The 8 elements of communication: characteristics and examples

Communication elements, such as the message, the sender, the receiver or the context, are concepts that help us understand the complexity of the communicative processes present in social interactions.

In this article we will see in detail which are the elements of communication that come into play where there are subjects exchanging information, and in what ways the variations in each of them can make the interpretation of the information received different.

• Related article: "The 28 types of communication and their characteristics

What are the elements of communication?

By communication we understand the process by which it is produced an exchange of information between two subjects. There is a debate about what should be the nature of these subjects involved in communicative activity: if they can only be human beings and some animals with high capacities for abstract thinking, or they can also be other living beings with less complex nervous systems, and even machines such as computers.

And the fact is that a good part of what defines the communication process is the interpretation that is made of the results. To what extent does a Smartphone interpret the digital signals it receives from an antenna? Do bacteria communicate through the capture and emission of chemical elements?

In any case, there is something that is independent of the type of subjects that share information with each other: the elements of communication. These are concepts that help us understand which are the phenomena that explain communicative activities, and each of them represents a piece in the process by which information travels from one data interpretation system to another that is located in a place other than the one occupied by the First.

And it is that although communication does not have to exist a physical body that moves from one place to another, in practice the Communication is movement and dynamism, and that is why it cannot be explained as it could be done with an element static. The elements of communication are the pieces that are articulated together to generate different meanings in real time. Let's see what they are.

1. Transmitter

The issuer is the subject that triggers the communicative process by exposing information that can be interpreted by other subjects. In turn, the issuer can emit information encoded in a symbolic way, or through language non-verbal, which expresses sensations, attitudes and moods, and which is more spontaneous than previous.

On the other hand, many times establishing who the sender is is something very relative, because it is not always easy to know with certainty which subject initiated the communication. For example, if someone meets his neighbor on the street and greets him with a "hello", this could in turn be a reaction to the expression of the neighbor's face, and in this case it would be the person who has not spoken who would have adopted the role of issuer in the first place place.

Precisely for this reason, it is assumed that the issuer is relatively so, establishing a single cycle for sending information as a frame of reference. In a moment, whoever was a sender becomes a receiver, and vice versa.

• You may be interested: "The 10 basic communication skills"

2. Receiver

The receiver is the subject who, voluntarily or involuntarily, receives the information issued by the issuer and interprets it, either by using a symbol system that establishes equivalences between signifiers and signifieds, or without a system of symbols, obeying the sensations produced by what comes through the senses.

As we have seen, there is an unresolved debate about whether a machine can be a receiver, but in practice it deals with signal reception systems as real receivers, since not doing so would make it very difficult to understand how these work appliances.

3. Message

The message is what is used to transmit the information, that is, the literal existence of what is being said by the sender and what the receiver is picking up. For this reason, message is not equivalent to meaning, but rather it is the phenomenon to be deciphered in order to obtain, from its interpretation, a meaning.

For example, a message can be "I wish you luck", while the meaning of this word of letters (if it is read) or of phonemes (if he is listened to) depends on other aspects: in some cases it is a show of appreciation, while in others it is an indirect mockery used by means of sarcasm, if it is formulated implying that the receiver lacks the necessary capacities to do something.

In practice, the message is inseparable from the rest of the elements of communication, because we can never get to know it and analyze it without a receiver, a sender, a channel, etc.

4. Noise

The noise is literally any phenomenon that interferes with the communication process and modifies the message in any of its aspects. For example, the coverage cuts that we sometimes experience when talking on a mobile phone, or a burst of seeing that distorts some phonemes.

Thus, noise is one of the most diverse elements of communication, because there are many different ways in which a message can be altered: both physical (electronic failures in the capture of signals, material of the wall that keeps the emitter and the receiver separated) as symbolic (errors when typing, errors in the recognition of words of a software, etc.).

The existence of noise is what has made many people look for communication channels capable of controlling very well the variables that come into play in the transmission of information. The message exchange programs used by chat systems, for example, pay close attention to this.

On the other hand, do not forget that the noise it does not have to always come from phenomena unrelated to the elements of communication; sometimes it comes from within. For example, if the receiver has a brain injury, this can generate noise by making it difficult to analyze what the sender says, generating alterations such as the Wernicke's aphasia.

5. Code

The code is the structured set of rules and signs that make it possible to express and deliver complex messages. Therefore, it is associated with the ability to use language, or at least a somewhat less developed type of language than that of adult human beings.

There are different code systems, and they can be applied in speech or writing. On the other hand, the existence of the code implies that to communicate the issuer must carry out a process of encoding if he wants to broadcast a message of his authorship, and the receiver has to decode to be able to interpret it and understand it. For communication to take place, sender and receiver have to use the same code.

6. Channel

The channel is the medium through which the message travels, passing from one place to another. In spoken language, the channel is usually the sound waves that travel through the air, while on the Internet, the channel can be a chat or a binary digital signal transmission system, depending on the level at which we place our unit of analysis of what happens.

In practice, among the most frequent channels that are part of the daily life of this element of the communication are air, paper, emails, telephone systems, and light waves emitted by screens. Sometimes two or more channels can run at the same time.

7. Context

The context is the space-time environment in which communication takes place. And it is that we must not forget that the where and when greatly influence both the emission of the message and its reception and interpretation. Around the subjects who communicate, there is always a more general environment that conditions the whole process.

For example, it is not the same to talk with someone on the team to which you belong, than to do it with someone on the team rival, and it is not the same to say something considered provocative in the 18th century than to do it in a western country of the XXI. Our environment determines not only how we say things, but even the content of what we intend to communicate.

8. Feedback

Feedback, or feedback, is the response given by the receiver after having interpreted the message sent by the sender. For this reason, another element of communication can also be considered: the message given as the sender, since it can be seen as what is said to start another communication process.

A dynamic information exchange process

As we have seen, communication is defined as being a dynamic process, which cannot be captured in its entirety or from a schematic static, nor from a descriptive model of a linear type in which one element of the communication produces the next, and this produces another, etc. By communicating, everything arises at once, and we cannot separate each of these pieces and analyze them in isolation, separated from the rest.

Therefore, this diagram of the elements of communication only serves as a guide, as a map that helps us to understand what is happening and through what means could one or the other be being shared information. At the end of the day, what really matters is the interpretation and conception of the messages, and these are always produced linked to a specific time and place.

Bibliographic references:

• Berlok, K.D. (2008). The communication process (introduction to theory and practice). Buenos Aires: The Athenaeum.
• Griffin, E.A. (1997). A first look at communication theory. 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Trenholm, S.; Jensen, A. (2013). Interpersonal Communication Seventh Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.