{{Short description|Simplified representations of communication}}
[[File:Common components of models of communication.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=Diagram showing the most common components of models of communication|Many models of communication include the idea that a [[Sending|sender]] encodes a message and uses a channel to transmit it to a receiver. Noise may distort the message along the way. The receiver then decodes the message and gives some form of feedback.{{sfn|Fujishin|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sFrheqNL-ukC&pg=PA8 8]}}]]
'''Models of communication''' are simplified representations of the process of [[communication]]. Most models try to describe both [[Verbal communication|verbal]] and [[non-verbal communication]] and often understand it as an exchange of [[message]]smessages. Their function is to give a compact overview of the complex process of communication. This helps researchers formulate [[Hypothesis|hypotheses]], apply communication-related concepts to real-world cases, and test [[prediction]]spredictions. Despite their usefulness, many models are criticized based on the claim that they are too simple because they leave out essential aspects. The components and their interactions are usually presented in the form of a diagram. Some basic components and interactions reappear in many of the models. They include the idea that a sender [[Code|encodes]] information in the form of a message and sends it to a [[Receiver (information theory)|receiver]] through a [[Communication channel|channel]]. The receiver needs to decode the message to understand the initial idea and provides some form of [[feedback]]. In both cases, [[Communication noise|noise]] may interfere and distort the message.
Models of communication are classified depending on their intended applications and on how they conceptualize the process. General models apply to all forms of communication while specialized models restrict themselves to specific forms, like [[mass communication]]. Linear transmission models understand communication as a one-way process in which a sender transmits an idea to a receiver. Interaction models include a feedback loop through which the receiver responds after getting the message. Transaction models see sending and responding as simultaneous activities. They hold that [[Meaning (philosophy)|meaning]] is created in this process and does not exist prior to it. Constitutive and [[Social constructionism|constructionist]] models stress that communication is a basic phenomenon responsible for how people understand and [[experience]][[reality]]. [[Interpersonal communication|Interpersonal]] models describe communicative exchanges with other people. They contrast with [[Intrapersonal communication|intrapersonal]] models, which discuss communication with oneself. Models of non-human communication describe communication among other species. Further types include encoding-decoding models, hypodermic models, and relational models.
The problem of communication was already discussed in [[Ancient Greece]] but the field of [[communication studies]] only developed into a separate research discipline in the middle of the 20th century. All early models were linear transmission models, like [[Lasswell's model]], the [[Shannon–Weaver model]], Gerbner's model, and [[Berlo's model]]. For many purposes, they were later replaced by interaction models, like [[Schramm's model]]. Beginning in the 1970s, transactional models of communication, like [[Barnlund's model]], were proposed to overcome the limitations of interaction models. They constitute the origin of further developments in the form of constitutive models.
