General
Krauss, R. M., & Fussell, S. R. (1996). Social psychological models of
interpersonal communication
Four Models of Interpersonal Communication
The chapter by Krauss and Fussell explores how social psychologists have
theorized interpersonal communication. Because communication is central but
complex, researchers developed different models that highlight distinct aspects
of the process. The key difference between them is where they locate meaning.
1. Encoder/Decoder models
Core idea: Communication is like sending and receiving coded messages.
How it works:
o The speaker (encoder) transforms thoughts into a signal (e.g.,
words, gestures).
o The listener (decoder) interprets the signal to reconstruct the
meaning.
Meaning: Meaning is a property of the message itself.
Strengths: Useful in studying codability (how easily concepts can be
expressed), and in analyzing nonverbal cues and vocal information.
Limitations:
o Oversimplifies communication by ignoring context.
o The same message can mean different things in different situations.
o Nonverbal behavior often doesn’t work like a simple code.
2. Intentionalist models
Core idea: Communication is about conveying and recognizing intentions.
How it works:
o Speakers design utterances to express what they want to achieve.
o Listeners infer the intended meaning behind the words.
Meaning: Resides in the speaker’s intention, not in the words
themselves.
Theoretical roots:
o Grice’s Cooperative Principle → conversation is guided by
maxims (truthfulness, relevance, clarity, brevity).
o Speech Act Theory (Austin, Searle) → utterances are also actions
(requesting, promising, apologizing, etc.).
, Strengths: Explains indirect communication (e.g., irony, politeness,
indirect requests).
Limitations: Heavy reliance on inference and assumptions about shared
knowledge.
3. Perspective-taking models
Core idea: Communication requires adapting to the listener’s perspective.
How it works:
o Speakers anticipate what listeners know, believe, or expect.
o Listeners interpret based on their own viewpoint and assumptions
about the speaker.
Meaning: Emerges from the addressee’s point of view.
Focus:
o Mutual knowledge (common ground) is essential.
o Successful communication involves continuous adjustments.
Strengths: Highlights the importance of shared context and mental
models.
Limitations: Hard to measure exactly what counts as mutual knowledge;
people often misjudge what others know.
4. Dialogic models
Core idea: Communication is a collaborative, interactive process.
How it works:
o Meaning is created together, through dialogue.
o Both participants actively shape and negotiate the message.
Meaning: Not fixed beforehand, but an emergent property of joint
activity.
Features:
o Emphasizes turn-taking, feedback, clarification, and repair of
misunderstandings.
o Intersubjectivity (shared understanding) is the central goal.
Strengths: Captures the dynamic, co-constructed nature of real
conversations.
Limitations: Less formalized than other models; harder to use for
predicting outcomes in controlled experiments.
, Model Where is Strengths Weaknesses
meaning?
Encoder/ In the message Clear structure, useful Ignores context and
Decoder for coding studies ambiguity
Intentionalist In the Explains indirect Relies on inferences,
speaker’s speech & intentions assumptions
intention
Perspective- In the listener’s Stresses role of Risk of misjudging
taking viewpoint common ground knowledge
Dialogic In joint Captures dynamic, co- Harder to formalize
interaction created meaning and test
Key takeaway:
The four models each offer a different lens:
Message-focused (Encoder/Decoder)
Speaker-focused (Intentionalist)
Listener-focused (Perspective-taking)
Interaction-focused (Dialogic)
Together, they show that communication is not just sending information, but also
involves intentions, perspectives, and collaborative meaning-making.
Other key themes in the chapter
Defining communication is difficult
Communication is studied across many disciplines (biology, linguistics,
engineering, sociology, etc.), with no single agreed definition.
Signs vs. Symbols:
o Signs: involuntary, causally linked to what they signify (e.g.,
blushing shows embarrassment).
o Symbols: intentional, conventional, socially learned (e.g., words,
gestures).
In practice, most communicative signals combine both sign and symbol
elements.
Intrapersonal and interpersonal levels
Intrapersonal: the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to produce
and comprehend messages.
, Interpersonal: the ways people affect and are affected by one another
through communication.
A strong social psychological model must explain how these two levels
work together.
Research traditions and illustrative studies
Codability: studies on how easily stimuli (colors, shapes, emotions) can
be named, and how this affects memory and communication accuracy.
Nonverbal communication: research on facial expressions, gestures,
and vocal cues as carriers of social and emotional information.
Vocal information: how tone, pitch, and accent convey information about
identity, emotion, and social status.
Implicit causality: certain verbs (“A admires B”) implicitly bias how
people assign responsibility or causation in social interactions.
The role of context and common ground
Communication cannot be understood outside of context.
Speakers and listeners rely on common ground (mutual knowledge,
shared assumptions) to interpret meaning.
Miscommunication often arises when people misjudge what knowledge is
actually shared.
Underlying message of the chapter
Social psychologists often focus on the content of communication (what is
said) rather than the process (how it is said and understood).
The chapter argues that researchers should make their assumptions
explicit and recognize which model of communication they are using, since
each model shapes how phenomena are interpreted.
In short: The four models are central, but the chapter also stresses that
communication is a multilayered, context-bound process, shaped by signs and
symbols, cognitive mechanisms, mutual knowledge, and interaction dynamics.
