DUW123

Introduction to
Human Communication
by
ASSOC. PROF. ABDUL AZIZ MAHMUDDIN
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)

Upon completion of this topic student

should be able to

Define human communication.

Identify the models of communication, and

explain the process of human communication.

Describe the elements of human

communication.

Describe the functions of communication.

Identify in general the type/context/field of

human communication.

Definition of Communication

Communication was derived from Latin

terminology communicare which means
to make common or to share.

Samsuddin A. Rahim (1997), said that

communications definition can be
divided into four categories. They are
definition that:

1. Emphasize on dissemination or
sending
2. Emphasize on sharing of meaning.
3. emphasize on persuasion.
4. emphasize on behavioural aspect.

Definition that emphasize on

dissemination and sending
Theodorson dan Theodorson (1969)
Communication is the sending of
information, thinking, attitude or
emotion of one individual or group to
other individual or group by using
symbols.
(one way communication?)

Definition that emphasis on

sharing
of meaning
Rogers
(1969)

Communication is a process when two

parties who involved in the
communication form and share
meaning of signals
to achieve understanding.
(one way/two way communication?)

Definition that emphasize on persuasion

Carl Hovland (1953)

Communication is a stimulation
delivery process (normally in oral) in
order to change the behaviour of
other individual.

(one way or two way communication?)

Definition
that (1973)
emphasize on
Carter
behavioural aspect
Communication is an individual's way to
seek out and disseminate information
about reality, so that it can control his life
whether individually or in group.
(if you failed in the examinations, what does
that mean /what are you doing)
(one way or two way communication?)

JOSEPH A. DEVITO
Human communication: The basic
course (1997)

...refers to the act, by one or

more persons, of sending and
receiving messages that are
distorted by noise, occur within a
context, have some effect, and
provide some opportunity for
feedback.

RONALD B. ADLER & NEIL TOWNE

Looking out/looking in (2003)

...is a continous, transactional process

involving participants who occupy
different but overlapping
environments and create
relationships through the exchange
of messages, many of which are
affected by external, physiological,
and psychological noise.

CHERYL HAMILTON & CORDELL PARKER

Communicating for result (2003)

...the process of people sharing

thought and feelings
with each other
in common understandable ways.

Model and Process of

Human Communication
Definition of

MODEL
Model [is] simplified representations
of complex interrelationships among
elements in the communication
process, which allow us to visually
understand a sometimes complex
process.

Definition of
Communication Process
David Berlo (1960)
If we accept the concept of process,
we view events and relationships as
dynamic, ongoing, ever changing,
continous. When we label something
as a process, we also mean that it
does not have a beginning, an end, a
fixed sequence of events. It is not
static, at rest. It is moving. The
ingredients within a process interact;
each affects all the others.

Linear Model

Interactional Model

Feedback

Feedback

Transactional Model

Elements of Communication
Elements is the components that involved in
communication process. Elements of human
communication are :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

source
receiver
message
channel
feedback
code
encode
decode
noise

Source
Is the person who initiate (the initiator) the
process of message delivery. In 2-way
communication process the source is also
considered as receiver because at the end
of the communication process we cannot
determine who is the source or receiver.
Initiator is entity who possess
mind, perception, emotion, anatomy,
physical, attitude, value, behaviour,
verbal competency, frame of reference,
personal habit and a unique culture.

Receiver
Is the person who receive the message
that sent by receiver.
A receiver is also an entity who
possess
mind, perception, emotion, anatomy,
physical, attitude, value, behaviour,
verbal competency, frame of
reference,
personal habit and a unique culture.

Examples of receiver according to

contexts:
1.

grandfather, grandmother, mother,

father brother, sister, uncle, cousin

2.

Teacher, lecturer rector,

administrative officer, clerk, office
assistant, sport officer.

3.

friends, lover.

4.

Office mate, head of department,

company owner.

5.

DYMM Tuanku, Prime Minister, Tan

Sri, Dato, beggar .

6.

A person who asked direction to a

destination.

