Source–message–channel–receiver model of communication

The source–message–channel–receiver model is a linear transmission model of communication. It is also referred to as the sender–message–channel–receiver model, the SMCR model, and Berlo's model. It was first published by David Berlo in his 1960 book The Process of Communication. It contains a detailed discussion of the four main components of communication: source, message, channel, and receiver. Source and receiver are usually distinct persons but can also be groups and, in some cases, the same entity acts both as source and receiver. Berlo discusses both verbal and non-verbal communication and sees all forms of communication as attempts by the source to influence the behavior of the receiver. The source tries to achieve this by formulating a communicative intention and encoding it in the form of a message. The message is sent to the receiver using a channel and has to be decoded so they can understand it and react to it. The efficiency or fidelity of communication is defined by the degree to which the reaction of the receiver matches the purpose motivating the source. Each of the four main components has several key attributes. Source and receiver share the same four attributes: communication skills, attitudes, knowledge, and social-cultural system. Communication skills determine how good the communicators are at encoding and decoding messages. Attitudes affect whether they like or dislike the topic and each other. Knowledge includes how well they understand the topic. The social-cultural system encompasses their social and cultural background. The attributes of the message are code, content, and treatment as well as elements and structure. A code is a sign system like a language. The content is the information expressed in the message. The treatment consists of the source's choices on the level of code and content when formulating the message. Each of these attributes can be analyzed based on the elements it uses and based on how they are combined to form a structure. The remaining main component is the channel. It is the medium and process of how the message is transmitted. Berlo discusses it primarily in terms of the five senses used to decode messages: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Depending on the message, some channels are more useful than others. It is often advantageous to use several channels simultaneously. The SMCR model has been applied to various fields, such as mass communication, communication at the workplace, and psychology. It also influenced many subsequent communication theorists. It has been criticized for oversimplifying communication. For example, as a linear transmission model, it does not include the discussion of feedback loops found in many later models. Another common objection is that the SMCR model fails to take noise and other barriers to communication seriously and simply assumes that communication attempts are successful.

Background David Berlo published his source–message–channel–receiver (SMCR) model of communication in his 1960 book The Process of Communication. Some theorists also refer to it as the sender–message–channel–receiver model. Its exact formulation is usually attributed to Berlo but models with similar components were already proposed earlier, such as the Shannon–Weaver model and Schramm's model. For this reason, term SMCR model is sometimes used to refer to these models as well.

Nature and purpose of communication According to Berlo, communication is based on things that source and receiver have in common. He understands communication in a very wide sense that includes non-verbal communication like body language or the use of color in advertisements besides verbal communication in spoken or written form. In the widest sense, "anything to which people attach meanings may be and is used in communication". Berlo sees communication as a dynamic process that does not consist of a fixed sequence of events with a clearly defined beginning, middle, or end. But he acknowledges that the structure of language makes it necessary to describe communication in such a linear way. Berlo holds that the goal of all forms of communication is to influence the behavior of the audience. In this regard, he rejects the idea that other goals, like informing the receiver or entertaining them, are equally important. He argues that these distinctions are not exclusive. This means that even attempts to inform, as in the case of regular education, or to entertain, as in the case of entertainment programs on television, are attempts to influence the behavior of the audience. Berlo gives a biological argument for this position by holding that "[our] basic purpose is to alter the relationship between our own organism and the environment". For Berlo, communication is just one way to achieve this in relation to other people that are part of the environment: "we communicate to influence". For this reason, understanding communication involves understanding the source's goal, i.e. what reaction they intend to provoke in the audience. However, the source may not always be conscious of their reasons for communicating. For example, a writer may believe their purpose is to write a technical report rather than to influence the behavior of the reader. Likewise, a teacher may think their purpose is to cover the syllabus rather than to affect the behavior of the students. This is similar to how the purpose of many ingrained habits, communicational and otherwise, is to affect the environment even though the agent is often not aware of it while performing them. Berlo acknowledges such cases and understands them as forms of misperception or inefficiency. Usually, the source has a specific person in mind whom they wish to affect. Intrapersonal communication is a special case: the source and the receiver is the same person. In such cases, the source tries to influence itself, like a poet who writes poetry in secret in order to emotionally affect themselves. However, the more common goal is to influence others. The intended effect can be immediate or delayed. An artist trying to entertain their audience intends an immediate effect while an employer giving instructions for the rest of the week intends to have a delayed effect on the employees' behavior. Messages can also produce unintended outcomes, such as when the intended receiver does not react as the source anticipated or when the message reaches unintended receivers.

Relation to earlier models

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