communication & schema. message sender receiver the communication model interaction

COMMUNICATION & SCHEMA

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

THE COMMUNICATION MODEL

INTERACTION

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE SENDER

Primary

Tertiary 2 Timothy 2:2

Secondary

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE MESSAGE

This is what I want to send… the ‘stuff’ in my head.

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE INTERACTION

How does the message get from me to you?

First I start with a thought…

Then I externalize it using some code (English) and symbols (words).

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE INTERACTION

How does the message get from me to you?

First I start with a thought…

Then I externalize it using some code (English) and symbols (words).ENCODING

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE RECEIVER

What must you do?

You have to break the code and interpret the symbols.

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE RECEIVER

What must you do?

You have to break the code and interpret the symbols.

DECODING

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE MEANING

Where is the meaning?

MESSAGESENDER RECEIVER

INTERACTION

THE MEANING

Where is the meaning?

IN PEOPLE !

MESSAGESENDER

ENCODING

DECODING

WORDS ACTIONS

PACKAGING

MEDIUM RECEIVER

ENCODING PROCESS: words, actions

PACKAGING: THE MEDIUM: message delivery system

DECODING:

DECODING:

NO INPUT

NO MEANING

INPUT

NO MEANING

WRONG MEANING

Can you see sound? Can you hear sign language?

What about opening IBM files on a Mac?

What about language learning?

DECODING:

NO INPUT

NO MEANING

INPUT

NO MEANING

WRONG MEANING

Can you see sound? Can you hear sign language?

NO PROGRAM

What about opening IBM files on a Mac?

WRONG

PROGRAM/SYSTE

M

What about language learning?

FAU

LTY

PRO

GR

AM

OUR CONTEXT

OUR CONTEXT

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT

MESSAGESENDER

DECODING

WORDSACTIONS

PACKAGING

MEDIUM

ENCODING

RECEIVER

When the source and the recipient share the same context they encode and decode the message with the same program.

THEY SHARE THE SAME OPERATING SYSTEM. THE SENDER’S MEANING

EQUALS THE RECIPIENT’S MEANING.

Noise

MESSAGESENDERWORDSACTIONS MEDIUM

DECODING

PACKAGING

OUR CONTEXT

OUR CONTEXT

ENCODING

RECEIVER

What garbles the message?NOISE !

* Radio * Stress * Boredom * Temperature * Mannerisms * Traffic *

RECEIVER

DECODING

What is going on with the receiver?

INTERPRETING

GRANTING OR WITHHOLDING PERMISSION

PROVIDING FEEDBACK

CONSTRUCTING MEANING

EVALUATING

MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS

MAKING DECISIONS

THE CREDIBILITY OF THE MESSENGER * THE TOLERANCE OF THE TOPIC THE ACCEPTIBILITY OF THE LANGUAGE

What are the receiver’s response options?

SINCERE ACCEPTANCE

UNCONSCIOUSLY FITS INTO BELIEF SYSTEM

SYMBIOSIS -

STRAIGHTFORWARD REJECTION

SYNCRETISM

DELAYS THE DECISION

Feedback

RECEIVER

DECODING

“This isn’t for me but I won’t stand in the way…”

What happens when you take this process

CROSS CULTURALLY?

S M R M R

“OUR” CONTEXT “THEIR” CONTEXT

S

THE MESSAGE IS PACKAGED AND SENT BY ONE SET OF STANDARDS,

BUT IS UNWRAPPED AND RECEIVED BY ANOTHER.

YOU HAVE DIFFERENT CONTEXTS AND DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS.

G NO E

O W D S

GOD’S GOD’S UNCHANGING UNCHANGING TRUTHTRUTH

G NO E

O W D S

GOD’S GOD’S UNCHANGING UNCHANGING TRUTHTRUTH

MY CONTEXT / MY CONTEXT / FORMATTING FORMATTING STYLESTYLE

G NO E

O W D S

GOD’S GOD’S UNCHANGING UNCHANGING TRUTHTRUTH

MY CONTEXT / MY CONTEXT / FORMATTING FORMATTING STYLESTYLE

““THEIR” THEIR” CONTEXT / CONTEXT / FORMATTING FORMATTING STYLESTYLE

G NO E

O W D S

GOD’S GOD’S UNCHANGING UNCHANGING TRUTHTRUTH

MY CONTEXT / MY CONTEXT / FORMATTING FORMATTING STYLESTYLE

““THEIR” THEIR” CONTEXT / CONTEXT / FORMATTING FORMATTING STYLESTYLE

NOT MUCH OF NOT MUCH OF THE GOOD NEWS THE GOOD NEWS

IS LEFT IS LEFT UNAFFECTED.UNAFFECTED.

THERE ARE THINGS WHICH COLOR THE MESSAGE AND RESHAPE IT

SCHEMATA AND SCHEMA

OUR CONTEXT

OUR CONTEXT

The Importance of Context

MESSAGESENDER

DECODING

WORDSACTIONS

PACKAGING

MEDIUM

ENCODING

RECEIVER

Cross-Cultural Communication

S M R M R

“OUR” CONTEXT “THEIR” CONTEXT

S

COMMUNICATION DEPENDS HEAVILY ON CONTEXT…

“Nine Men Died on Base Today”

HOW CAN THIS BE INTERPRETED?

TO AN AIR FORCE OFFICER IT MEANS ANOTHER.

