Schramm model of communication.
His theory of meaning and the semantic differential technique influenced the model's focus
on shared meaning and interactive communication.
2.) Wilbur Lang Schramm (August 5, 1907 December 27, 1987) was an American scholar
and "authority on mass communications".Wilbur Schramm is considered the founder of the
field of Communication Studies. He was the first individual to identify himself as a
communication scholar; he created the first academic degree-granting programs with
communication in their name; and he trained the first generation of communication scholars.
∆ His notable work is Mass Media and National Development
∆ Occupation :Journalist, writer, academic
∆ Schramm was hugely influential in establishing communications as a field of study in the
United States. He is also known as the father of mass communication .
In terms of developing the model
Charles Egerton Osgood popularized the notion that communication was circular rather than
linear, Later, Wilbur Schramm, who talked about the model in his book, The Process and
Effects of Communication, adapted the model and added the notion of field of experience, or
commonality, to the mix.
The model was developed in 1954 by Wilbur Schramm, who built upon the ideas of
Charles E. Osgood.
How does the model works?
Now let's analyze how this diagram works . This model breaks the sender and receiver
model it seems communication in a practical way. It is not a traditional model. Since it's a
circular , which requires a sender and receiver for sharing their information. It can happen
between two people; each person acts as both sender and receiver and hence use it as
interpretation. The information travels in both directions between the sender and the
recipient during communication. The message is sent from the encoder to the decoder, but
one model component claims that when the decoder sends a message back to the encoder ,
the roles are switched. Both the transmitter and the recipient switch roles.
To understand more of this , let's have an example
Imagine you have not heard from your college friend for 15 years. Suddenly, they call you,
and you start updating each other about what happened during the time you have not seen
each other.
In this example, you and your friend are equally encoding and decoding messages, and your
communication is synchronous. You are both interpreting each other’s messages.
As such, this model is useful for describing synchronous, interpersonal communication, but
less suitable for cases with little or no feedback.
Interestingly, in the Osgood-Schramm communication model, there is no difference between
a sender and a receiver. Both parties are equally encoding and decoding the messages. The
interpreter is the person trying to understand the message at that moment.
According to Schramm’s model, The recipient is responsible for providing feedback and
confirming if the message was downloaded correctly, and any doubts should be clarified with
the speaker.
Furthermore, the Osgood-Schramm communication model shows that information is of no
use until it is put into words and conveyed to other people.
In Information Theory and Mass Communication, Schramm even says:
“It is misleading to think of the communication process as starting somewhere and ending
somewhere. It is really endless. We are really switchboard centers handling and
re-routing the great endless current of information
THE PRINCIPLES OF OSGOOD-SCHRAMM MODEL
The Osgood-Schramm communication model proposes 4 main principles of communication:
1. Communication is circular. — Individuals involved in the communication process are
changing their roles as encoders and decoders.
2. Communication is equal and reciprocal. — Both parties are equally engaged as encoders
and decoders.
3. The message requires interpretation. — The information needs to be properly interpreted
to be understood.
4. As shown in the Osgood-Schramm communication model diagram below, this model
proposes 3 steps in the process of communication , encoding - decoding - interpreting ..
Additionally,this communication model is sometimes impaired by semantic noise,
differences, and misunderstandings that cause a message to be interpreted differently than it
was intended. This explains why you can say the same thing to two different people, and
those people may interpret what you said completely differently. One of the biggest focal
points of this model is the interpretation aspect of the communication.
For example: it's almost lunch time and you ask your friend form a different section
whether they wanna hangout and eat lunch together, but your friend misinterprets it and
thinks it's a date when in reality it's just almost lunch time and it's a casual hang out .
Another negative aspect is the relative simplicity of the model. It relies on one-to-one
communication, rather than multiple participants.Once again, This model posits that
communication involves a dynamic interaction between a sender, message, receiver,
feedback, context, channel, and semantic noise.
Highlighting the importance of Feedback and switching roles of encoder to decoder and
decoder to encoder .
To summarize:
Schramm Model of Communication
Wilbur Schramm is known as the Father of Mass Communication. He came up with five
models but in the Schramm Model of Communication he developed in 1955, communication
breakdown is explained. He asserts that
both the sender and the receiver should have the same field of experience.In this concept,
field of experience refers to everything that makes an individual unique – everything that
he/she has ever learned, watched, seen,heard, read, and studied.
In this model, communication has six elements
Source
Encoder
Message
Channel
Decoder
Receiver
He gives emphasis on encoding and decoding of message. This model showshow a
message is transferred from the sender to the receiver. The model also asserts that
message can be complicated by different meaning learned by
different people.
