Transcript Basic Communication Theory

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Communication
Transmission of a message
from a source to a receiver
Model of Communication
SENDER
RECEIVER
CHANNEL
CHANNEL
RECEIVER
SENDER
Channels
Chemically
By pheremones
Visually
Visual communication
Aurally

Sounds are used by many creatures
Dolphins
 Whales
 Birds
 Monkeys
 Apes
 People

Talking
A definition of talking
The intricate manipulation of
oral sound to convey meaning
All kinds of animals manipulate
sound to convey meaning.
Are they talking?
A question of vocabulary




Birds have about 35 “words”
Monkeys about 50 “words”
Chimps about 300 “words”
Humans (in English alone) about 750,000 words
Why this huge difference?
Why communicate at
all?
To make connections with
other members of your
species
The greater the need for
connection, the greater
the vocabulary
What needs?
First, self-protection,
also known as survival
Two ways to do that
First, Safety in Numbers
Be the biggest badass in the
neighborhood
Homonids had neither numbers
nor natural weapons
Human Ancestors
Humans cooperate
Other homonids don’t cooperate
Hunters cooperate
Second need -reproduction
Third Need –
to bind the group together
SENDER
RECEIVER
CHANNEL
CHANNEL
RECEIVER
SENDER
Two kinds of definitions

Denotative
The dictionary definition of the word
 Usually has a concrete referent


Connotative

The personal definition of the word
 What the word means to the individual
 Often has a strong emotional element
 Often an abstraction rather than concrete