Scientific Method & Models of

Mass Communication

大众传播研究模式

主讲教师：王积龙
Communication Models
What is a Model?
 Mortensen: “In the broadest sense, a model is a systematic
representation of an object or event in idealized and abstract
form. Models are somewhat arbitrary by their nature. The act of
abstracting eliminates certain details to focus on essential
factors. . . . The key to the usefulness of a model is the degree
to which it conforms--in point-by-point correspondence--to the
underlying determinants of communicative behavior.”
 “Communication models are merely pictures; they’re even
distorting pictures, because they stop or freeze an essentially
dynamic interactive or transactive process into a static picture.”
 Models are metaphors. They allow us to see one thing in terms
of another.
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Lasswell’s

 Lasswell's model can be summed up by the following

question: "Who says what to whom in what channel with
what effect?"
 Lasswell broadened the definition of "channel" by
expanding communication to include more than just
speech.
Communication Models
The Advantages of Models
 Mortensen: “A good model is useful, then, in providing both general perspective and
particular vantage points from which to ask questions and to interpret the raw stuff of
observation. The more complex the subject matter—the more amorphous and elusive the
natural boundaries—the greater are the potential rewards of model building.”
 They should clarify complexity.
 Models also clarify the structure of complex events. They do this, as Chapanis (1961)
noted, by reducing complexity to simpler, more familiar terms. . . Thus, the aim of a model
is not to ignore complexity or to explain it away, but rather to give it order and coherence.
 They should lead us to new discoveries-most important, according to
Mortensen.
 At another level models have heuristic value; that is, they provide new ways to conceive of
hypothetical ideas and relationships. This may well be their most important function. With
the aid of a good model, suddenly we are jarred from conventional modes of thought. . . .
Ideally, any model, even when studied casually, should offer new insights and culminate
in what can only be described as an “Aha!” experience.
Communication Models
– Limitations of Models
 Can lead to oversimplifications.
 “There is no denying that much of the work in designing communication
models illustrates the oft-repeated charge that anything in human affairs which
can be modeled is by definition too superficial to be given serious
consideration.”
 Some, like Duhem’s (1954), believe there is no value in models at all:
 We can guard against the risks of oversimplification by recognizing the
fundamental distinction between simplification and oversimplification. By
definition, and of necessity, models simplify. So do all comparisons. As Kaplan
(1964) noted, “Science always simplifies; its aim is not to reproduce the reality
in all its complexity, but only to formulate what is essential for understanding,
prediction, or control. That a model is simpler than the subject-matter being
inquired into is as much a virtue as a fault, and is, in any case, inevitable .
Communication Models
 Can lead of a confusion of the model between the behavior it portrays
 Mortensen: “Critics also charge that models are readily confused with reality. The problem typically
begins with an initial exploration of some unknown territory. . . .Then the model begins to function as a
substitute for the event: in short, the map is taken literally. And what is worse, another form of
ambiguity is substituted for the uncertainty the map was designed to minimize. What has happened is
a sophisticated version of the general semanticist’s admonition that “the map is not the territory.”
Spain is not pink because it appears that way on the map, and Minnesota is not up because it is
located near the top of a United States map.
 “The proper antidote lies in acquiring skill in the art of map reading.”
 Premature Closure
 The model designer may escape the risks of oversimplification and map reading and still fall prey to
dangers inherent in abstraction. To press for closure is to strive for a sense of completion in a system.
 Kaplan:
 The danger is that the model limits our awareness of unexplored possibilities of conceptualization. We
tinker with the model when we might be better occupied with the subject-matter itself. In many areas of
human behavior, our knowledge is on the level of folk wisdom ... incorporating it in a model does not
automatically give such knowledge scientific status.
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Lasswell’s

During World War II, US Federal agencies used

Lasswell’s secret model to test a variety of
propaganda techniques and to create some
very powerful propaganda posters, films, and
radio broadcasts. For example, it was
discovered that “help win the war” wasn’t
the most effective slogan to use for selling war
bonds. It appealed to men, but not women.
This led to the development of a more effective
slogan: “Help win the war and bring the boys
home.”
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Shannon & Weaver’s
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Schramm’s
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Schramm’s
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Schramm’s

 Comment
 Schramm provided the additional notion of a “field of experience,” or the
psychological frame of reference; this refers to the type of orientation or attitudes
which interactants maintain toward each other.
 Included Feedback
 Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be delayed.
 Some of these methods of communication are very direct, as when you talk in
direct response to someone.
 Others are only moderately direct; you might squirm when a speaker drones on
and on, wrinkle your nose and scratch your head when a message is too abstract,
or shift your body position when you think it’s your turn to talk.
 Still other kinds of feedback are completely indirect.
 For example
 politicians discover if they’re getting their message across by the number of
votes cast on the first Tuesday in November;
 commercial sponsors examine sales figures to gauge their communicative
effectiveness in ads;
 teachers measure their abilities to get the material across in a particular course by
seeing how many students sign up for it the next term.
Classical Communication Models
●Model of Schramm’s

Included Context
 A message may have different meanings, depending upon the
specific context or setting.
 Shouting “Fire!” on a rifle range produces one set of
reactions-reactions quite different from those produced in a
crowded theater.
 Included Culture
 A message may have different meanings associated with it
depending upon the culture or society. Communication systems,
thus, operate within the confines of cultural rules and
expectations to which we all have been educated.
 Other model designers abstracted the dualistic aspects of
communication as a series of “loops,” (Mysak, 1970),
“speech cycles” (Johnson, 1953), “co-orientation”
(Newcomb, 1953), and overlapping “psychological fields”
(Fearing, 1953).
– Weaknesses
 Schramm’s model, while less linear, still accounts for only
bilateral communication between two parties. The complex,
multiple levels of communication between several sources is
beyond this model.
Newcomb A-B-X Model
The Westley-Maclean Model
Classical Communication Models
●Model of MacLean & Westley ’s

x = information source

A = sender
B = receiver
C = editorial function
f = feedback path
Classical Communication Models
●Model of MacLean & Westley ’s

MacLean
Classical Communication Models
●Model of MacLean & Westley ’s

 Westley and MacLean's communication model was

the first to attempt to model the mass communication
process specifically. It takes into account several
factors that are especially prominent in, if not
peculiar to, mass communication situations:
 The sender (which is often a team rather than an
individual) generally derives information from a
variety of sources and combines it in some way to
create a message
Classical Communication Models
●Model of MacLean & Westley ’s

 The message generally passes through some kind of editorial

gatekeeper before being passed on to audiences (this again
may be group, and the editorial process may have several layers,
including governmental regulation of content, editors,
corporation management, and investors or advertisers.
 The editorial functions may have direct access to relevant
sources of information, some of which the sender may not have
access to (e.g. an editor who has inside sources in the
goverment or a corporation)
 Feedback from the audience is sometimes directed to the
sender, but in many cases is directed to some part of the
editorial function, who may modify or expand upon it in
transmitting it to the sender .
The Gerbner Model
Shannon’s Diagram

Gerbner’s Graphic Model

Process
Model
for
Schema
Theory
Different Media and Its Effects

How many loved your monments of glad grace，

And loved you beauty with love false or true，
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you，
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
--Yeats