Constructivist communication model

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The constructivist communication approach is a communication model that is derived from the epistemology of constructivism . Communicator and observer ( sender and receiver ) are not involved in the same process.

description

The constructivist communication approach does not assume a direct transfer of meaning, i.e. In other words, for the first time there is no longer a direct channel between communicator and recipient (or initially observer ). The overall process of communication is divided into two process units:

According to this model, communicator and observer are no longer involved in the same process. Rather, they are actors who - based on their own assumptions (empirical knowledge, etc.) - act in relation to the other. The process works as follows: Communicators make specific offers: They produce communication bases ( image , writing , language ) that they equip with communication properties (thematic, stylistic, referential etc. type = content ). Both together ( structure and content) result in a communication . It is unclear whether and in what way these offers are perceived and processed by others (e.g. a request does not necessarily trigger the desired action.)

The primary aim is to change the recipient's environment in such a way that they are stimulated to act that can be interpreted as an answer to the communicative offers of the communicator.

What is required (from the perspective of the communicator in relation to the addressee): Attention, more precisely: an active coupling (turning, looking, listening). Whether observers become recipients (i.e. process / deepen the object of observation) depends on:

  • Attractiveness of the offer,
  • involved factors,
  • social experiences,
  • Knowledge structures.

When these factors apply, a communicative act occurs; the observer becomes the recipient of the communicator's communication offer. The more frequently there is communication and the more conventions are adhered to, the more likely the communication process becomes (through structural coupling).

Ernst von Glasersfeld describes it a little differently with reference to radical constructivism: It is not possible to transfer knowledge directly through communication. When A says something and uses terms, B hears what A says, but connects it with his own constructions. Therefore, what is present in A and B is subjective, at best compatible with each other (when it comes to knowing which A and B are successfully using for themselves). There is no way to check whether the constructions of A and B match, are identical or not.

With terms unknown to him, B builds up a system of terms that contradicts A's as little as possible and is as compatible as possible with what A said. Contradictions only become visible when both of them work together on a task with this 'transferred' knowledge. If these contradictions are eliminated, knowledge becomes 'intersubjective' (knowledge of what is also used successfully by others). But this does not make it truer or even objective.

Example: If A says 'stone' there is everything possible about stones in his knowledge. Just his constructions, his experiences with stones, what he thinks of when he re-presents stone for himself (with v. Glasersfeld deliberately with a hyphen). But B also has his knowledge of stones, with which he connects his experience with the term stone (s). A now uses the language in B to call up its re-presentation via stones. So both can talk about the stone / stones on the basis of their respective individual (subjective) experience. When they find that they both have had the experience of stones being hard, that knowledge, 'stones are hard', becomes intersubjective.

Background constructivism

The constructivist perspective in communication science is closely linked to Ernst von Glasersfeld and the bio-epistemologist Humberto Maturana .

These theories are based on the assumption that people construct ideas through the performance of their own subjective consciousness.

According to the idea of ​​radical constructivism, there is no generally valid , objective reality , but always only a subjective perception that is shaped by various internal factors.

For communication, this means that information is no longer defined as an information packet from A to B (as for example in the information technology communication model ( transmitter-receiver model ) by Claude Elwood Shannon and Warren Weaver or, in a broader sense, in the field model of mass communication according to Gerhard Maletzke ), but that it is generated by the listener according to internal rules, biological conditioning and cultural embedding. More detailed under the heading Radical Constructivism . Two very well-known representatives of a radical constructivist communication model are Paul Watzlawick and Friedemann Schulz von Thun .

literature

  • Gebhard Rusch (ed.): Introduction to media studies. Westdeutscher Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-531-13323-3 , p. 111 ff.
  • Roland Burkart : Communication Science. UTB, 2002, ISBN 3-8252-2259-4 , p. 303 ff.
  • Stefan Weber (ed.): Theories of the media. UTB, 2003, ISBN 3-8252-2424-4 , p. 180 ff.
  • Gebhard Rusch: A communication theory for cognitive systems. In: Gebhard Rusch, Siegfried J. Schmidt (ed.): Constructivism in media and communication studies. Suhrkamp, ​​1997, ISBN 3-518-28940-3 , pp. 150-184.
  • Klaus Merten: Constructivism as a theory for communication science. In: MedienJournal. 19th year, issue 4, pp. 3–20.

See also