Week 2: Communication, Mindset & Goals
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. H., & Jackson, D. D. (1967). Some tentative axioms of
communication
Five axioms of communication
1. One cannot communicate.
Krauss, R. M., & Fussell, S. R. (1996). Social psychological models of
interpersonal communication
Four Models of Interpersonal Communication
The chapter by Krauss and Fussell explores how social psychologists have
theorized interpersonal communication. Because communication is central but
complex, researchers developed different models that highlight distinct aspects
of the process. The key difference between them is where they locate meaning.
1. Encoder/Decoder models
Core idea: Communication is like sending and receiving coded messages.
How it works:
o The speaker (encoder) transforms thoughts into a signal (e.g.,
words, gestures).
o The listener (decoder) interprets the signal to reconstruct the
meaning.
Meaning: Meaning is a property of the message itself.
Strengths: Useful in studying codability (how easily concepts can be
expressed), and in analyzing nonverbal cues and vocal information.
Limitations:
o Oversimplifies communication by ignoring context.
o The same message can mean different things in different situations.
o Nonverbal behavior often doesn’t work like a simple code.
2. Intentionalist models
Core idea: Communication is about conveying and recognizing intentions.
How it works:
o Speakers design utterances to express what they want to achieve.
o Listeners infer the intended meaning behind the words.
Meaning: Resides in the speaker’s intention, not in the words
themselves.
Theoretical roots:
o Grice’s Cooperative Principle → conversation is guided by
maxims (truthfulness, relevance, clarity, brevity).
o Speech Act Theory (Austin, Searle) → utterances are also actions
(requesting, promising, apologizing, etc.).
, Strengths: Explains indirect communication (e.g., irony, politeness,
indirect requests).
Limitations: Heavy reliance on inference and assumptions about shared
knowledge.
3. Perspective-taking models
Core idea: Communication requires adapting to the listener’s perspective.
How it works:
o Speakers anticipate what listeners know, believe, or expect.
o Listeners interpret based on their own viewpoint and assumptions
about the speaker.
Meaning: Emerges from the addressee’s point of view.
Focus:
o Mutual knowledge (common ground) is essential.
o Successful communication involves continuous adjustments.
Strengths: Highlights the importance of shared context and mental
models.
Limitations: Hard to measure exactly what counts as mutual knowledge;
people often misjudge what others know.
4. Dialogic models
Core idea: Communication is a collaborative, interactive process.
How it works:
o Meaning is created together, through dialogue.
o Both participants actively shape and negotiate the message.
Meaning: Not fixed beforehand, but an emergent property of joint
activity.
Features:
o Emphasizes turn-taking, feedback, clarification, and repair of
misunderstandings.
o Intersubjectivity (shared understanding) is the central goal.
Strengths: Captures the dynamic, co-constructed nature of real
conversations.
Limitations: Less formalized than other models; harder to use for
predicting outcomes in controlled experiments.
, Model Where is Strengths Weaknesses
meaning?
Encoder/ In the message Clear structure, useful Ignores context and
Decoder for coding studies ambiguity
Intentionalist In the Explains indirect Relies on inferences,
speaker’s speech & intentions assumptions
intention
Perspective- In the listener’s Stresses role of Risk of misjudging
taking viewpoint common ground knowledge
Dialogic In joint Captures dynamic, co- Harder to formalize
interaction created meaning and test
Key takeaway:
The four models each offer a different lens:
Message-focused (Encoder/Decoder)
Speaker-focused (Intentionalist)
Listener-focused (Perspective-taking)
Interaction-focused (Dialogic)
Together, they show that communication is not just sending information, but also
involves intentions, perspectives, and collaborative meaning-making.
Other key themes in the chapter
Defining communication is difficult
Communication is studied across many disciplines (biology, linguistics,
engineering, sociology, etc.), with no single agreed definition.
Signs vs. Symbols:
o Signs: involuntary, causally linked to what they signify (e.g.,
blushing shows embarrassment).
o Symbols: intentional, conventional, socially learned (e.g., words,
gestures).
In practice, most communicative signals combine both sign and symbol
elements.
Intrapersonal and interpersonal levels
Intrapersonal: the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to produce
and comprehend messages.
, Interpersonal: the ways people affect and are affected by one another
through communication.
A strong social psychological model must explain how these two levels
work together.
Research traditions and illustrative studies
Codability: studies on how easily stimuli (colors, shapes, emotions) can
be named, and how this affects memory and communication accuracy.
Nonverbal communication: research on facial expressions, gestures,
and vocal cues as carriers of social and emotional information.
Vocal information: how tone, pitch, and accent convey information about
identity, emotion, and social status.
Implicit causality: certain verbs (“A admires B”) implicitly bias how
people assign responsibility or causation in social interactions.
The role of context and common ground
Communication cannot be understood outside of context.
Speakers and listeners rely on common ground (mutual knowledge,
shared assumptions) to interpret meaning.
Miscommunication often arises when people misjudge what knowledge is
actually shared.
Underlying message of the chapter
Social psychologists often focus on the content of communication (what is
said) rather than the process (how it is said and understood).
The chapter argues that researchers should make their assumptions
explicit and recognize which model of communication they are using, since
each model shapes how phenomena are interpreted.
In short: The four models are central, but the chapter also stresses that
communication is a multilayered, context-bound process, shaped by signs and
symbols, cognitive mechanisms, mutual knowledge, and interaction dynamics.
Week 2: Communication, Mindset & Goals
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. H., & Jackson, D. D. (1967). Some tentative axioms of
communication
Five axioms of communication
1. One cannot communicate.
