Process Models of Communication

Historically Significant Models of the Communication Process

Aristotle, circa 300 BCE

Diagram of Communication based on the works of Aristotle1

Alexander Graham Bell

Communication diagram from Alexander Graham Bell's personal notes2

Claude E. Shannon, 1948

Communication diagram from Claude Shannon's 1948 paper3

Harold D. Lasswell, 1948

  • Who
  • Says What
  • In Which Channel
  • To Whom
  • With What Effect 4

Wilbur Schramm, 1954

Schramm's 1954 model of communication added field's of experience5

Osgood & Schramm, 1954

The Osgood-Schramm model stressed communication as a circular process6

David Berlo, 1960

Diagram of process described in Berlo's 1960 SCMR model7

Dean Barnlund, 1970

Barnlund's model of Communication is representative of transactional models8

  1. Image retrieved from https://www.communicationtheory.org/aristotle%E2%80%99s-communication-model/ ^
  2. Bell Family Papers, Library of Congress. Retrieved from http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/004/0001.jpg ^
  3. Shannon, C. E. (1948) A Mathematical Theory of Communication, The Bell System Technical Journal, 27, 379–423, 623–646. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x ^
  4. Laswell, H. (1948). The structure and function of communication in society. In L. Bryson (Ed.), The communication of ideas. New York: Harper. ^
  5. Schramm, W. (1954). The process and effects of mass communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ^
  6. Schramm, W. (1954). The process and effects of mass communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ^
  7. Berlo, D. (1960). The process of communication: An introduction to theory and practice. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ^
  8. Barnlund, D. (1970). A transactional model of communication. In K. K. Sereno & C. D. Mortensen (Eds.), Foundations of communication theory, 83-102. New York: Harper. ^