4.6 REVIEW OF ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

The three philosophical perspectives discussed above have differing conceptualizations of successful communication. Technical theories of communication looked for improvements in the transmission of the intended message and achievement of the intended effect. The focus in such research remained on channels and symbol systems. Psychological perspectives examined the development of cognitive processing abilities in individual communicators and the influence of their respective attitudes, beliefs, values, and knowledge on communication outcomes. The focus has been on the effects or outcomes of media experiences. Social-cultural perspectives saw social influences as the crux of communication. Individuals exist as parts of social networks. These social networks collectively give meaning to all aspects of communication.

From these theoretical perspectives, we can review the concepts that are included in current models of communication. Each of the major elements is discussed here, with a brief list and description of the significant variables developed in each of theoretical perspectives described above.

Sender/receiver relationships have become so interrelated as to be indistinguishable in recent psychological and social-cultural theories of communication. Among the important variables here are the individual communicator's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, values, goals, and interest. Also relevant are each communicator's group and social role memberships, as well as their perceptions of themselves and their relations with other people, These elements, combined with the communicative abilities of each sender/receiver, are but a short list of the elements behind the people engaging in communication.

Channels of communication, once confined to the technical realms of telephones, film, radio, and television, have been at once even more limited and expanded. Berlo (1960) confined signals to sensory channels, but in doing so opened the concept to intentional and unintentional communication through verbal and nonverbal, interpersonal, and mediated modes of interaction. Likewise, the forms of messages now include examinations of content, symbol systems, and the stylistic use of symbols. Ironically, through such theoretical developments, the clear distinction between channel and message is more ambiguous; that is, the medium is the message (McLuhan, 1964).

Perhaps the most significant theoretical development has been the explication of the communication context, or social situation. Andersen (1972) states that the setting of communicative events may be seen in two levels. The first is the general environment, including macro-level social attitudes and norms governing the form and content of communication, the number of communicators, the availability of given media channels, and the public or private nature of the setting (see also 7.3.5). The second is the communication-binding context, which refers to the very specific dimensions of a single communicative episode. This includes the exact time and place of the encounter, the social roles of the participants, the participants' perceptions of all the situational elements present during the encounter, and any complexities resulting from barriers in the symbol system or channel of communication (e.g., language barriers, technical difficulties in mass media). In short, context now refers to more than a time and place; it is the combination of these elements with the social status and relationships of all those seeking to communicate or share meaning (Heath & Bryant, 1992). Different kinds of contexts may overlap, such as viewing television programs in the small group setting of a family's living room. In such situations, rules of the communication-binding context are necessarily influenced by more than one set of general norms.

In the research orientations related to the three philosophical perspectives reviewed here, a transmission paradigm has clearly dominated communication models, particularly in the study of mass communication systems. The influence of the technical perspective, born of a concern for scientific efficiency and engineering quality, made examinations of human communication a problematic endeavor. Applications of mass media to learning environments have usually shared such concerns but have attempted to apply these theories to situations distinct from the traditional "one-to-many" Situations associated with mass communication. The settings of broadcast media reception and classroom education share some elements. Both contain carefully prepared and distributed messages, both operate in a more public than private sphere, in both cases the message 11 source" (broadcaster or teacher) carries some degree of Power (political or economic) over the "receivers."