7.

waiter

Message
is ideas, thought, feelings or
experience that wanted to be shared
by the source with an individual or a
group of people in the form of verbal
(words) and/or nonverbal (facial
expression, body movements,
touches, voice tones etc.) language.

Channel/Medium
Channel is the medium use in
communication. The channel must be able
to transmit the message from one party to
another without changing the content of
the message.
Channel can be in the form of parts of
human body, eg. ear, eye, etc.
(for human); or
air wave, sound wave,
cable, fibre-optic, paper, TV, computer or
book and newspaper
(things);
or human being such as Prime Minister,
village head, classmate etc.

Feedback
The

signals that a receiver continuously gives

to a sender indicating how well the message
is being received are known as feedback.

Feedback

is extremely important for senders,

since it allows them to discover such matters
as whether they are speaking too fast, using
words that are too complex, or even whether
they are offending or angering their receivers.

Feedback

can consist of words, nonverbal

symbols, or both.Feedback makes it
possible for speakers to judge how well they
are communicating.

Code
Code is a systematic symbol
arrangement that used to create
meaning in someone's mind or group
of people.
Word, phrase, and sentence become
symbols that used to represent
image, thinking, idea and/or feelings.
Verbal code constitute symbols and
grammar arrangement.

Nonverbal codes include:

1.

Kinesics posture, movement, gestures,

and facial expression.

2.

Proxemics (the study of the human use

of space) territorial and personal
(intimate distance, personal distance,
social distance, and public distance).

3.

Chronemics the way that people

organize and use time.

4.

Tactile the use of touch in

communication.

(continuation) Nonverbal codes include:

5.

Paralinguistic the nonword sounds and

nonword characteristics of language,
such as pitch, volume, rate, and quality.

6.

Objectics the study of the human use of

clothing and other artifacts.
Artifacts are ornaments or adornments
we display that hold communicative
potential, including jewelry, hairstyles,
cosmetics, automobiles, watches, hats
etc.

Encode
The action of perceiving, interpreting,
translating and constructing meaning
into a form of ideas, thought or
feelings by the receiver or source is
called encode.

Decode
Meaning perceived by the receiver or
source
about the ideas, thought or feelings
sent by the source or receiver.

Noise
Any elements that distort the process of
encoding or decoding messages, and it
reduces or damaging the message clarity.
Noise constitute climate, hidden view,
abnormal behaviour, unclear
pronunciation, nasality, words that we do
not understand, and pain
Noise constitutes anything that prevent us
from receiving, accepting, interpreting
messages
or feedback.

Frame of Reference

It means everything
such as
experiences , knowledge,
feelings/emotion and prior information
which belongs to the sender or
receiver.

Environment/Situational/Context
refer to the physical location
(environment that can be seen or
touched - cold or hot, in a clean room
or stalls beside the road;
personal experiences, time
(morning/night, today /100 years
before); and culture (norms, rules,
beliefs and attitudes )
which influenced human
communication.

FUNCTIONS OF
HUMAN COMMUNICATION

The functions of human communication

explain the question why human need to
communicate.

According to Adler & Towne (2003),

man communicate because of:
Social needs
Identity needs
Practical purposes
Physical needs

Social Needs
Social needs is defined as the need to have
relationship with other people in order for
us to:

be liked and be loved .

On the other hand, communication is also
used to:

avoid others, to fight, to abandon

relationship and etc.

Identity needs
Through

communication, human
learns about his/her self, identity
(clever/stupid, pretty/ugly,
skill/dumb. All these were identified
through the way we interact with
others. Examples:
- YOU what is your reaction if 44
people said that your face is so pale.
- TARZAN what is the reaction of
Tarzan if 44 people that he met said
he looked like a civilized person.

Wiseman says:

We are attracted to those who legitimize our

identity.

Those people who have high level of self-esteem

relatively tend to find friends who are ready to
legitimize their personality. Normally they will try
to avoid those who do not appreciate their
strength or ability.

Those people who think that they are useless,

usually will find people who treat them in a
rough/rude manner.

Why do we need to look smart all the time?

