COMMUNICATION and BEHAVIOR
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 505 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
D. Mac KAY states: “The object of communication is to select some particular conditional readiness in the recipient from the range of states that are possible” (1963, p.28).
A specific behavior may be thus elicited, but it may also remain potential, or be different, depending of complementary circumstances.
Mac KAY gives the following example:“… someone is telling you: ”it's raining“. What happens? You may be immersed in a book, and may not even feel inclined to grunt an acknowledgment. But this does not mean that your understanding of the message had no effect on you. If a sudden call comes for you to go outdoors, for example, you may be ready to reach for umbrella or mac” (1963, p.22).
Thus communication acts as either a potential or effective trigger of behavior. Ethological research shows this to be also the case with animals.
Communication is always in some sense an attempt by an sender to modify the behavior of one or various receivers. Communication is obviously a social phenomenon. In G.R. JOHNSON's words: “Communication is found wherever social life is found, from microorganisms to insects to humans. Some times these processes are dependent on visual clues… Sometimes they are based upon chemical clues… (or) anchored in auditory clues. And sometimes other clues are used — for example, tactile and electrical” (1992, p.1142).