TO A BASEBALL FAN IT MEANS ONE THING…

It is very difficult to ‘access’ the local contextual ‘shareware’.

Cultures leave much unstated, depending instead on the shared context to convey meaning.

In print cultures we ‘spell out the details’ when we recognize that others don’t share our mental ‘shareware’.

“Even if a stick stays in the water, it does not become a crocodile.”

An Ancient Proverb Says

LIVING IN A CULTURE DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN DOES NOT MAKE US A CHILD OF THAT CULTURE…

OBSERVING AND RECORDING BEHAVIOR IN A CULTURE DOES NOT MEAN WE UNDERSTAND THE ASSUMTIONS ABOUT REALITY THAT UNDERLINE THOSE BEHAVIORS…

REALITY LIES IN THE SYSTEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOUND IN THE MINDS OF A PEOPLE…

We Acquire Knowledge In Different Ways

* PERSONAL EXPERIENCE * OBSERVATION * SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION * CONVERSATION * READING * MODELING *

Culture is the accumulation of this knowledge which enables a people to function effectively in their environment.

SCHEMATA

Schemata contain our knowledge of the physical and its culturally determined categories...

They contain the abstract, such as guides for social interaction and discourse...

This Knowledge Is Called

And Is Stored In Cognitive Frameworks

AMERICANS HAVE A ‘SCHOOL’ SCHEMA. ONE CAN SAY TO ANOTHER, “I WENT TO SCHOOL IN TEXAS” WITHOUT HAVING TO EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF WHAT IT MEANS TO GO TO SCHOOL.

IF ANOTHER SAYS, “I WAS HOME SCHOOLED,” THE LISTENER’S MIND SWITCHES TO THE APPROPRIATE SITUATION.

WITHIN THE ‘SCHOOL’ SCHEMA THERE ARE SUB-SCHEMATA:

* HOMEWORK * TESTS * TEXTBOOKS * LECTURES *

‘GOING TO SCHOOL’ IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD MAY HAVE DIFFERENT SCHEMA. IT MAY MEAN CHANTING THE KORAN AND WRITING ARABIC ON A WOODEN BOARD WITH CHARCOAL.

COGNITIVE SHEMATA WORK TOGETHER AS A TYPE OF INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM. THEY ASSIMILATE INCOMING INFORMATION, WORKING TO ‘DECODE’ IT, WE MIGHT SAY.

IN MEMORARY THEY ORGANIZE DATA FOR STORAGE IN THE ‘MEMORY BANKS’.

IN RECALL - IF SOME INFORMATION IS MISSING - THEY FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH WHAT ‘PROBABLY’ SHOULD BE THERE!

Schemata work on FULLY AUTOMATIC when it comes to

information processing within

our minds.

THOSE WITHIN A ‘FOREIGN’ ENVIRONMENT CARRY THEIR OWN CONSTRUCTS OF CULTURE, WORLDVIEW, AND SCHEMATA WITH THEM.

AS THEY COME UP AGAINST A SCHEMA DIFFERENT THAN THEIR OWN THEY EITHER REJECT IT, ASSIMILATE IT, OR REPLACE IT WITH THE NEW.

SCHEMATA ARE DEPENDENT UPON ONE’S EXPERIENCE AND CULTURE. THE MORE INPUT ONE RECEIVES, THE MORE ONE EXPERIENCES, THE MORE SCHEMATA MUST BE FORMED TO PROCESS THE INFORMATION AND EXPERIENCES.

WHEN FACED WITH A SITUATION FOR WHICH THERE IS NO SCHEMATA, THE NORMAL REACTION IS CONFUSION AND FEAR.

THEN ASSIMILATION INTO AN EXISTING SCHEMA IS ATTEMPTED

NEXT IS ACCOMODATION OF THE EXPERIENCE BY CHANGING AN EXISTING SCHEMA OR FORMING A NEW ONE.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION TEACHES THAT IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SENDER TO ASSURE THAT THE MESSAGE IS UNDERSTOOD BY THE RECEIVER.

IT IS ALSO THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SENDER

TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT HIS OR HER SCHEMATA HAVE ON THE MESSAGE

TO UNDERSTAND THE SCHEMATA OF THE RECEIVER

TO PUT THE MESSAGE IN A FORM THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE RECEIVER

PREFERRED LANGUAGE * PREFERRED LEARNING STYLES PREFERRED COMMUNICATION PATTERNS

Unfortunately our own UNMODIFIED / NON-UPGRADED schemata have little value in

working with many of the world’s people groups and

cultures.

It has been said that people differ not so much in their reasoning powers

as in their starting points. These STARTING POINTS are

schemata which have been formed in their lives.

As we seek to communicate the GOOD GOOD

NEWSNEWS to others, it is important that THEIRTHEIR

schemata are not replaced with OUROUR schemata, but

with the schemata of GOD’S WORDGOD’S WORD.

“A wise child is talked to in proverbs.”

Another Ancient Proverb Says

GO TO THE PEOPLE,

We leave you with this:

LIVE AMONG THEM.

LEARN FROM THEM.

L0VE THEM.

START WITH WHAT THEY KNOW,

BUILD ON WHAT THEY HAVE.

BUT OF THE BEST TEACHERS,WHEN THEIR TASK IS ACCOMPLISHED,

THEIR WORK IS DONE,

THE PEOPLE WILL REMARK,

“WE HAVE DONE IT OURSELVES.”

An Old Chinese Poem