The four-ear model, also a four-page model, news square or communication square, is a communication model of Friedemann Schulz von Thun. The communication scientist Schulz von Thun assumes that the sending and receiving of a message always takes place in four ways. Whoever speaks, communicates the following levels: content, relationship, self-disclosure and appeal. The speaker thus speaks with four beaks. The receiver can also hear the content on these four levels. Thus he hears with four ears.
The four-ear model therefore assumes that every person who communicates is effective in different ways. Accordingly, each utterance contains four messages or can be understood in four different ways. It is completely irrelevant whether these levels are wanted by the sender or not, because they are a component of each message. From this realization, Schulz von Thun created the communication square, assigning different colors to the individual pages.
Things I’ll tell you (blue).
Self-disclosure: What I reveal about myself (green).
Relationship: How I stand by you, what I think of you (yellow).
Appeal: What I want from you (red).
Schulz von Thun described this four levels as a square in one of his four pages. Because the station is expressed on these four levels (speaks with four beaks) and the receiver can hear the utterance in four different ways (hears with four ears), it is clear that communication involves misunderstandings.
On the matter level, we communicate the pure information that contains the message. It is about facts, data, thus the content of the utterance. The recipient must decide at this level whether the content is true / untrue as well as relevant / irrelevant and whether this contains sufficient / insufficient information. The task of the broadcaster is to formulate its own concerns clearly and clearly in order to prevent possible misunderstandings between the two sides.
In addition, everyone who communicates, also surrenders something about itself, which is described in the communication model as self-disclosure or self-disclosure. As a result, each utterance contains a part that refers to the sentiments, values, views, and needs of the sender. This self-disclosure can be explicitly (clearly) communicated via the I-message or implicitly, that is, not explicitly said.
The relationship level in the four-ear model shows how the transmitter is standing to the receiver and, consequently, what is held by it. This relationship is talked about the way and the concrete formulation is communicated, but also about facial expressions, gestures and the tone. The relationship level can also be implicit or explicit. When a recipient hears a message on the relationship ear, he can be valued, humiliated, respected, disregarded, respected or rejected.
Whoever communicates, wants something. This point is taken into account at the appeal level. It stands for what the sender wants from the receiver and what he wants to achieve. On the appeal side, wishes, appeals, advice or instructions can be communicated that appear either open or obscured. If the recipient hears a message with his apprentice, he asks himself: What should I do now?
The four-ear model by Friedemann Schulz von Thun shows the four levels of a message.
Note: Since only the level of the receiver and sender is identical in each case, there can be a lot of misunderstandings. Misunderstandings arise mainly when sender and receiver weight the four sides, which prescribes the four-ear model, differently or the different sides are differently occupied by the participants.
The four-ear model, for example
In order to illustrate what has been said, we would like to illustrate the four-ear model by means of the example given by Schulz von Thun in his work. For this we have to imagine the following situation and have the communication model in mind.
Imagine a man and a woman sitting in a car. The woman drives the car. This stops before a traffic light. After an indefinite waiting period, the traffic light turns green. Now the man says to the woman: “It is green!”, Whereupon the woman answers: “Do I drive or drive?”.
For the example, assume that the sender and receiver have the same content on the four sides of the message. The man, that is, the speaker, reveals, in his statement, the pages of the content, relation, self-disclosure, and appeal. The woman who hears this utterance hears this with her four ears (ear-ear, relation-ear, self-revealing ear, appeal)