Therefore,
We need to practice supportive communication in
order to change the imperfect feeling of others to

Practical Purposes
Practical purpose of communication is
communication with the aim to persuade to
people (in order to change their attitudes and
behaviour)
Examples:

Marketing communication is meant for

influencing people to buy a product which
sometimes does not required by them.

Negotiation used to resolve conflict (which

caused by a struggle for the same objective,
or to make the best choice when we face a
various number of sources.

 Communication

skills (ability to
deliver speech and listen effectively)
is a necessity for job applicants
during interview session.

Communication

at work is to create
better work environment (happy and
productive).

Political

communication purpose is to
influence people for voting.

In addition,
according to Jeseph A. Devito (1997),
people communicate to:

Offer HELP, examples:

- Therapist (helping someone to reduce their
physical or emotional pain).
- Teachers (helping students to understand
certain knowledge),
- Counselors (helping client to find the best
way to resolve problems faced by the client),
- Team members (help the team in problem
solving).

To PLAY
Communication is an act of play means we
communicate in order to have fun, trying
to avoid problems, or as a mean of
relaxing.
Examples:

listening to jokes by a comedian or jokes

shared by others.

share something that can make the

listeners feel happy or escape from any
form of pressure.

Physical Needs
Several researches show that
human communication closely related to:

The health state of a person .

Human life span
Examples:

Mortality rate among divorced people (before

they reach 70 year old) because of heart
disease, cancer, and stroke is double compared
to those who are married. Tripple because of
hypertension, five fold because of commiting
suicide, seven fold because of liver disease), and
ten fold because of tuberculosis.
Hence ,
we need to communicate with others: our family
members, friends, neighbour, colleague, or
community members.

FIELDS OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION

Spiritual Communication
refers to communication process with
ALLAH/GOD
during solah, zikr, praying, repenting ,
etc.

Intrapersonel
Communication
Intrapersonal communication is
the active internal involvement
of the individual in symbolic
processing of messages.
The individual becomes his or her
own sender and receiver,
providing feedback to him or
herself in an ongoing internal
process.

Interpersonal
Communication

Is the process through which people

create and manage their relationships,
exercising mutual responsibility in
creating
and
sharing
meaning
(thought, feelings or experience).
Interpersonal
communication
also
recognised as dyadic communication
which is the process almost done
through face to face in order to
establish,
maintain,
repair,
or
deteriorate interpersonal relationship.

Small Group
Communication
refers to the nature of communication
that occurs in a group (between 3
and 15 to 20 individuals) who share
ideas, thought, and feelings in order
to resolve problems, to make
decision (examples: meeting,
discussion, team building or trust
building session).

Organizational Communication
Occurs in organization weather in a dyadic
communication (superior and subordinate, or members
in the same department), small group communication
(in a meeting), or public communication (speech from
CEO);
whether within members in organization (internal
communication) or individuals or groups from outside
organization (external communication);
to share thought and feelings that are related to
personal matters, tasks (find new ideas, problem
solving, decision making) work (instructions,
counseling, performance evaluation, interview,
motivation, new staff induction programme, conflict
resolution) product, or procedures (rule and regulation,
policy and acts ) in organization,
whether in a face-to-face manner or through channels

Corporate Communication
A field of study that involved
communication aspect in corporate
(such as multinational company based
on profit orientation).
The field is related to image building,
corporate reputation, branding,
financial report, corporate culture and
company performance report.

Public Communication
Communication occurred in large group
(more than 20 people)
with the aim
to share information or feelings
with the hope to change the values,
attitude, and/or behaviour of the
audience or to make the
receivers/audience agreed with the
source/sender pattern of thought.

Mass Communication
A form of communication by which
messages are created by sender and
distributed to audience through
traditional media (stone, leaves);
printed media (books, reports,
magazine); or electronic media
(radio, tv, internet satellite).
Mass media is any medium used to
transmit messages.

Intercultural Communication

Communication between human

with different culture (religion,
norms, rules and roles)
background.

TERIMA KASIH