Signals: Get the Message at L2

Function & Name

Signal is the 2nd Level element in the Primary Hierarchy of Communication.

Signal is the THEE-name for: «a specific stimulus or pattern of stimuli that conveys a specific unambiguous message.»

Signals differ from stimuli in that they create content. The term «message» refers to the content part of the communication. Many (perhaps most) messages are not unambiguous, but then they are not produced purely by signals.

ClosedChoice of Formal Name

Properties

Because the message is embedded, Signals-L2 have to be learned in a way that Stimuli-L1 cannot be and do not need to be.

So  signals-L2 must be prearranged at a social-public level or a private-intimate level. Once signaling rules are agreed and learned, a person must adhere to them when making or sending a signal-L2.

If prearrangement of the content has not occurred, the sender has control over sending the signal-message, but no control over its reception and comprehension. For comprehension, the recipient must be willing and able:

  • to notice the signal-L2;
  • to apply the appropriate rule to get the content intrinsic to the  signal-L2.

In a signal-L2, the possibility of deception emerges e.g. via use of secret signals, or pretending not to know the signal.

ExamplesClosed:

"Ready, get set" followed by a pistol shot is the signal-L2 to competitors to start their race.

Semaphore code was designed for signaling-L2 from ship to ship. With international agreement, each position of the flags corresponds to a particular letter.

Bus companies often ask customers to use a simple signal-L2, like a bell or buzzer, to tell the driver when to stop; and another signal-L2, like three quick bells, to stop as an emergency. 

Some  signals-L2 are embedded in social convention rather than explicitly taught e.g. a guest at a dinner in London who looks ostentatiously at his watch and comments that it is getting late…Closed is making a Signal-L2 saying he now wants to leave.

Errors & Failure

As L2-Signals depend wholly on L1-Stimuli, L1-errors may occur:

In sending, signals for different messages may be too similar for easy discrimination.

In reception, inattention or ignoring a signal is possible. A famous example is Lord Nelson:Closed In 1801 at the Battle of Copenhagen, he put up the telescope to his blind eye so as not to see the flag signal that gave him permission to retreat.

Sending 

Signals may lead to an incorrect response if the rules of translation into a message have been changed but not notified &/or re-taught. In the case of physical signals, like a signpost, renewal may be required periodically. As well as obsolescence, errors may result from illegibility: either deliberate (graffiti, vandalism, ill-intention, accidental damage &c.) or through natural processes (paint fading, decay, vegetation overgrowth &c.)

Reception

Specific L2-Signal problems may be false positives i.e. regarding a stimulus or pattern as a signal even if it is not intended as such; or false negatives i.e. not recognizing a  signal because of:

  • Contradictory signals that confuse. Example:Closed A wave from one person at a table signaling "join our small group" might be contradicted by others at the table deliberately ignoring the person addressed.
  • Ignorance of the rules/conventions within a particular group.

In all THEE Primary Hierarchies: At L2, the form taken by the entity allows for judgement as to its presence, and is an example of the phenomenon: in contrast to the L1 entity which is characteristically a means.

Any Signal-L2 requires Stimuli-L1 that are tightly and directly linked to the agreed message (i.e. specific, meaningful content), and the judgement applies to whether or not the signal exists. Once stimuli-L1 are recognized as a signal-L2, there is a definite Communication, which offers no room for interpretation or subtle analysis as to its meaning.

  • Signals-L2 are too restrictive for communication: something more open is found at the next level.

Originally posted: 28-Mar-2011; Last updated 25-Sep-2011.